Class in Iceland

Some days ago I took a class in Iceland with Guðrún Erla.  I was lucky, she offered one class in Reykjavík and I arrived that same day at 1600 hours and the class began at 1800 hours, I just made it.

My first three blocks

I really enjoyed that class, which was called "Destination unknown trip". 

We didn't know what pattern we were making, 

we only got one step at a time.

 I had never done this before, it was fun.

At the end she showed us what we were doing.

Guðrún Erla is Icelandic designer living in Minnesota. 

Take a look at her website and see her beautiful pattern and fabric. 

She also has blog.

Here are two more tops with the same pattern, 

beautiful aren't they?

Happy stitching

Paula

Flowers Wednesday

Five flowers this week, not bad, 

and in this picture is also a little fairy

my sister-in-law made some years ago

and gave me, now isn't she cute? (I mean the fairy). 

Memories from my trip to Dubai in February.

It is in progress, 12" circle.

EQA Exhibition "Spinning Circles" 

are to be made in black and white plus up to 30% of purple

in its tints/shades/tones.

Do you think the purple in this mini quilt is more than 30%?

This proud mother was on a golf course in Marrakech,

 13 little ducklings. So sweet.

Happy stitching to you all.

Paula

Birch

Last summer I collected leaves from Birch and dried them. 

Now I have dyed some wool using these leaves.

(The fabric in this DJ block was dyed with Procion MX

the leaves are underneath) 

The yearn prepared

Here you can see the wool waiting and the Birch dye.

In the pot on the stove slowly heated up to 90°C

Slowly cooled down.

Washed and dried

And ready for knitting.

My seventh CWB block in progress.

I have not yet started my DJ again, after all this traveling back and forth, south and north, 

but will do that soon. 

The European Dear Jane club is preparing a DJ Quilt Expo in Brussels May 2013.

Now isn't that just groovy?

I plan to have mine finished by then.

Happy stitching.

Paula

Collecting siggies

Since my last blog in January 12th lots of things have happened.

I've been traveling to Iceland-Luxembourg-Dubai-Luxembourg-Iceland and at last back in Luxembourg for a few days.

To little time to sew. 

I have received many interesting "siggies".

Most of them are from The Netherlands, but also from Italy, Germany, Belgium, Croatia, Canada and USA

This block I found at Quilterscache 

24" and very easy to make.

It is perfect for baby quilt.

Some years ago I knitted this outfit for my grandchildren (twins),

and now in April they will have their confirmation,

I can hardly belief they are 13 years old already.

I'm still working on my flower garden and The Civil War Bride.

Nothing has happed for a long time with Dear Jane. Hopefully I can do something about it, soon.

Happy stitching to you all 

 enjoy what ever you are doing.

Paula

Flowers and siggies

Still working on my flower garden,

did not do many flowers over Christmas, but now that I'm back home

I love making these cute little flowers,

 I've 38 flowers joined plus 24 flowers ready.

I made some "siggies".

With very old stencil I had back in 1983.

There were many lovely siggies waiting for me when I got back home,

so I had to start making some and mail back.

Have you seen this Magazine?

Take a look at this, you can get a free copy here

Very interesting I think this Magazine.

Until next time - enjoy your stitching

Paula

One Flower Wednesday

Two flowers this Wednesday,

Started this "Siggie collection" and I already have four,

from Germany, Holland and USA.

This can be fun  - for a while.

This is a door stopper, inside is a brick.

Can be very useful.

To morrow I will be leaving for Iceland,

where I will spend Christmas with my family,

it will be nice to see the kids

(well they are not really kids anymore  - but still - my kids)

 and the grand children.

I wish you all a Happy Christmas and

a Healthy and Prosperous New Year.

Paula

Give a Heart

Shirley in New Zealand is calling out to all quilter around the world
to give a healing heart,  for the families of 29 miners who
 tragically died last week in New Zealand.

You can visit her blog at Shirley's blog and read what size and where to send it.

I made these two hearts while listening to a devine service
 in Iceland over the internet.

It's amazing - the technique - here I am in Luxembourg and can listen to a mass in Reykjavik, live.


My newest book

As you can see, it is a lovely book with lots and lots of stitching.

"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere."

                                                                                                                   Albert Einstein

Happy stitching
Paula

Siggie

I have to update my blog, what is the matter with me,  is it idleness or what???

Well - I started "siggie" where Annelies in The Netherlands is the host

quiltsandsiggies.web-log.nl

and received her block which is very nice,

Three monkeys - See no... hear no... speak no evil

I'm knitting this sweater

for my son Ófeigur, he is the author of this book JON

The book was published few days ago and I have to say it is very good.

