Ravenhill

Quilts from home, as promised

I try to keep my promises but can sometimes be a bit slow about it! Today please feast your eyes on a few of the beautiful family textile heirlooms from my mother's collection...

You had a look at this one the other day and I wanted to tell a bit about it. The quilts are very special as each one was made by hand by someone in the family on either my mother or father's side of the family. They are such tangible links to my female anscestors. Imagine that they sat for hours on end together and alone stitching the thousands of stitches to make up the quilts. Many of the fabrics were likely first used as their clothes so these quilts are so very personal.

This quilt, known by many names, like sawtooth or delectable mounts was likely made with new fabrics, and is from the Crego side of my mother's family. There are brown spots on the quilt that I didn't really capture in the photos which mom tells me are from the iron mordent that was put on the fabric before the dye. It was a process in use in the early 20th century. This quilt was done with a high level of skill as it is intricate and extremely well-done. However, it has many rather tattered spots.

The T-quilt is quite old, also from my mother's side, by my mother's grandmother's mother's mother. My grandmother chose to inherit this quilt when my mother was an adult.

 

I am fascinated by how these quilts wear and age. This one T is completely gone whereas some other's appear to be in perfect condition. Fabrics are certainly not all made alike. The T-quilt is also faded on one whole side. Mom wonders if someone started it at one time, put it aside and later finished it later with more light fast blocks.

This quilt isn't finely quilted, more of a utilitarian quilt made with used fabrics. Mom is pointing out the stitches which as you can see aren't completely uniform or anything fancy.

I fell completely for the fabrics on this quilt and photographed quite a number of them. I won't show them all as it might be a bit much...

My mother's grandfather's mother made this beauty of a quilt. There were originally red flowers in the blocks, but when Aunt Miriam was getting married her mother redid it for her with pink flowers because Aunt Miriam had red hair and her mother thought the red hair wouldn't go with the red flowers. I stained it when I was a child. Guess what? It is mine! Mom gave it to me! I adore this quilt!

There are still more quilts, but I am out of time - Anne Katrine is coming any minute for a visit! I will be sewing or knitting while we chat but poor Anne Katrine has been in a cast for quite a few weeks now and hasn't been able to do any kind of handwork. I have been lending her crafting magazines I had brought back from the US so she can fill up on inspiration for when her cast comes off.

Dolls and more dolls!

I hope that you have had a nice weekend. I did! I am happy to show you a few things I have been working on this weekend.

A few lovely snippets of scraps... means I have been busy in my sewing room.

I wonder how people will like this new organic foliage style matryoshka? You can see I haven't painted their faces yet. That is the most demanding part of making the dolls, that and stuffing them. I stuff them so full that it takes a bit of pressing and squeezing and an unbelievable amount of poly-fil. 

I am on a search for some very fine textile pens. I FOUND A LINK WITH INFO ABOUT PENS AND PENCILS FOR DOLL FACES! I draw things much easier than I paint, but the textile pens I have found so far are far too thick to work for the details of the faces. If anyone could tell me where to find fine-tipped textile pens I would be so grateful.

I am really crazy about this blue bird fabric.

I am still on the matryoshka theme, but this time I have made a little hanging quilt.

It was wonderful fun to make!

Here is a little sleeping beauty in the process of being done up.

 

A very busy 24 hours

I am all tuckered out after a very busy 24 hours. I trekked to the other side of down, dropping the children off with Daddy after his day of work. On the way to meet Daddy, Sebastian ran after russ (Norwegian youth graduating from their last year at school who wear grafitied overalls and party from May 1st until tomorrow, Norway's national day.)

Sebastian and other young kids like to collect russ cards.

My dear friend Catherine made me a marvelous dinner and afterwards Sofie, her 8 year old daughter, entertained us by performing a lovely piece on her chello.

With a month and a half to go before the summer solstice and the lightest day of the year, this view of the fjord from the train window at 10:15 pm on my journey home gives you an idea how light it is here in the evenings this time of year!

When leaving the house the next morning for an outing with Anna Katrine and our little ones it was so cheery to lock the door and once again admire the lovely wreathe that I won in a give away! Thank you so very much Nathalie! I seem to have had a run of good luck lately. Nathalie was so wonderful because she tucked some fantastic treats into the package including a very wide pink rickrack and a sweet woven jacquard trim. She must have known how much I would appreciate them!

We enjoyed the pretty flowers and weather on our excersion!

