Red and White

Back in November, I visited Clare while visiting my brother in France. She sent me home with, among other things, some blocks to put together for her Quilts for Leukemia project, and I finally tackled the first of two quilts today. The quilt is nearly finished, but I'm going to wait to put on the label and wash it before the big reveal here. In the meantime, here's a sneak peek!

Another pretty bit of red for you - a Marimekko card that accompanied the gifts I blogged about yesterday.

9 in 2oo9

A friend and I have challenged ourselves to knit nine pairs of socks in 2oo9. The 'rules' state that we can't count any previously started projects, so this is my first official finish (please ignore the to-be-woven-in ends):

Here are the next two pairs underway (the first are my March Madness socks - not that I'm watching, but I did do a women's bracket with my brother; the second are my reverse outlining socks - a topic in class this week - not completely in love with the colors, but they are quick!):

marimekko projects and non-photos of another project

My friend who visited last month just recently bought a condo in the US. We both went a little crazy at Marimekko during her visit and I have a few projects I'm working on for her new place with the fabric she bought. Apparently she did a little more shopping at Marimekko after leaving Vaasa and before leaving Finland - and she kindly sent me these gifts as a thank you! I love the fabric used for the bag - as you can see, I bought a meter+ from a remnant bin on our travels! The pillowcases will match the duvet cover I'm making from 6€/m fabric! Thanks so much!

I'm participating in a Round Robin for the first time. Unfortunately, we can't post photos of our center blocks so that there's an element of surprise. I had fun with the colors I chose for the center and look forward to the next round. Margaret, the host, asked us each to send two blocks for some charity quilts in lieu of postage, and these are the two I sent.

A Few Scraps

Just a few photos this evening...

At long last, my triptych for the 6-12" swap:

A quick shot of the pile of Marimekko treasure scooped up at the Factory store two weeks ago - I can't wait to start playing with these!

from Hedgehog Road to the Arctic Circle and back!

I've just had a friend visiting from the US and we covered about 1600 km from Helsinki to Rovaniemi and back to Vaasa via ferry from Umeå on the east coast of Sweden. Here are a few photo highlights, including Hedgehog Road (one metro stop from the Marimekko Factory Store - more on that in another post), Santa's Post Office on the Arctic Circle, on snowmobile safari near Rovaniemi, and visiting the the Gammelstad Church Town near Luleå.

Finally, a little knitting I did on the way and some yarn I picked up in Umeå.

Another post about the fabric purchases coming soon!