Task of the day, May 31

Attaching a sleeve zzzzz...

How I feel

While I should be hand stitching bindings, I had to make this little guy. This week marked the anniversary of one moment which had tremendous consequences, and as the year has come to a full circle and I’m doing all the things I usually do, this is how I feel - a little sad.

I’m linking this up to Amylou’s Sew & Tell.

Make do update

More that 3 weeks into my first Make do month, I’m doing great. The only thing I had to buy was a piece of tulle for my City quilt, other that that I have been making do with the best of them. Honestly I haven’t even been that tempted, but I am getting my fabric fixes by sorting and playing with my stash – and some unexpected gifts from MIL. This was her dress when husband was little (about 45++ years ago) and later made into a pillow case. Now the seams are ripped and the pieces reside in my stash. I love the colours and pattern and am amazed how modern it looks.

Task of the day, May 26

Today I’m making binding for 3 quilts; Saying Cheese, City and 1 of 10. I haven’t figured out how to attach two of them yet as one has 3 fabrics (which need to be positioned in specific places without any bulky seams) and both have to be pinned on instead of my usual approach of sewing like the wind and block the quilt afterwards if needed. These quilts cannot be stretched in any direction as I have already sent off the dimensions.

I cut off 1” off the City quilt after squaring it up. I had added a piece to a strip of fabric just to make sure the quilt would meet the 1m requirement after quilting. Well, it ended up at 107cm and the line bothered me, so off it came. I was terrified cutting that thing, afraid that something would go wrong and the quilt would end up too short. Luckily it didn’t.-)

You can see how I do my bindings here if you don’t mind less-than-perfect pictures; it was my first tutorial.

Task of the day, May 25

Today I’ll hopefully finish quilting the Saying Cheese quilt and pick out a binding from my Big Box of Binding. The ribbon quilting I did on the background did not turn out very well as the Lutradur is too stiff for the stitches to sink into the batting. I still think they make a great filler design though.

Last evening brought us the brightest rainbow I have ever seen. The pictures are taken out of our living room window, the last one with the zoom on my camera. I did not run looking for the pot of gold though as I was too tired…

Pop art

While my City quilt is spending a few days on the floor getting blocked, I’m playing around with other stuff. Seriously, watching a quilt dry is just as boring as watching paint dry, although the colours are somewhat more exciting.

I know I haven’t finished my own Saying Cheese portrait yet, and there’s no way I should start another project in any size, shape or form until I am done with my exhibition entries and a load of new class samples, but wouldn’t these make great portrait quilts??(Pop art made in FotoFlexer)

Oh temptation, thy name is New Ideas …

Sew In No 4

I spent Friday Night Sew In quilting on my “1 of 10” quilt. I purposely let the inserted strip of fabric drag a little this way and that to get a more organic feeling to it, but now I’m thinking it looks kind of sloppy. Oh well, there is no chance that I’ll unpick all the stitching, I have enough problems getting it done by the deadline already as the entry form has to be in by Friday with measurements and all. Maybe adding some hand stitching will bring the wonkiness more out. I have a few more weeks before it has to be shipped off and plenty of time to put on binding, sleeve and embellishments.

I also cut out more cow shapes for two Moo Point quilts. These will have two cows facing each other like they are having a conversation. They will be appliquéd onto a worn out flowery duvet cover that I got from MIL and a table cloth with machine embroidered flowers.

So, did you have a creative week?

Imagine that! Thank you, guys!

Welcome to my blog, Mrs Moen! This is my second time participating in the Blogger’s Quilt Festival over at Amy’s Creative Side.

I have picked “Imagine that! Thank you, guys!” (130cm *130cm) this time; I’m not sure it’s my favourite quilt, but it definitely was one of the most fun to make. It was created and finished within a period of two crazy weeks in the spring of 2006 for Husqvarna Viking’s competition” Imagine that” (no, I don’t think I slept very much, and no, it did not make the final cut).
Artist’s statement: This quilt is my way of honouring some of men’s great creations: the work of my favourite architect, my favourite car, my maternal grandfather’s bridge, and other creations that are practical, beautiful, amusing or just for pure enjoyment.
The cogwheels represent dreams and ideas, some spinning around in the head, and others have become a reality.
Thanks to the creators and their great imagination!


The quilt is made from cotton fabrics, with fusible appliqué and free motion quilting and writing. I pretty much let my imagination flow and picked lots of inventions. Internet proved invaluable while looking for the creators of all kinds of stuff.

These made the final cut (no pun intended):

La Sagrada Familia, Antonio Gaudi

The chocolate cake, Antonin Careme

The candy bar, Joseph Fry (see a theme here??)

The Tromsø Brigde, Erling Kjeldsen (my maternal grandfather)

The sewing machine, Elias Howe

The diamond engagement ring, Archduke Maximillan of Austria

Porsche 911, Ferdinand Porsche

Band aid, Earle Dicson

The zipper, Gideon Sunback

Penis envy, Sigmund Freud (see all the question marks there??)
The shopping bag, Walter H. Deubner
The wheel, Mesopotamians
Christmas tree lights, Edward Johnson
The chastity belt, Just guessing: a guy?

