Solstice.

Today was cloudy with snowing on and off and it was little lighter than twilight at two pm. so there was no trace of sun for me to photograph. I don't think there would have been any sun shining on the mountain anyway. When I was in next town well over a week ago I noticed that the sun shone on just the highest top of the mountains there.

Today there are 33 - 34 days until the sun shines on my home again, that is if the weather permits. It's traditional to bake sunny pancakes on the day we see the sun (it actually shines on us) I was going to make a post about it last January and had actually taken photos to go with it. Maybe I'll remember to do it when the day comes this time.

I thought a photo of our Christmas tree would be better than nothing. This was taken in 2008 and there are lights on the tree, they just don't show on the photo. I really would like to own a better camera.



We have a normal winter weather at the moment, but they say it will get warm again in a few days, until then it's storms and such.

Today I and hubby gave up, sigh, we went on facebook. Yikes. What a time thief.

Sunna.

Road to Heaven

I have one more finish and I'm feeling good. It's a Christmas present and has started it's journey to the new owner. This is one more mystery from Cynthie at Iowastarquilts named Road to Heaven and I added a 2" border to make it a bit bigger.

It was dark when I finished sewing down the binding with help from my mom who came for a visit and as she was leaving the next morning while it would still be dark and taking it with her I took a photo with all the lights on in my bedroom. It was not enough, lol.


I don't have the patience to sit and draw patterns on paper so I usually just jump right in and quilt on my machine. I'm getting better at some patterns and for this quilt I chose flowers, leafs and something that turned out to be sort of feathers. I think. At least sometimes. Click on the photos to enlarge them if you want to see more details.


It's faaar from perfect, but I see progress and I'm content. And that is a good feeling.



I'll tell you after Christmas who's the new owner.

Sunna.

The Sun.

I know this is a bit of an over kill, three posts in one day, but I forgot this photo that I wanted to show you. I took it at 1.30 pm. today when I was photographing the Christmas Light quilt. This is how far down the mountain side the sun shines today. If we have a clear sky on December 21. (Solstice) I'll try to remember to take a photo, to show you how far the sun rays reach then.


The car with the lights on is hubby's work car, called the "sperm car". He was on his way to some farms to meet a couple of cows that were eagerly waiting for him. Lol.

Sunna.

Marathons and Christmas.

I mentioned in the last post that I've been in a marathon sewing lately. I've been sewing up loads of these things for our rescue team Christmas lotto. These Christmas socks were panels and I and another woman added beads and such to them, I and another woman quilted them and then I offered to finish the socks. It was so dark when this photo was taken you can't see the beading much, but it turned out okay. I would never have thought I would have so much fun doing beading, but I did. Not as much fun as sewing and quilting though.


Then there are the table toppers and runners. I've quilted and put the binding on 10 - 12 of them, I've lost the count. And some of them I also put together from already made blocks. I liked this one best. There are more things I've been making, along with other women and we will have a good load of winnings.


On our guilds sewing day in early October there was a talk about a Christmas quilt show and the members were asked to look through their Christmas things for quilted items. I have given most of mine away so I didn't think much of it, but then later, last Monday to be precise, decided to quilt my Christmas Light top for the show that started yesterday.

Yeah, I know, not the best of ideas, time wise. But I have a good friend that I also mentioned in my earlier post. Mary who lives in Kansas and she does the most beautiful quilting and has given me tips and encouragement to tackle mine. And last week, finally, I was ready to sit down, let go and just quilt. The beginning in the center of the quilt is not so pretty, but I decided to let it stay as is, as a reminder of the journey, so to speak. I got better as it got along and the white border is my favorite. I'm really happy with the quilting on it. The blue and red border are not as good, but by then I had little time and I was also simply tired.


While making this quilt I used a lot of fabrics that didn't play well with others, like the blue and the green f.e.s. (The colors don't show true in the photos, they are more bright in reality) The red for the setting triangles was the only fabric that was remotely Christmassy that I had enough of so it got used. Lol. I also had no fabric that went well as the outer border and decided to use this red, purple and pink fabric my mother gave me a few years back. It made the quilt much to red, but I kind a liked it anyway.


