Nordic Quilt Festival 2009

Greetings! Last weekend, several of us from
our local quilt guild, drove to Göteborg, Sweden, to experience the Nordic Quilt Festival. We had a wonderful time, viewing the fabulous exhibits, spending lots of cash at the great quilt shops (ouch!!) and just taking in the beautiful sights of Göteborg!
I also discovered a scrap-booking shop and went a little over-board!! Is it possible to have TOO many hobbies??!!!! Hmmm...I sometimes wonder!!!

Anyways!!! Here are some photos from the festival....way too many to show here, but these are some of my favorites!!!

I LOVE BUTTONS!!!!

I was also very happy to be able to meet some "blog friends", Hanne and May Britt! I found them amidst the fantastic Norwegian display of quilts and we had a nice chat together! I can assure you that they are just as delightful in person as they are on their blogs! ;o)

Another pleasant surprise, was meeting these nice ladies (below) from Iceland! I am very sorry that I have forgotten your names, but please know that I enjoyed our chat so very much! One of their guild members, Anna Margrét, is a dear friend of mine and it was nice that I could send greetings back to Iceland to her via these ladies!

The Icelandic exhibition, by the way, was just super!! Thanks for sharing!

There were also lots of "Dear Jane-inspired" quilts on display!
Of course, being a Janiac myself, I am a bit partial to them!!

Dear Jane, awesome in reds!!

This lovely quilt caught my eye at once! It's a wonderful sampler made with the centre block of the Dear Jane quilt, G8 - Indianapolis!!
I remember G8 distinctly,
as it was my first hand-pieced Jane Stickle block!

Fantastic quilt. The appliqué is just exquisite!
It was pointed out to me that May Britt is pictured somewhere in this work!
Can you see her?!

Ah, there she is!! Busy sewing, as usual!!!

I'll sign off with a few more photos from the exhibit!
Not enough room here to post as many as I'd like to, but I hope you get a good idea of the quality of these inspirational creations!
Thanks for stopping by!!
Mary Ann

PS: I'd love to be able to give credit to the artists of these quilts, so if you know who they are, please let me know!!
Thanks! Mary Ann

Retro Rocks!

I just finished a little knitted jacket for a friend's grand-baby! It's done in some pretty cool retro colours, don't you think?! It now just needs buttons (instead of the pins I used to tack it closed!) and little Clara will have her new coat for chilly spring evenings! The yarn, Bambini, is a lovely merino wool by Wilfert's. The pattern is from Nørkleriet, in Copenhagen.

Speaking of "retro", check out this wall-paper we found behind some old panelling! Isn't it cool??!! It reminds me of some of the wonderful Westminster fabrics out on the market these days!!
Anyways, I just love redecorating and finding remnants of previous owners' handiwork!
It's so inspiring to see other people tastes, especially when they make me happy like this great wall-paper does!!! ;o)

I'll sign off with a pic of our cherry tree's gorgeous blossoms from last week!
Aren't they beautiful?!

Shades of Purple

Here are a few shades of purple from our garden. There's so much going on out there at the moment with buds swelling and flowers springing open...this is such a wonderful and hopeful time of the year. I caught a few of these beauties with the camera today and thought I'd share them with you!







Now we just have to wait for the lilacs, which are about 2-3 weeks away!
They are my all-time FAVORITE purple blooms!!


I've actually been in a kind of purple mood myself the past little while. Not much quilting or sewing happening, but I have put my knitting needles to work! Here is a little top knitted in the Onion Super Merino yarn. It's knit in size 6 months to one year, but the pattern goes all the way up to 6 years. It still needs blocking, but I think it turned out ok. I haven't knit a pattern that required so much concentration in some time, so I found it quite a challenge! But then again, it's always good to give yourself a few challenges, right?!

Hope you've all had a great weekend!
Cheers! Mary Ann

Dear Jane Bag in Bright Batiks!

Happy Sunday, everyone! Hope you've had a chance to do something special today!
I worked on a project which May Britt on Abyquilt inspired me to! I saw a picture on her blog of a bag made from Jane Stickle blocks and immediately thought of my box of lonely Swap Blocks! A few years back, I participated in an online exchange of Bright Batiks on Black blocks done in Jane Stickle's lovely style! I had always wondered how I would incorporate these little lovelies into a project! When I saw the pictures May Britt had taken at their annual quilt show in Norway, I knew what the future held in store for these joyful blocks! Now, my friends won't ever lose me amongst the maze of quilters at a show, with a colourful bag like this!!!

I machine-pieced the blocks together and machine-quilted them afterwards.
It was a change from just using a needle and thread like I usually do!