Oslo looked wonderful with so much in bloom.

This is the main street in Oslo known as Karl Johan.

At the head of Karl Johan is the royal castle.

I amused the castle guard by getting up real close for a good shot for you!

The palace grounds are open to the public and just a lovely place for a stroll.

We did a bit of window shopping. Aren't these delicious fabrics?

Anne and I both adore this shop with the not-so-Norwegian name: Shabby.

The clothes are all things I could imagine making and wearing.

This customer had such a great bag and the basket at her feet contains patchwork snakes!

Not everything at Shabby fits the name. These trims seem more glittery than shabby...

Shabby even has pillows and clothes made from Liberty of London fabrics!

The children had a bite of lunch on the stoop outside the shop.

The icing on the cake for our day in the city was our last stop: Tannum Teksil. While Anne dove into the remnants I sorted through the books of samples that they were willing to give us! We brought all that our strollers could carry. One of the books had silk tartans in addition to several books of pure wool tartans, stripes and plains. The fabrics are so beautiful.

There's some knitting going on and my first interview!

My little one is going to have warm and cozy feet in her winter boots next year! My mother, my great Aunt and I spent a few hours browsing the yarn store. I bought beautiful sock yarn in the US to make soft and non-scratchy socks to keep my little children's tootsies warm come next winter.

This first pair of silk and alpaca socks are completely finished. Lilly loves to try them on! There will be no problem getting them to wear warm footgear next winter! I had given up making them socks as they hated wool due to the itchiness. Mom took me to a wonderful yarn store in Belfast, ME which I am afraid I don't recall the name of. They had a delightful sale on sock yarn and I decided then and there to make socks my kids would want to wear!

This second pair is a Lorna's Laces yarn. It has my favorite colors when I was a little girl: pink and orange and reminds me of my favorite flavors of ice cream when I was little too: sherbet! I borrowed my mom's pretty and colorful metal needles to make these. She had extra and I was so grateful to be able to have a project to do on the plane ride home. I am getting rather addicted to making socks - they are so quick and fun to make in such luscious colors.

I was interveiwed by Kat!

Short and very sweet

Lately I seem to have been entering myself into some kind of Competition for Longest Post. So today I will keep it short and sweet! New fabrics and trims for me = eye candy and dolls for you!

The ribbons...

A few black and white prints...

Pink!

Finally a veritable tower of red, white and MORE pink!

Let the sewing begin.

We had a 3 day weekend!

This weekend I received my first handmade purchase from Etsy!

I fell for Sibi's use of vintage shibori silk from Japanese kimono. The owls are even cuter in person!

Lilly really fell for them too.

My husband took the kids out for a boat ride on the fjord on Saturday. Here they are waiting for the train downtown.

The grandparents are going to love the post today with all the photos of their grandchildren...

Taking the train is always fun even though they have done it many a time.

Sebastian enjoying the view from the boat on Oslo fjord. Daddy really knows how to find fun things to do because on Sunday the outing was to a visiting amusement park right nearby.

That is one boy having a great time!

While they were off amusing themselves I was home washing and ironing my new fabric purchases from our trip to the US. To some it might not sound so amusing but it was enormously satisfying to get it done and put on the shelves so that I can get started on a project! I am going to give you a preview of an upcoming post on our family quilts.

I am thrilled to have a record of them now and really excited to show them to you!

Mail day!

Régine's lovely package arrived today! I didn't manage to wait to take a photo before tearing open the pretty wrapping. So much for self-discipline. Sometimes I just can't wait to see the handmade goodies!

I love this little brooch with the pretty fabrics and vibrant colors that I won on Régines give away. I think Lilly and I are going to be fighting over this one - and guess who is stronger? No, I will be nice and let her wear it.

I always treasure anything with hand stitching and that really made me fall for this heart ornament. See the pretty red stitches on the edges?

Thank you so much Régine for such pleasure!
 

I am still not getting much creative done myself these days. Nothing you haven't already seen upteen times anyway, like here is a shot of Jannicke who is new in the shop today. She is made of among other Liberty of London and Kaffe Fassett fabrics.

My kids are keeping me busy all day long and until tonight all evening long too! I think things are settling down now. Whew! Jet lag is tough. I am going to really enjoy the next few days as it is a 3 day weekend here in sunny Norway!