Since I used up difficult fabrics in the top I used lots of left over thread both for the top and the back while quilting. (I had no time to order and wait for thread) The darker under thread shows a bit in some places, but I was determined that I would not let that bother me... and it doesn't. Lol.



I made up the pattern of the mistletoe leafs, but the stars and loops I'd seen somewhere before, don't remember where though.


I see in this photo that the backing shows through the white border, I think that's only because the quilt is hanging on the clothes line. The days are so dark at this time of the year that this is not noticeable when the quilt is lying flat on bed, or when I hold it up inside the house.


I hope you can see what I wrote on the label that I made in haste, I will make a better one later. This quilt was a mystery from Bonnie K. Hunter at Quiltville. It was posted in the Quiltmaker magazine in three steps, starting in the July/August issue. I got the mag in August so the quilt has been over a year in the making. I never got the last issue of the magazine so I finished the top after seeing photos of it at the quiltvillechat on Yahoo.


I usually have no problem deleting photos from my posts (accidentally) but I can't get rid of this one. I guess someone want's you to see all the mistakes I made while quilting the center. Lol. If I'd had more time I would have ripped out lots of seams and also gotten better thread, both for the back and front, but I'm content. It is what it is and I'm learning/practicing.

The backing is a flannel that I bought as a cover for a double sized duvet. It was on a sale and I thought that would make me feel okay to use it. Lol. Not really, the other half of it is not as ugly because there the colors are reversed, the hearts are dark and the background light and I think I'll have no problem using that for a back later.


Now, here come the punch lines. When I finally had the quilt ready, midday Friday, I phoned the lady from our town that was helping put up the show.... and she said: "No thank you, we have much to much of things for the show as is".

That was a big blow to say the least. So I said thank you and good bye, turned of the phone and then sat for a while with the adrenalin still on full steam, from hours of hand sewing the binding down in a race against time.

So what does that teach me. Lol. The quilt has been decorating my bed since Friday and is the first sign of Christmas in our home this year. Which reminds me, it is the first Sunday in advent today and I need to find my advent ring (a direct translation) I bought the candles for it a while ago, just hope I didn't put them in the "good place". I need to find them today, not sometime after Christmas. Lol.

Sunna.

Sunshine and Blue Skies.

I have befriended many quilters since I started my sporadic blogging. I have a wonderful friend in Mary from Kansas whom I'm corresponding with through e-mails, though I admit I lapse in much to long silences in between. But there are other ways to gain friends.

On June 1. I got an e-mail from a lovely lady named Eleanor from New York. We are both members of Quiltville chat on Yahoo and she was wondering about the volcano eruption in Eyjafjallajokull. I answered and we became friends real quick. I've gotten so much fun out of our communication, not to mention how our e-mails have broadened my horizon.

She mentioned one day that she was making me something and I thought: okay, a little bag or an apron or a small wall hanging or something. Imagine my surprise when I opened the packet I got late October and out came this beautiful quilt.


Eleanor liked the Fractured Star block that she saw on my blog (June 17. 2009) so much and wanted to make some. She alternated (by accident) the lights in the first block she made, but liked it so she made all the blocks like that. She also did not turn the blocks on point like in the quilt I made (Nov 29 2009 and Dec. 20. 2009) Sorry, I don't know how to link to the posts.

Here is the back, it's a real eye opener for me and I know how I'll be "signing" my quilts in the future. You can click on the picture to enlarge it, same goes with all the other photos.


Here's a close up of the quilting, it was long arm quilted for Eleanor and I don't know the name of the pattern, but it reminds me of the sun and sun rays.

Here is the quilting on the back.

Next three photos are close ups of the great, fun labels on the back.

I know the internet has made our world smaller, I just wished it was smaller in reality so I could pop over to Eleanor and thank her for her generosity, this quilt came to me when I was having a rather difficult day, but after opening the packet I sailed through the day with a smile all around. I will treasure this quilt always and not least because it contains fabric from an old blouse that belonged to Eleanor. We are alike in that, using old clothes and curtains and such.