Here, I'm using a neat little attachment on my Pfaff.
It's a "Stitch In The Ditch" foot which makes this task very easy!
Anyways, I really love gadgets...in fact, I just very well may be the "Queen of Gadgets"....!!!!!

And here is the back-side of my bag! I used all but one of my
Bright Batik Blocks... I think I just might see a pin-cushion in the works here!

Thanks for sharing your pictures, May Britt!
As usual, you're a wealth of inspiration!
Now, I have my new bag ready for our Dear Jane get-together tomorrow evening!
Cheers!
Mary Ann

Tilda Swap!!!!

Look what arrived in the mail this weekend!!!!

Inside the pretty package was the sweetest Tilda Angel!! It was love at first sight!! She holds a beautiful basket of flowers and has the cutest braids!!!
And look at those cookies! My husband and I quickly taste-tested these honey cakes and they're absolutely YUMMY!!!!!!
There were also spring napkins, tea-lights, a lovely soft-sculptured heart and some bright-coloured Easter eggs, which I hung on a little tree-branch!




I joined the Tilda Spring Swap which was hosted by Maaike in The Netherlands. Her and I were also swap partners!! This has been really fun and I hope to do it again some time!
Thanks so much for swapping with me, Maaike!! I hope you like the things I've sent you and I wish you a very Happy Easter, together with your new Tilda Angel!!

Pop over and visit Maaike at her blog!
I'm sure that you'll be more than welcome!

Recent Squishies!!!

March brought lots of goodies in the mail
pour moi! Here's a couple of great books by
Liz Lois. Nearly Insane is from Elaine on the Dear Jane list. I put out an online request to purchase a used copy of this challenging book, and Elaine came through for me!! Many thanks, Elaine! Just Plain Nuts also arrived at my door, a sweet surprise from my friend Karen! This is the newest book by Liz Lois, with even more challenging blocks to hand-piece! Thanks, Karen, for your kind gift!
Don't you just love the names of these books???!!!!

Also, I was the very lucky winner of a draw for Melly and Me's new pattern, EMOtional Anna and SeBATstian!!! Now how cute is this pattern??!!! I absolutely love it!!!
A huge thanks to Melly and Rosie for picking my name!!!! I look very much forward to sewing up this cute pair!!! Oh, there's a new book in the works by Melly and Me...the sneak previews have been wonderful!!!

In the beginning of March, I received a pattern for a Cupcake Pincushion by Sandi Henderson of Portabello Pixie! I found the pattern a bit tricky, with lots of curved piecing, but as it was just my first try, I'm hoping that I'll get a bit better with practice!! ;o) If anyone has sewn this little pincushion and has some good tips for me, I'd love to hear from you!! Oh, the fabric is from Heather Bailey's Fresh Cut series.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Spring is in the Air!

Spring has finally sprung here in Denmark! These small Eranthus blooms are always the first to pop up in the garden! They are such a beautiful and welcome sight to see after a long winter! Our garden is just filled with them!!

Here is our little grandson, Oskar, sporting the vest I recently knit for him! It's a nice and easy pattern that really fits babies well! It's done in ribbing and because of the stretchiness of the rib, fits over a span of many months!
It's knit in Alpacca yarn.

Speaking of our little Oskar, here are some pictures of his baby quilt made by Grandma! I used some cute Beatrix Potter fabric and framed the fussy-cut prints with blue and off-white. I wanted a soft, subtle look for this quilt and finished it off with hand-quilted hearts in the inner square, around the blocks and finally ducks and flowers in the outer border. I was happy with the results!

And The Winner Is........!!!!!!

Good Evening, everyone!!

I'm a bit late here...it's almost 12:30 am, but I'm still calling it Friday night here in Denmark!!!

Time for my Give-Away Draw!!

My camera battery is unfortunately dead, but here are some pics taken with my cell-phone! Not the best quality, but I think you can still get the idea!!

My husband was kind enough to volunteer to make the draw for the winner!!!

And the winner is..................!!!!!!!!!!!!!

STINA from Sweden!!!!!

Congratulations, Stina!!! Please send me your snail mail so I can get your
Tilda Prize off to you!!!

Thanks to EVERYONE who popped by and left their sweet comments on my Blog!
It's so nice to read your posts and hear where you're from and a bit about yourselves!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone, and I promise to host another
Give-Away in the near future!

Nightie, Night!!
Mary Ann

Edited to say: I just went over to read Stina's Blog and it's her BIRTHDAY today!!! That was a very lucky coincidence, I must say!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STINA!!!!!