(Big) City Girl - representing Ålesund, Norway

Welcome to my corner of the world! The city I am representing today is small, just like my country. You may not have heard of it, but when you see these photos of my city (Ålesund, Norway) you will see it is well worth a visit!

The city is located on the west coast of Norway and has beautiful architecture! The city burned down in 1904 and was rebuilt all in the Art Nouveau style - so cool! I don't live there anymore, but my mother does so some times I get to visit.

1. Ålesund, 2. Ålesund, byen med skifertak, 3. Ålesund, 4. Ålesund, walkabout, 5. Centre national d'Art Nouveau, Ålesund, 6.Fra Ålesund, 7. flickr.com/photos/77730890@N02/8717753481/, 8. Ålesund, 9. Ålesund

Just look at these amazing details!

1. Ålesund, 2. Jugendstil, 3. Jugendstil with grapes, 4. Art Nouveau - House detail, 5. Ålesund Detail, 6. 245 Art Nouveau detail, 7. Art Nouveau manhole cover, 8. Ålesund, 9. Jugendstil

And as you can see, the details are quite organic and not easy to translate to quilting patterns:) But I have tried and made a loose interpretation of one of the sunflower designs - looking something like this:

TUTORIAL - Art Nouveau Sunflower

Materials needed:
Printout of Template Page 1 and Template Page 2
Background fabric 9.5"x12.5"
Scraps of fabric for large petals (A), small petals (B), center (C), stem (D) and leaves (E)
Double sided fusible interfacing

Step 1: Trace pattern pieces on fusible web, fuse to chosen fabric pieces, cut out shapes and peel off backing paper.

Step 2: Make a crease down the center of the background piece (fold long sides together).

Step 3: Place stem (D) onto crease, bottom of stem should be about 1.5" from bottom. Fuse in place.

Step 4: Place large petals (A) in a circle, centered at top of the stem. Fuse in place.

Step 5: Place small petals (B) on top of large petals (middle of small petal will cover space between large petals). Fuse in place.

Step 6: Place center (C) and fuse in place.

Step 7: Place leaves (E) as desired and fuse in place.

Step 8: Stitch as you prefer around applique pieces and enjoy!

A big thank you to Aylin and Amy for hosting this Quilt Along. If you want to join this QAL you can read all about it here. It's very low key, so if you want to make one of our blocks or design one of your own showing off a place you love, please do join!


Thanks for visiting!
-Marit

WIP Wednesday

Hi! I'm still alive! I just forgot how sick I can be of sitting in front of a computer after a full day of work... But I HAVE been sewing:) So I'm trying to get back into the blogging mojo, because I just love the blogger community.

So... here are my current WIPS:

Super Tote - I have most of the prep stuff done but have a few boring bits (steaming on interfacing) to do before the fun stuff (sewing) begins - hope to get this sewn up next week!

Mini quilts for Fat Quarterly Retreat swap - I have one done (to keep for myself) and am unsure if I should continue or start over. Although I think they're lovely (it's Liberty for cryin' out loud!) I just feel like the colors are bit to grown-up for me... Maybe a bolder embroidery would liven it up:)

Bee blocks - OK, these are actually done...

Feather and geese for Katy in the Stitch Tease bee:

Log cabin-ish blocks for Marika in the Happiness do.Good circle:

And some hand sewing - don't know yet what I'll do with these...

See, I haven't been sitting idle:)

Linking up with all the other fabulous sewers at:

Sunday Stash (fabric overload)

So, living in a country without a modern fabric shop can be both good and bad. On one hand, I am not constantly tempted from sensory overload of rows and rows of glorious bolts of fabric. But on the other hand, when I do "go" shopping (online), I tend to buy lots and lots at the same time. This probably happens about 3-4 times a year. Good thing I have a decent job;)

So here I am - I just received a sizeable box from Fat Quarter Shop, and two other packages "may" be on their way... And I will even admit - this isn't the full content of that first arrival - it's only what I felt like carrying home from work on Friday. Good thing my husband doesn't read my blog;)

Cute - two prints from Bake Sale and one from Noteworthy:

Sweet: a variety from Bespoken, Bijoux, Geekly Chik, Les Amis and Heaven&Helsinki

Fresh: a duo from Avalon and Happy Go Lucky

Classy: two muted prints from Tw3ntyThr3e and a geometrical black from Comma

Just because: really wanted to get my hands on some Simply Style ASAP and this is all that was out. Will have to conquer the Y-seam soon!

I am sharing my shopping overload at:

Now - on to see what others are buying - maybe they've got something I'm missing...

Better late that never...

Last fall, I purchased quite a few screen printed panels from Cat & Vee. I love their fun, colorful and quirky style! Cat is the most avid sewer/blogger and always amazes me with her bold color combinations and extensive range of novelty prints - always the perfect ones for each project. Vee may be a silent partner on the blog, but her graphic designs sure speak up for themselves. You really should check out their shop and blog!


So I had inteded to use some of these panels for Christmas gifts and as that clearly didn't happen, I now managed to make two of them into cushions for my nieces' 8th and 13th birthdays.

DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY - for 13-year old

The panel is framed by a small (neon-ish) green border and a frame of randomly placed HST's and solid squares. I love how this turned out! Wish I could keep it for myself...

