I have been working on this project on and off for a couple of months, and finished it in time for the  Bloggers’ Quilt Festival, which Amy over at Amy’ s Creative Side hosts twice a year.

It is an experimental piece, which ended up as a wall hanging of approximately 70 x 70 cm.

My idea was to layer several fabrics with holes in them in order to achieve a three dimensional effect.

I wanted all the holes to have their edges finished in a different colour for each fabric layer, to make them stand out more.

Sewing all those holes took some time.

When the top layer was finished, I re-auditioned the rest of the fabrics.

Wondering which fabric to choose for the second layer.

It ended up being a dark red with gold specs.

Further on, wondering what to choose for the bottom layer.

It ended up being green with a gold net on top.

I thoroughly enjoyed working on this wall hanging, but I am already looking for what to do differently if there is a next one

The quilt is entered in the Wall Hanging category.

This is the 9thBloggers’ Quilt Festival.  My quilts entered into the previous festivals can be seen here:

Spring 2009

Autumn 2009

Spring 2010

Autumn 2010

Spring 2011

Autumn 2011

Spring 2012

Autumn 2012

Be sure to head over to the Bloggers’ Quilt Festival to see all the wonderful entries.

Eldrid

This year spring is very late compared to my previous updates since 2009.

It is even later than it was last year.

Not a hint of green in the woods, the daffodils are not blooming, but a few of the earliest ones are sporting large, yellow buds.

Even though there are no green leaves yet, the pussy willows are in bloom.

So are the crocuses, and have been for a couple of weeks. However, they got quite beaten down by the hail a couple of days ago.

The winter has been long and cold, and the ground has been frozen until recently.

The snow keeps falling still.

Eldrid

But there are moments, – like this afternoon, – when it is possible, even enjoyable, to sit outdoors and sew.

I am working on my “let’s-find-out-if-it-is-possible-to-join-hexagon-flowers-without-folding-the-paper-templates” project. I have cracked the code on how to, but have not written up the instructions yet.

Since this is my out-of-doors project, it is slow going.

If the nice weather continues for some days, I should be able to get some more sewing done, as it is too early to do any gardening.

A bunch of snowdrops are blooming, plus three crocuses, – the rest is still under the snow at the moment.

The sunshine is nice, though, and if it could just stop snowing and freezing in between, we could have real spring in quite a short time.

Eldrid

The quilt is approximately 82 x 92 inches, and is made from a pattern I wrote earlier.

It was beautifully quilted by Anne Rønningen at Quiltekammeret.

Here is a closer look at the quilting.

Eldrid

This week my quilt “Blue Night” was voted first in the theme Winter Landscapes. I was thrilled, of course. A big thank you to all those who voted.

I was even more thrilled when I was informed that there was a prize.

Vicki Welsh,  who makes glorious hand dyed fabrics, was a sponsor of the event, and offered one of her fabric packages as a prize. I was even allowed to make my own choice between all the colour combinations available in her Etsy shop.

I had a hard time choosing, but landed on the pink packet in the end.

The quilt “Blue Night” was made of half inch fabric squares using a collage technique. Lots of colour variations are needed when making these collage quilts, so this packet will be a great start for a new project. Thank you, Vicki, and thank you, Michele, for arranging the shows.

Just after the quilt was made, I posted some work-in-progress-pictures on my website so that you can get an impression of how it was made.

One of the inspirations for the quilt was a class I took from Mr Edmund Cluett, a very talented fiber artist.  He used to have a website showing some of his work, but it is no longer online. However, on this page I have posted a suggestion on how you might still be able to see some of his work.

Eldrid

The crystals have grown quite big, – they are almost like small plants with leaf rosettes, and they are everywhere on grassy areas.

On the tree stump, a bit higher off the ground, they are not quite so big.

The small heather plants are nearly covered by ice crystal “plants”.

They tend to “grow” in clumps.

As happened with the star crystals last week, I am reluctant to step on any of these wonders.

But it is impossible to move without doing so.

When stepping on to the grass, you can hear a faint sound, as if millions of miniature glasses fall and break.

… or like you are wading through heaps of tiny, tiny glass shards.

