Craft and Design Fair in Reykjavik

Iceland is famous for having many excellent designers, and I was hoping to look up as many as I could find during our stay. Then, a few days before we left home, an Icelandic Facebook friend who runs Islenska Butasaumssidan posted about the event “Handverk og Hönnun” (craft and design) which were to take place in Reykjavik.

It was to open in the Town Hall a couple of days before we were due home.

Now, how lucky is that!

Instead of racing all over town and country to see designers’ products, they would all be gathered in one spot, – or many of them would be, in any case. A date was immediately fixed on our schedule.

The Town Hall is situated on the edge of the city pond, and halfway into it.

We chose to arrive there on Friday morning, on the second day, avoiding the crowds on the opening day. The welcome banners were flying outside the entrance, so it was easy to find the way.

We were not the first to arrive, though, – far from it.

After scanning the area from above, we descended on the show floor and started the tour from booth to booth.

Almost the first stand we hit upon was this one with the hand bags.

They are made by Helena Sólbrá, and she uses a lot of fish skin for part of, or the whole of, her bags.

She buys the fish skins from someone in the north of Iceland, who prepares skin from many kinds of fish. They are very well done, as the fish smell is totally absent, – they smell only of ordinary leather. Some are also dyed.

I had been hoping to find something like this, and since I had some birthday money to spend, one of these beauties came home with me.

Next we stopped at Thorunn Simónadottir from Gallery hjá Totu. It is a mother and daughter company where they make many things textile, including quilts, according to their home page.

At the fair, they were mostly showing their beautiful hats.

Thorunn showed us the branch from a tree which they had to cut down recently on their farm. She brought the branch, which had big yellow-green buds on it, to hang the yellowish hats on, – it was a lovely sight. Sadly, the colours do not show up very well in the photos I took.

Trees are not abundant in Iceland, so felling a big one is not an easy decision to make, but this one had to go, as its roots were ruining their underground pipes, she informed us.

Then the booth of Gudrún Bjarnadóttir of Hespa caught my eye.

She had a table full of hand dyed Lopi yarn, dyed only with natural colours.

She also had knitted items for sale.

I could not pass on this, so a few skeins of beautiful Lopi went into my bag, – they were dyed twice with cochenille and indigo.

The next booth, Amanda & Svava Rvk, made me almost sorry that none of us are expecting, as they had the cutest baby boots made of, – you probably guessed it already: – fish skin.

Hugrún Ívarsdóttir had beautiful table runners and aprons for sale. They are made from her own design, inspired by the patterns on the traditional Icelandic bread “Laufabraud” (leafbread), and on the traditional Norwegian “krumkaker”.

She has studied design in Denmark, has relations in Oslo and speaks beautifully Norwegian, and she has her textile designs woven in Finland.  A truly Nordic experience.

I always make “krumkaker” for Christmas, and next Christmas we will have a table runner with krumkake-design on our table.

On her website you can see more of her designs.

The shoes above are the design and make of Halldora Eydis Jonsdottir. In addition to raw materials like leather from lamb and horse, she also uses fish skin….

… horse hair..

… and unique lava crystals taken from 200 meters underground of the Lake Myvatn area.

An amazing collection of shoes.

Fish skin seemed to be the really big thing at this fair, – or maybe it was just me noticing it.

Here it is used for brooches and other decor at the Volcanic-Iceland booth.

The variety of products was large. I had to stop and admire these beautiful knives made by Stefan Haukur Erlingsson.

They were beautiful.

There were also booths which showed different kinds of clothes, ceramics, and jewellery of almost every imaginable kind.

Last, I am showing some jewellery from Mariacarmen:

Would you have guessed that the roses are made from lemon rind?

After walking the floor for some time, it felt good to sit down in the nearby cafe to enjoy a cup of coffee while gazing out of the large windows ….

… which gave a splendid view of the life on the pond.

