Merry Christmas!

To celebrate the season, I have made myself a video to send to friends. This is free as long as you register, and I have had great fun both creating it and looking at it. There are five different dances and you can make yourself up to five different elves!

Turn up the sound of the speakers, and then click this link!
Agneta, David, Anton and Simon doing the hiphop-version of Jingle Bells.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!!!

Tävlingsbidrag: Vad tomten gjorde på kick-offen!

När tomten, nissarna och renarna hade sin kick-off i år
Kändes det som om förra julafton bara var igår.
De njöt av riklig och vällagad spis,
Allt från risgrynsgröt, köttbullar, via sill till lax och gris.
De drack och njöt av hemlagad mumma,
Tillagad av jultomtens gumma.
Sen övade de skorstenshopp, med ho ho ho och god jul
Rudolf skrapade sin näsa, så den blev lite ful!
Nissarna övade dans kring granen och julsånger,
Tomten blev av leken varm och tog av sig sina långkalsonger!
På Nordpolen, där tomten, tomtemor och alla nissar bor,
Var det klackarna i taket, precis som i fjor.
Sent på kvällen lästes önskelistor från barn i hela världen,
Små minneslappar skrevs för tomten att ha med på färden.
Den stora säcken blev snabbt fylld med leksaker av alla de slag,
Saker som barnen skulle älska, både natt och dag.
När midnattstimman slog önskade de alla varandra en riktigt god jul,
Alla såg de fram mot paketutdelningen och tyckte det skulle bli kul!
 

På allmän begäran - Agnetas saffransbröd!

Ett inlägg på svenska!
Nu har jag fått flera frågor om mitt lussebullerecept och här kommer det!

Jag gör alltid dubbel sats, men nu när jag ännu inte har "maskinen" så blir det nog enkel:

25 st lussebullar

125 gr smör

3 dl mjölk

1 paket saffran

50 gr jäst för söta degar

1,5 dl strösocker

0,5 tsk salt

1 ägg i smeten

1 liter mjöl

Gör så här!

Smula ner jästen och häll över strösockret och saltet. Rör om tills det liksom "smälter". Häll i saffran (som du kanske ska rulla en brödkavel över några gånger för att finfördela)

Smält smöret i en kastrull, häll i mjölken och värm till 37 grader. Häll över degvätskan över jästblandningen. Sätt igång din maskin ... (för den som har någon, suck!) eller rör om för hand. Ha i ägget och rör om igen.

Häll i mjölet när din maskin går och låt degen ältas i ca 5 minuter (för hand kanske 10 minuter!) Den ska vara ganska KLADDIG! Det blir perfekt när du jäst upp degen.

Lägg en bit plastfolie över degen så att den inte blir torr upptill och sedan täcker du degbunken med flera bakhanddukar, jag tar kanske 5 stycken! Absolut förbjudet med drag!!! Låt jäsa 30 minuter.

Baka ut dina bullar som du tycker om att de ser ut och jäs sen igen 45 minuter. Undvik om möjligt att tillsätta mer mjöl!

Sätt på ugnen på 250 grader.

Pensla dina lussebullar med uppvispat ägg. Vill du pilla i russin gör du det nu!

Swisch in i ugnen i mitten någonstans mellan 5 och 10 minuter beroende på ugnens värme, du får kolla!

Om du följer receptet till punkt och pricka får du världens godaste lussebullar som är lätta och luftiga och som håller sig så i flera dagar. Även efter en sväng i frysen är lussebullarna toppenbra, låt dem bara tina i rumstemperatur - inte i micron!

Oh, vad jag blir sugen nu!!!!

YES! I found the "dream machine"!

As a lot of you know my darling Electrolux Assistent was worn out after more than 60 years of tough duty. My grandmother's joy and pride has been more than useful in my household - all the bread I've baked in my darling. But time has come to say goodbye, it needs its rest, and my quest was to find a substitute - and guess what - I found the heiress! The company that used to sell them, Electrolux, has passed over both the making and the marketing, so the product only kept the Assistent-word and is nowadays called Assistent Anarsrum Original. Have a look at this beauty where I found her:

bygghemma.se

By the way, you are smart if you look around the site, they have the most incredible competition - you can WIN your wishlist of three things that you state in the blog!

No need wondering about what was my "number one", right? 

And as you all know of my interest in making my house a nicer place to be in, I also wished for some tools - crazy wish for a woman, but I will stay the way I am - a creator in many different fields, wheather it comes to the kitchen, my sewing studio or doing some home improvement!

I've been challenged!

Of course I agree to this challange, and the rest will be in swedish!

Utmaning
Jag har blivit utmanad av Pialuttan i Ramsele! Kul!

Jag har lagt till länkar till vissa svar - enjoy!

Regler:
Kopiera detta till din blogg, utmana 5 personer och berätta det för dem .
Varje svar måste börja med första bokstaven i ditt namn!
Alla svar måste vara riktiga, hitta inte på ord!
Om personen som utmanade dig har ett namn som börjar med samma bokstav som ditt får du inte ge samma svar som han/hon gjort.
Du får heller inte skriva samma svar två gånger eller skriva ditt eget namn
som svar (förutom på fråga 1)!
Lycka till!

1. Vad heter du: Agneta

2. Ett ord på fyra bokstäver: Anta (utmaningar gör jag förstås!)

3. Flicknamn: Anna

4. Pojknamn: Anton (förstås!)

5. Yrke: Allvetare (testa gärna själv!)

6. Färg: Azurblå

7. Klädesplagg: Anorak (använder jag aldrig!)

8. Mat: Ansjovis (gott i både Janssons och som fyllning i oliver!)

9. Sak i badrummet: Aloe vera - hudcreme för typ allt!

10. Plats/stad: Amman i Jordanien, dit jag skulle vilja åka och se Petra

11. En orsak att vara sen: Aftonaktiviteter!  =O)

12. Något man skriker: AKTA dig!

13. Film: American History X - bara såååå bra

14. Något man dricker: Ananasjuice

15. Band: ABBA som jag älskat redan från Ring,Ring-tiden och tills nu

16. Djur: Alligator

17. Gatunamn: Avvägen är en adress man minns!

18. Bil: Aston Martin en av världens läckraste bilar!

19. Sång: Always on my mind (Elvis myspysballad)

Jag utmanar Gunilla W, Ninna, Linnea O, Jette och Cilla!

It´s fall you all!

To celebrate that fall really has come I wanted to make something to welcome my guests in the hallway. I decided to use a couple of machineembroideries from Linnéa.

Without my noticing it or thinking about it I perfectly matched the colors of my hallway, perfect!

When fall comes it will soon be time for first Halloween, which will be fun. My kids are preparing themselves for a party they have been invited to, a masquerade of course. I just love this fun occation! I will decorate both inside and outside, and of course I will make at least one pumpkin, carved out. I am searching for ideas on the Internet, but I'm sure I will come up with something! Inside I will use my older wallhangings.

I have also started to make fall-like potholders, but I didn't finish any yet, you will get to see them when I finish!

While fall is coming my kids are spending more time inside - when winter and snow come they love to play outside again. But right now it's wet and dirty all around, so I actually prefer that they spend time inside. They have started to collect "Pokémon-cards". I have a hard time understanding what the game (?) is all about, but they play with their cards almost everyday. Now, my parents play bridge so the kids have seen carddecks at their homes. Anton exclaimed: "You know what, mam? We are not allowed to play with granpa's cards at school!" I answered:"What a pity, I can give you a deck of cards - all of them - anytime!" Anton's cheek fell "ALL of them? At the same time?"

I wonder if he thinks that grandpa has been saving and collecting them for a lifetime ...

The cards tend to be all over the place, so I decided to make them some kind of "holder", and got the machine embroideries with Pokémon. As soon as I saw them I realized that they would be perfect for t-shirts, so I made one. The other one is on its way!

I have also been making a few different aprons. Linnéa offered a course in her "Sykulforum" and I use aprons daily, and as the darling "Gordon" machine embroidery would be perfect I decided to join! A perfect pattern (well actually several) and here are a few pictures of what I did so far. More to come, I'm sure!

All embroideries are from Linneaartline.com. Here are a few close-ups too.

Don't you just LOVE the smile on this guy? I did use my golden thread for the flames and the buttons on his shirt, wonder if you can see it?

Finally, a close-up of the top of the christmas apron. But as I know that Linnéa is planning on some other kind of christmas machine embroidery I'm sure this is only the first apron!

A couple of pot holders for my mother on "Birgittadagen"!

I know quite a few persons named Birgitta, including darling mommy and myself as a second name, but the name itself is not popular at all nowadays, I have never heard the name being called out at the schoolyard, not even when I went to school! But I am sure my kids will name their kids the "old" names, the names seems to be used in cycles. Interesting!
But I was not going to talk about names - just sending hugs and congrats to all of you named Birgitta. My parents are coming over for dinner tonight, so I prepared a couple of pot holders as a small gift for her!

The machine embroidery as well as the pattern for the pot holders were made by my dear friend in Norway, Aud. If you want to buy her beautiful patterns and machine embroideries, use this link. Besides the patterns and embroideries you will find lots of freebies and goodies from this generous and wonderful person!

A close-up of the mushrooms in the embroidery:

Very pretty indeed!

