Not much happening here!

...At least not when it comes to sewing...

I just don't seem to have any motivation for sewing, allthough my head is filled with ideas for things to make. Maybe it's because my sewing room is a mess... Or that my stash has gone out of control, and I don't know where to start! Probably a combination of the two.

Oh, and I completely forgot to blog about my wonderful swap from Aunt Pitty Pat!

She made me a beautiful potholder with a Santa on it, I just looove Christmas.

She also sent some goodies with it, cookie cutters (I love them, it's hard to find cookie cutters with shapes like that in Norway), muffin baking cups and a notebook shaped like a cup cake.

I love the things you gave me, APP! Thank you so much.
I'm sorry it took me so long to blog about it.

I have also joined another swap that Aunt Pitty Pat is arranging, for a Halloween tote:-)

At the moment I am waiting for some fabric to arrive, as my stash of Halloween fabric is less than small. I will use fabric from my stash too, but I really want to use some special Halloween themed fabrics as well.

The tradition for celebrating Halloween here in Norway is very new, so we don't have a lot of stuff related to it. But it is coming more and more every year! I like the "spooky" part of it the most:-)

I just have to show you this picture of the men in my life:-)

Cute, don't you think? Bamse is a little too big to be a lap dog, but he tries:-)

To hot to handle pot holder swap.

Today I got a very nice email from Aunt Pitty Pat, where she told me that she got the potholder and the extras I sent her.

I loved making the potholder and the washcloth, it has been a long time since I did any crochét.

Since Marcel is the host of the swap, I wanted to spoil her a little, so I sent along a piece of Tilda fabric and some matching ribbon. I love to participate in swaps, and I can imagine that organizing them are a lot of work. So she deserved a little extra!

The potholder was made from yarn scraps, and even some yarn that was handed down to me after my grandmother passed away. The pink yarn in the wascloth must be over 50 years old I think! It was good to find a use for it:-)

I'm so happy M liked her swap package, I'm always a little nervous when I send away something I made, hoping that it will be loved.

A wedding present and the summer tote swap!

I just realized that I did not write a post about this gorgeous wedding present that we were given by the wonderful Jenny and her daughter Blossom in Australia. The small wallhanging is so beautiful, so I hung it in a special place in our living room. It is embellished with tiny beads, and the stitches are so even and perfect! I love this present, and my husband said that he likes it too:-) And he's not very into this kind of things;-)

This is the tote I came up with for the summer tote swap, I am really happy with it, so it's kind of hard to give it away;-) I hope the reciever will like it too! It was a long process to finish it, but I made it before the deadline. The tote will go in the mail tomorrow, on it's way to a new home.

I tucked in a couple of extras, two pieces of Tilda fabrics and matching ribbon...

Now I only have three more days at work until I get my summer vacation, It will be sooooo good to have three weeks off from work. We are going on a little trip to Denmark, but other than that, I think we will stay at home and relax. I think I'm going to sew a lot, I have plenty of projects in my mind that I want to do.

Sighhhhh...

No internet connection at home at the moment... I'll get back to blogging as soon as the problem has been taken care of.

I'm still looking around in blogland when I have a brake at work though:-)

See you soon!

Summer Tote Swap recieved.

Today I got wonderful mail from Australia!

A beautifully wrapped package...

With a nice homemade tag on it.

It was my tote from the "Summer Tote Swap"! I love this, it's soo my colors and style. The size is perfect too, not to big and not to small. I love the flower on it as well.

It has lots of pockets, one on each side and three on the inside.

And look! Extras...

A card to cross-stitch, and pins. And do you see the little box? It is filled with buttons! Oh how I love buttons:-)

Thank you soooo much Maria!

I love the bag you made for me, and the extras are sooo great. You obviously read my blog, to find out so much about what I like!

You should all go check out her blog, Life on the block.

Maria makes the most gorgeous things, she is so creative:-)

Thanks again!

Some more photos from the wedding:-)

First, a photo of the beautiful church, Hoff Kirke in Lena, my home town:-)

The church is very old, built between 1150-1200.

Here we are, just after we got wed, inside the church. The beautiful altar is very old, dated 1664.

On the church steps:-)



Our ride for the day, too bad it was raining, so the top had to be up.
1969 Cadillac.




Beautiful wiew from the place we had the party, down to Mjøsa, the biggest lake in Norway.

The waltz:-)



And the last photo for today, my wedding boquet, wich I made my self.

I'll be back soon with some sewing related posts!

