Merry Christmas

I made an I SPY for A for Christmas. I used the "Turning Twenty" pattern and made the blocks 12" square. I like it :) And more importantly, so does A. I especially like the binding!

I tried to use as much dinosaur fabric as I could in this, it's hard to find dino prints here, but much to my liking A refers to this quilt as his Dinosaur-quilt :D I even put a label on it!!

Miss V also needed a quilt for her bed, and I have been promising her a princess quilt for a very long time.
Sometime in November this conversation took place:
Miss V: Mom, I am looking forward to Christmas sooooo much!
Me: Yes, I know
Miss V: Especially because at Christmas I'll get my princess quilt
Me: Really??!! (slight panic and disbelief)
Miss V: Yes, mom! That's why I can't wait!

So I started sewing!!

This is the front, the panel was giving me a hard time, I have never worked with one before. Miss V loves it, that's a success if you ask me :)

I tried some spiral quilting in the purple border - fun!

Both kids were happy with their quilts, and so am I!!

We had a very happy Christmas, I hope you all did too.
Little A and I have been sick for a little over a week, though, so that slowed everything down a bit.

Now I need to see if I met my sewing-expectations from last New Year, and decide on my goals for 2010!

I hope you and your loved ones had a very merry Christmas!

One month to go....

...and I haven't made any Christmas-presents yet!!! I have made a softie for my good friend who is having a baby...

....and I have been fabric-shopping. I won't show you all the fabric I bought, for some reason I hoard fabric when I am too busy to sew!

Oooops...the photo is upside-down!

I have started the princess quilt for Viola. This is a picture of the quilt-top. It had me so confused, I never worked with a panel before.

It's a little too pink-and-purple-and-glitter for me, but I am pretty sure Miss V will love it ;)

I finally finished my 8two8 quilt. And I love it!

I love the backing fabric, the dots are happy-happy-happy..

I quilted some spirals in the sashingstrips, and squirly-squirls everywhere else.
This is a picture of the finished quilt. I like it so much. Can you tell?!
I am going to try to get back into blogging, but I am having such a hard time getting into the new routine. I miss you. And I miss sewing. So much.

Changes in our routine..

September is Johns month in SewConnected 2. He has chosen to make a house quilt inspired by Ingrid Press. I made him this little house, and is was so much fun to make, I'm thinking he'll probably get at least one more from me :)

There has not been a lot of sewing going on here for a while now. As you know, I finished my studies and started working full-time. But there has been changes for the kids too.
Miss V started a new daycare in August, and A will be joining her this coming monday.
These are his new slippers, he is very happy with them

Charles is busy writing his PhD, so he has to work most weekends. The kids and I are having some good times at home, we have to make it extra special, so we don't miss Charles so much :)

The kids' favourite lunch (besides McD or BurgerKing. Lol) is homemade pizza. And if you ask them, there is no such thing as too many olives on a pizza.

Too bad for me, I don't like olives :)

Charles had given the kids these chocolate ladybugs, they thought it was fun to pretend they could play with the ladybugs on the tablecloth. Lol!!

So.....I am hoping to get a little sewing time today. It's sunday morning, and Charles is off to work right after breakfast. So maybe a little sewing time while A naps? Or maybe no sewing for me today....we'll have to see!

LEGOLAND!!!

My sister invited us all to Legoland for the weekend! Oh wow! Be warned.......this post has LOTS of pictures :)
Capitol built in Legos...
These are from the Lego Shop where you could buy all the strange kinds of Legos you can't normally buy -unless they are part of a set. Viola chose to buy lots of parts to build Lego men ;)
Very pleasing to a quilters eye that they are sorted by color....
The Statue of Liberty
And Mount Rushmore, they used 1.5 mio Legos to build this one (I'd hate to be the one who had to keep track)
This is the ceiling in the restaurant where we had lunch.... Legos, Legos...
....everywhere Legos! The kids loved these Lego fries :)
They also have an aquarium, they call the attraction "Atlantis"
Lots of fish, sharks, and of course, Lego divers!
Hans Christian Andersen
Look Diana! Giraffes!!

We had such a great weekend, it was unbelievable!!
The kids LOVED it :D
And so did I!

Hey! I finished something!!