I was going to post about this sooner, but the weather was always so bad whenever I was ready to photograph the quilt, or I wasn't at home when the weather cleared. Then after I got the photos I started a sewing and quilting marathon that ended last Friday. That will be a material for another post.

So, my dear friend Eleanor, thank you again. I took the quilt to a yoga session last week and the class had started when I finally came there because I met one of hubby's aunt (by marriage) who's a quilter and she had to have a good look at the quilt I was carrying in my arms. She loved it too, as have all that have seen it.

Sunna.

Road to heaven.

Just a short note, we've been invited to a birthday party this evening. Hubby's niece turned 16 a few days ago.

I went to a retreat on the last weekend in September. It was at the same location as last year, Reykjanes in Isafjardardjup. I'm sure this retreat is here to stay, so to speak. It was great and I started this quilt there. I had cut the strips for it long ago and read the instructions at the same time. So I only glanced at the instructions when I started to subcut the strips. Not good. Lol. I turned everything up side down so the dark fabric is light in my top and the light dark. Also had forgotten that I needed light fabric for another project so I'd pulled all of those strips from the box where this was stored.


So it's a bit busy, but I like it and will finish it before Christmas. Enough said of that. This was a mystery from Iowa Star Quilts and I had fun making it as all the mysteries from Cynthie. (Although it was no longer a mystery when I made it.)

Sorry for the dark photos, the afternoon was cloudy and windy and those were the only photos that were not blurred. Here is a closer look.


I was going to show another project I worked on in Reykjanes, but can't find the photo I took a few days ago and now I also can't find the project. Duh. This clearly indicates that I need to take a firm hand with my sewing room. Lol.

And on a bit embarrassing note... Those sheep that came home today are not the sheep we thought they were.... I admit it freely. I don't know my sheep. Sigh. One was the ewe we thought was still missing, turned out she had two lambs, not one. And the other plus two lambs is from Baer in Sugandafjordur, far from our farm and I don't know if the owner has had a sheep come here before. If you take a straight line on a map there is one big sheep farm between Os, the farm where we live and this farm Baer and also one small sheep farm. Sheep are rather territorial so it's strange that this sheep showed up here. We think she must have gone first to Isafjordur and then to Hnifsdalur before she came to our pasture (Oshlid) or maybe it only went over some mountains and straight to Hnifsdalur. Who knows. I once heard of a sheep with two lambs that went in one summer from a place near Blonduos to a place near Egilsstadir. And that is straight across Iceland.

What happened to my short post???

Sunna.

Good sheep, naughty sheep.

One month ago we had our round up day, or herding or what ever you call it. The law says you have to get all sheep from summer pasture before winter so in September there are roundups all over the country.

It's kind a sad how few sheep are left in our area. Not so many years ago the flock was a much more impressive sight.


Here they are coming toward the common fold. There are common folds all over Iceland. Ours is not very big compared to some (most).


In the front are sheep from us, I'm guessing they know the drill and just want to get it over with. Lol.

Here is DS1 Jon (the bearded man on the right) looking for his sheep.

DD2 Steina has found one of ours.

Here is DD2 Ebba in our section of the fold, taking care of the book keeping.

And here is DS2 Johann doing what is called chatting over the fold wall, because the folds used to be made of stone and turf walls. Some still are (or parts of them) and are preserved as some sort of monuments.

For some this is the best way to observe the sheep.

Now, we got most of our sheep home at this point, but there were still three ewes missing along with five lambs. And that is not good, sometimes it's the herders fault when the sheep don't show up at the fold, but sometimes it's the sheep fault. They can really play hard to get and it's easy for them, considering that the pasture is partly rocky mountain side and higher up there are difficult cliffs. So... we slaughter sheep that don't come home at the first roundup or soon after. In our opinion it's crazy to own sheep that you put your self and others in danger "collecting". Those sheep are naughty, very naughty.