A new BOM from Jenny!

Jenny of Elfantz Is giving all of us a new, free BOM, Daisy-Do, starting July 1st. Take a look at her blog to see the sneak peeks! It looks soooo lovely! I can't wait to see the first part:-)

So this is what's been keeping me occupied lately...

We got married saturday! It was a lovely day, except from the weather, wich was very rainy. But I've heard that rain in the brides hair means luck, so it's a good thing:-)

Now, I'm not sure that I feel very comfortable about posting pictures of me, but I would really like to show you something from our big day anyway...

First one of hubby and me...

I made the dress my self, and the wedding bouquet...

Here is one of my maid of honour and me.

She is wearing her bunad, I think it's so pretty!

And one of hubby and his best man (weird photo, but we had so much fun!).

All four of us. We are joking a lot so we look really funny:-)

Here is one of hubbys brother and sister, and hubby and me. My brother was supposed to be on the picture too, but was nowhere to be found at the moment! Wonder if that has something to do with him not liking to be photographed...

We had such a great day, the party went soooo well, the food was great and everyone had a good time... I'll make another post with some more pictures soon, but I need to get copies from the photographer first. She is just the best:-)

Something old, something new...

The bride needs to bring some things with her, right? Like tissues and a small camera...?

I made this clutch from the dress-fabric and lace I got from my grandmother. I think it was from one of her night-gowns, so its OLD... And the fabric is NEW, so I have those two things covered. Even the glass button is old, it came from the collection of my mothers uncle, who collected just about anything.

So, now I have to find something to borrow, and something blue....

Under a week left until the wedding!!!

I joined another swap!

I'm going to make a bag for someone:-)

This will be exciting! I guess I'm getting addicted to swaps.

Project Pillow Swap recieved!

I got this wonderful pillow in the mail two days ago, look at how beautiful it is! I love the colours and the floral fabric.
Thank you so much, Berit!

Berit sent along some goodies too, a pair of scissors and some flower seeds. It will be exciting to see how the flowers turn out.

And this is the pillow I have made for the swap. I'm sending it right after the weekend, to???

I really hope she'll like it:-)

Have a nice weekend!

Hugs:-)

I'm learning something new!

...How to sew zippers.

I have been so afraid to sew zippers, but it helps with great tutorials and to read the manual of the sewing-machine...;-)

This little pouch is a free tutorial over at Noodlehead, and it is soooo great! I loved it at the moment I saw it, and knew that I had to make it right away. I made my own twist on it, by adding the ric rac and the buttons.

Here is a shoot of the inside of the pouch, with a divider pocket and room for two credit-cards/drivers licence etc.

The other pouch is from a tutorial over at Timotei, she makes such lovely little pouches and other stuff... Love her blog! And she has explained in an easy way how to sew zippers.

This bag is not perfect, the zipper got a little crooked, but I think I can do better with some practice. At least I gave it a try, and found out that it's not so scary after all!

The pouch is small, I am making two of them, and both are from one fat quarter.

Now I need to get back to my sewing machine! I have some finishes that has to be done by tomorrow.

See you later!

Cutie Pinwheel

...Is having a giveaway, celebrating 200 followers!

Wonderful mail from "down under".

A while ago I saw that Jenny In Australia was blogging about Tilda fabrics, and how hard they are to get in her part of the world. So I asked her if he would accept some fabrics as a gift from me! She suggested a swap, and this is the lovly fabrics she sent for me.

I really like the designs of Rosalie Quinlan, so the fabrics from her line, "Grandmother's Flower Garden" are perfect:-)

Jenny also sent me one of her beautiful epatterns, and I will make sure to make a project from it as soon as I can find the time.

And as if this was not enough, a couple of weeks later she sent me this wonderful embroidery floss! They are hand-dyed in Australia, and the colours are just wonderful:-)

Thank you so much Jenny!

I got some wonderful mail today too, I'll take some pictures and show you very soon:-)

Some updating!

I have been so busy since I got back home, I am preparing our wedding wich is now only 11 days away. I can hardly wait! But pfheww it's a lot of work!

Here are some pictures from my trip to Tonsaasen...

This first one is the old sanatorium wich in the old days was used for rehabilitation of tuberculosis. It is now owned by Tonsaasen Rehabilitation, and used for housing some of the people that are working there. Big, scary building in my eyes;-)

This picture is from a place called "Meinset", a really beautiful cabin that we were walking too... It is a hard trip, lots and lots of uphill, but sooo worth it when you are on the top and can see the view!