I wish we could have spent more time there, but we were on to other things in the afternoon.

However, on this page there is a list of all the booth holders, and you can click on their names for a description, contact information, and websites. I have enjoyed re-visiting a lot of them after I got home.

Eldrid

A Weekend of Inspiration

Last weekend was the Annual General Meeting of the Norwegian Quilt Association (Norsk Quilteforbund). It is a few years since the last time I had the opportunity to attend, so I was happy to learn that this years meeting was to be held in Bergen, which is not so very far, and also the communications to our island are very convenient.

In addition to the AGM itself, there were a lot of classes, talks, forums for discussion, quilt competitions and exhibitions, and of course the ever tempting shops:

Since I had not signed up for any classes, I had plenty of time to let the tempations get to me, – and a few fabrics made their way into my suitcase.

I was also able to spend time to study the quilts at the exhibitions.

Saturday was a bit crowded, but on Sunday there was more space and better opportunities for photographing…..

…. although it was not as empty as it may seem from the two photos above.

The prize winners of the competition themed “Ocean” are presented on NQF’s webpages here. I will not show the same quilts in this post, except a detail from the winning quilt in the traditional class:

I really liked the quilting on Marit Lauve’s storm-at-sea blocks.

Magnhild Tautra had made this interesting piece for the competition.

The log cabin blocks were really small, and I loved the small fish and the fish net.

Kari Østengen had made this one called “Rain and Bad Weather”.

You can almost get soaked looking at this.

Another interesting piece was this one by Greta Husebø called “Arctic Ocean”. I spent a long time here studying the various ways she created texture on the quilt.

She has also made the one below:

Lots of interesting details in this one as well:

I guess that since we were in Bergen, a reminder of the local Oleana design would be in order:

This lovely quilt was made by Edna Marie Nylén.

Last time I was in Bergen, in December, I wrote a blog post showing you this:

I was delighted to find it turned into a quilt, made by Margun Vatshelle:

The manhole covers in the streets of Bergen are called “Bekkalokk”, and that is also the title of the quilt.

I loved it.

I was also happy to see the quilt below at the exhibition:

It is one of a series quilts by Kirsti Hovland where she explores how written signs have evolved from the earliest petroglyphs to the modern day computers. The series is an amazing body of work ,and very well executed.

The quilt below hung in a corner somewhat by itself. If I had been in a hurry, I would probably have overlooked it, as it did not “shout” to me with “loud” colours like some of its neighbours did.

And if I had not stopped, I would have missed seeing the exquisite detailed work that Karin Kristiansen put into this wall hanging.

I cannot imagine how many hours this would have taken.

Grete Lund had a couple of entries in the exhibition, and I fell for this one.

It has a pleasing repetitive pattern, and interesting details for when you go nearer.

I also liked Brit Standnes’ quilt below:

The title is “Ocean in the North”

I liked the tonal fabrics she used at the top…

…. and there were lots of details to explore.

The last two quilts I will be showing you here, were made by Bente Klingsheim.

This one is called “Angel”

“Polar Night” was too big to get a straight shot of because of the narrow aisle.

I’ll compensate by showing a few details instead. The colours are a bit off as my camera did not handle the light conditions in this dark corner very well, and the flash made the quilt look too flat.

I loved the mixture of different fabric qualities, – some matte and some very shiny ones.

The above is just a few examples of all the beautiful quilts that were on show. I really enjoyed walking through several times.

When travelling to an event like this, it is fun to be going in a group, or at least with a friend.

However, I am often surprised at how much fun I have when travelling alone. At almost every corner I tend to meet up with someone I know, or who knows me, and we get talking, often remembering the last time we met.

But the most exciting part is to get to know new people, which is bound to happen during the dinner, if not before. Since I am on my own, and each table seats ten, there is a big chance I will be seated with one or more persons I do not know beforehand. And then we get talking, and discovers we have mutual friends or relations, or have common aquaintances in faraway parts of the world, – that’s when the theory of the six degrees of separation is confirmed once more. And of course we all have one big common interest, which is discussed at length, – and usually I, or someone else, will have some new insight before the evening is out.