Six of the sheep have been seen repeatedly since the first roundup, but they have been at a difficult location and the weather has been so good (they are much more difficult to herd in good weather, simply don't want to come home) that they were left alone... until now.

It's getting colder and tomorrow we expect some snow or at least sleet. So this morning my SIL hubby went with two of their sons and collected the sheep. It went very well and they brought them home where I and Johann stood before them as we call it and guided them to the rest of our sheep.

Here they are coming and trying to go the shortest way to get in the fence where the other sheep are. You can click on all the photos to enlarge them.


We got to do some running when one of the ewe's tried to trick us and went to the beach and the rest followed. You can see by the open mouth of the lambs how winded they are. They usually don't have the stamina the ewes have.

And here they are fenced in together with the rest of our sheep.

Just after we got the sheep fenced in, Ebba came home from work and came to see which ewes had come home and what ewe is still missing along with the lamb.



We've had much autumn rain on and off for weeks so the ground is getting very muddy. For me, this is always a very irritating time because the mud gets so easily inside the house and lets face it, I'm not much of a housekeeper. Lol.

Tomorrow will most likely be a slaughtering day, the lambs will most certainly go, but I'm not sure about the ewes. One is owned by my SIL son (the one with the blue cap in the front of the photo) so she will most likely live, but the other..... we'll see.

I meant to do this sheep post in September, but we've been having connections problems on and off, mostly on, for so long that I've sort of given up on blogging and blog reading. We had no phone or Internet from Oct. 7 until Oct 14 and I decided enough is enough. Yesterday I read some of the blogs I've not looked at for a long time, lost connection a few times, but stubbornly plodded on, so....

While making this post I've lost connection twice... I'm going to click on "publish post" with the hope that the post will indeed get published and not lost. I hate when that happens. If all goes well I might even try for a quilty post later today.

Sunna.

P.s. We are told we will get a new phone line later (when the tunnel making on our farm land, that I've not talked about here because it just makes me so mad sometimes, is finally completely over) Phew.

Thread basting.

This is the bottom photo, read on. lol.

This was taken at guild meeting last winter, I'm sewing the poinsettia blocks from the Bonnie Hunter mystery, Carolina Christmas. (I'm usually one of the last lo leave)


And here is one of the blocks. The quilt would have been so huge if I'd made it as it was supposed to be made so I changed it in to two quilts and one Round Robin center.

Here I was about two weeks ago, thread basting this part of my Carolina Christmas.

A better view.

I've also thread basted the other half, the Christmas Star part and two other of Bonnie's mysteries, Double Delight and Christmas Lights. They are ready for quilting. Not only that, I'm also ready for quilting. lol. Now I can grab a quilt and get to quilt it right away when the mood strikes.

This top is a mystery from Iowa Star Quilts, called Dinah's Delight. I didn't follow the guide lines while putting it together, there are supposed to be sashings, but I was so utterly fed up with doing the sashings on both of the Carolina Christmas tops that I changed it. I also did not piece the setting triangles like I should have. I wasn't happy with all this green and was thinking about ripping out the green fabric when I got this marvelous idea.

Why not just cut some of the green away? Yeah, right. Now it's to short, but I like it better though. So, I'm going to make a pieced border on one end and then add a strip of green. I think that will make it okay.

Would you believe it, I just deleted the photo with the top after I'd cut of most of the green, uploaded it again and I don't know how to move it down here so it's up on the top of the post. Now it's after midnight and I missed making this an August post as I intended it to be. I'm sleepy, that's a good excuse, guess it's time to post this and go to bed.


Sunna.

Blomaros. (Flower girl)

Do you know the feeling that someone is watching you and you can see movement out of the corner of your eye, but when you look there is no one there. Well, I experienced this one fine day this summer when I went out to hang laundry on my clothes lines. So I looked and then I looked some more and finally I managed to look at the right moment and saw who was moving there.


Couldn't you see her? Maybe this angle is better (and adjustment of the camera).


