Lovebird giveaway update and winner

Happy Sunday, everyone! This weekend wooshed by surprisingly quickly, and I’m finally getting around to do what I should have done on Friday – drawing the winner of my little Lovebird giveaway. The wi-fi was down on Friday night, and yesterday I spent too many hours in a tiny room with a copier, leaving me with a thundering headache. Then we went to a birthday party and came home with the cows (yeah, it's a Norwegian expression meaning coming home early in the morning), so I slept in way too late today, throwing me totally off my game. Although I did not have anything stronger than mineral water, I’m just not used to staying up that late. Oh well, lots of fun and totally worth it.
 

Anyways, by the magic of random generators, the lucky winner of young Mr Lovebird is Nicolette of Dutchcomfort whose blog I have been reading for ages!

Congratulations, Nicolette, you’ll receive an email from me. To the rest of you, thank you for playing along!

The other Mr Lovebird has already left the nest heading for the US. Remember I said I had entered him into a challenge? Well, he made it as a finalist into the Mixed Media stitched square  Reader’s challenge at Cloth Paper Scissors, and is heading over there as we speak to be considered for publishing. I’m not holding my breath or anything, but it was fun making it onto the finals list of my first ever reader’s challenge.

Wishing you all a fabulous Sunday evening!

Giveaway Week: 4 curtains and the back of a shirt Pattern

On this fabulous Friday and the last day of Giveaway Week here at Mrs Moen, the pattern that is up for grabs is the “4 curtains and the back of a shirt Pattern”.

This is a fun project for those of you who would like to have a go at working with non-typical quilting fabrics. As the title suggest, this table runner is made from 4 curtains and the back of a shirt, and you probably too have some fabrics stashed away with which you are not sure what to do.

The table runner will of course look just as good in regular quilting cotton fabrics.

4 gardiner og en skjorterygg Mønster
4 curtains and the back of a shirt Pattern

Remember, the links will be open for 1 day only. Although the patterns may be downloaded for free today, copyright still applies and links and patterns may not be shared.

Enjoy!

Giveaway Week: Merry Christmas-cloth Pattern

On this fabulous Thursday and fourth day of Giveaway Week here at Mrs Moen, the pattern that is up for grabs is the Merry Christmas-cloth Pattern.

Dig out your fabric scraps in light and dark values, pair them up with a couple of pieces of fabrics, and make this fun and graphic Christmas table cloth with appliquéd text. The English version includes letters for MERRY CHRISTMAS.

The Merry Christmas-cloth will look just as good in traditional Christmas colours as in neutral tones.

God Juleduk Mønster
Merry Christmas-cloth Pattern

Remember, the links will be open for 1 day only. Although the patterns may be downloaded for free today, copyright still applies and links and patterns may not be shared.

Enjoy!

Giveaway Week: Hearts Pattern

On this fabulous Wednesday and third day of Giveaway Week here at Mrs Moen, the pattern that is up for grabs is the Hearts Pattern.

Hearts are popular all year around, so why not make a table runner and a pillow or two for your living room. The heart blocks look just as good in neutral fabrics on linen as in classic reds or cool blues.

This way of making pillows is a great way to use some of those hard to cut into fabrics.

Make some for Valentine’s Day, or stitch up a few sets in Christmas colours for some great gifts, or make them in light and happy summery tones to decorate the patio next summer. Use the blocks on table cloths, bags, place mats or lap quilts – the choice is yours.

Hjerter Mønster
Hearts Pattern

Remember, the links will be open for 1 day only. Although the patterns may be downloaded for free today, copyright still applies and links and patterns may not be shared.

Enjoy!

Giveaway Week: Gas Money Pattern

On this fabulous Tuesday and second day of Giveaway Week here at Mrs Moen, the pattern that is up for grabs is the Gas Money Pattern.

This fun little quilt is a gift and a card at the same time. While the quilt is a great little gift all by itself, you can also put a card or some gas money into the built-in pocket as an additional gift, something that would be highly appreciated by any young driver on a budget.

Bensinpenger Mønster
Gas Money Pattern

Remember, the links will be open for 1 day only. Although the patterns may be downloaded for free today, copyright still applies and links and patterns may not be shared.