Below are some more photos, – I couldn’t stop myself  …  

On some of the photos I have tweaked the contrast quite a bit to better show off the fabulous patterns.

The last photo below, I also turned to gray scale. Some of the crystals are very, very thin and transparent.

I hope all of you in the northern hemisphere are enjoying the winter time.

Eldrid

This one has just been finished.

It was started last summer, so you may well ask what happened to the “quickly” part.   The answer is that the last step, the binding, was put off and put off again, until quite recently. The delay was partly on purpose, so that I might also finish the pattern I have been writing for this quilt, so that they could be presented together.

Many years ago, in 1997, I made the quilt above, and have been meaning to make another one which could fit on a bed.

Now I have, although not all by myself.

Anne Rønningen at Quiltekammeret has done a wonderful job with the quilting.

I think the flame like all over quilting pattern fit very well with the bargello pattern of this quilt.

The pattern is available on my website as a downloadable pdf-file.

Have fun!

Eldrid

As we drove home early this afternoon, the skies were gray, and we noticed a few tiny white specs falling through the air.

Walking from the garage to the house, I suddenly stopped short, exclaiming: There are stars on the ground!

I immediately put my bag down and got my camera out.

Please don’t step on any of them before I have taken some photos, I asked my husband.

Then I had to laugh at the impossibility of my own request; -  the stars were everywhere, and we could not move without stepping on several at a time.

There was more than enough both to photograph and to walk on.

They were all over the wooden steps…

… and on the grass…

… and on the cold stones.

We do not often see snow crystals like this here, – most often the snow comes down in big flurries, – not tiny stars like these.

We were lucky to spot them when we did. A few minutes later it was raining.

Just a few tiny drops, however, – and then we got a little bit more snow. But not stars this time.

Does walking on stars mean good luck?

I hope so.

Eldrid

Gallery Frøya in Kalvåg issued an invitation for the locals to show some of the old Christmas decorations that they might have in their possession.

People responded by bringing some very old, and some not so very old, decorations.

I remember us having chains of baubles just like the ones here when I grew up.

When I visited the exhibition on the last day, some had already come to fetch their small treasures. I managed to snap a photo of this box before it left.  Christmas decorations do not come in such simple cardboard boxes with stapled corners any more, – it is either flimsy plastic, or more elaborate boxes for the more expensive decorations.

Paper hearts similar to these are traditional, but not all are quite as fancy as the ones here.

The oldest pieces in the exhibition were some chains of baubles like the one above. A  young couple bought them right after their wedding in 1912, so they are 100 years old.

This one also looks old, but not as old as to have lost its shine. It can still reflect both the camera, and some of the decorations around it.

The one above has adorned the Christmas tree in the local church for many, many years.

I have always loved the baubles with one dented side with many, many colours in it. This one seems to have lost some of its colour, but is still beautiful.

People have manages to save quite a lot of old baubles, even though they are so very easy to break.

Pine cones in every colour is also a favourite….

… and I loved this mushroom.

This wooden sugar cane was also very cute.

Birds are also favourites. This one has lost its feather tail.

There were two of these in the exhibition. It seems to be made of paper mache with glued on cardboard wings and tail.

The wooden one here was a charmer.

Of course there were also angels, both on the tree…

… and as candle holders.

There were also examples of Madonna figurines….

… and a Madonna and Child made of wooden shavings to hang on the tree.

Of course, when it is Christmas, you cannot escape the “nisse”:

The small one here is always allowed to ride on the straw goat when it is out for Christmas.

I loved this one with its hair and beard made of unravelled rope.

This one showed very little wear, although it is quite old.

The person who made it paid a lot of attention to decorative details. This was before the time that ready made toothpicks were sold in the shops, so it was told that he painted with sharpened matches.

Merry Christmas to everyone.

God jul

Eldrid

Ok, – I have lived a few years, but not that many, I think

Thanks for the reminder though, I really should keep up with the blogging more.

By the way, I liked the new media upload page where you can just scroll through good sized thumbnails of all the uploaded photos to quickly find the one you want.  A real time saver!

Eldrid