Thank heaven for little girls ..

And thank heaven for a granddaughter with long hair :) I went hunting for hairclips today.
And thank you whoever you are, that had the great idea that hairclips could be used as binding holders. No pricking - no blood! (Stole the idea from a blog I visited.)
And voila! A finish! My Shabby Roses quilt is done at last! Thank you Jenny for the beautiful pattern. This is going to hang in our guest room (dark green walls). Sorry the colours aren't so clear - I should've taken the photo in daylight. Maybe I'll try again at the weekend - but I just had to tell you now!
A detail photo shows the colours better.
I used my stash for everything but the blocks. Thank heaven my mum was part squirrel (and yes, it is hereditary..)

This is going to remind me of her everytime I see it. She was the one who taught me to love all sorts of needles and thread and to enjoy making things with my own hands.

And with the sentiments expressed in the blocks - it's a perfect match.

(Though I'm sure she would point at my mistakes and say I should have corrected them ....) But I am happy with the result.

All mistakes are due to 1) inexperience, and 2) my bzzzzt sewing machine. I'm definitely going to get my other one repaired before I try to quilt again. Or maybe I'll give handquilting a go?

Because now I must sew all the baskets together for my Bunny Tales quilt.

Hey ho, hey ho, it's off to work I go ....

P.S. Thank heaven for a finish before the 28th :)

Waste of time ...

This is what I did yesterday! Hours of backbreaking shovelling. :( Not my idea of fun! But necessary as my darling got his car stuck when he was going to work earlier. (Not a good way to start the day:) )

Oops! Maybe I should have got this down, too? Or maybe I should save some for the darling to do when he gets home. You know, share the fun:)
Made a pathway so I can feed the birds. Beautiful weather, really - and the sun is getting warm, too.
And what a waste of time that was. This is what it looks like this morning -
and it's still snowing hard!

Oh, I did get some stitching done on the cat bom last night, even though my arms were aching.

I'll swap round today - sewing first and IF the snow lets up, I'll do some more shovelling. (sigh)

I will definitely not be getting to town for my Mandarin class - the roads round here haven't been cleared and I don't want to get stuck.

I have been wondering lately - can Murphy's law and the Law of Attraction be the same?

Friday Night Sew In II

Yesterday I picked up the grandchildren after school. Got them home and made pancakes as requested, a big pile of pancakes. Where do they put them? Then it was kiddies TV and

supper (!) and bedtime (yippeee).

Then I got out the crisps and chocolate and sat down in my comfy armchair in front of the telly.

At last I could start stitching. I had prepped the beautiful Catalicious cat from Red Brolly (Bronwyn Hayes) earlier in the day - yes, such foresight.
He is a lovely ginger cat, sleeping happily on a lilac silk cushion .... Not quite sure what he will turn into yet, but my granddaughter has already cast her eye on him and asked whose cat it will be, so ... do I have a choice?

Looking forward to more stitching tonight - but I have got my hands on Dan Brown's latest and I fear some time might be consumed there as well.

We have been having fun with our Chinese friend this week, so not much time for stitching. Here is a "Good Luck" decoration she brought for the New Year celebrations.
She also brought us beautiful cushion covers - a shame the photos aren't at their best.
The fabrics are just lovely.
She also gave me some material for my stash. It has traditional Chinese patterns. At the moment I am just at the stroking stage :) What shall I make with these beauties?
As I am trying to learn Chinese (2nd term ), it has been fun having someone to ask about the language and culture. I have however managed to finish A tisket a tasket bom 11! Now I have all the baskets done and can start putting the top together.
Went to town today and look what followed me home ... I need some soft colours for the French project that I am about to start on.
I had to take a trip into town because I needed more batting - and my local shop has stopped selling quilting products ... "it's not popular anymore" you see! (Sorry folks! ) I finally closed my mouth and picked out some more bits for my stash from the leftovers that were almost given away!
A bit of a bother having to go to town now for everything, though. And it'll be more expensive ... I'll never make it home with just the stuff I need.

Well, now I've got the batting I can't put off quilting my Shabby Roses quilt anymore - and to tell the truth, I can't wait to see it finished :)

Bye for now,

Anne-Lise

Happy Valentine's ++++

It never rains ... etc.

14th February is Valentine's Day - but did you know that this date calls for several celebrations this year?

It is Chinese New Year and we have a guest from Taiwan! She is a friend of son no 2, arrived yesterday and is hoping for snow ... I think we have a chance of making her wish come true! And we are going to celebrate the New Year getting to know a new friend. :) Nice.

14th Feb. is also her birthday which calls for cream cake - and "Happy Birthday to you" in Manderin (son no 2 and I have been practicing, but now the words elude me ... again!)

In Norway it is also Mother's Day! (I must remember to remind my "Valentine" to call his mum). Son no 2 has washed my car :) - it looked like a ghost wagon in all that grey salt. Thank you dear!

It is also the last Sunday before Lent and traditionally the day is ... fattening! The tradition is to eat wheat buns filled with cream and jam! My son informed me that cream cake is not the same and that our guest ought to taste the real thing. So guess who is planning on baking tomorrow ?

So that means I ought to hop along off to bed, but I just wanted to say:

Night, night!

Time flies!

I haven't only been lazing around ....

I have been knitting ... and sewing .... and planning ...and .... thinking, but nothing finished to show!

My grandson's socks are nearly done, I have sewn the top of my Shabby Roses quilt - and this is where the thinking and planning comes in. What if I make a mess of the quilting? I must know what I want before I have a go and how can I know when I have only tried this once before?

Best to keep it very simple and try fancier stuff on smaller projects? I think I agree to that.

Give it a whirl and show what I can do! Oh dear, I think I'd like to do that, too.

Ok, stop grinning! I will get it finished - promise!