Back to my embroidery sewing machine, I have more mushrooms on their way, but this time from another dear friend, Linnéa at linneaartline. Last weekend these embroideries were a gift from her, and I was thrilled as i love both picking and eating mushrooms. Now I found a third thing to like about them - on fabric as embroideries!
 

New pattern!

I've launched a new pattern, and I am happy about how it turned out! I wanted to use some scraps and to be able to convince others that scraps are treasures, only in smaller pieces! This is the pattern!

It's called "Old-time Christmas table cloth" and the patterna is so versatile it could be a pattern for just about any time, if you just change the fabric choices and choose only to use the hearts or the stars, or even replace them by any other appliqué shape.

The members of my club got their patterns last Thursday, but I have already heard some reports of table cloths "on their way to get finished" - great fun!

How I made name tags and what I used one of them for!

I have been creative today! I started out by making name tags, to use together with the things I sew.

You need cotton ribbon, not too wide, and an iron-on sheet. I used Wordart in Word to create the name tag I wanted and then I mirrored it. You need to use a ink jet printer, a laser printer won't do! Print the design onto the iron-on sheet. Then cut out the amount of name tags you want to use. Iron - well PRESS the small piece of iron-on-paper onto the cotton ribbon and leave it to cool a bit. Remove the iron-on-paper and you are done!

I cut the name tag a bit longer so that it won't get caught in the seam!

Well, I needed to make use of one of these immediately, so I decided to create ... yes, you guessed right - a BAG! A while ago I bought some fabric at Panduro when they had a huge sale, and now I finally got to cut it up.

This is the bag I made. I think I will use it at the upcoming sewing festival in Kista, as it is roomy and will - hopefully - cover my needs for what I buy!
The handles are from Textilia.

They look a bit more professional than the usual sewn on handles, right?

This is the name tag, by the way!

Looks personal and pretty, I think!

Now it's time to - once again - tidy up my sewing studio, until it's time for some more sewing!

Preparing for Halloween!

So, I started out the Halloween preparations early this year - good to be early with something! I just finished my BBQ sewing, with this set from Linneaartline.

I love the way they look "hot". All of them are really pretty, but my favorite is still chef Gordon!

Back to Halloween!
My kids had a few days off last week, and we were browsing through some photos taken at their Halloween-party the other year. They found the pic of the "bloody monster fingers" and decided that they wanted to have them for lunch.

I think I scared a few kids and even some parents at the party my kids threw - what about this witch?

And David did his best to scare the small guests too - look at this ghost! I felt almost the same way seeing him, although I knew who it was, as I feel while visiting Gröna Lund and their "Ghost house".

But the kids were a wonderful sight!

Hope to inspire you to make something for the kids in your life - playing games and dressing up is so fun - for everybody! You have got a month to plan!

Inchies - what a great idea!

A couple of friends on my mailinglist started to make these small little cuties for quite a while ago. I was eager to try them out, and they were really fun to make! But it has been a while since I made any, maybe I should start over again, they are great fun!

This is one of the small decorations with inchies that I made! The theme is "kitchen".

So what is an inchie? It's a small padded square 1" x 1", which is decorated any way you want or feel like! You could use pearls, small buttons, findings (if the size is correct), small pieces of beautiful paper or other "stuff" - just get going and you will find lots of things you keep in drawers that might be perfect for the inchies you're making!

Ann-Marlen  (Follow the link to see her pretty inchies) taught us how to make them (many of one fabric) by taking two strips of fabric 1½" as long as you like, and make a sandwich with some kind of stiffener in the middle. I have something called "Heavy Under" which I initially bought to make fabric boxes, but now I only use it for this purpose. After this you use zick-zack or satin stitches and sew one of the long sides. Cut the other long side so that the remains measure exactly 1" and do the same thing! Now, cut out every inchie and sew the remaining sides. Then start to decorate the inchie, any way you please.

My inchies inspired by Christmas!

You could also use scraps for this purpose! If you decide to use similar colors the patterns of the fabrics won't disturb anything, and you will get a "set" of incihes. Another friend of mine, Gunilla has made houndreds of these, in different colors - check them out by following the link!

Download of today - really good reading for those of you who want to get started and inspired to make inchies: http://inchiequilts.com/downloads/peek-inside-inchie-quilts.pdf  which is a 42-page paper all about inchies!

Something new!

Time runs fast when you are having fun - now, this IS true! Today I had the day off and decided to get started with the new embroideries I bought from my dear friend Linnéa. I have been wanting to make these for quite a while, and the fabrics has been on my desk "forever" ... well, this morning I got right to it - I prepared one each for our family, which makes them four!

I just LOVE the chef - Gordon! He has a happy smile, which might save a burnt barbeque ... Take a closer look:

Isn't he just gorgeous?

Linnéa combines pretty and funny personal and really well digitized embroidery designs with wonderful stylish and elegant designs - just look at these flames - astonishing!

The collection is very price worthy - you get lots of designs, a free quilting pattern with great instructions. Together with these designs for different sewn objects you get "smokings" for bottles in two sizes and coasters with many designs. I do recommend anything Linnéa created, if you are into quality while machine embroidering!

New bedroom and hallway - the complete story!

I did promise to tell you more about the improvements I made, and show some pictures.
Let's begin with the bedroom.
BEFORE: The situation was hysterical - my wardrobes were falling apart, litterally, and having an organized closet was impossible. The walls had a VERY dark blue color, not matching anything else in the room. The only thing pretty on the picture below is Simon!

I needed a totally new bedroom - desperately!

AFTER: My bedroom is the bedroom of my dreams which really gives you the feeling of calmness as soon as you enter the room. The wallpapers (there are two) are in a very soft shade of taupe (beige) from  RUSTA (believe it or not!), the white carpet (doesn't show on the pictures of the bedroom) is from IKEA.

HAMPEN, carpet from IKEA.

Ok, so here are some pictures:

The stones cover the color theme perfectly. The white "stuff" are some spray colored branches. Below the table cloth is my treasure chest.

This is my side of the bed. The bed linen are from IKEA and I can really recommend them, I bought them full price but during september (?) they are on sale for less than 100 SEK /set - they are really soft and the colors are so warm and calm.

This is the other side of the bed, where you see the new lampshades I bought - IKEA too. You can also see a homemade tiny box I decorated with fabric using decoupage - fun and addictive too! But that one is "old". This is where you see the second wallpaper.

I wanted a curtain that covered the window, and I got even more! I pulled the curtain rail as far as I could, without getting two parts i my hands, and this I can recommend - your window will seem a lot bigger at once! Curtains and curtainrails from IKEA. Sorry to say but I didn't get around to neither ironing nor fixing the length yet ...

These wardrobes cover one wall and are 2,36 m high - what a relief to finally have ROOM from my clothes, and to be able to keep them tidy. I can open my wardrobe with a smile nowadays! Wardrobes from IKEA and the doorhandles are from BILTEMA.

It did not take too long, I fixed the wallpaper i less than a day, the wardrobes took about an hour each. Actually the cleaning and fixing my and Davids clothes (and the third wardrobe for towels and bed linens) took at least 4 hours!!! The last thing which took longest time, as it was out of store for the moment, was the chest of drawers, which you might notice to the right in the picture above. It took two weeks!!! But getting it together was a quickie - less than one hour! (but as some of you know I used to work at IKEA for many years - I know how to get the parts together without letting the smallest curse over my lips ...

But improving my bedroom made me take a closer look at the hallway ... it was really a sad sight.
BEFORE: the plastic floor had lots of damages, unfixable. The tree panel my father helped us with was getting a tired look, and the wallpapers my mother put up while we were at the hospital with Anton when he was born, were starting to roll down the walls. That's it - I had to do something about it! 

This picture of the end of the hallway shows quite a lot. You can see the tree panel, in its original shape, unpainted spruce, the ugly floor, but none of all the wholes and damages to it, and if you look in the left upper corner you can see the white doors with the not so pretty door handles!

After deciding the color theme I started out by staining the spruce panel with the color called "Fruitwood" from ZAR which I bought at BAUHAUS. It's a kind of cherry colored stain, but a bit more brownish han redish. Then I removed the doors, and started to put up a new wall paper, almost the same color as the one in the bedroom, but not exactly. This one has more pattern to it! This two improvements took two days - exactly!
Then I had my father's help bringing home some new doors, which I bought from BYGGMAX. But this was taking some time - I brought the wrong size door at home, and then the wrong size of door frame. After a few trips back and forth I finally was able to begin staining door two. But next trouble came along quickly - I finished the stain much sooner than expected (doesn't all directions for how much color or stain is supposed to last for ALWAYS exaggerate - a lot?!?!) And this came to be quite a big problem, as it took two weeks to get the stain again ... but while waiting I got help. We had a person to help us with the floor. During half a day I was checking out his job and just standing around ... it felt good, I was getting tired working from morning to late night!
I wanted to change the way we kept our jackets. It was a large and messy area, and I was really disturbed with the fact that we had another area unused just 50 cm away. After drawing and thinking I came up with the ultimate solution, and believe me when I say I am proud of it!
Let's look at some pictures now!
AFTER:

First out is a chest I inherited from my father's mother. It was made in 1790 and is the oldest item in our house. Very well kept, but unfortunatley the key is missing ... You can see the new floor (BAUHAUS) and a piece of the tree panel.