Enjoy!

Giveaway week: Mock Cabin Pattern

On this fabulous Monday and first day of Giveaway Week here at Mrs Moen, the pattern that is up for grabs is the Mock Cabin Pattern.

Born from a wish to play with log cabin layouts paired with an equally strong wish not to actually have to stitch log cabin blocks, this table topper saw the light of day a few years ago. There are always occasions where it would be nice to bring a homemade little something, especially around the holidays, so I love simple designs that don’t take too much time.

The blocks can be made into any size you want, and so does the quilt. Have fun with your solid scraps or throw in a few of your wildest prints – anything goes!

Mock Cabin Mønster
Mock Cabin Pattern

Remember, the links will be open for 1 day only. Although the patterns may be downloaded for free today, copyright still applies and links and patterns may not be shared.

Enjoy!

4 years 29 days and 907 posts Giveaway

Hello there! Remember I said I would celebrate my 4 year blogging anniversary and 900th post? Well, 29 days and 7 posts into the next milestones, this is the start of a weeklong celebration, so let me tell you what I have in mind.

First of all, a big thank you to all of you who are visiting my blog, leaving comments and making the blogosphere a friendly place. Blogging would not be the same without you all. As a little thank you gift, I have made a little handmade something.

Young Mr. Lovebird is in need of a new home. He’s bringing his own nest, so he will settle down anywhere. The mixed media piece is made on a background of homemade felted wool and painted and inked mulberry paper. The bird is made with fibres of all sorts, hand and machine embroidered. Measuring less than 6”*6”, his little nest would fit anywhere.

His big brother was entered into a challenge last week, but he also might be in need of a new home soon, we’ll see. You can tell he’s the older brother by the serious look on his face.

 

Also, up for grabs are some of my new patterns. Instead of doing the regular pattern giveaway thingie, I thought I would try something new. Monday through Friday next week, I will post a link for a different downloadable pattern. There will be one link for the Norwegian version, and one for the English. Each link will be up for one day only, and you may download the pattern totally for free on that day. Feel free to tell others about the giveaway, but please do not share the link anywhere. This is my way of saying thanks to those who are visiting my blog.

So, if you’d like to offer either Mr. Lovebird a new home, leave a comment on this post. Please make sure that I have a way of contacting you if you should win. I will ship anywhere.

The Mr. Lovebird giveaway will be open until the 27th of September when the winner will be drawn randomly.

Good luck to you all and thanks for stopping by - again!

Make sure to stop by again next week!

Friday

It’s been a while since I last felt this pleased seeing a week come to an end¸ but I am feeling ever so happy today. The boys are in bed and the house is quiet, except for the regular sounds of life outside.

Friday mornings have been my favourites for many years, the kids and I have had all the time in the world, eating breakfast and pottering about for ages before dropping them off in kindergarden. I still love Friday mornings, but I am afraid that slow pace of ours is history. Grandson started school last month (yes, he is really getting that big!), so now we are off and running 1 ½ hour earlier in the morning. That’s a whole lot of time, but we seem to have figured out how to beat the traffic and make the two stop run on no time, so it works.

There has been lots of weather today; thunder and lightning and rain in which the boys and I got caught when picking up grandbaby from kindergarden. It was the first time I was putting the stroller into the back of my new and much smaller car trunk, and both the stroller and I were soaking wet by the time I finally got into the car. My hair was dripping and the clothes stuck to my back when we did our grocery shopping, but the only thing that sounded worse than going shopping in wet clothes, was the prospect of getting all of us out of the car and into the house and change our clothes just to go out in the pouring rain and get soaking wet again while strapping them down in their car seats. McDonalds anyone?

I feel grateful this Friday evening as I am sitting here, I get to do those things with my grandkids, the whole getting soaking wet and eating silly food, having a singing 1 ½ year old boy/alarm clock waking me up in the mornings, creating bonds that will last forever and a lifetime. Not bad at all.