Due to some miscalculations the front panel came out too large and I had to chop off the edges. As you can see there are no points along the sides...

MR. PIPSQUEAK - for 8-year old

I was getting short on time and had to do a (much) simpler design on this one. But I still think it is very cute - the doggy is quite detailed enough on its ows!

To make up for the simple front - I added a crazy print (from Trade Winds by Moda) on the back - which went over really well - yay!

So there - I was very happy to finish these up about 3 hours before their birthday party! Yes, I am a procrastinator...

Linking up with Alyce at Blossom Heart Quilts who is hosting this week's Let's Get Acquainted Monday Link up,

and Janice at Better off Thread!

And the winners are...

Thank you to everyone who entered my Sew Mama Sew giveaways and also to all you who decided to follow me! I hope I won't disappoint:)

So, here are the winners of the giveaway prizes:

Rainbow fabric bundle - commenter #715 Patty who wrote "I am drawn to the rich colors of the Kansas ??? fabric designer, but I love the brights in option #1".

Charm packs of Marmalade and Kona Snow - commenter #121, my bee-mate Ange who wrote "i am a follower- my choice would be the rainbows, but both are gorgeous!! "

Bow clutch - commenter #40 Stephanie who wrote "I love little handbag like this one! Great for running around without a huge purse!"

Congratulations to all of you! I've e-mailed you all and will get your goodies in the mail as soon as I get your addresses.

-Marit

WiP Wednesday

First of all - THANK YOU to everyone who has entered my Sew Mama Sew giveaways and become new followers. I am overwhelmed at the response and have enjoyed reading all your responses. There is no way I will have time to respond to all the comments, but I do look forward getting to know you when life on my blog returns to normal!


So, I have actually been working on some projects the last couple of days. I have 2 nieces with birthdays this weekend and we're celebrating them tomorrow. I wanted to make them some cool pillows - I probably should have started earlier...

DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY - for niece turning 13

I really felt inspired on this one! Started with a printed panel (from Cat & Vee - I'll share more about that awesome duo when the pillows are done), some solids and a very detailed plan.

During cutting I decided the teal had to be replaced by a highlighter green.

Got the frame assembled and panel cut to size - looking pretty cool! Oh, no! The panel was cut too small! My seam allowances were way off last night.

Phew! Fixed with a small neon green border. I love it!

Now - just need to assemble the back and this baby is done (no time for quilting).

PIPSQEAK - for niece turning 8

Once again, started with a panel (also from Cat & Vee) - this time of a super cute doggy named Pipsqueak, some solids and a polka dot print. Unfortunately, not feeling inspired, but constrained by my time limit...

Worked my way out from the center (again, switching out one of the colors) and ended with this.

I am telling myself that the adorable Mr. Pipsqeak is cute enough to make up for the simple design. I hope the recipient doesn't think we love her sister more...

It's a good thing tomorrow is a public holiday here in Norway, because these need to be finished and wrapped by 4pm tomorrow and it's past today's sewing curfew (I can't sew after 10pm - it just doesn't end well)

Linking up with:

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day - Part 2 of 2 - Handmade

UPDATE: GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED AT 178 COMMENTERS. WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED IN A SEPARATE POST.

Hi again! I am continuing to celebrate Giveaway Day!

So, I thought I should give away something I made, since that's a bit more personal than some fabric that anyone could get (although you gotta love free fabric !).

I had grand plans and this is what I ended up having time for...

A super-cute bow clutch!


One small and cute bow clutch. Main fabric is from IKEA, the bow is Kona Caribbean. I mainly followed this tutorial from Prudent Baby, but assembled the clutch according to the Perfect Zip Bag pattern from Elizabeth Hartman. It is my go-to bag/pouch pattern - it always works well!


Would you like to win it? Here's how:
1) Leave a comment and tell me what is your favorite purse/bag pattern (could be one you've made or want to make). I've been wanting to make the Anna Maria Horner Art Student Tote...
2) Bonus entry for followers - just leave an extra comment saying you are.

Giveaway open to all and closes at 9pm Central European Time on May 10th. The winner will be selected at random and announced by May 12th.


I you also want to win som fabric, go to my previous post.

   

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day - Part 1 of 2 - fabric

UPDATE: GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED AT 749 COMMENTERS (+ 2 BY EMAIL). WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED IN A SEPARATE POST.

It's time for a giveaway party hosted by Sew Mama Sew. Welcome to my corner of the world! If you don't know me, then feel free to check out some of my previous projects in the finished projects pages above.

But let's skip the small talk and get right to it. I'm giving away 2 fabric prizes from my stash.

Option 1 - a rainbow bundle of 8 fat eights (approx. 9"x21") - I love that red with the apples!

Option 2 - one charm pack of Marmelade and one charm pack of Kona Snow - disregarding the name "snow" this is a spring/summer color combo winner - so fresh and warm!

How to win:
1) Leave a comment about what is your current favorite fabric (and you can also let me know which prize you'd prefer - I'll give the first drawn name their top choice)
2) Bonus entry for followers (old and new) - just leave an extra comment saying you are

Giveaway is open until 9pm Central European Time on May 10th and winners will be announced by May 12th. Open to all nations. Winners will be selected at random.


Check out my next post for a handmade giveaway - wouldn't you like to own this cute clutch?