If you look from the livingroom towards the door you will meet this sight. The light wallpaper which lightens up the much darker than before panel. The new doors made us get in cantact with the man who helped out with the floor again, (Thank you!) but after a while I understood what we had been doing wrong ...

This is the door handle of the toilet. It is so pretty and one of the cheapest I could find too! From BAUHAUS. Look at the way the spruce panel goes with the pine door - perfectly I would say. I did fix all the strips of wood myself, and the corners (45 degrees) all came out perfect!

This is the part of the whole project which made me the proudest! From drawing until finished I did it all by myself (well, nice neighbour Tony helped out where my hands were too weak ...) From top to bottom: First a shelf from wall to wall, for baskets with not everday stuff, but things you might want to bring outside when you leave the house. I wanted some extra light, and the latest fashion in lamps are LED's. Small, easy-to-put-anywhere and very good for the electric bill! I also managed to get the curtain rail into the package using pipe holders which I spraycolored black.

Moving down, you'll find the hangers, but a lot less than we used to have - I decided to change jackets upstairs, the old room where I kept clothes before my new wardrobes has a lot of space nowadays! The shelf and brackets came from BILTEMA, and the black holder for the clothes hangers are actually an old "tree thing" which I used black spray lacquer to cover - came out exactly the way I wanted it!

I was getting tired with the kids clothes all over the floor, so to prevent this in the future I went once again to IKEA and bought a LEKSVIK hanger, which I stained in the same color as the panel, I am almost too content with the result! And believe it or not - the kids seem to enjoy being able to hang their own clothes in place!!! I am stunned!!

The least nice thing is the door, but we are not allowed to change it ourselves, so the bright blue door is something we are stuck with! Anyway, I do recommend the door carpet, which I bought from JYSK. It takes care of damp shoes and most of the dirt stay in it, and it's washable at only 40 degrees! I cut it in place so that it would be perfect for our house.

The last wall of the hallway is yet to be fixed - I did put up wallpaper and stained the panel, but I need to buy a mirror and we did not decide on the style of the mirror just yet. I want something that stands out - like a mirror with a big golden frame to it, but David thinks otherwise ... You will know!

Lazy ...

... is not the way I feel right now, although sitting on the couch. I have been busy fixing the house for weeks now (time runs fast when you are enjoying yourself) but I did manage to get some computer-time. A poor stand-in for time in my sewing studio, but as the surfing had some goals (fabric and notions) I almost felt like being in my favorite room, which is actually the only room that didn't get a makeover since we moved in! All other areas of the house has gone through at least two changes ... I have to consider that - but not this fall!

So, one of my favorit places to buy fabric and other sewing related stuff from is Fabric Depot. Almost always some great sale going on, and a great costumer service!

This is what I spotted last night:

An automatic Bias Tape Maker! WOW! You just make a strip (or strips), load them into the machine and in less than a minute you can have up to 12 feet perfect bias tape! Looking around made me realize that the price Fabric Depot had was great, a lot less than others - $ 74. I like! I want! I need (?) Well, no, I don't NEED it, but boy would I be happy to have one!

And right next to it was another nice acquaintance - look at this!

An automatic Rotary Cutting Machine! It will make perfect stripes up to 2½" wide in no time at all! Fabric Depot sells it for $ 58.

The next item is not new, but this price range is - Fabric Depot offers it for only $ 16!

A SideWinder, which will let you fill bobbin after bobbin with perfect tension in no time at all! Now, I know I can use my electric drill, but that will be noisy and will make my hands buzy, this is a "does all the work-machine" which I like - a lot! I'm really considering getting this one ...

You know I like PANDURO, and last Friday I had their new catalogue. It has an inviting size, loaded with stuff I would love to use for different crafts. But the one thing that caught my eye was this little pretty "take-care-of-all-sewing-notions-you-are-taking-with-you-to-class"-bag!

As a special offer you can get this cutie for less than 100 SEK! The circular shape is really inviting to me, although I am not at all into pink, and especially not together with limeish green - but this one - I want it!

This weekend I was going to get some sewing time, participating in a "sew together" organized by Linnéa of Linneaartline, but it seems I have to pass - I really want my hallway to become representative again ... this is what we are making:

It is soooo pretty - although Linnéa named the chef "Gordon" as in "Hell's Kitchen" , "The F Word" and "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmare".

See any resemblance? (I managed to find a picture of a happy Gordon Ramsay!)

Well, it's still early in the morning (not even 7 yet) so I'm staying lazy for another hour or so - searching my favorite online stores for bargains! Just have to refill my coffee-cup first!

Using things made for other use in the sewing studio!

I am always looking for different stuff that might be

1) good for storage of gazillions of sewing notions

2) useful in another area than it was first designed for

3) something that comes in handy sometime in the future of my sewing

The things I look for to store notions might be just in front of my eyes, but I don't realize the smartness at first. One thing I saw the other day, but didn't consider smart until inside the car going home was a thing I found at IKEA.

This small series are meant to be used in the bathroom, for toothbrushes, bar of soap and liquid soap. It's called BOLMEN and costs only 29 SEK. But I saw something else - what about using the toothbrush mug for strings and cords? I even think that the holes are big enough to show a small part of some not to wide ribbon I got from PANDURO the other day.

As some of you know I do machine embroidery too. This means that besides many different types of batting I also have different stuff - some water soluble, some tear away and they all come in different sizes. I do store them in a big box, but when I want to use them I always need to search for what I want and I also started to mark every bolt/roll, but they really are out-growing me. The smartest way to store all of these different materials needs a sewing studio, but if you are fortunate enought to have your own area for sewing you can do this!

Get some towel holders - the one above is also from IKEA, it's called BAREN and costs 129 SEK. That is quite expensive, but this one is really smooth. Another thing you might use instead are curtain rods, IKEA has rods called IRJA for only 12 SEK - yes, that's right! Unbelivable!

So, what are you supposed to do? Well, this idea is not my own, a dear friend used to have her different battings and vliesofix/vlieseline and things like that rolled onto the bars. Think of putting lets say 5 or six up on the wall, and then getting organized by rolling different kinds of batting and material like that ono them. Now, that is a smart storage solution!

Last but not least, make sure all your friends know that you are interested in recieving stuff from them! I am not talking about begging, but when my friends are throwing bags away, for instance, as they grew tired of them, the zipper was destroyed or some part of the bag was ruined, they give the bags to me. I don't reuse them, but I make sure to cut off anything I might be interested in using on the bags I sew.
I have a friend that works as a manager for a clothing store, and as you know there are always people returning clothes and stuff (belts!) for one reason or the other. Most of the things are re-priced and then put up for sale again, but some things are wrong in some way, or have been destroyed in one way or the other. These things are put i boxes and are meant to be thrown away. But of course there are lot's of other uses for this stuff! The other day my friend knocked on my door and handed me a big paper bag filled (!) with different belts! So what's the use of belts, you might ask yourself? Well, look at bags from designers and realize that most of them have details in leather or faux leather! If the closure works you might even consider using the belt insted of other closing material like zippers, for instance.
This paper bag was like Christmas for me - what lovely belts and think of all the uses I could see for them. The belts that have no metallic closure might become handles for my bags! A destroyed belt can be a pretty detail on a bag ... and so on, and so on ...

(The swedish "swan" which wants us all to work for a sustainable society, where future generations have the same opportunities and chances as we who live now do.)

Ask your non-sewing friends to be environmentally friendly - tell them to let you re-use the things they want to throw away! I keep my friends happy by giving them a make-up bag or something else from time to time, as I whip them up so quickly. Even if you only use part of the object you get, the re-use of something old is a way to preserve nature to future generations! Remember - nobody is able to to everything, but anybody can do something. Even small steps taken ARE steps!

Bargains, bargains, bargains!

Yesterday, at the same time as I brought the new floor to the final destination (home) I picked up a parcel at the post office. Or post office, it's a ICA store nearby our house ...

Anyway, the parcel was HUGE! I didn't spend to much at PANDURO:s big sale, but wow, did I get a lot for every dime spent! Including freight costs I spent less than 500 SEK.

The parcel made me feel like Christmas eve - it was litterally filled - the reason for the big size was my purchase of four canvas frames, you know those thicker ones. I have a PIM for them.

I also bought some handles for bags, both red and black, and also a metal frame to fill with pearls or whatever I feel like. The faux leather handles were real bargains, only 11 SEK a pair!

Mine are not exactly the same, but similar, except they are prepared for rivets.

There were also fabric, and as the price was more than right - only 26 SEK/meter I got a meter of each fabric for sale! They are right in my taste, three of them i different black/red/white and one only black and white.

Two of the fabrics. The material are not for quilting, but perfect for bags!

To increase my stockroom (!) of pretty things to embellish stuff I sew with, I bought a lot of different ribbons, color coordinated and one set for christmas. That one can be used for gift for that special one in my life!

Then there were some "this and thats" - for instance I bought two different bias tape makers - one for real thin biases and one that might (if I am lucky) produce the perfekt bias tape for hot pads!

Yesterday was a perfect day in all ways, the home improvement went on in the planned speed, I had two of my favorite quilting magazines in the mail, and OMG there where tons of projects I want to do! Finally I prepared in my mind what I am going to do today, and there will be lots of things, but I hope that everything will work out fine.

