New Pillows

I haven't been doing much quilting lately, but my sewing machine has gotten some attention. In addition to sewing together sheets, curtains, and coffee bags (to make rugs and baskets), I sewed these three pillows for the living room with Kaffe Fassett fabric I bought in Portsmouth, NH over the holidays. They are simple 50cm squares, but do have French seams and zippers. Now I just need to get around to recovering the couch...

A Colorful Weekend

Despite some very grey and windy weather (and a little snow), I had a colorful weekend! I met with two friends to have an indoor knitnic (we started the tradition last summer). The 48 squares for the first of our three collaborative afghans are finished and ready to be crocheted together! You can read more about our projects here.

I also spent some time on two weaving projects, cutting up these old sheets and curtains to become a rug and tying the fringe on an earlier project. I'm trying to keep busy while waiting for my next turn on a loom.

I'm also taking a class to learn to weave baskets out of recycled materials. We've used newspaper, wallpaper, magazines, and fabric so far. A couple years ago, reusing coffee bags was very trendy here, and I've finally pulled mine out to wash, cut, and sew, in hopes of weaving a couple of baskets out of them. The prep work is taking much longer than expected, though! (My feline visitor is also back - and caught the mouse that had been plaguing my apartment. Good boy!)

Finnish Summer

I made this quilt last summer, but just gave it away as a birthday gift last month, so I wasn't able to post a photo here until now! I did post a photo of the back at one point, though. It's 72"x84" (intended to be a wide twin), made up of 2" squares. I used Bonnie's instructions for a Scrappy Trips Around the World, and the colors were inspired by the colors of a Finnish summer: blue water and sky, green grass and trees, yellow and orange sunshine and grains in the fields.

A Little Sewing

I'm sad to see that blogging has not only moved to the back burner, but seems not to be anywhere near the stove in my life at the moment. I haven't been quilting too much, but did a lot of sewing (aprons, boxers, etc.) for the holidays, and have been concentrating on other hobbies of late. I am still totally smitten with the weaving course I started in September, as well as keeping up with knitting/crocheting projects (including this updated challenge with friends). I'm also taking a course about weaving baskets from recycled materials. I will try to post about some of these pursuits in the near future, but in the meantime, here are a few quilting photos!

The photo above is for my quilting group here in Vaasa. We are called Lappvärk, and we were founded in 2006. For the upcoming annual Finn Quilt Days here in Vaasa in late March, we worked together to create a quilt comprised of this "header" (made by yours truly using Tonya's letters) and 15 20cmx20cm squares that will hang underneath. It was designed with the hopes that we can add future members' squares over time. I also contributed the squares below, a birch tree for Finland (inspired by Syko) and a pine tree for Maine. Maybe you can see the little hedgehog button!

Not Quite Quilting...

But at least my sewing machine is practicing for the next quilting project! The skirt is for a Grease-themed party this Saturday. I think I was a 50s girl for Halloween once upon a time, too!

Distracted Again

Once again, it's been far too long since I've blogged. Even worse, I haven't announced the winner of my 5 year blogging anniversary give-away winner! It's lucky Chook from Australia! I will have the mini-quilt in the mail by the end of next week! Here is the label I attached to the quilt:

I did do some sewing in September - 20 bags for the upcoming FinnQuilt event to be held in Vaasa in March 2012. Here they are photographed in the late afternoon autumn sun:

Finally, an admission. Over the past couple years, I've been distracted by knitting, then crocheting. (More info about the on-going challenge here.) In September, I enrolled in a weaving course here in Vaasa. I'm totally smitten and am already considering purchasing a loom!


Don't worry, though, I'm still a quilter, too! Thanks for stopping by!

Celebrating 5 Years of Blogging!

I have been quite inconsistent over these five years - lots of posts, then radio silence - but it's always been fun. Learning to knit and crochet has taken time away from quilting a bit, but I'm glad to have completed two large projects this summer, mostly made of fabric I had in my stash. I'm hoping to finish a few more large projects before the end of the year.

To celebrate having reached the fifth birthday of Life's a Quilt, I am hosting a give-away. This mini quilt was made with scraps from Summer Berries, with some white added. Maybe you could hang it on your wall, use it on top of a dresser, or tuck in a doll for the night... It measures 15"x21" and is machine pieced and hand-quilted with pearl cotton. My stitching is pretty uneven, but I hope it adds to the homemade appeal! The only way to improve is to practice! The back is the same Marimekko fabric I used on the Summer Berries quilt and has a small label. Anyone who reads this blog can be eligible to win if they leave a comment on this post. I'll draw a winner at random next Sunday evening (September 4th). If you would use them, I'll add a few Marimekko scraps in the winner's package. Good luck and thanks for visiting my blog!