...Some of the spectacular nature in Valdres:-)

The pictures does not do the nature justice, but it's a little peek of how beautiful this country is... I'm just a little sorry I was not there in the summertime, the snow limited us when it came to where to walk and so on.

I have been sewing a couple of small projects after I got back as well, and I had some nice mail coming in from far away... So I will have something to show you over the next days!

A small update!

I have a lot to share and a lot of pictures to show you, but you know what? I forgot the cord to my camera at home! Silly me... So I guess it will be another week until you get to see what's going on in Tonsaasen.

But let me tell you... Spring has not arrived here yet!!! Lots of snow everywhere, cold nights and mostly sunny days:-)

I'll see you soon!

Hugs:-)

What's this?

Just a little sneak peek on what is going on in my sewing room at the moment... Got to be done before the 12'th of june:-)

(Sewing clothes is not my strongest side, so wish me luck)

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I'm just about to take a trip, going to be away for two weeks...

I am quite a big sized girl, and I am trying to loose some of it. And I am so lucky to be accepted as a client in a program held in "Tonsaasen" (follow the link to see some pictures).

I will be there for two weeks, learning about food, nutrition and training. Surrounded by beautiful nature and mountains!

This is a program going over five years, and this is my second year going there. I learned so much there last year, so I'm looking forward to the stay, starting tomorrow.

Lucky for me, my sewing machine is going with me, so I will not be out of things to do when I'm not training or having classes:-)

I will share some pictures from my stay in Tonsaasen, so stay tuned:-)

More UFO's.

I'm still digging in my UFO box, and yesterday I finished these two.

I had the squares made out of strips, so I sewed them together and put on a border. I thought it was a little boring, so I added the hearts with raw edge appliqué.

Here is a closeup of the quilting. I am practicing feather borders at the moment. It's so much fun, I am finally getting better at the freemotion quilting. My stitches are still a little uneven, but with a lot of practice I think it will be better.

These stitcheries is from a great BOM over at Gail Pan Designs, and they are free! I made these three, but then I decided to use another fabric for the background, and different threads. So the three stitcheries in this wallhanging ended up in the box. But now I finally finished them! I think it got cute with the bright green and red.

I still have a lot of UFO's to finish, but I need to start some new projects too:-) Next up is my pillow for my secret swap-partner! That will be a fun project:-)

Winter mini quilt swap!

I made this for Betsy Lynn in North Carolina, USA!

I had news that she got it, so now I can show it to you!

Sorry about the bad photo...

A little early for this, but...

..I took a dive in my UFO box, and this is one of the tings I finished yesterday! I had this stitchery done before Christmas, but it ended up in the box somehow.

I used ricrac together with the border, and I think it gave the wallhanging a nice effect. Solid red for the binding.

I freemotion quilted it, still practicing on that! But I am getting better...

At last, a photo from my garden, spring is finally here! I love it when the first flowers are blooming:-)

Have a nice weekend!

I'm in heaven!

...Fabric heaven, that is...

I went a little "bananas" when these fabrics was on sale in my favorite online quilt-shop... At first, I ordered one bundle of fat-quarters, but I soon found out that I needed more! And ended up with four different fat-quarter bundles and some yardage.

Oh, all the things I can make with them! But I have to admire them a little more before I cut into them:-) And prewash, of course...

Pretty, huh? I guess I'm a fabriholic...

(Fabric line is Minny Muu from Lecien)

Project Pillow Swap.

I joined a swap today, this will be exciting!

It's still time for you to join, if you go to Modified Mix to sign up.

A little surprise...

...For someone...

Hope she likes it!

Winter Mini Quilt Swap.

It seems things are taking a long time to get on my blog lately, but here it is...

I got this lovely quilt about two weeks ago, and I adore it! Love the snowflakes and the fabrics in it and the colors. And it is just the right size for a small tabletopper!

Thank you to you, Jennifer!

Now I'm waiting to hear from the reciever of the quilt I made for the swap. I'm a bit nervous something went wrong... The quilt was sent about a month ago, and I have not heard anything yet. Crossing my fingers that it's just caught up in customs or something.

Do you need some inspiration?

...To use fabric from your stash? Rae Ann at Cutie Pinwheel has started a new blog to give us all some help and inspiration! Check out Stash Manicure and become a follower! I'm sure there will be a lot of great ideas and inspiration to be found there.

I sure need to use some of my stash, so I can feel better about buying new fabric:-)