I have saved you from reading about how you can make mistakes while buying doors and door frames, but believe me when I say that there are several, if not uncountable ways to do wrong, and I did them all ... you have to combine height and widht both for doors and for frames and lintels ... I suppose you get it without me going on about it - I think (because I don't feel sure until the doors are on their actual places) that we finally landed in a correct combination of things ... you will most certainly know!

Changes and improvements by the house ...

I suppose most people look forward to the summer vacation for travelling, resting and hopefully getting time to meeting friends, having BBQ:s and things like that.
I am a bit different - if I can choose, I prefer spending the vacation making home improvements. I suppose it's the same reason I love making quilts, and quilted stuff - you do something and while doing it the result gets visible very quick.

This summer has been a good period for making changes in my house. I have wanted to change my wardrobes since we moved in, and finally I was able to change my dreams into reality!
We bought the IKEA series of wardrobes PAX and I managed to use the highest version of the wardrobe, which is 2,36 meters high. I got my own big closet and so did David and we also got a closet for the curtains, towels and the sheets.

Exactly the closets we choose - 1 meter wide and the doors are just beautiful with the doors "Birkeland". The picture is NOT of our bedroom, just found the right closet on the Internet.

Our old wardrobes were so well-used that I decided to destroy them - a great exercise! The master bedroom is upstairs, so after turning the old closets to weed I had to carry the remains downstairs. Belive me when I say that I know exactly what muscles in my legs and arms I used!

Before getting the new wardrobes I changed the wallpapers too. Instead of a dark blue wallpaper I got two different wallpapers, one for the wall behind the bed and the other one for the rest of the room. I am so content with the result - my dark bedroom is now light but much calmer as the main color of the room is greyish beige, taupe I think the colors name is.

The taupe color which I choose for my bedroom.

I also found some nice bed lining in the same color range - also at IKEA. The fabric is really soft and nice.

And I finally found a lampshade for the bedroom lamps which is white and has small squares of taupe.
I am going to show you pictures of the master bedroom, but I wanted to finish the quilt I want to put up on the wall, a WIP, and also the big quilt for the bed.

Next project I started out was the hallway by the entrance to our house. When we moved in my father helped us getting a wooden panel made out of spruce. We were going to do so many things, but we had only lived in our house for less than a month when I had preeclampsi (toxicos) and therefore had to deliver our biggest son Anton in the end of the sixth months of pregnacy. This ruined all plans we had - I spent two months at the hospital and after that I was worrying for my son for a couple of months.  The coloring of the hallways wooden panel got forgotten. But this was more than 6 years ago, and as I still felt like improving my home, I continued!

I went to Bauhaus to get the color I wanted. This picture shows the color:

Of course I also wanted to change the wallpapers. I wanted something calm here too, and the wallpaper I got i similar to the one in the bedroom, but has more brown shades into it. I both pained the panel and put up the wallpapers yesterday. As David returned from work I did the last wallpaper piece! The wallpapers were really quick as they used the new technique - you put the glue on the wall and then just put the wallpaper up - it doubles the speed, especially if you precut the wallpapers. Mine had no pattern, so I only measured the lengths, easy peasy!

This is a picture of the actual wallpaper:

Wallpaper SPACE in beige non wowen, a bargain at 129:-/ a roll. From RUSTA.

All doors in the house needs changing - this is not a matter of design or looks, most of them are destroyed in one way or the other. No wonder, they are really cheap doors with a white, plastic look. Underneath the color you can see a cheap wooden material - ugh!

As if this wasn't enough - both bathroom doors has kind of lost the color ... it looks even cheaper! A change was needed!

I got help from daddy, who has a bigger car than we do, to get a door home. This one is rigid pine, and I am going to paint it (stain it) today, with the same color used for the panels. This is the door:

Wooden door from BYGGMAX.

So until I have finished the doors, which is more work than you would imagine as you need to change not just the door, but also the part on which the door hangs, I will not show you any actual pictures of the hallway, but I am confident that the way I spent my summer vacation will be enjoyed for years ahead.

Last thing to be done is changing the plastic carpet in the hallway for a wooden floor or for ceramic tiles, but we are still in the choosing part of that - so I'll be back ...

I do long for my sewing machine of course, but summer is the perfect time for fixing and improving the house, sewing can be done anytime!

Still more generous quilters!

I am not surprised, this generousity is something I think quilters have in common. A couple of years ago I was reading on Oprah's site, and there was a little something that struck me - it seems that the person who gives a lot, also recieves more! If you give without obligation for the reciever to give you something i return, you will realize that it's a win-win situation. You will gain more by being generous than being cheap!
You can give more than just things. Some people need your time, your skill(s) or even just your ear, just listening might be your great gift!

Give aways I found today, while continuing catching up on the blogs I follow!

Bluebird Quilts is hitting 30 000 visitors, and is therefore having a give away. Look at all this!

She even added more! Get over there and sign up immediately! Don't you just love the small buttons in the middle?

IF you find these stuff lovely (who doesn't love the bag?) you can write a comment over at Hooked on Needles, who is having her 400th post summer giveaway!

Some give aways I would love to win!

First, today we had a BBQ together with my parents, it was LOVELY! Second, washing the dishes - and believe me I put anything that will fit into my dishwasher - took about an hour and after that (now) I am resting on the sofa, trying to catch up on my blogs. I follow a lot, but not always on a day-to-day basis.
Anyway, blogland could also be called generousland, as so many blogger have give aways!

Today I have a few give aways to tell you about.

If you love japanese sewing, and especially those small animals that seem to pop up almost everywhere, or if the wee wonderfuls are "your cup of tea" than this give away will give you the chance to make a pretty one for yourself!

Get over to Vickie at Mid-Ohio Quilter, comment on what she wrote, write about it in your blog and comment on the pattern at Moda Bake shop - you'll get a total of three chances to win a jumbo yo-yo-maker by Clover!

It's quite common to celebrate blogging for a year, and today I saw this entry over at Terry's Treasures - a year of blogging will be fulfilled by the 12th of August! To celebrate this there is a real shower she throws! Patterns, fabric and books - I wonder who the lucky (very) winner will be? You can take a chance at winning by commenting on her blog and get another chance by blogging about it!

Books you will get if you win!
 

Small gifts for small people and what my friends are doing!

I have a strange fear everytime I machine embroider - I always fear that I will destroy the fabric, or that the embroidery will get strange or in the wrong place and most of all, I fear the dreadful "birds nest" that sometimes get built up from the bobbin. Anybody familiar with this fact?

Well, I am a person who likes to be in control, so I have decided to challenge my fear, I try to embroider almost everyday now.
Today my two sons suddenly came running in to tell me that there was a party coming up in the afternoon, and believe me when I say that I was surprised that the hosts of the party were the same two boys! Well, i fixed something to drink, popcorn and some cookies and promised them ice cream afterwords. The guests were two of the neighbours daughters and I wanted to make a special treat for them, so I decided to make a couple of heartshaped coasters, designed by my dear friend Linnéa of Linneaartline. I absolutely LOVE her designs!

The coasters I made for my son's guests. Pink stays the absolut favourite color of girls!

Linnéa has created many different coasters, and all of them are so easy to sew, try them!
I prepared a few games for them as well, my mother, their granny, has bought a great book which is stuffed with games to play, just perfect for me. I placed myself in my sewing studio, but every 20 minutes I went to the party gang and introduced them to another game. They all enjoyed it, and as the ice cream-car just came along, they ran out and David got them some ice cream. I got a break as they decided to stay outside playing. While the party was on I also finished a bottle smoking, but as I need to remove the water soluble before showing it, you'll have to wait!

As I was waiting for the thread change I started out checking a couple of patterns that another wonderful friend of mine created. You MUST visit Auds homepage and don't forget to check out my two darlings, the apple table runner and the fall table runner with matching pillow case - just LOVELY!

Don't you just get an itch in your fingers to make these as a set for fall?

Introducing the Down-Town-bag (Gå på stan-väskan)

I have told you before - I'm a baglady! I love to create bags that go with special outfits. I often combine the bags I make with a small makeup bag, to get a "set". Checking back over the years I realize that bags have been a common theme, but fortunately, my bags are popular! The latest contribution to my pattern line is called "Gå på stan-väskan" (Down-Town bag in English). A very easy, versatile and quicksewn bag. This one is perfect for beginners who would love to make a bag, but have hesitated about the making of it.
The club is going to have a "Sew Together" where we all make a bag at the same time, and I will try to help out online.

This is the bag!

Gå på stan-väskan. Mönster 4 Agnetas mönsterklubb.
Down-Town bag. Pattern no 4 in my pattern line 2009.

I have loads of ideas on how to make the bag in exactly your own style. I love the fact that the bag has the perfect size to show off any big beautiful print, the one above is exactly in my own taste. I have created the bag in such a way that it is really easy to put together as long as you follow the pattern - no "two bags within each other"!!

Coincidences?