Yesterday when the babysitter brought Lilly back home in tears after being gone for only an hour I nearly burst into tears myself as I saw my date with the sewing machine going down the drain. My very thoughtful husband had arranged for me to have childcare for 3 hours yesterday during the afternoon when he found out that he would be working very late. I had made an appointment with my sewing machine but had barely gotten started when the kids returned and I had to cancel my plans. Lilly seems to be a bit bothered lately. We had introduced a few new foods and they are likely the issue. Both of my kids have allergies to well, many foods and become rather moody, to put it nicely, when they eat something that doesn't agree with them.

My little one ended up having such a nice time in the backyard with her friend and dollies though.When you don't feel so good there is nothing like being home with mommy.

I wish you all a wonderful weekend!

May Quilting Night

Kathrine's Quiltestue (Katrine's quiltshop) brought nearly her entire shop with her to tempt us with fabric goodies during the meeting.

The quilts on the tables are also from Kathrine's.

These fabric bundles are almost too pretty to use!

I had to use enormous powers of self-restraint not to buy out her shop. I did buy a bag of hexagon papers for paper piecing. I can't wait to try them out.

Kathrine herself at the till in a pretty flowered apron.

The featured speakers for the evening,  Rie Norum and Hilde Aanerud Krogh the recent authors of: Quilteglede and Quilt Shack: Over 30 Charming Patchwork and Aplpique Designs,  had brought along more than a dozen quilts to show us. Everyone fell for this one with the pink sequins. I know Lilly would love it but each and every one of these was sewn on by hand!

I loved how they used shades of gra y fabric with the brights.

Along with the sequins, they also frequently used ribbons, trims, and buttons to add interest to their pieces.

They did will getting a vintage feel on many of their quilts.

Weren't these sweet purses? I could see them with babushkas.

I love the simplicity of this runner with the countless hand stitches going in different directions.

After their talk the speakers kindly signed their books. You can see the entire place was covered in quilts. It was so lovely, not to mention inspiring!

One very busy quilting member had a large box filled with these lovely small blocks. No two rectangles was from the same fabric.

I was fascinated to learn that instead of paper to do the traditional paper piecing she uses photo printer paper. It was opaque and more stiff than paper. I took a shot of her holding one so I would remember and could share this little tip.

We did a bit of window shopping on our walk up the street to the bus stop.

As I said in yesterday's post it was truly a day of beauty, with the anemones in the woods, the children playing under the warm sun, the array of quilts and fabrics at the meeting, and then the lovely windows to gaze in on the walk home. My hunger for eye candy is momentarily satiated.

A delightful day of beauty

Spring is in full march everywhere you look. On the way to do a bit of grocery shopping yesterday morning I took a few pictures of the anemones covering the ground in the woods.

Our area seems to mainly have the white variety but there are also some exquisite blue/pink types as well.

I find these flowers quite enchanting.

The weather is fairly enchanting as well, with warm, long, sun-filled days. Lilly has been making cakes in the sandbox.

Yes, and she takes after her big brother in her love of going barefooted! She adores wearing the pants from Natasha that I mentioned earlier.

After a two hour nap (I slept too - I have a lot of sleep to catch up on!) Lilly and I were ready for more fun outside and now Sebastian was home from school to join us. The excitement on this afternoon was finding ladybugs. It was a full day for me because Anne Katrine and I went out last night to the quilting meeting! Here is a preview: drop by tomorrow for more.

A few of the handmade gifts I delivered on our trip

My body still thinks we should be on American time but my life is supposed to be on Norwegian time. So after several nights now of about 5 hours of slumber I tried to keep things simple today, and can triumphantly report that I only broke two plates.  The fatigue makes my fingers a bit slippery it seems. Please don't misunderstand, I am not the type to have fits of rage and throw plates, I just get a bit clumsy when tired. It runs in the family. Really, breaking a couple of plates isn't such a terrible thing. It beats slicing into my finger while cutting vegetables or some other personal injury which also becomes likely with fatigue. The only other thing that is a problem is that I might not make a lot of sense here today!

This is what our backyard looked like when we got back from vacation. Some flowers seem to have migrated from their beds to the lawn. I think they actually qualify as weeds but they look so lovely when they are all properly in their beds.

I made these linen dishtowels that you can barely see underneath the pretty dishtowels I crocheted for someone nice.

All wrapped up!

I like the red white and blue combo too.

I have been meaning to show you a few more thrifty fabric finds from April's haul. This blue and yellow heavier weight fabric is so stunning and I am considering what to make from it. Maybe a tote bag. I would love it if you have any good suggestions for me.