So it is not only new fabric that come with me when I pack my suitcase to go home….

… but also a lot of inspiration and good memories.

Eldrid

A Sunday Trip

…. to this place was a vey nice experience.

This is Hakallegarden,  – a small farm at a 20 minute drive, a ferry ride, and another 60 minute drive, from home.

So, what is special about this farm, which I do not find on the next-door farms at home?

One thing is the variety of animals, – and many of them not penned up, but were ambling back and forth in the yard, mixing with children and grown ups as the most natural thing in the world, – no skittishness at all.

Only the sheep kept their distance, – or maybe they just liked the grass on the other side of the fence….

.. and this one just lazed under a tree, ignoring the fact that a very, very tired “Irene” was doing her level best to drench all and sundry with her showers of rain during the day.

This is also one of very few farms where they raise alpacas, and also sell alpaca wool and yarn for knitting.

The farm is open to the public at weekends, and the children love to come here to ride on horseback or in the tractor wagon, to feed the animals, to cuddle the kittens, and everything else you can do on a small farm.

After theese cuties had had their fill of hay, they walked around the corner, – very slowly, so there was no problem in following them.

Then they disappeared into the lower part of the barn, – and a very special barn it is.

This is almost like a sitting room; – brightly coloured, paintings on the walls, lovely lamp shades, and a bird in a cage on top of the chest of drawers. If animals are the least bit like people, I think they would like it very much in here.

The upstairs part of the barn has been converted to a small shop, with lots of colourful mugs, cups, plates and bowls, and clothes made from alpaca and silk.

There are also tables and chairs so you can sit down and enjoy a cup of coffee or tea, and freshly made “svele” or waffles, hot from the iron. While enjoying the coffee (or tea), you have time to look around and see if there is anything you fancy. I admit to fancying some cups and a mug from Pip Studio, – can’t help it, I’m afraid, – they were too cute to not come home with me.

Outside in the yard there are all kinds of stuff placed along the walls all around. I am still pondering what exactly makes the difference between junk and art, but I am not sure there is an answer.

Here it was definitely artsy, and every small detail added to the atmoshere.

I especially liked the pink bed looking out over the sea and islands below the farm.

The day after we were there, we heard on the news that the owners had received a special prize for the way they are running the farm and taking care of the landscape.

I hope this means they will not have to close their doors anytime soon.

Eldrid

Inspiration to quilt

Eva at the blog “Lappedamen” has invited quilting bloggers to write about what inspire their sewing.

That is easy, I thought, – but when thinking about it some more, it was not really so easy after all. There is no single answer to the question of what inspires my works. I might as well say “Everything”, only that is not very precise, and is certainly not reflected in my works, as I have not made all that many quilts.

I could also say “Anything”, which is true in the sense that the most unexpected things could somehow inspire or influence a quilt in some way or other.  But, – as a rule, – I am more often inspired than actually getting to make the inspirations materialize into quilts.  There are thousands of ideas, but only very few make it to the fabric and thread stage.

I decided to take a tour through my gallery and try to recall what had actually inspired the quilts there.

I find there are several stages to go through before the initial inspiration has become a quilt, depending on what the inspiration is.  The easiest thing might be to be inspired by an actual quilt, to want to make one exactly like the original, – or at least as close as I can get, – and there also happens to be a written pattern for the quilt.

That is what I did with the quilt above. The only difficulties here will be to get hold of the pattern (Book by Piecemakers), the right fabrics, and then have enough time on my hands to actually make the quilt.

Sometimes the inspiration is to learn a new technique. That was also the case in the above quilt. I saw the quilt, and wondered how on earth to go about making it, – which was not too difficult once I had the information. After I had made  the one above, I was further inspired to make use of the technique to make something different, so I then drew and made my second bargello quilt.