The plumber rollercoaster that has filled this week with highs and lows seems to finally have come to an end. We have had different guys over on 4 occasions in 3 days, mopping, mopping, mopping, cleaning, cleaning, arranging and rearranging the under-the-sink cabinet over and over again, and the always thrilling adventure of washing the towels that were used for mopping. Great fun. By the look of it, we may have replaced a dishwasher that did not need to be replaced after all just because the first guy told us it was the dishwasher that was causing our problems, but we’ll never know, and there’s no point obsessing about it. Does the water drain from the kitchen sink? Yes. Are there any unwanted indoor waterfalls? No. See, that’s pretty much what I asked for to begin with.

Anyway, my comfy bed is calling from above and after all, all ramblings must come to an end and it is time to announce the winners of the Circle of Flowers pattern giveaway:
The Norwegian pattern goes to Anita and
the English pattern goes to Gill.
Congratulations to you both!

And by the way, I entered the Circle of Flowers quilt into the Show and tell at The Quilting Gallery this week, feel free to give it a vote .)

Thanks for stopping by; rambling would be no fun without you!

"Circle of Flowers" Pattern Giveaway

So the 900th post on this blog went by in silence on Sunday while I was making the makeup bag. I have been hatching a couple of Lovebirds for this occasion, but there are still a few finishing touches that need to be made to the giveaway piece. In the meantime I will continue celebrating my continuous work at getting my patterns posted, and today it’s the “Circle of Flowers” pattern that’s up for grabs.

This is one of my favourite table cloths. My friend Sissel made one in soft pinks and greys and it is just gorgeous.

The giveaway will be open until Friday evening. If you would like to win a copy of the pattern all you need to do is to pop over to one of the posts and leave a comment. There is one post for the Norwegian pattern, and one for the English:

Sirkel av Blomster Mønster
Circle of Flowers Pattern

The patterns are sent through email, so I have to be able to get in touch with you.

Best of luck to you all and thanks for stopping by!

Further than far Pattern Winner

With the house, and everything in, drying up and a new dishwasher waiting in the kitchen to be installed, I finally got around to drawing the Further than far Pattern winner. I apologize for the delays. So, without further ado,

marei is the winner!

Congratulations to marei; and to the rest of you – thanks for playing along, and stop by soon for another pattern giveaway.

Warning and Winner

Did you know that your sewing machine may be a fire hazard even when turned off? I knew that we are supposed to unplug them, so for many years I used to do so every time I left my sewing room - like I do with my iron. When I got knee troubles last summer, I started just turning it off as it was too difficult to get under the table to unplug it. Then one of my friends told me that her old machine once started smoking (in a non-addictive way) even though it was turned off - big wake up call - so now I’m back to unplugging. Reading a warning is not the same as a friend telling you, is it, there is knowing, and then there is Knowing. So, my friends, consider yourselves told - and warned.

I am happy to say I have solved the difficulty of crawling under the table – I simply disconnect the cord from the machine. Duh.

Now onto the winner.

I have drawn the winner of the little “Chicks rule” quilt and am I so happy that there are so many out there who would gladly give my little chick a good home. I have a few things to round up before bedtime, so please do forgive me for skipping drumrolls and such and simply declare that the lucky winner is

Kathy who said

Congratulations to Kathy and to the rest of you, thank you for all your lovely comments and for playing along. I do love giveaways!

Chicks rule – Quilter’s Blog hop & Giveaway

Welcome to my blog, Mrs Moen, and thank you for stopping by in time for the Beat the winter blues blog hop party with the Quilting Gallery – and at the same time celebrating my 816th post here on the Mrs Moen blog.

My name is Nina Lise and I am a Norwegian quilter who most of all love the creative side of quilting, and I have been so fortunate to get to work with and share my favourite pastime - like having a book, Gledesspredere, published almost a year ago, being on the designer staff of the Scandinavian quilting magazine, Quiltemagasinet, and teaching a variety of quilting classes. You’ll find tabs to my pattern and tutorial pages on the top of the page.

Now, 816 posts may be an odd number to celebrate, but  both 800 and 801 and then 14 more went by before I got the chance to create a giveaway prize so the invitation to join the blog hop arrived at the perfect time. I prefer making my prizes as there seem to be little point in purchasing expensive imported fabric here in Norway just to pay expensive postage to ship it abroad, and besides the monetary issue, I also love winning handmade prizes myself.