Many years ago I was hosting a radioshow called "Bokmalen" (The Bookworm). I had the great oppertunity to read as many books as I  liked and I got them directly from the publishing houses. Most booklovers envy me, and today I envy the wonderful time I had, although it would be impossible today, being a mother of two, working full-time and taking care of my house - not to forget running a mailinglist, a website for quilters and creating patterns for quilters, as well as quilting for my own enjoyment!
One book (of many worth remembering) was "The Celestine Prophecy" (Nionde insikten) by James Redfield. This book was fascinating in many ways, but I liked the thought that you should let your mind lead you to places and if you come to talk to a stranger, there might be a divine plan that kind of forced your meeting. If you didn't read it yet, get it at Adlibris for only 39 SEK. So, how come I got to think of it today? Well, I went to IKEA yesterday, to return a thing that I bought to many of while upgrading my wardrobe, and as I went alone I had time to stroll and check things I normally have to run by. When I came to the part of IKEA where they keep boxes and stuff like that I immediately felt DRAWN into the corner. What was it that called my name? OK, there was a SALE-sign, but I have never even considered looking at this object before. Anyway, as soon as I laid eyes on it, I knew exactly why I had been "taken" to that specific area of IKEA - in front of me was a quite small, self-standing basked, with four departments in three different heights - of course - a perfect storage place for rulers and stuff! The price was also satisfying - only 39 SEK. This is a picture of what I did with them - I had to get two!

Smart solution or what?

A late mother's Day gift

We have always celebrated Mother's Day in our family, and as always I wanted to get my darling mama something special. She was happy - very - about the quilt I sewed for her 70th birthday last november and I had some fabric left to make two cushion covers.  Below it the quilt.

I had an idea about making really easy cushion covers, only spiced up with some triangles made out of squares. I made 10 squares 5" x 5".

Then I took the sunflower-fabric I had left from the quilt and cut it in two halfs. Every cushion cover have to measure 50 cm x 60 cm finished, and to keep the cushion inside I needed about 20 cm extra for the front, that is I cut the length 160 cm and the width 52 cm.  The cushion covers are made in a kind of envelope style. Both of the cushion covers were done in less than one and a half hour.

I hope my mother will be happy about the late gifts - better late than never!

This link will show you just about the same way to do pillow covers.

I think you all have heard about "Christmas in July" - and I just found a great pillow pattern with Christmas trees. 

Tutorial for a simple square pillow which you can change according to your needs is to be found here at planetjune.

A fantastic give away!

Short, but very very interesting for those of us that love to play the lottery - a blog that I follow is having a great give away, and the gift is fanastastic -a "Frosted Memories" fat quarter bundle - just imagine what lovely things you could make from these wonderful fabrics!

Get over to Quilt Qua and find out how you could become a winner yourself!

Summer Holiday is here ... tips and a new combo (bag/makeup bag) and a picture of me!

... and I started out by renewing my subscription to "Love of Quilting". There is a great offer right now, you get three free gifts - a pattern and two books - and an outside-U.S-subscription is less than $ 36. You can read all about the offer here!

And if you are in to making more bargains, my friend Gisela has a sale in her quiltshop - and below is a picture of a bag and a matching makeup bag I did from recently bought fabric from the same source.

No, they are not attached to each other IRL! 

This is a closeup of the makup bag.

And if you have read this far I will present a recent picture of myself, taken last Sunday while waiting in the queue to enter the ferry "Cinderella" which cruises the sea between Sweden and Finland. This is quite a fun picture - and then I am not referring to my looks - as I have taken it myself, by using the rear mirror in the car to be able to see myself!

Happy summer holiday to you all!

A quickie but a goodie!

Have you ever enjoyed Tammie Bowser's wonderful creations? She makes pictoral quilts where a photo is the pattern behind. Google her to find the astonishing quilted photos she created, with just fabric!
You can see here att Quilterstv too.

Anyway, today I realized that you could have a book that explains what she does, and you get it for free!

Use this link (about 12 Mb) and get a few patterns for free as well - if you like Marilyn Monroe, you can have your personal quilted photo with her picture, just by choosing fabric with different values. You will "get it" when you read.

Enjoy!

A day off means a day of sewing and caressing my stash!

I have been working so many late nights to get my last book done, and yesterday I turned it in to the printinghouse - I am so content but also exhausted. This meant I needed and was entitled to a day off - YES!

I bought some new fabric from Gisela at quiltshop - priceworthy, good and quick service - thank you! I did something "wild and crazy" when it comes to my usual choices - I bought two packages of fabric in the two colors I find it hardest to use, at least as the main fabric color - yellow and pink!

Yellow has always been a "yack-color" for me - I really don't know why. I think I have one yellow top, and that one I hardly ever use ...

Pink is also a tough choice for me - I do like the stronger pink color, like cerise, but I don't think I even own anything in the softer pink scale.
Anyway, I got the fabrics home, and Gisela had made nice fabric combinations, and I was a bit surprised that I really liked the colors!
The yellow colors are not the strong variants (DON'T like!), they are more greenish yellow. The pinks were almost all in the color range I don't prefer, normally, but the two packages beside each other got my mind going - a runner, I have to make a runner.

I had a urge for both cutting and sewing, so I new I wanted some piecing. After to top was done (all in yellow) I decided that i needed to make some kind of appliqué - and I just used fast-to-fuse and pressed it on one of the pink fabrics and did the same with a green one - and then I started to make big childish flowers and leaves.

I had a blast! It took me about three hours from start to finish, and I am not even sure I like the result a lot, but boy, did I enjoy myself in my sewing studio!

Creare necesse est - labore non est necesse! (well, I do need to work, both for social reasons as I tend to love spending time alone - good company, you know!!  -and also to be able to create stuff in my sewing studio) Without a job, no money, no fabric and so on ...

Well, the day is still young, I might even make another bag today (got an idea in my mind that keeps popping up and wanting my attention!) but first I need to get the sewing studio back in order, it is exactly the way which triggers my creativity, but as I have a family where the members tend to comment on how messy it is (not dirty, just messy) I have to make it a bit more "normal" before turning it into a mess again!
This is the table runner I did:

Sometimes I just love the "free feeling" of just stacking fabrics and cutting them up wildly, and this is how it sometimes turn out!

A wallhanging with words on friendship!

I have not been able to do any sewing in a while, but today I finished a big job that has taken a lot of my time (a book which I have prepared the template for, and after that I have worked together with the editor for a few months to make this a great book - and I am so proud about the outcome!)

Anyway, I still do patterns on a a regular basis - most of them end up in my "book of ideas" which actually is a big notepad where I draw and print, but some of them get to become real patterns. This is both smart and fun, I can go back and find ideas that make me go AHH! as it was a while since I last worked on that specific idea.

This wallhanging is my latest pattern in my patternline!

I have combined handsewing with piecing (easy) and a simple stippling allover the main part of the quilt, but I did some  flowers on the borders.

The words are kind of sayings about friendship;
True Friendship last in all Weathers

Take care of Friendship

The Road to your Friends is never far to walk

The fabrics are a Jelly Roll that I bought at Hancocks of Paducah and come from the fabric line by April Cornell, a favorite designer of mine! You can see her latest collections here.

I hope that you all like the new pattern!

Inspirational Monday night!

Did I have a blast last Monday! My collegue at work invited me to visit Kajsa Ullman, a former employee at my job, but nowadays she spends her days - as she said herself - playing in the basement of her appartment!

Kajsa Ullman works  with textile color on different textiles, mostly velvet but also wool, which she uses stencils to print on. Her main working tool is a spunge!

 She also does other stuff, like berets (loverly printed with roses!) and she even makes cards and covers to pads! I was a bit late, but boy am I happy I made it!

One thing that really inspired my was a teapot warmer, in the form of a woman with a big padded skirt - that is one thing I could make without knowing anything about stencil printing!

What an inspiration!
I really fell in love with her apples, which she both prints on fabric but she is also a very (read VERY) talanted painting artist, using watercolor.

Her technique was very interesting - she uses layers of different stencils which makes the printings "go alive". Kajsa is also a part of an artist group here in Uppsala called "Öster om ån". Please go there to find even more inspirational pictures! She will lead a course and I almost immediately started to think about the combination printing her way and doing quilted stuff - I think it will work out great! If there is room for me I most definately will sign up!

Another bag!

Yes! I'm definately back on track - I have made another bag today!

As usual I had no pattern, but a few scraps I felt was fine together! The embroidery was my Easter gift from mother, a collection by Linnéa, one of my absolute favorite artists when it comes to machine embroidery! Please visit her site for more information.

This is a close-up picture:

I wanted to be able to use the bag both as a handbag and a tote, which requires different sizes, so this was my solution:

By opening the closure the bag gets much bigger!

I can't help it - I just L O V E making bags - my biggest problem now is storage - I might make a enormous bag to store them all inside!

Another bag and a small makeup bag to go with it!

FINALLY - I am back on track - or at least I hope so - I have been sewing!!!

I bought a package of scraps for less than 60 SEK at the fair "syfestivalen" and I only had to add one fabric to make them both!

I just love the way these fabrics go together! They give me the feeling of old days, yet fresh!
The squares are 2,5" in the bag and 2" in the makeup bag, and the technique for the bag is the "Lise Bergene-corners" where they turn up as a triangle on the outside - it's been a while since I made one of these, but after checking some measurements in the book "Väskor och Kassar - sy dem själv" (Bags and totes - make them yourself) by Lise Bergene I knew what I wanted. I don't think I ever will be tired of making bags - I am already known as a "baglady" at the office!

Time to fix the mess in the sewing studio, but there are only a few small pieces left, which will go to the collection of scraps I keep.

Quiltning in many different languages!

Many people ask me how it's possible for me to find so many things on the Internet, and I belive it's a combination of computer skill, knowledge on how google and other search engines works and finally luck!