This is the finished floor cushion! Yipee! It's app. 28" square, just big enough for both kids to sit on -although Ask is certain it is his! I may have to make one more, to keep the peace :)

Also, I started quilting my 8two8 quilt. I am really happy to be doing some FMQ again. It's so relaxing :) I would like to be able to quilt grids, though....one day!

I won't be able to finish it this week, because this weekend my sister invited the whole family to Legoland!
Needless to say, we are all very excited about going :)
Viola wanted to make a present for my sister to say thank you, so today we made this handbag for her. Viola chose the pattern (I gave her 3 options) and the button, and I chose the fabrics. The outer fabric is from Marimekko sent to me by my friend Anne, and the lining is a Michael Miller print.

The pattern is Half-Moon Handbag from Keyka Lou Patterns, and it is really easy to follow. I made this bag in 2 hours :) Viola is filling it with drawings, necklaces "diamonds" and other treasures.
It should be loved :)

Still undecided

Charles returned from his PhD course in Padua (close to Venice), Italy. I had hoped he would have a solution to my sashing-dilemma, but no such luck :) He brought me the beautiful glass paperweight in the top picture, I love it.
The paper it is sitting on, is the giftwrap from Ask's present. Isn't it gorgeous?! I made sure I saved it right away -it was not as if Ask was going to miss it. As soon as he saw the bag full of dinosaurs Charles had bought for him, he didn't care about anything else :)

To solve the sashing dilemma, I tried laying the blocks out on white fabric.

I am not crazy about this....maybe I just need to look at it for a couple of days. What do you think about it??

I am quilting my 8two8. Or trying to I should say. My machine is acting up :/
Hopefully I'll have pictures of the quilting next week.

LO indecision

These are most of my blocks from SewConnected2. A lot of very talented quilters have made me a block, and I really want to finish this quilt as beautifully as possible. I am tempted to sew the blocks together without sashing, and then add a pieced border...

But I am also auditioning fabrics for sashing... This is where I get confused. I know these things are a matter of personal preference, however, I would like you to tell me what you think of the different colors.
I already have some opinions on Flickr, but I would appreciate to hear what my blog-friends have to say too.

This first I really like, most of the SC2 group did not ;)

It is true, as one friend pointed out, that it does clash a little with the light green....oh no...

But then, how do you like this next choice? It is bluish/purple, and it has a slightly different texture than the cotton. I like this one too.

The last one, the pale blue, looks much better in the photo than it does in real life. Strange how that works out sometimes! I like it, though.

I also tried a navy and a brown sashing, but both of those made half the blocks look chopped off, because of the colorflow. So those I don't like.

What do you think??

Lazy weekend

My 8two8 has been left for too long now. I am quite intimidated by it, but since I would hate for it to end up as a UFO, I need to get started... So today I basted it while A was napping... It's large, I am a little worried about quilting it, but we'll see how it goes :)

I have all my pins in use (thank you Diana) for this one :)

I am also working on a pillowcase for a 28" sq. pillowcase for a floor cushion for the kids. I have been sewing the hexagons for a while, not having a specific project in mind for them. So now they are ending up part of a pillowcase :)

I quilted them last night.Lots of stopping and turning. I am so glad it was just a smallish square and not a full size quilt!

Charles is attending a PhD course this week, so he is in Italy. Before he left, he gave me this book:

YAY! I love it, it has some wonderful projects in it. I may just have to start doing some more appliqué!
More pictures here.

A little sewing

Last weekend, while I was sick, one of my best friends got married. Needless to say, I couldn't go to her wedding, but I also couldn't bear not to see her get married. So we went to give our gift, and to say congratulations.
I had made her the bag in the top photo, and we filled it with presents.

My friend had made all the decorations herself, not traditional, but really pretty. These are our seats.

We stayed for a little while, saw the beautiful ceremony and gave them our present. Then back home -luckily the party was just two blocks away! I was so tired, pain-killers only get you so far :)

We are also getting ready for fall, Miss V needed new slippers for her daycare. We went to lots of different stores, she tried on lots of different slippers, but nooooo...
Until she saw these

She loves them, which gives me hope she will actually wear them and avoid getting too many colds this winter!

I also made her this bag to hold her change of clothes, her slippers, her rainclothes, hat, mittens etc.
V chose the fabrics ;)

I used the Jane Market Bag pattern. It was really easy to make. I think this will make an exellent project for Christmas presents!