That one quilt can inspire the next one, is quite often the case.

After I had finished the pulpit hanging above, which was a commission, and I therefore had to stick to the original plans, – I wanted to do something else with grapes on it.

On this wall hanging I could work freely, choosing fabrics, colours and placement on the spur of the moment, without being bound by previous plans. After having worked on commissions for a while, I always feel the need of doing “my own thing” – either inspired by the quilts I have been working on, or doing something completely different.

I see that many of my quilts have been inspired by what could be classified as “nature”. I love taking photos, and when capturing beautiful motifs with my camera, – whether it is a lovely flower or a breathtaking sunset, – I often wish “to make a quilt like that”. Of course, most of them never happen, – it takes a lot more than a vague wish for quilts to materialize.

I would have to decide on a motif, or combine two or more motifs, – then decide if I want it to be “exactly” as in the photo, or a more abstract rendering. Next, I must decide how to go about making it, – what materials to use and how to put them together, – then make drawings and pattern pieces if needed, audition colours and fabrics (my favourite part)………  …… and actually make it.

The wall hanging above was a bit special in that the landscape motif was not taken directly from a photo, but was already a painting. That made it easier to translate it into fabric, – a photo has a lot more details, and most often needs to be simplified for applique.

The quilt above is inspired by sunset, – not a particular scene, but  just a general idea of the colours  displayed when the sun is setting over land and water. A similar “idea” was shown in one my recent posts about ice.

With all the new technologies that keep appearing in our time, we now have a wider choice of means and methods when making those nature inspired quilts.

This is a combination of two photos, the two photos were worked into one on the computer, and also made half transparent, before it was printed on some handpainted fabric from Skydyes .

Sometimes things that just “happen” when “playing” with photo editors on the computer, can also end up as quilts.

I was working with a photo of a yellow rose, doing lots of different things to it, and saving some stages, – and then I started to group some of the resulting photos, and liked the effect. Stems and leaves were added before everything was put onto a bacground (I actually tried several before choosing one), and printed on fabric.

I think I must stop here before I bore everybody to death, – and maybe go making some quilts instead of just talking about it.

Eldrid

Orchid

I mistreated one of my orchids cruelly the other day. While the temperature was barely above freezing, I took it out into the snow to take some pictures of it.

I tried to do it from inside, but there were all kinds of reflections in the window pane, and also the light was poor, so I was not very happy with the resulting photos.

Outside it went like a dream, however, and I got the “white on white” effect I was after. It only took a few minutes, and believe it or not, the orchid is still alive and kicking (- well, – blooming), and it has already been several days since the ordeal.

Then it was on to the computer to play a bit. Maybe add some blur in the background…..

………. and I kind of liked this bluish variation.

Playing around a bit more today, I came up with this:

And here is the bluish version again:

One or both of these could perhaps become a nice fabric design. But first, I’ll have to work some more to get the motifs to tesselate properly, – and maybe do away with the stark white background.

Wow, – this is fun

Eldrid

Herring season

My husband and I had a few errands in the nearest town the other day. Nothing interesting like fabric shopping, I am afraid, – just boring, but necessary, stuff such as dentist appointments and spare parts for our snow blower.

The last item on our list, – some metal wire for our garage door, – could be found in the marine equipment shop, and this took us to the most hectic area of town at the moment.

The herring season is peaking just now, and since this town is really big in herring, there were a lot of boats lying at almost every available quay side.  While my husband was inside getting the wire, I sat in the car and watched some of the activity.

Some boats were taking on board equipment, some were delivering their catch, and some were washing and cleaning their boats.

On the boat right in front of me, it looked like they had just finished cleaning the boat itself…

… and then the men took turns hosing each other down.

The water spray glittered in the late afternoon sun.

It looked like they were having fun….

