Eestimaa

Departing Helsinki for Tallinn:

I returned this week from a trip to Estonia - a little business, mostly pleasure. I thought I'd share a short fiber-related post!

I traveled with a friend to the island of Kihnu, where we met this cute little sheep and a few of his friends on the way from the ferry to a small restaurant. After a warm lunch, we explored the small, but artifact/information-packed museum about the island's history and its handicrafts. I loved the mitten wall!

I just wish we'd had more time to explore, especially the church and the lighthouse, but the ferry gave us just a few hours. There will have to be a next time!

Speaking of sheep, a few weeks ago an Estonian friend of mine gave me some gorgeous wool from the Estonian native sheep. My friend's cousin is involved in trying to get the breed officially recognized. Maybe the guy above is one? In any case, I think this wool wants to become mittens very soon! It smells lovely (clean and woolly at the same time)!

Departing Tallinn for Helsinki after a great week:

Flying Carpet

Here's the top, flapping in the wind out on the clothesline. I'm going to put a very thin border around it with the same fabric as the setting triangles/diamonds, then I'm on to the basting!

Coming Together

At times like these, after moving furniture out of the way, I consider creating some sort of design wall for myself...

Process

I've been sewing a little each day this week, and a new quilt is slowly taking shape. I've noticed a lot of people posting about their process lately, so here is what's on my sewing table waiting to be sewn...

I love the colors - all the colors that showed up in a gorgeous complete rainbow one evening this week (photo taken out my living room window)!

Manon's Little Sister

Here is the quilt I finished yesterday! It's made almost entirely with scraps from the quilt I made with my mom this summer - the only addition was the backing fabric (bought for $1.99, so I don't feel too bad calling this a scrap quilt). The squares are 2.25". The yellow polka dot was the binding for the original quilt, and the pink binding here was the back on the original. Since I was using the scraps from the backing, I had to cut the binding straight, rather than on the bias like I usually do. I really missed that little bit of stretch as I was sewing it on and don't think it lies as flat, so I won't do that again (unless all I have are long scraps!).


Amazingly, there are still scraps left...

From Finish to Start

I actually finished a quilt today (about 45"x50" with the scraps from this quilt)! It's too dark for a photo now, but I promise to share tomorrow! In the meantime, I started cutting strips (above) for another project... I bought these cool coral fabrics at Marden's at Christmas time and was thinking about doing a simple snowball to show them off, but since my mom and I just made a snowball together, I've decided to do something else with them. I cut a bunch of strips and have two different ideas in mind. I tried out one block to see what I thought, and I have to say, it's pretty lumpy in the middle. Maybe with a bit more practice, I'll improve?