Although life seemed to get in the way of my fabric-y play time for a long, long time, that ended this Sunday. Touch wood. Sheer bliss indeed. Armed with two bags of Fargerike scraps and a pair of scissors, I made chicks; happy, funky, raw edged chicks. I don’t know what it is about birds, but these are neither the first nor the last ones getting hatched in my studio. This quilt called “Chicks rule” is the prize for my giveaway. It measures approx 23cm*29cm and has triangles for hanging on the back.

The quilt is made from solid fabric scraps freeform cut with scissors, covered with a layer of fine tulle (my must-have-art&quilt-supply), free motion quilted, and with a binding from my Big Box of binding.

If you aren’t familiar with the Big Box of Binding, I highly recommend one – that is if you are a quilter. Whenever I prepare bindings (like this, sorry about the pictures in the tutorial, it was my first one), I make a little extra and keep the leftovers in my box so that I always have some on hand for small quilts and scrappy bindings. And they look good, like a memento box of quilts past.

If you could use a little chick in your life and you’d like a chance to win one, then all you need to do is leaving 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 March 14 when the winner will be randomly picked in the evening (Norwegian time).

Good luck to you all and make sure to stop by at the other participants’ blogs. You’ll find them here.

 

Sorry, the giveaway is now closed!



Pink pillow Winner

Thank you to all of you how entered the Pink Pillows giveaway! I was pleasantly surprised how many of you who would like to add a little pink to your Christmas decor.

I have drawn the winner and the lucky lady is

Vivian who wrote

Vivian’s blog is called Quilting under the midnight sun which has kind of a familiar ring to it as I spent quite a few childhood years living in a part of Norway that has midnight sun. There was one summer that we actually slept outside and I am sure the light is perfect for quilting.

Congratulations to Vivian who will receive the Pink pillow, and thanks to the rest of you for playing along!

If you would like to make a Pretty Pillow of your own, you’ll find the free pattern here. As already proven, it would look lovely in any kind of colour scheme.)

Pink Pillows

Welcome to my blog, Mrs Moen, it is very nice to see you whether you have stopped by hundreds of times or this is your very first visit around here. Today is the Blog Hop Party at the Quilting Gallery and this is my contribution.

I am a Norwegian quilter who had a first book published earlier this year, designs patterns amongst others for Quiltemagasinet (a Scandinavian quilting magazine), and teaches a few quilting classes. Feel free to have a look at my patterns, free patterns, tutorials and book while you're here, or do stop by anytime!

For my giveaway I have made two pillow covers from which the winner can choose one - the light dusty pink one

or the pink one

both fitting a 20”*20” pillow form (not included). You can see the rest of the pillows I made this week here. You'll also find a diagram with the measurements in case you would like to make a pillow of your own.

To enter the drawing, please leave a comment on this post. Do let me know which pillow cover you would like and make sure I have a way of contacting you in case you win. I will ship internationally.

The giveaway is open until December 16th, at 8pm Norwegian time, when the winner will be chosen randomly.

If you’d like to check out rest of the participants in the blog hop, you’ll find them here! Have fun!

I am sorry, the giveaway is now closed!

Accidental friendships & Giveaway Day

Welcome to my blog, Mrs Moen, it is very nice to see you whether you are new around here or an old friend. Today is Giveaway Day at Sew Mama Sew and this is my contribution.

I am a Norwegian quilter who had a first book published earlier this year, designs patterns (in English and Norwegian) amongst others for Quiltemagasinet (a Scandinavian quilting magazine), and teach quilting classes. This year I have been working a lot with a technique I call painting with fiber where I build my designs one layer at a time using all kinds of fiber. It fits perfectly with my love of making quilts with whatever I have at hand and just go with the flow.

“Accidental friendship” (29,5*25,5cm) is such a quilt. It is made in honour of a very special friend of mine who passed away this fall, and I thought it would fit perfectly for this occasion where the main goal is to meet new people and form new friendships.

If you would like a chance at winning this quilt, please leave a comment to this post. As this is a celebration of accidental friendships, I would love for you to tell me about a friend you have met at an unexpected occasion. I’ll save the story of how I met mine for another post.