But I have also got something I would like to share with you - a list of the word patchwork in many different languages - and you can just copy and page and see what you get - use the setting picture which will make everything so much easier for you!

Dansk (Danish)
n. - tæppe af sammensyede klude, patchwork

Nederlands (Dutch)
lappendeken, mengelmoes

Français (French)
n. - patchwork, (fig) patchwork, mosaïque
adj. - en patchwork, hétérogène

Deutsch (German)
n. - Patchwork
adj. - Patchwork-, aus vielen Teilen zusammengesetzt

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - πάτσγουορκ, σύρραμμα, προχειροδουλειά, συρραφή (ανομοιόχρωμων ή ανομοιογενών στοιχείων), (μτφ.) συνονθύλευμα
adj. - από ανομοιογενή στοιχεία

Italiano (Italian)
patchwork, rappezzato

Português (Portuguese)
n. - costura feita com retalhos (f)
adj. - feito de retalhos

Русский (Russian)
лоскутное шитье

Español (Spanish)
n. - obra de fragmentos o retacillos, ensaladilla, mezcla, baturrillo, centón (con ref. a obra literaria)
adj. - relativo o perteneciente al patchwork

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - lapptäcksarbete (lappteknik, kviltning)
中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
拼缝物, 拼凑物, 拼缀物

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 拼縫物, 拼湊物, 拼綴物

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 쪽모이 세공, 주워 모은 것, 잡동사니

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 継ぎはぎ細工, パッチワーク, 寄せ集めのもの, 寄せ集め

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) خليط, مزيج, ضم قطع قماش مختلفه الأشكال والألوان (صفه) مرقع‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מורכב מטלאים, דומה לעבודת טלאים, מעשה טלאים‬

Quilting around the world - South Korea!

I just found the Constant Crafter's blog and as the pictures of the quilts were stunning I decided to write about quilting in South Korea. Look here! The quilts are from a quilting festival in Seoul 2007.
 

South Korean quilting includes a special technique called pujagi, and you can find a film of it here. Pujagi is a kind of mosaic patchwork, which is used on many different materials, those made in silk are beautiful! Look at a beautiful example here.

Korean patchworking and quilting is old, at least 200 years, and it's quite natural this would appear in a country where most clothes have whirling forms, which leaves a lot of small extra pieces left ... and we all know what to do with those! =O)

There is a museum, Chojun Textile & Quilt Art Museum, which is located in Seoul, and a fun coincidence - one of the quilts is actually made of the wife of the swedish ambassador in South Korea - Eva Vargo! Look at her contribution here.

And here is a pattern where a pujagi technique is used, although the writer really says she doesn't know if this is to correct way, I don' t know either, but the result is great and works well with scraps!

Happy Easter!

I wanted to show you what I did with the kids yesterday, but somehow my camera, as so many other stuff, seems to have found legs and went away ... it's impossible to find it!
Anyway, we fixed our kitchen Easter decoration with a sprig of twigs decked with coloured feathers and many handmade decorations and it's really inviting and pretty! We also painted some eggs, but the colored eggs will have to do until I get some onions - you know that if you want the prettiest colored eggs, cook them whith the outside parts of the onion! After normal cookingtime the turn brown and nice!

But I have other decorations I put up for Easter!
My kitchen table looks like this (although the picture is old):

And I have decorated the hallway with two different Easter wallhangings, and the kids have placed out eggs all over the place - tomorrow is Easter Saturday and I am in time!

There is only one thing I wonder about - how come children have quit dressing up like witches, and stopped making cards? Yesterday there were some kids at the door that I don't know - they just stood there, no "Happy Easter" - no nothing. So I said hi? (with a soundable question mark) and they said hi in an hesitating way. I decided to let them wait, and finally one of them said: can we have candy? I sighed and took out the big candyfilled egg and let them take big handfuls, not even making a comment. What happened to being modest - asking for two pieces of candy? And last and most important, what about the words of gratitude  "thank you"?
I wonder if I failed too? I always tell my kids to ask twice, say thank you and be polite and grateful, but I don't know if they follow my instructions when alone. Am I the only one who think this is important to learn the children?
I don't let my kids visit other houses to get candy, if they want to go around there are only a few houses I will let them visit. I would never let my kids run around asking for candy from unknown - I have worked hard to learn them NOT to take candy from others and it's so important to me I will keep on forbidding them!

Well, happy Ester to you all!

and 

Quilting in the world - Brazil!

My collegue went to Brazil, and I asked her to buy me a couple of quilting magazines as I was interested in learning about quilting also in that part of the world. Yesterday she brought me two wonderful magazines!
I don't read or speak portuguese, but from general language interest and knowledge of spanish I found that it was quite easy to understand most of what was written, and when it comes to the patterns - no problems! They measure in centimeters, as we do in Sweden, and the patterns were easy to follow as they had step-by-step explanations on how to make different quilted items. Another interesting thing - the first magazine actually were both of these and a third too:

The other magazine was "normal" (no extra magazines inside) and it was also very interesting to read. It is called "Criando Arte Patchwork".

My collegue knows my love for creating quilted bags, and in one of the magazines there were quite a few described - I am thinking about making at least one of them!

If you check out this link you will realize that there are some "bagladies" in Brazil too!

Another place I got stuck at was this lovely blog - I would love to do the table runner in the top of the page!

And this picture is borrowed from a fellow brazilian quilter, Maria Regina.

What a great idea for using up scraps - I love it! I can also see that you might use this pattern on a bag ... well, here I go again ..

I also found a free pattern in portuguese from the page Eva E Eva, but I think anyone who quilted for a while can follow it. If you do you can create a masterpiece! Unfortunately I'm not able to show the picture here - but this is the link! It is just wonderful!

I did find a quilting group too, Marias do Brasil which is a group of Brazilian women who share the interest in quilting. Use the links in the left bar of the website to see some of their work!

And my last link is to a swedish quilter who knows portugese - which is the way I found the blog. http://lucyslappteknik.blogspot.com/

Até a vista!

Bought some Quilting magazines!

Today I made some shopping. I was downtown and as the bus wouldn't come for at least 10 minutes I went to my favorite newsstand!
They have a lot of quilting magazines, which means that there are quite a few quilters in Uppsala, a lot more than I know of, I'm sure.

Today I got:

The pattern on the cover was so tempting, and that's the only reason I bought it (yeah, right, who am I fooling?) I love "Quilt" and read it from cover to cover, often more than once!

 I also bought an old favorite "Quilter's Newsletter Magazine". This was the first magazine for quilters I ever bought, and in the beginning I didn't really like it a lot, but as I've become a more skillful quilter I enjoy every issue, although I don't subscribe to it (maybe I should ... it would be a lot cheaper ...)

Look at this cover - doesn't it just make you want to grab your scraps and get going with a "springly" quilt?

By the way, did you see that the site for this magazine, and the sisters (McCall's  Quilting, Quick Quilts and the others) changed? You can become a member for extra goodies. Read more here.

My third choice was "American Patchwork and Quilting" which always comes absolutely filled with anything a quilter might be interested in.

Although pink isn't really "my" color, I did like the cover! They have a lot of interesting things, I liked the part about crazy piecing a lot! And they also have a lot of tips that any quilter might find useful!

I saw an advertise about the new Bernina 830 which seems interesting - hopefully I will be able to try it at the sewing festival which is coming up in the beginning of April in Kista. I long to go there! Check out the link above if you want to see some features live!

Now, do I NEED a new sewing machine - absolutely not - but do I WANT a new one - of course!!!

My new pattern!

I am so proud and love the way the bag turned out! The pattern is easy to follow and you can make one of these in just a day or two! If you are interested in buying it (all the people in my club get it for free) please contact me! The printed pattern will be sent home to your mailbox (normal mail that is) and you will get a password for the picture series online too, and it will all be yours for only 96 SEK.

Quilting around the world - South Africa!

There was a time when the country South Africa was the same as apartheid, where white people decided what the black (majority) community would and wouldn't do. I remember there even were campains towards filling fuel at Shell. I decided never to buy anything from a country with these values!
But happily these days are gone, and thanks to those who kept fighting these unfair laws that did nothing but grow hate between people the whole community now lives in democracy. This is not an old democracy though, Nelson Mandela who was the first president while the whole population had voting rights, were choosen for this official position in 1994. The year before he earned the Nobel Peace Prize. If it wasn't for him and the people that stood up towards the apartheid regime there still would be a place where racism was ok.

Anyway, today I buy things from South Africa without any problem. I wanted to show you about quilting in South Africa.

 They throw National Quilt Shows, and the next one is coming up during 2011 (June/July) in Cape Town.

Wouldn't it be interesting to go there? In my mind african fabric glow with color and beautiful patterns, so I suppose my thoughts are not to wrong, thinking about the name of the Quilt Festival.

African quilts I found online, a few samples. Remember that South Africa was a Dutch Colony for many years, therefore some quilts "seem" European.

This wild and colorful crazy quilt is dated circa 1880 and it's a great work!

And look at this amazing handquilted whole-cloth quilt, dated circa 1886.

More recent work which burst out in color:

This one is called "It was hot when I arrived in Durban" and it was made by Odette Tolksdorf.

And this one gives the same colorful impression:

A quilt made by Shan Day called "Illusive Nature".