Lilly and I are both crazy about the strawberry fabric!

Here is a preview of the lovely family quilts that I am going to put on display for you. My mother has such a fondness for textiles and she has inherited some quilted treasures from her family and my father's family. On my visit home mom and I took out her entire quilt collection and I photographed and took notes on each one while mom told me all she knew about the age, owner, fabrics, design, etc. It was such a nice time to spend together which I think we both loved.

My confession...

I have a little confession to make and I hope that you will forgive me.

My posts haven't been showing much activity lately, I haven't added any new photos to Flicr in weeks, my shop was empty for several days, and I have been slow to respond if at all... WHAT IS GOING ON????

Well, ahem, um, hum. I don't quite know how to tell you this. You see... we just returned to Norway from a two week visit to my native home! Yes, my husband, two children and I are now all suffering from jet lag from our journey overseas from Maine. Last night we had 3 fun-filled hours from 9:30 pm til 12:30am when the kids thinking it was time to get up from a little nap: giggled, jumped, teased each other and generally caused a great deal of noise and anguish to their incredibly tired parents.

I have been dying to tell you all about our visit, plus, show you the piles of fabrics and yarns I bought but first I knew I had to break it to you that I have been keeping our spring vacation a secret... I wrote several posts before our departure and scheduled them to publish on assigned days.

You can likely guess why the secrecy: husband's paranoia of home security. With the exception of house guests one weekend our little home was empty for our vacation and my husband didn't want me to announce to the world on Ravenhill: "Hey, everyone, we are going to be out of the country!" Personally I am entirely sure that there is not a single thief among my dear readers but I had to reluctantly agree that it is probably best not to publish info about a vacant home on the internet, just to be on the safe side. I do hope that you will understand.

I took a real break from doll making and blogging. The above photos weren't even taken by me. My husband took them, but I did the editing. Isn't the Maine coast gorgeous?

I had some excitement related to my blog while home in the US. While doing a bit of shopping in midcoast Maine with my mother and 87 year old great aunt who should we meet but Jes, in her new soon-to-be-opened shop! It was a thrill to meet her and to actually get to take a look at her lovely shop. When Jes told me that she would like to have my matryoshkas in her shop I was so surprised and pleased!

Eight dolls have made their way to  Michelle! Quite unexpectedly, she offered to feature my dolls in her also soon-to-open shop in her home and is doing it out of the kindness of her heart!  The dolls above are now in my Etsy shop.

I had been hoping to get to meet with Erin and Iris, but unfortunately ran out of time. I received the prettiest ATC's from Iris who is having an ATC give away! I would show you the ATC's from Iris, but they are momentarily misplaced due to this jetlag fuzzy brain thing.

While visiting with my brother and uncle in Portland my mom and I got a couple of hours to look around the old port. It was delightful to see Amanda's work in person when we happened across the wonderful shop carrying her handmade goodies. While home I sent off the vintage tablecloth above to one of the sweetest people I have had the chance to "meet" via my blog. Jean has been so thoughtful with me that when she jokingly suggested the she would like this tablecloth I decided to mail it off to her. Surprisingly, the stain came out in the wash so it is in mint condition! Jean told me though that she couldn't possibly take the risk of using it as a table cloth and will make beautiful clothing out of it.

This post is now way too long, can you tell I have missed you?!

Thank you Jean!

One of the best things about blogging is getting to know such wonderful people. Jean is one lady I have gotten to know quite well. She has written me so many encouraging comments and been so kind. She surprised me the other day by sending me a box full of patterns.


They are all going to be useful! Now to just find the time to start making the cute pj's for my big boy and one of the many adorable dresses for my little one. I am over the moon over this package of inspiration!



Jean really went over the top in also including a huge bag of laces, and here are some of the very useful trims that she treated me to.



Thank you so very much Jean. I just want you to know how much your encouragement means to me. I really can't tell you how much I appreciate all the sweet comments you and everyone else post here. At times I have been really good at thanking you but lately I have let too many lovely comments go without a proper thank you. So I will say it here: THANK YOU ALL MY DEAR READERS!

Packages around the world

I had to show you the mailboxes that I use to drop off my packages because they are so bright and cheery. I just wanted to say that the little gifts I sent off awhile back in celebration of my 100th blog post have been arriving!