This is his second novel.

I'm sorry to say it is in Icelandic .

Here he is at the Quilt Show in Iceland last September

when I won a  prize for Þingvellir

and he was there for me.

Happy stitching to you all and have a nice weekend

Paula

Hand dyed fabric and two flowers

For my Flowergarden I did these two flowers and

have now 53 flowers and some hexies done.

About 100 flowers will be needed, haven't decided yet on how large it will be.

Then I made

 these butterflies and flowers to put on a miniquilt.

I like making little embellishments for quilts

I bought this

Friendship Triangles book by Edyta Sitar the other day,

it is a beautiful book and it has step-by-step technique for

creating half-square triangles among other things.

Have been dyeing

some fabric for my  Dear Jane Quilt



"Happiness is to be found along the way,
 not at the end of the road, for then the journey is over and it is too late.
Today, this hour, this minute is the day, the hour, the minute for each of us
to sense the fact that life is good, with all of its trials and troubles,
and perhaps more interesting because of them."
                                                              Robert R. Updegraff

Take care and enjoy what ever you are doing.

Paula

Adding some flowers

I'm adding some flowers to my garden today, it's not big but it's growing.

I also wanted to share with those of you who like to knit,

this new Icelandic website called Knitting Iceland

It looks very interesting and it is in Icelandic, English or French.

Some pictures from Iceland,

An old little church, called Núpstaðakirkja, not used anymore, but it is cute.

The organ inside the Church

Núpsstaðir

In the old old days people used to live in these houses.

No electricity, No running water, No heat,

Thank God it is the past.

Happy stitching

Paula

Quilting and knitting

I'm quilting this top using my Bernina 830,

and having heavy trouble with the bottom tension, it is just driving me crazy,

I've turned the machine off  and on several times but nothing happened.

So now it is off for the day and I will do some blogging.

This top is waiting to be quilted, well it has to wait - Bernina is on strike.

Just finished this sweater for my son for the winter in Holland.

My other son who lives in Iceland asked

for a real Icelandic "lopapeysu" with a hood.

Last September when I was in Iceland I brought "lopi" back with me home,

and will start soon on this sweater.

There is always something to do,

never a dull moment.

Enjoy what ever you are doing, life is beautiful.

Paula

Three flowers and a joke

Three more flowers for my Flowergarden this Wednesday,
and a picture by Rébecca Dautremer the French illustrator I like so much,
for those of you that have not seen the pictures on my Dear Jane blog.


A friend of mine sent me this joke the other day, some of you may have heard it and some not.

40 Years of Marriage

A married couple in their early 60s was celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary in a quiet, romantic little restaurant. Suddenly, a tiny yet beautiful fairy appeared on their table. She said, "For being such an exemplary married couple and for being loving to each other for all this time, I will grant you each a wish."

The wife answered, "Oh, I want to travel around the world with my darling husband."

The fairy waved her magic wand and - poof! - two tickets for the Queen Mary II appeared in her hands.

The husband thought for a moment: "Well, this is all very romantic, but an opportunity like this will never come again. I'm sorry my love, but

my wish is to have a wife 30 years younger than me."

The wife, and the fairy, were deeply disappointed, but a wish is a wish.

So the fairy waved her magic wand and poof. . . the husband

became 92 years old.

The moral of this story:

Men who are ungrateful should remember:

Fairies are Female . . .

So guys, be careful what you wish for . . .


You never know what can happen . . .


Best wishes to you all and happy quilting.

Paula

Miniature

Wow - I got ribbon in Iceland,  for the best handcraft.

I could hardly believe it when I got e-mail from

Borghildi Ingvarsdóttir the chairman of the Icelandic Patchwork and Quilting Association telling me this.

Unfortunately I could not be there, but my son Ófeigur, was there for me. 

The Icelandic Patchwork and Quilting Association, Íslenska bútasaumsfélagið, was established in the year 2000. At the inaugural/first meeting there were 140 members from most parts of Iceland. Today the members are 400.

10 years anniversary

Congratulations to Íslenska bútasaumsfélag.

Mariner's Compass

Some years ago I learned how to draw Mariner's Compass at the QU.

The other day I used the drawings and made these four 12" circles.

It was fun - paper pieced -  I do like paper piecing.

I will have to do some more or I can use this as four corners for a big middlepiece.

Block #7 was my sixth block for my CWB Quilt

Here they are - all six of them together.

I also finished E-5 for DJ

you can have a look at my Dear Jane blog

Have a wonderful week and thank you for stopping by.

Paula