I also think of brown/yellowish/beige fabric when I think of Africa, and this quilt felt like a good representative for the thoughts.

The quilt is called "Under the African Sun" and was made by Sheila Walwyn and it won first prize at the Tri-nations quilt competition.

It also seems that Art Quilts are popular, this example won first prize too. It was made by Trix De Jager and is called "Kom na my Tuin" (Visit my garden).

The last quilt I am showing here is what I expected to find, but I was stunned and happy to realize that my prejudice was wrong!

The quilt was made by Dionie van Rensburg and is called "Fashion Parade".

I found some shops online too. This one looks interesting - Jazmin Interior Design and don't miss the chance to see some African inspired fabrics here.

It seems that quilt shops all over the world has about the same looks, wherever you go.

But boy, would I love to go there!

Last, but not least, I found this cute poem about quilts at Quiltec Fabrics, that operates in Kloofendal, South Africa, :

Little bits of fabric
Sewn into a Quilt
Form a warm and loving blanket
From which memories are built
And when memories are built
And when you seek peace and comfort
In the quiet of the night
It will keep you warm and snug
Until the morning's light.

Quilting around the world - Dubai!

As some of you know we have relatives in Dubai. Last time I was there I stumbled upon an exibition, and the arabic women are great quilters!

Today I saw that there has been an International Quilt Show in Dubai, and that there is another one coming up - anybody cares to join me?

For the next time the Quilt Show is thrown, there will be three well known teachers, Ricky Tims, Sharon Pederson and Bonnie McCaffery who all will be coming in 2010 for the workshops.  

If you ever go there (DO - the shopping is more than great whatever things you want to buy!) try to find the sellers in the "souk" (the market in the oldest part of town) because that is the place for bargains, great ones! Read more about "souks" here.

David bought me some countless amounts of embroidery threads the last time, and he knew that I wanted lots and lots of white. I got approx. 20 cones and every cone holds 5000 meters of thread! I use them also for normal sewing, and they work out great! If anybody wonders about pricing, let me tell you that Dubai is a place where you need time! If the seller (in the market that is, where no prices are "set") starts at let's say $ 10, you should start at $ 3! They you work yourself up to somewhere in the middle. David bought the cones for approx. 10 SEK a piece!!!!

You can also find great fabric, not only for quilting, for any use. And if you are interested in making bags this is an Eldorado!

And don't forget about the beauty of the town, both the old and the new part. The old, because it's old, and the new not only for the size (everything is BIGGEST in the world and has most stars - the largest hotel has seven!) but there is also a good chance of running into some celebrity. For instance has Brad and Angelina (no more presentation needed, I believe) bought a part of a palmtree that actually is the ground for very expensive buildings.

There are many things to do and see - don't miss a desert tour to meet real beduins. There are guided tours in jeeps every day!

And you also have to go by the (in swedish measurements at least) small and totally dangerous boats between the older and newer part inside Dubai.

Enjoy the swarm of people shopping everyday, but don't get worried if they all kind of disappear at once - either they are going to the mosques to pray, which muslims to five times a day, or if it's in the afternoon, they are going home for some rest, and most smaller shops close too. But they will open up again and stay open until midnight.
There are fun smaller shops in the "souk" where the prices are set per floor of the shop, when I was there the first floor (on quite a few shops) were 5 Dirham and the second floor was 10 Dirham.  100 SEK is about 39 Dirham. 

If you want to know more there are many sites of interest on the Internet I like this one.

Don't forget about "Quilter's cache"!

When I started with quilting I quite quickly found Marcia and Quilter's cache. As my first interest was foundation paper piecing you can understand this was a wonderful acquaintance - she has a great amount.
But today I realized it has been long, too long since my last visit, and I finally got over there again! The work Marica does is great, what a generous personality.
I am searching for a special border, and you have to check out the borders that she teaches you how to do!

I often ask myself what it is about quilting I love? The answers are as many as the fabrics in my stash! But I tend to change my preferences over time. I love the quilting as I know that the quilt soon will be done, but I can also love the slow work of handquilting. And the piecing - when two pieces of fabric comes together 100 percent perfect, I smile!

What's your "thing" when it comes to this lovely hobby?

Of course I have to give you a link to a pattern too. What about this one?

The "pineapple" was one of the first patterns I did in foundation paper piecing, which makes it 100 percent perfect, as long as you know how to sew straight!
This lovely pattern is found over at about.com:quilting and the pattern is here.

My version is not exactly the same, but I treasure it anyway as it was one of the first quilts I ever did. The fabrics are not "made for" quilting, but I enjoyed the project very much anyway!

Two new patterns to the printing house!

I am so happy, today I left my two new patterns i my pattern line "Agnetas mönsterklubb" to the printing house! I have a third pattern half done, so I am back on track, although my regular job takes a lot of time, even nights and weekends, but that means I can take a day off from time to time, which is perfect for me - not that I don't want more money, but the lack of time affects my sewing, and that I don't like, at all! By working nights and weekends I can buy myself a whole weekday in my sewing studio, now that I what I call luxury!

It's not that unusual that when the kids are in their beds, I tend to get stuck with my laptop in the sofa, instead of being creative in my studio ... but I suppose that's life!

Although the dollar got very expensive (actually it's our currency that "fell") and today I say that $ 1 is 9.15 SEK, it's still a bargain to shop from the US. My tip for today is favorite shop Hancock's of Paducah and their pre-cut sale. They have a lot of nice jelly rolls, charm packs and layer cakes which are really unexpensive.

A good way of getting ideas of what to to with the pre-cuts are to regularly visit the Moda Bake Shop where you almost every day find something new to be inspired by! For instance today, they keep on using selvages:

You can learn more here.

There are a lot of new things to learn when it comes to pre-cuts. Most of us know about jelly rolls, but that is just the beginning. You can read this list and maybe print it out to make sure that you know what people are talking about.

http://www.unitednotions.com/equivalent-measures.pdf 

There are some things that could be added to this, For instance I have seen and bought a lot of fabrics that are in the same colorrange in jelly rolls, and at our last sewing festival in Sweden I bought a wonderful jelly roll of batiks, all in beige/brown/coffee - my favorit colors. I will show you later what I did with them. These I bought from a place here in Uppsala, called Quiltakademin, and I do recommend their website!

Finally, after having a headache for a couple of days I do feel just fine today!

More freebie patterns!

I have been out there again, and of course I found some goodies. First out is this fun way to embellish the way you keep your laptop.

I adore this cute little monster, and the explanation on how to do it is really easy. The pattern comes from Shadowmanor, and you can get your pattern here.

Do you like to personalize your buttons? Most of us know how to cover them with fabric, but you could do much more. Check out this tutorial over at Pimp Stitch where you learn how to make a small embroidery to embellish the button.

Don't you think the white button is just too cute? Learn how to make one yourself here.

I just ran in to this little adorable creature, not actually sewing, but like many other quilters I'm also into other crafts. I am sure my kids will love to make a few of these:

It's sooo cute! Easy peasy to make to - get the instructions here. The idea comes from Kid's Corner over at CaronNet.

Don't miss out on this very nice stitchery pattern - you'll find the pattern further down where it says "download". Courtesy of  Tag Along Teddies. Click the link to see the pattern!

At last some stitches that are nice to know, for handsewing (stitchery, redwork).

Running stitch with variation from Studio-259. From the same place a couple of good tutorials for blanket stitches and for the prettiest of the pretty, french knots.

And still at Studio-259 I found a page with freebies, two needlecases (different), a tote bag and a pincuchion. They all load as pdfs.

Anton had his 6th birthday-party!

I was a bit busy a couple of days, but of course there was a reason - Anton turns 6 years in a few days, but to let him and his friends (and our friends) celebrate, we had the party a bit in advance.

Anton LOVES Scooby-Doo and when we asked him what kind of cake he wanted the answer came directly - "Scooby" with friends. So I had to fix a picture, photoshop it a bit and send it to a bakery. This is the result:

And it was very tasty too!

Every birthday (among the neighbours we see regularly) we get together and enjoy ourselves - it's really a nice tradition!

This is Anton and Simon, for those of you who didn't see them in a while:

 And here is a picture of their friends:

It's great to have these photographs, the kids in the picture have been guests at every birthday-party Anton ever threw! The way they grow - WOW!

The youngest guest, Nour, is not pictured here, but she was VERY easy to have as a guest, being only a month old - she slept for two hours, woke up and ate and went back to sleep. Now, our parties are noisy - I am glad the closest neighbours are guests or they might be disturbed! 

The kids had a great time, with loads of potato-chips, popcorn and as this was a special day, also coca-cola to drink. The playstation was a hit - they sang ABBA almost all night, accompanied by me from time to time, as I love to sing!

When the guests left all kids had their traditional bag of candy and the only thing left to do was cleaning ... took us about two hours to get the house back in order, but I don't mind as long as the kids enjoy themselves!

I slept very very nicely afterwords ...

An apple a day ...

... keeps the doctor away - well, my health is good, but this winter has been a longrun of coughing and blowing my nose (and my kids noses too ...). But who am I to complain? A cold is really nothing! If that is the only illness you get - consider yourself lucky!

