When my friend Eva came to stay with me in the summer of 2010, we had a great time together, including going on a couple of workshops with Lynette Anderson at my local quiltshop, Quilters Haven. (Didn't we all have a great time Eva - are you still busy stitching colonial knots??!!) All too soon our holiday had come to an end, and Eva returned to Norway just a few days before her birthday..... .....I wrapped up a very special present for her to take back to Norway because it was a very special birthday - and she was really excited when she unwrapped it - all the patterns and fabric to make "Friends for Christmas", a wonderful quilt designed by Lynette. Eva has spent the last few weeks busy stitching, and I have borrowed this photo from her blog to show you the finished quilt - it looks FAB!!
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You can imagine how excited I was on Wednesday evening when I got home from work to find a parcel had arrived all the way from Norway. My friend Eva had sent me some gifts for Christmas (and no I haven't peeked at them - they are safely stored away until Christmas Day!) and also in the parcel was a gift for my birthday. I was thrilled when I unwrapped it - Eva had made me a beautiful purse (the pattern is by Bente Malm) - and inside was some fabric - thank you sooooo much Eva - you are such a good friend - you know I don't have any fabric hehe!! My special friends Hanne and Eva bought me some lovely presents when they came to Birmingham. Hanne has these wonderful purse frames in her shop in Norway, Lappedilla, and she thought I might like some, together with a pattern to make these cute purses - oh I'll be able to have a different to co-ordinate with every outfit ;) Also she gave me this lacey zipper-by-the-metre for making some more make-up bags..... .....and Eva bought me a pattern and a kit to make a toalettveske (toiletry bag). She very kindly helped me to translate the pattern into English, although I'm going to make one first of all using "ugly" fabrics so I don't make a mistake using these beautiful ones. Eva also gave me some brown cheese which is delicious, especially served with Norwegian waffles, and she also gave me some hornsalt, which is essential to making perfect waffles. Oh and Hanne and Eva also taught me a few new Norwegian words, but I won't think I'll be repeating THOSE on my blog hehe especially the rude ones ;) It was really great to be able to spend a few days with Hanne and Eva. While we were there we met Merete, who is a long-arm quilter in Norway. I saw some of her work when I stayed in Norway, and it is really beautiful..... .....then we bumped into Merete again the next day! We also saw Heidi Bolgnes several times (another lovely Norwegian lady who I met in February during my travels) - sorry I didn't get a photograph of us together Heidi - maybe next time?..... .....and I was really excited about meeting two Norwegian sisters, Anne-Grethe and Mona (they are also nurses, something else we have in common!) and I have been following their blogs for a few years. We all had the same bag, "Håndbagasje" (hand luggage) by AnnAKa, and several ladies all stopped to take our photographs..... .....I "borrowed" this picture from Anne-Grethe's blog to show you what I mean - do you think they were saying "oh there's that famous Nicola Foreman" hehehe..... .....and finally Eva and Hanne on our final night in Birmingham. We had such a great time together - shopping for fabric, looking at a few quilts, shopping for fabric, chatting, shopping for fabric, eating - oh and by the way we had time to do a bit of shopping for fabric too! I really am very lucky to have such good friends. I have some very exciting news - my friend Eva from Norway has just become a Grandmother, and I am making a quilt for the new baby - a little boy called Sondre. I bought this Jelly Roll and fabric (Lily and Will by Bunny Hill Designs for Moda) from Quilters Haven. This will be quilted with a cream Mettler thread..... .....I am using this pattern by Teaginny Designs that was a free download from the Moda Bake Shop website. Sorry, but I can't post any more pictures yet as I have a very tight time scale to work with - but more about that later on :) My friend Eva sent me a parcel from Norway a few days ago - some beautiful linen - and it was GREEN - my favourite colour!! And these 2 spotty fabrics are lovely - now I really don't know what to make with these - another bag maybe?? To show off this beautiful linen?? All suggestions would be very grateful! On the course with AnnAKa, there were lots of projects in the compendium we were given - and the next project on our list was 3 hen placemats. Hanne thought it