Smykketeppe

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?