…. but even though the sun was shining, the temperature was below freezing, and there was also a cold wind blowing, so I think it must have been a really cold experience.

I guess it was necessary, though. Everyone who have handled herrings know how the small scales stick to just about everything, and are almost impossible to get rid of.

There were a lot of snow and ice on the quay beforehand, and with all the additional water, I should think it must have been like a skating arena there after the frost set in during the night.

I really liked the colours in the picture above. To better see what they are, I reduced the dpi as low as it would go in my photo editor, and then made a screen shot.

I then played some more, using the eyedropper tool to pick up a few of the colours and then “splashing” them randomly onto a clean background.

Of course, this is by no means a finished design, – far from it, – but it is a collection of colours I will definitely go back and have a look at when planning projects in the future.

But first, I must be a good girl and finish my ongoing projects.

Eldrid

Edited:

The photo below is a screen shot of the map mentioned in the comment below. It was made on the same afternoon.

As you can see, there are quite a lot of fishing vessels in the area just now.

Eldrid

Colours in the opera

During a recent weekend trip, I was able to take part in a guided tour of the new opera house at Nordfjordeid.  It was opened in April this year, and is the only opera house in Norway besides the National Opera house in Oslo.

Being quite new, everything was of course spick and span, nice and functional. But what caught my eye and interest was this piece of art hanging just above the main entrance:

It is made by the artist Viel Bjerkeset Andersen. Her website has this artwork on the front page, but there is not much else there at the moment.

According to our guide, the artist took inspiration from the works of the famous mathematician Sophus Lie, who was born at the vicarage only a stone’s throw from where the opera house stands now.

The installation consists of three circular pieces of glass positioned at right angles to each other, forming a sphere. The glass is covered with a transparent foil, which reflects the light in different colours on each side of the glass.

The combination of reflection and transparency gives the sphere an almost infinite array of colours when seen from different angles. It also changes as the light changes during the day.

The first photo of this post was taken from the top of the steps, but all the others were taken from different angles below.

It is fascinating, – a kaleidoscope of colours.  It was difficult to choose only a few photos for this post.

I wonder if similar effects can be achieved in quilts by using Angelina fibers and sheers.

Hhhmmm, – something to think about.

Eldrid

Mangle

When my father retired, he took up wood carving, among other things.  A few years back he gave me the mangle below, – it is called “mangletre” in Norwegian.

It is an old fashioned ironing device, – the linen was rolled onto a pole and then  pressed smooth with the “mangletre”. This was heavy work, so people switched to mangle machines and irons as soon as they became available.

In some areas the young man often brought a finely carved mangle as a gift to the girl he would ask to marry him.  The handle was often shaped like a horse for strength and fertility.

It is a popular item to make among today’s woodcarvers as well, but now it is only for decorative use.  It sure is beautiful, and one day I would like to take some of the decor elements and use for an applique piece.

I love my mangle, but am also happy that I have a really good iron.

Eldrid

Happy Easter – God Påske

Moon and snow

When I turned off the lights before going to bed the other day,  I suddenly noticed the full moon shining outside.  I grabbed my camera to see if I could capture the mood outside. 

Well, not quite successful, – a camera is just that, – but when looking at the shots, I noticed the coloured ring around the moon.  As kids we were looking out for the ring around the moon since that would mean snow would be coming soon, at that time we thought snow was fun and were looking forward to it. 

The ring still predicts snow, and even though snow is beautiful, somehow it is not as much fun as it used to be, – more of a nuisance, in fact.  It is definitely an age thing.

  But come it did, nevertheless.

Here it is on its way in from the north west, – and this was just the beginning.

There are a few things that I still like about the snow, such as the strong “graphic” created by the contrast between the trees and the snow.  Suddenly there are lots of new lines and shapes right outside my windows.

I played a little with the tree photo:

  

Grayscale

 

Grayscale inverted

Ninepatch trees.

The inverted grayscale tree done in Kaleider.

Endless possibilities.