Talking about apples, I found this giveaway for March over at We Love Quilting. Why don't you get over there and sign up? There are some really nice gifts, look here:

I am eating apples every day. We get free fruit at work, and as I think oranges are good, but so messy and my fingers keep smelling from the juice even if I wash them thoroughly, I prefer apples. It's also a perfect "walk-around-and-eat-something-healthy-fruit".

You can do many different tasty pies with apples, and during fall I make many many, both for my family and friends. The pies are always welcome! I don't make them fancy in any way, just chop up the apples after I removed part in the middle, make a piedough out of oatmeal, suger and butter, throw it in the owen for about 20 minutes on medium heat (so that I don't burn the shell) and then serve it while it's still warm, but not hot, together with vanilla sauce  - mmm...

Three postings in one day!!

I just returned from my mailbox - and YES!! As I thought, I had a parcel!
It was the stuff I ordered from Hancocks of Paducah, but not all of it. The rest of the stuff is coming in another envelope, but nevertheless I am HAPPY!

Look what I got!

Two charm-packages of Moda's Nature's Chorus, some Beeswax (and a holder) as a lot of my friends on my mailinglist has recommended this to prevent knots and problems while handsewing. Two fabrics, and yes, one of them is in different pink colors - believe it or not!  The other one is becoming a bag of some kind, I love the way red, black and greyish white come together.
I am still awaing the jelly roll from the same series (Moda) and I think there were some other fabric too ... see, I DO order to much!!! I can't even recall what I bought!

Can anyone explain this and a giveaway!

I do the laundry in my family. I DON'T turn the clothes inside-out before putting them into the washing machine. So, can anybody please tell me how come like 95% of them come out of the washing machine that way? I have even tried to turn them inside-out before entering them, but oh no, they will come out the same way?
Anybody else who know what I'm talking about?

I have accepted the fact that if you put in 10 pairs of socks, you get 8 pair out - the monster within have to eat - but why turn the clothes inside-out?!??! 

Well, I leave you with that thought and go on about a giveaway. You can be the lucky winner of all this over att Fiber Fabrications. Get over there and sign up!

I'm getting back to doing the turning of all clothes ...

Easter is coming soon!

In Sweden we say that "Christmas lasts until Ester" and I feel that is correct. The older I get, the faster times run. It seems like yesterday when I was taking away the christmas-stuff.

I like traditions - a lot! I prepare the house with different decorative things for every holiday, and I do it happily. After I have taken away the christmas-stuff I feel a bit empty, and so does my house. All lights, santas and other decorations are moved into boxes. I cherish my decorations and I was stunned to know that there actually are people who THROW AWAY everything when christmas is over!! My kids make lots and lots of things for every different holiday, and they get so happy when they find their handmade things the next time that specific holiday comes. My mother did the same for me, and she still has some things that I made as a kid left! Heirlooms? Well, I believe that you should save some things for the future. Not all (my sons are very productive in that area) but a few things at least.

Quilts are heirlooms to me! Every stitch is made with love, and hopefully my kids will use and value them when they get their own homes. Heritage is important to me!

So, for this years Easter I am hanging some "golden oldies" on my walls. For instance this one, which I made for a quiltinglist, years ago.

My dear norwegian friend, Aud, made a really pretty wallhanging for Easter that I loved to make, and that also comes up every Easter.

The fabrics has their own history. I won they when the same list had Bingo. The memories are double!

I have also machine embroidered a really pretty (I think so) wallhanging. Sorry to say, I forgot where I got the embroideries!

This is a closeup of the different embroideries.

But I do want to make at least one new thing every holiday. For this year I didn't quite decide what to do, but this pattern from Northern Quilts is pretty, and free!

http://www.northernquilts.no/zen/download/gratis/paskehone.pdf

As I started to sew by hand I also want to make something with stitchery for Easter. I searched the net for something free but didn't find much. Than the idea stroke me - what about searching coloringbooks online? I did and I found lots of drawing that easily could be transfered into stitchery!
I found a couple that I really liked,  here and here.

Both these drawings and many more are found at Preschool Coloring Book. I wasn't able to show the pictures, you have to surf in there to find them!

I loved the simplicity of this one, so I decided to make it this year.

The drawing comes from Coloringpages where you can find lots and lots of pretty drawings! The one above is found here. Just click the drawing and print it out immediately. (or print it as a pdf if you want to keep it for later!)

Talking about heritage - my son Anton has a rabbit which he loves - a LOT! It has travelled with him both by car and by airplane. It started out white as snow, but the years are very visible on the rabbit. The fur is almost gone, but that doesn't matter to Anton. The rabbit which he used to call "Ninen" (kind of short for rabbit in swedish) sleeps beside him every night, and Anton conviced me that the rabbit needed some clothes a couple of years ago. I made the very simple clothes out of an old soft t-shirt.

This is a recent picture of "Ninen".

Anton encouraged me to make a stitchery out of a drawing I made of "Ninen" - and this is the result. Anton wants me to make a pillow with this stitchery in the middle.

Today I am eager to empty my mailbox, I have a feeling that my parcel from Hancocks of Paducah have to come any day now!

Happy secrets and babyquilts

I have a few friends at work who are expecting babies. Most of them have either told everybody (mostly men proud of the reproduction, I suppose) but there are also women who walk around with the prettiest tummies - some just visible, some bigger and some huge! But there is also at least one person who has shared a secret with me ... she is pregnant! Shhh - it's still a  s e c r e t ! I am so happy for her! This made me think babyquilts, and here are a few patterns, if you also have people near you that are on their way to parenthood, first time, second time and some last time.

 This first pattern is both quick and useful. Found it at Baby's Breath Quilts.

And here is the pattern in pdf-format!

Luzy Fazely have a few nice and free patterns. As I am very fond of tulips this one was my cup of tea.

Pattern for Tranquil Tulips Baby Quilt is found here.

Late Laurel Burch have a free pattern that is  so cute!

Download this pattern here!

And this babyquilt design by Valori Wells is also free! Pattern here.

And this well-done babyquilt is adorable with appliqué! Get it here.

And, finally, although my tummy has became bigger, any roumors about pregnancy are wrong! Every inch of it came as a result of what I put inside my mouth ...

Some handsewing done+ redwork patterns+WIN

I almost don't believe it myself!! I actually draw two drawings with a pencil and then transfered them over to fabric and finally I did finish them, both are colorworks, but only outlines. I am going to make something out of them, so that's the reason there are no pictures.

I didn't do as I wroter here the other day, the "Forget me not" is still undone, but now I got better at handsewing and I actually enjoyed it (stunning - right?)

But I need to celebrate this by sharing a few patterns I found online.

Over at Homeberries I found lots of pretty redwork, which quickly could be transfered into colorwork it you fancy that more. This is one of my favorites!

If you use this link you get it in the right size!  This picture doesn't make the lovely pattern any justice. But this is only one of the freebies on their site - they have many free patterns for all seasons!

I think this one is really pretty too - and of course it's free. You move over to stitching cow and send an e-mail using their form to get it. You might also want their appliqué patterns and the redwork one, although that one is for christmas! And by the way, don't miss out the pretty cupcakes on the startpage!

This heart is very pretty, and I found it at Quilt'n Sew Studio. Check out the link for two perfect redwork patterns for sewing girls!

Interested in doing a whole wallhaning with redwork? I found this old but oh, so pretty wallhanging.

You can read and download instructions and patterns here.

In need for a redwork project for Easter? This very nice Rooster might be it!'

If you like me is quite new to redwork sewing, or maybe the knowledge got lost in the  "upper office" - this is a good link that show many of the stitches used by redworkers!

Christmas or not - this pattern HAS to be made! I found it on another site, but it originally comes from Allsorts.

Those darlings on a welcome sign by the door for christmas? Yeah, I thought so.

You can download the pattern here.

Finally, what about a giveaway? Happy winner will receive these FQ's.

The giveaway is made by Patches and pieces, so get over there and comment for at least one chance to win!

SALES at Hancocks of Paducah!+tutorials and of course Fat Quarter!

Don't miss out - there are some really nice fabric you get very cheap!
For instance they have many different pre-cuts - like jelly rolls, layer cakes and charm packs at very affordable prices. Check it out here.

I did my shopping there about a week ago, and the fabrics I ordered are on their way. I am emptying my mailbox with great expectations ever day!

But of course I surfed around and found some more tutorials which I love to share with you. First out is a bag, a “Süße Sac” found over at Musings: Kristin La Flamme.

A very simple but also very versatile handbag. You find the tutorial here.

Although I prefer smaller quick things, as I tend to loose interest or lack something while making bigger quilts, I want to share this link to a Zig Zag quilt, where Purl Bee has made the tutorial.

This one is perfect both for using charms but also for scraps, both which are favorites of mine. You can make your own if you check this link. I love it when a very easy method gives a great result.

And by the way, yesterday night I was busy reading. What was it that kept me from the computer? Fat Quarter, of course. The only swedish magazine for quilters!

I fell in love with a project where they use japanese fabrics, made by Bengt and Catharina Svenningsson, of  Tygeroting. I think they are the most innovative people when it comes to swedish quilting, always very nice projects, and at festivals I admire the quilts they show, a lot!

I think I also have to try the "new" way of making "Card Trick"-blocks. Almost no triangles!

But first another bag I just spotted:

This one is from Geta's Quilting Studio and the fabrics are singing "SPRINGTIME" in my ears. If you feel the same way, why not get the pattern here?