Big Quilts

I took on a task for a friend of mine, to thread baste a big top she had made to give her daughter. When the basting was done I agreed to machine quilt it too. I wisely did not measure it before quilting it, if I had I would have given up before I began. Here it is laid out on my bed, it was to big to take outside to my laundry lines for a photo. The day was a bit overcast so the photos are rather dark, which is not so bad cause it makes the quilting not show as well as if the day had been bright.


This is certainly not my best work, but I simply had trouble handling the bulk of the quilt while free motion quilting it and my Janome 6600 with it's 9" throat space got pretty annoyed there at the end. It's working still, but it's long overdue for a checkup. So, I need to figure out how to get it across country to the repair man. This morning I suddenly remembered that I saved the box the machine was in when I bought it (at least four years ago). Sometimes I do get things right. I should be able to send my Janome safely with a truck company, but I think I'll buy an insurance all the same, just in case. I really, really like that machine.

I took this photo standing on the steps you can see in the first photo, it's hopefully dark enough. LOL. The computer I usually make these posts on shows photos very dark, I'll have to check this post on my laptop to see if the quilting shows. Oh, well, it is what it is. Anyway, the quilt is beautiful, I absolutely love some of the fabrics used in it.


That's all for now.

Sunna.

PS. Forgot to mention how big this quilt is..... I had no help when I measured it, but it's ca. 90" x 100" For me that is humongous and a bit scary because I have two tops in progress that are of similar size. Sigh. Not good, not good at all.

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.