Four amazing bloggers were the lucky winners and they have been letting me know lately that they have received their gifts. Kajsa got hers, and it will be great fun to see if some of my fabrics turn up on one or two of her appliqués. Erin has been so busy making the cutest children's clothing designs lately, but she took the time to let me know that she got her package. Lara's package arrived safe and sound all the way on the other side of the world. I loved seeing the skirt Lara made from kimono. Alison, who has her own stockpile of fabric, wrote to tell me the she had received hers too.

And dear Jean will likely receive her package any day now! Soon I will show you the lovely gift I was so thrilled to get from Jean. I guess I get a kick out of hearing that I have made someone happy. That probably means that I will want to do another give away before too long...

Little two handed digger

My girl is going to really be able to get things accomplished whatever it is she decides to do in life. The playground recently got a load of fresh sand and the kids are just thrilled. Our hallway is turning into a mini-sandbox though and I can't say I am so happy about that.

I just love rain-drenched flowers. They look so fresh and maybe the little water droplets are reminiscent of appliqué?

Spring is just so lovely, rain or shine! In Norway they say: There isn't such a thing as bad weather, just bad clothes. So pull on those rainpants and boots and zip up your slicker for a fun time in the mud and water. There is actually few things that kids love more outdoors! Please forgive my exhuberance, the winter was long and dark in Norway and the lighter days, buds on the trees and flowers in the garden are oh, so welcome! I might even forget about sewing and knitting for a little while, but not too likely.

Houses!

Anne Katrine bought the most beautiful book at the Norwegian Quilting Anniversary. She let me photograph it so that I could share it with you.

Mette has been making some houses too!

Thank you Tillymoss!

I have to admit that I checked out Tillymoss because of the last name. If anyone doesn't know, Moss is my last name too. I just loved her blog and wrote a comment on one of her posts. Sara wrote me a long letter and offered one of her beautiful laptop sleeves for one of my matryoshkas. I replied that I didn't have a laptop but I had another suggestion: FABRIC. So we agreed upon a swap.

Isn't this just fabulous fabric?!

I would love to make a doll out of this one!

The texture and the print here are so pretty.

I adore this storybook fabric.

Thanks Sarah for all the bright and cheery fabrics you sent me! I only showed a few of my favorites here. I don't always have time for a swap lately and have had to turn down a few tempting offers. I am always so happy when I do swap though as it is lovely to make new friends.

Something homemade

I made this linen tote as a gift for a far away friend. I got several linen remnants awhile back and have made tea towels and now this with it. One day I will likely tire of these babushka dolls and never make one again. I haven't gotten there yet though... and I simply love the rooster fabric.

Quilt show continued...Part II

I hadn't intended for so much time to go by before showing more from the quilt show. I guess I have gotten a bit busy lately. My husband has been sick with a sore throat and hasn't been able to help me as much as he usually does with meals, shopping, children, etc. He usually does a great deal so I really notice it when he isn't able to. Anyway, on with the tour of the quilt show!

The shops were packed with the prettiest fabrics, notions, and a great number of quilts to inspire us to BUY.

I have some of this Moda fabric, Shangri la.

These purses really caught my eye.

I really love this small quilt with the subtle colors.

This green one was so vibrant and beautiful.

This would be wonderful to use.

This quilt is really special. It depicts the colorful Norwegian traditional peoples, the Sami.

Are you tired of quilts yet?

Merete made these fabulous peices!

Denmark and other European nations also contributed to the show. I thought this Danish one was so sweet.

I hope that you have enjoyed this little taste of what is going on in Norway. Here is one of my favorite Norwegian quilting shops: Kathrines Quilte Stue.

More signs of spring!

The bigger kids in the neighborhood have been doing a bit of digging for creepy crawlies.



My big boy doesn't mind getting his fingers dirty at all! I hope I didn't gross anyone out with this picture. I just revel in the kid's enjoyment of nature.

I guess I don't have as much to show you craft-wise lately because we have been outdoors more! It is also time for me to get my nails dirty getting the garden looking pretty!

Doll swap!

I am joining in a doll swap! I found out about the doll swap via Annie's lovely blog. Here are two of my newest babushkas, Marta and Karoline.

You can go on over to Mee Crafty if you would like to sign up for the swap too! Signup closes on Saturday, April 19th.

I do love to swap but lately have unfortunately had more offers to swap than I could say yes to. I really want to have dolls of many different colors in the shop so anyone wanting a doll can find just the right one! I have been playing around and worked on some new dolls without the appliques and embroidery. I wonder what you think?

Karoline is featured in the