Several of my blog followers and FB friends have often asked me about where they can buy patterns by AnnAKa - they are available from quilt shops in Scandinavia, and there are lots of links on the side bar of my blog. I buy mine from my friend Hanne who has a quilt shop in Bodø called Lappedilla, and also from Elisabeth who has a quilt shop in Sweden called Lapp-Elisa. Please contact them if you need any help with ordering patterns - they will be very happy to help you. This shows me with Ann and my friend Hanne when I went to stay in Norway for the first time in November, 2009 - I was lucky enough to be invited to stay with Hanne and to do a course with Ann - it was extremely exciting! I had such a great time there, and made friends with lots of Norwegian ladies - hei hei!! And this picture was taken when I met Ann the second time, in 2011 and I did ANOTHER course with her - I really am VERY lucky!! And of course I'm lucky to have so many Norwegian friends - especially Hanne and Eva. I've got quite a large collection of AnnAKa patterns, as you can probably imagine!
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If any of my blog readers are local to this area (or even if they're not!!) they might be interested in a Norwegian Day that is being hosted at my local quilt shop. The owner, Karin, is hosting this day and there will be a rep from the Hurtigruten. She will describe the epic voyage along the Norwegian coast made by the Hurtigruten ships since 1870. Her talk will feature highlights from the 37 towns visited each day by two working ships, one calling from the south and the other calling from the north as they bring vital supplies to the local people. One of the stops along the route is in Bodø, just North of the Arctic Circle, where my friend Hanne has the most wonderful quilt shop - Lappedila - hei hei Hanne!!..... .....there will be coffee and waffles (Norwegian waffles are DELICIOUS and I've got my very own Norwegian waffle maker that my friend Eva bought me when she came to stay with me - how lucky am I!!) - and a "make and take" that my daughter Alice is teaching, and a free raffle too.... .....anyway, the most important thing is, Karin asked me if I could lend her some of my Norwegian projects to display in the shop. Well of course I said yes, so there will be lots of my work on display, mostly table runners, and some bags - all designs that I have made from Scandinavian patterns and magazines. Hope to see you there!! 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. 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. 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!! I have some very exciting news to share with my blog followers. On Tuesday I am off on another epic journey to the frozen North - yes, I am off to Norway again - I will be staying with Eva, in Otta, and together we will travel to stay with Hanne, in Bodø, and we will be doing a course with AnnAKa. While we are travelling back to Otta from Bodø, Eva and me are stopping off in Trondheim so we can meet up with a blogging friend, Laila, and visit a quiltshop Quiltegården..... .....it will be great to meet up with Hanne and Eva, who have both become very special friends, and I expect we'll have a lot to catch up with. I've got my thermal undies packed, along with plenty of layers to keep me warm on my travels. I'll post plenty of pictures on my blog when I get back :)..... This is a picture of the quilt I made when I went on my travels to Norway. The Norwegian word for this is a "Smykketeppe" which is a quilted wall-hanging to keep jewelry on. It's made with old fabrics and linen, lace and trimmings and.....old underwear!! There is a pocket made with half a bra, and a pocket made with a pair of knickers!! and all sorts of trimmings are added including suspenders, lacey bra straps, bra fasteners, ric-rac, and lace. I don’t think there is anything quite like this here in the UK!!! When this was on show at a "Quilt-Walk around Wickham Market", it was proudly displayed in the underwear shop - and received more than a few gasps and comments when people saw what it was made with!!!... ..so maybe the title of this post should have been...."The Intrepid Travels of a Quilter"..... or maybe “The Mad Ramblings of a Menopausal Sewing Fanatic”!!!! In my previous post, I mentioned my friend Hanne and this is the story of how we met on the internet!! It all happened in the summer of 2009 while I was trying to find a particular Norwegian quilt magazine, and had emailed several quilt shops in Norway – anyway, Hanne replied to my email - she sounded very friendly, and was very helpful and was able to set up a subscription for me to a fabulous magazine, “Quiltemagasinet” – so just imagine how excited I was when she emailed me to ask if I would like to travel to Norway!!! The main reason was to go on a workshop with her, that was being taught by a Norwegian Quilt designer AnnAKa (it was one of AnnAKa’s patterns that I was trying to get my hands on when I was originally trying to get a copy of Quiltemagasinet) and to stay with Hanne and her family. Well of course I couldn't say no as this was a chance in a lifetime. I tell you, I couldn't get that plane ticket booked quick enough. The next few weeks went by in a bit of a blur, as I started to collect all sorts of fabric and lace and “goodies” for my trip to the north. It was only when I was waiting at the airport that I thought “oh my goodness what am I doing here??” I couldn't speak a word of Norwegian, I’d got to get another flight when I got to Norway from Trondheim to Bodø and I’d never actually met Hanne, and she might not like me!! Well a hasty vodka shot soon calmed my nerves, and I practically skipped onto that plane!! It was fantastic when I finally met Hanne as she really is the nicest person, and she looked after me really well. I had a fabulous time with her and her family and friends, and meeting AnnAKa was terribly exciting!! Oh and Hanne and me have stayed firm friends and she came here to stay with me earlier in the year, and another friend I met in Norway, Eva (hei hei!!) came here to stay with me in the summer... ...I also made some bags with the leftover fabrics and trimmings from the "Smykketeppe" probably to keep underwear and make-up and other "treasures and secrets" in. What do you think of them?
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About me...Hi - welcome to my quilting blog! My passions are my family, my dog, my friends and sewing, not necessarily in that order! Archives
July 2023
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