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?!