would be a nice idea if we made 3 identical placemats, one for each of us, so that when we used them we could rememeber each other - isn't that a nice idea?? Hanne had very kindly provided us with the fabrics (she had a HUGE box of fabrics at home and Eva and me decided we both NEEDED a box like that!!). Unfortunately we didn't get them completed while we were in Bodø, as we spent our final afternoon in Hanne's shop, so took them back to Otta with us to finish them - Eva is going to post Hanne's to her..... .....Eva is busy sewing on the binding (she taught me a new method for joining the ends - I'll be able to show this method to the ladies on my quilting classes)..... .....and here are the completed placemats, just before we finished sewing the binding to the backing. They looked great, and were very easy to make. When we returned from Bodø, we decided to make another Schnibbles - this one was called "Plan C" and Eva used the remainder of her "Boutique" Layer Cake to make this one (these small quilts use 5inch squares - my top tip is to use a Layer Cake, cut it into quarters, and you have enough fabric for 2 different Schnibbles - isn't that a cunning plan???) Eva worked very hard, and she was a very good student hehe..... .....here is the completed quilt top - it looked really nice. Kjempefine, Eva. .....I couldn't resist taking a picture of Eva's sewing corner (hint to Mr F - I really NEED a sewing corner like this) - the view was superb - mountains, pine forests, snow - it all looked stunning, and such a comfortable chair to sit in :) We travelled back to Trondheim on the night train, and stopped off to spend a few hours shopping and sight-seeing. We had breakfast in a delighful cafe, and had fruit tea, juice, bread and jam. It really was delicious..... ....then we made our way through the streets of this beautiful city, to the main reason for our visit to Trondheim..... ..... which was to visit Quiltegården - and to meet Siw, the owner. Unfortunately Laila was unable to meet us - I hope you're feeling better Laila - maybe we can meet next year??!!..... .....inside this shop there were lovely displays of fabrics and threads and all sorts of things that we NEEDED to buy. I was especially pleased to buy some beautiful linen fabic for stitchery, that Lynette Anderson used for her quilt "A Scandinavian Christmas"..... .....and quilts - (Hi Gail - it was great to see this version of your quilt "Busy Little Christmas Elves")..... .....and this version of Leanne's quilt "Down in the Garden". These colours were so soft, and very different from the original. We had a lovely time here, and spend several hours and several Kroner!!!..... .....visiting the cathedral in Trondheim was the perfect end to a perfect day. The reason that Eva and me were travelling to Bodø, was because we were on a quilting course with Ann A. Kanstad Johansen (AnnAKa), a Norwegian designer. I had met Ann in November 2009, when Hanne had invited me to Norway for the first time. This picture shows Ann and me, with her beautiful quilt, that Merete had longarm quilted. I had seen this quilt in a previous issue of Quiltemagasinet (a Norwegian quilting magazine) and it was great to see it in real life..... .....this is my runner "in progress".....I used a selection of fabrics including batiks, that I bought from Lappedilla.The course was all about using a "60 degree triangular ruler". Ann had lots of samples on show, and they were all really inspiring.... .....here is Heidi and Randi, with Randi's runner - the black/ white/ grey combination of fabrics looked really dramatic - and Randi was so quick - she started this runner on the Saturday, and brought it to class the next day quilted and bound - it looked fabulous. I think I might make one like this too - I'll add it to my growing list of projects that I NEED to do hehe..... .....Ann and Hanne busy chatting..... ....Eva and Elin are busy sewing and chatting!! Hi Elin - it was great to meet you on the course - hope we meet up again next year :) .....and Merete is demonstrating some ideas for quilting this runner - no, she's not drawing directly on the runner, she's drawing on a sheet of plastic..... .....and busy quilting her own runner - this looked really lovely Merete - kjempefine!!..... .....and here Ann is talking to the class about another runner that I made with the leftover fabrics from the previous one - and when completed, this will be a diamond shape. We all had a brilliant time on this course, as Ann is an excellent teacher and I hope to go on another class with her next year if she'll have me!! |
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July 2023
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