There she is in all her glory. She's one of three heifers that were not pregnant when we let the heifers go on the summer land this summer. So they stayed home, one turned out to have some internal problems and is waiting for a ride to the slaughterhouse, but this one and the third are okay and hopefully pregnant by now. For obvious reasons I've named her Blomaros. She's an absolute darling, curious and sweet tempered.


You can click on the photos to enlarge them.

Sunna.

Not another month

will go by without a post from me. I hope I'll be able to post this one as the connection here at my house is VERY unpredictable. We need to get some answers as to what is going on. Some days we have no connection at all, other days there is a slooow connection from time to time and you can't work on the net because you'll never know if the connection holds. It's not so bad for me, but hubby has to make and send reports on the net and he sometimes tries again and again only to have all his work lost. Now that's a bummer.

So, on happier note. Here is a table topper I made just after the Easter. It was a mystery posted on Quiltblockswappers. A group I'm a member in on Yahoo. It ended up on the dining room table at the apartment my daughter shares with two of her friends. If you click on the photo it enlarges so you can better see the decorative stitch I used in the quilting.


Here are some of my Learn a New Block Challenge blocks I'm doing. They are from Michele who is a wonderful lady from the before mentioned Yahoo group. It's so much fun doing those blocks and I've gotten lots of feedback on them because of the black background. That was a challenge for me as I've been stuck on light backgrounds. No more. I'm cured or liberated or ... what ever.


I'm good, hope you are too. Lol.

Sunna.

Finish.

I have a much longed for finish. The Launch Swap quilt is finally done. I posted about the swap in July last year and the top has been ready since September and partially quilted since October when I started doubting my quilting skills. I've decided to throw all self doubt out and just quilt the tops that are waiting. I have four ready and more in the making.


Here is the newest top, the Christmas Star blocks will be Hubby's TV cuddly quilt and I had an inspiration earlier today as to who gets the Poinsettia quilt. I'm not telling now though.

If you click on the photos they will enlarge.

Sunna.

This and that.

This post is posted 4 or 5 days after most of it was made due to power loss.

I've been sewing a lot but have no finishes to show you. Here is my version of Christmas Star which is a part of Bonnie's Carolina Christmas Mystery. I have thirteen of these 16.5" blocks.

Since the loss of electricity I've made these blocks into a top, using twelve of the blocks with sashing and bricks I think they're called rather than corner stones. Will post a photo later, it's been to windy and snowing on and off, not good for photoing.


They are supposed to be partnered with these forty eight Poinsettias (8,5"). And this would make a humongous quilt. I'm not much interested in so big quilts so I'll make something else out of this. At one time I had three, maybe four quilts in mind, but that changes from day to day. We'll see what I come up with. Those were fun to make although I got a bit tired of all the matching seams.

I have also started sewing with these blocks, with sashing and cornerstones into a top.


Now here is the first round of fun blocks (also 8,5") that I'm test sewing with some great women on a Yahoo group called Quiltswappers, (here is where I lost power) there's one more which I've jet to make. The woman we are testing for sends us the fabric cut and ready to sew, how great is that. I chose black kona for my background and felt quite daring, lol, I've been so stuck on light backgrounds since I started quilting that it was long past time for me to try something new. I love it.


I've been doing a mystery called Dinah's Delight from Cynthia at IowaStarQuilts this is what I've done so far and I found out tonight that the last step has been posted so I'm sure I'll soon get itchy to finish it in to a top at least. There is just one of each blocks (9,5") shown here.


Here is a cosmetic bag I made for a young girl who had her confirmation on last Sunday. This is the front, sorry how bad the light is. The bag is made of bits of old jeans from my kids and old lace from my Granny Bubba.


And this is the back. I've made loads of these bags through the years, I use an old fleece throw as batting and the sippers I've ripped out of old gym bags and such. The only new thing is the inside lining (usually some pretty cotton) and the binding which is solid blue cotton.


I'd better post this now, it's snowing heavily at the moment and you never know.... Lol.

Happy Easter.

Sunna.