Some times quilting is just a lot of creative fun.-)

Giveaway Day winner and a couple of finishes

Thank you to all of you who entered my “Happy May House” giveaway. I haven’t been able to take the full Giveaway Day tour yet, but the links will hopefully be up at Sew Mama Sew for a while so I get to visit all the fabulous blogs.

Random.org has done its magic and congratulations to lucky No 4, Janet, who is the winner of my little quilt.

The lovely young lady on the 17th of May photos is not me, but our lovely daughter with our lovely grandson. I’m sorry to disappoint any new readers; I should have specified that and not made you believe I am a beautiful 20-something instead of a middle aged grandma.-)

I managed to squeeze a couple of small projects in between other tasks this week.

This month’s theme for The Monthly Design Challenge at Finki’s is Indigenous Australia. Fortunately she included a definition: Indigenous: Originating and living or occurring naturally in an area or environment.

I’m not quite sure that my fish meets the description as it is from an Australian rock painting. I wanted to make a fish quilt and while googling Australia+fish this image popped up and I loved it. The words are from my favourite saying “Det er von i hengande snøre” which translates into something like “There is hope in a hanging (fishing) line”.


The other finish from this week is another I know, I know quilt, “I know more”, for a friend overseas.
Both quilts have my favourite Keith Haring paper clips attached for hanging. I got a few boxes from a clearance bin several years ago, and have used them for small pieces like Christmas cards. I’m running out of them, so I’ll have to find some other cool clips at some point.

I’ll be linking this up to Amylou’s Sew & Tell on Friday as tomorrow's post will be my entry to the Blogger's Quilt Festival. Will you be participating?

Hotpads galore

Step by step hot pads for tonight's guild meeting.
You'll find my Giveaway Day post a couple of posts down.

17th of May photos

Today I'm quilting like a mad woman, but here are some pictures from yesterday's celebration

Hurrah for the 17th of May and Giveaway day!

Welcome to my blog, Mrs Moen, and thank you for stopping by. Feel free to kick off your shoes and have a look around.

I am a Norwegian quilter and designer, and this is my first time participating in Sew Mama Sew’s Giveaway Day. I have created a little appliquéd quilt, “Happy May House” (8”*11 1/2”), for my giveaway.

As we are celebrating our national holiday today, I have chosen the colours from our flag, red (well, the red colour family anyway), white and blue. The background is a damask fabric; the quilt is embellished with a few buttons and hand stitches, and has hanging loops attached.

17th of May is one of the favourite days of the year for most Norwegian kids, starting with the children’s parade in the morning. I love watching all the dressed up and happy kids marching along in a rather disorganized manner, cheering and waving their flags. I choke up every year when they stop in front of the senior centre to sing the national anthem (did I say I choke up?? Yup, every year!). After the parade there are games in the school yard and the kids get to eat as much ice cream and hot dogs as they like. Later there is the citizen parade, more food and ice cream, sore feet and tired little ones. Happy day indeed!

So, back to the giveaway, for a chance to win you have to leave a comment to this post. Please make sure I have a way of contacting you if you should win. I will ship internationally.

The giveaway is open until noon at the 20th of May (Norwegian time), when the winner will be randomly picked by Random.org.

Good luck to you all; I’m off to watch the parade!

Sorry, the giveaway is now closed!

Task of the day, May 16

Like pretty much every other mom in this country, 16th of May is the day when bunads (our national costumes) are pressed and fitted and flags ironed. Tomorrow is our national holiday and the celebration starts early in the morning, so I'd better be prepared and ready to go.

Daughter’s bunad, Husfliden’s Blue Rogalandsbunad, is my biggest needlework achievement although a bit crinkly from storage right now.

Detail of shawl
and apron
I made it for her confirmation 8 years ago. Starting out way ahead, I got the fabric and everything two years before the big day. A year and a half later I hadn’t even taken it out of the bag (too busy quilting), so I signed up for a bunad embroidery class. That was money well spent, and after working on it for hours every day, it was finished just in time. Mom flew in and helped me assemble the costume, MIL made the shirt and the accessories were a gift from her father – a true family effort.

The teacher was very strict and particular; the wrong side should be as beautiful as the right. Mission accomplished – last year daughter wore her shawl on the wrong side for hours without anyone (not even me) noticing.-)
If I’m lucky I’ll get a picture of daughter and grandson in their costumes before they run off tomorrow morning.


I’ll also be arranging strips of fabric today. I love the fabrics and the format of this project (1m+ wide), so it will be fun even though the schedule is a bit tight. There’s nothing like a deadline to get those creative juices flowing…

Task of the day, May 15

Auditioning fabric for exhibition entry which should have been finished yesteryear or so.

A little love story

3 years ago, at 06:12, a new soul entered the world and we all moved up one generation.

A brand new mother
and a brand new grandmother. We don’t look too shabby having been up for 50 hours, do we?
He came home on the 17th of May which is our national holiday, dressed in a sailor suit and his car seat decorated with a flag. This was back when our couch still was solid grey and not decorated with formula, baby food and little finger marks all over.
1
Always exploring
and walking around and around and around the coffee table

2
Always on the move
and celebrating his birthday with chocolate cake

3
Always up to something
with big blue eyes that will make us do anything (and boy, he sure knows how to work those)
Happy birthday, little man!