The giveaway is open until December 7th, at 9pm Norwegian time, when the winner will be chosen randomly. I will ship anywhere!

It’s time to go out and make new friends; you’ll find some likely places here!

You’ll find me right here making a few more friendships quilts in the next couple of days, but first I have to cuddle my grandbaby who is staying with us for a few days. Now, that is what I call a friendship made in heaven.)

I am sorry, the giveaway is now closed and the winner is posted here!

Celebrate Back to School Days – Giveaway winner

First I would like to welcome to new readers of this blog; it’s very nice to meet you! It’s actually the one aspect of blog hopping I enjoy the most, meeting new people – my blog, their blog, mutual visits, all good. As you may be aware, life has been turned upside down at our house lately so I have not been doing much hopping or blog reading at all really, but life will soon enough fall back into place.

Here in Norway it’s now the evening of September 3rd and time to draw the winner of my Celebrate Back to School Days Giveaway. Random.org has done it’s little magic number and the winner of my two little wall hangings is Shannon who wrote

 

Congratulations to Shannon who will receive an email from me, and to the rest of you, thanks for playing along!

Celebrate Back to School Days Giveaway

Welcome to my blog, Mrs Moen, and thank you for stopping by in time for the Back to school days celebrations with the Quilting Gallery – and at the same time celebrating my 3 year blogaversary. Two giveaways with one stone so to speak.

I am a Norwegian quilter who, amongst other things, designs patterns and teaches classes, and my first book was published this spring (see the top of the sidebar). This is my first blog hop with the Quilting Gallery. Although our school days are long gone, I still enjoy this time of year when everything, inluding myself, seems to settle down after the summer holidays.

My prize for the giveaway is these two small fall inspired mixed media quilts made with my layer upon layer technique using different kinds of sheer fibers on a felted wool foundation.

Everything is cut freeform using scissors, so both the shapes and edges are perfectly imperfect.

The quilts are made to be hung together, but can also hang separately.

I have been debating with myself whether to add text or not, so I decided I would leave it up to the winner: If I draw your name – what would you like them to say? I will use the suggestion made by the winner and add text or leave it according to her/his wishes. If you don’t have an opinion that’s fine; I’ll figure it out.)

So, 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 September 3rd when the winner will be randomly picked by Random.org in the evening (Norwegian time). Good luck to you all and make sure to stop by at the other participants’ blogs. You’ll find them here.

 

 

 

Sorry, the giveaway is now closed.

Book giveaway winner

Easter is over, and we’re back home after spending a couple of days at the cabin. Husband was delayed flying back from a business trip so we did not get up there until Saturday afternoon. We were expecting to see more signs of spring, but not much had happened in two weeks. We had everything from sunshine to snow and a day of all rain all day and then some. Had we been paying more attention to the weather forecast we would have brought our winter gear like wool hats and warm buffs for grandson (he looks fab in my scarf though) and grandpa so they could play boat-release-and-catch in the water

and plastic-golf-club-tennis-ball-hockey on the patio all day.

Oh well, we had a lovely time anyway; enough wood to keep us warm, enough food to keep us fed, and enough indoor activities

to keep us occupied.

 
Seriously, I would love to make this quilt with circles and all. I have ordered an AccuQuilt circle die to use with daughter’s cutting machine, so I’m not kidding about the circles. I love them and this way I can cut lots of them without adding strain to that darned hand.

The most exercise I got was spring cleaning, cooking

and quite a lot of this.

Tonight I am catching up with everyday life, like starting to plan the material for next weekend’s Quilta Figurer free motion quilting class. It will be fun; I love new classes and I love the class samples. The more fun I have making the samples, the more fun the class will be. Never fails. I have yet to sew a stitch myself though as I need to spare the hand for the class.


Moving on – as Monday night is here, I am happy to announce the winner of the giveaway of my book, Gledesspredere which is (insert drum roll here; think Chevy Chase trying to light the Christmas lights)

lucky No 8, the lovely Lone aka Flowermouse Design, a knitter and polymer artist with the very colourful and inspiring blog Flowermouse Design.

Congratulations to Lone, and to the rest of you, thank you for playing along. I’ll put the details about ordering the book from me in a separate post for those of you that are interested.