A week in July

July has been unusually busy yet quiet in the Mrs Moen household. Husband has been on a long business trip and the young ones on holiday, and they have all arrived home safely. I used the opportunity to spend quite a few days by myself – quilting, proof reading, putting together the concept for the Lag på lag class, and spending some time with friends. At one point I got rather restless, but the short trip to my parents helped a bit. The summer has been unusually wet and cold so I have to admit I wish we had taken our annual trip to the Canary Islands.

Here’s a little recap from last week:
Looking for interesting patterns helps killing waiting time while travelling

and so do fascinating artworks (Stavanger airport)



(Oslo airport)

(yes, it seems to be thread)

beautiful buildings (the art museum in Lillehammer called "the grand piano")

(and the old bank next door)

and gorgeous flowers.

Finally finding that perfect and totally extravagant orange purse

reading an old childhood book in bed

watching the sunset adding gorgeous colours to my delayed return flight

and totally priceless - sharing lots of laughs with loved ones.

I’ll be taking the week off to spend with my family. Have a wonderful week!

Train of thoughts

I'm on my way home from visiting my parents. The trip takes a few hours, and right now I'm on a train riding right next to Mjøsa. Mjøsa is the largest lake in Norway and my hometown is right at the end of the lake. It's a beautiful day after quite a lot of rain lately, and the view is stunning. It's always a bit sad to leave and always nice to come home. My flight is in a couple of hours, so I have plenty of time to enjoy Creative Mojo and the view. Not a bad day at all.

See you when I get home:)

ATC swap - Edny

As I made a few extra sets of ATCs, I invited a couple of other bloggers to do a private swap. One of them is Edny and this weekend her ATCs arrived in my mailbox.

Aren’t they gorgeous, I love them!

“Sorg” (Grief)

“Rosetog” (Rose parade)

“Håp” (Hope)

“Vintermorgen” (Winter morning)

I am quite sure at least the first two are inspired by the events of July 22 last year with the trial that has recently been going on and the first anniversary coming up soon.

Thank you so much, Edny, they are beautiful!

Lag på lag

After a month or so in the works (brainstorming, shopping and editing too many ideas included) I am happy to present my new mixed media quilting class “Lag på lag” (layer upon layer) which I first will be teaching in Trondheim October 12-14. Trondheim Quiltelag is hosting a weekend filled with classes and fun, and it’s open to everyone, so please, do contact them if you want to be part of the fun.

In this class we’ll be playing with different kinds of transparent materials, building our projects one layer at the time. We’ll be working with sheers, papers, yarn, and different kinds of fibers – painting pictures without paint or brushes, only using scissors and the sewing machine. Our main focus is on techniques, materials and possibilities, so most of the quilting itself and finishing will be done at home. My collection of special fibers will be available as kits for those who want a head start.

The class is in 2 parts which can be taken together or separately.

Module 1 (Friday + Saturday)
Warming up playing with different kinds of fibers and looking at how they work together

and building pictures/backgrounds using fibers. You can choose whichever colour scheme you’d like, but these three colour schemes will be available as kits: Fall

Winter

Spring

Module 2 (Sunday)
Creating simple shapes like trees, houses and clouds which can be attached to a background

Using two different techniques to build shapes like trees/flowers and houses directly onto a background.

Sorry about the wind and a few loose threads in some of the pictures. A detailed list of what is needed for each module will be emailed to the students a few weeks before the class.You will find a (Norwegian) presentation of the class uploaded here.

This technique, which I call “painting with fiber”, has been in progress for years – in my mind, while taking a painting class 3 years ago, and while dipping my toes into the waters of mixed media play. It has been so exciting to finally see the results and that they turned out everything I imagined and then some. I have a quite a few more ideas I want to try out and a few huge boxes of stuff to make into kits. I will post everything related to this class under the label “Lag på lag” as I move forward. This is going to be so much fun!

Village of Odd

Wednesday's wool and sheers are in the process of being transformed into the Village of Odd. I brought my samples outside for taking pictures yesterday but discovered I had not cut threads or anything on several of them. I'm leaving the edges raw on most of them (for now) so my students can better understand the process.

This morning grandson and I have organized his playing area, next up is bathtime and cleaning my car. Two whole days of grandma bliss and going with the flow will provide a much needed break (sound of me exhaling).

Have a lovely weekend!

Shaping it up

I am getting close to the end of this project and frankly, I am starting to run out of steam. I have some more shapes to create, but in between them, I'll be spending a few lazy days with grandson. Besides cleaning my car, we'll have plenty of time to do nothing and enjoy ourselves while doing so.

But this morning, more shapes...