In time

I must say that I’m mighty pleased with my achievements this year and – that they all were finished in time. I came halfway with the Softie Slippers for my sis and then had to wait for the gripper fabric to arrive, hoping, begging, praying that it would arrive in time – which it did. When they was all done, I decided to add some “bling” to them.

The tote bag got ready too and then a decorative purse (also for sis and her American coins) and at last, the Christmas gift for my niece Mathilda, a real goodie bag
made from the Nest jelly roll I got together with the charm pack and filled it to the brim with Swedish candy.

At the last minute, I decided to make new placemats and even though I did opt for the very easy way (panels) I still had to add some borders, quilt them and do the binding and the very last stitch was put into them on the night before Christmas Eve.


Today I made one more bag made with the Nest jelly roll; I wanted something nicer than just gift paper to cover the bottle of wine we are taking with us to a dinner party this evening. For the first time in eons of time, me and the DH are invited to a party without kids (and dogs) – what a treat:-D

Caught in the middle

Have it ever happen to you that you started not one, but two projects only to find you are lacking material to continue either on them? This happened to me this week - first a tote bag made with a gorgeous moda charmpack "Nest" that a darling friend sent me. I decided to use it to make a sort of modern art tote bag and lined each square with black modal fabric. Oh it does look good, but to use that thick heavy fabric for the top, bottom and sides of the front and back panel simply would not work. So I needed something softer, like a nice black corderoy which I of course lacked of. So that project was set aside and I started on a gift (very usable) for my sis (Åsa - naninaninahaaaa ) and got it under way until I realised that I did not have enough of a very important part. Well the corderoy I can get here, but this speciality stuff have to be ordered from the USA and I have, so now I can hope for that the USPS and SPS will work in a jointly haste so I'll be able to finish it of before my sis leaves for Flint MI to spend the Christmas with her darling daughter.

Live well and sew easy;-)
Wolfie

Back to my fragrant roots

Before there was quilting, there was botanical natural perfumery. Well at least that was my main passion in the creative department until I got sick and once more couldn’t stand scents. But early this summer I got kick started by a group assignment and managed to create an Eau de Cologne that I named “Howl at the moon” and this is the first scent I have ever created that I actually could stand smelling day after day, so I might be on the mend – heh?

I have been into my studio quite frequently because the fragrant materials share the room with all my quilting stuff. I have picked up a vial here and a bottle there, but nothing has called my name. Until today; after having mused over vanilla in its various forms, I finally cleared the desk in my study enough to start a small trial blend. Vanilla me here and vanilla me there… a tad of aged patchouli, some home brewed tinctures: beeswax, Grasseouse (is there such a word??) lavender honey and green pepper corns start to make it interesting. Found no flowers to add, so a bit of lingonberry tincture steered the blend away from overly sweetness and there I stopped for today. If it’s one thing I learned over the years, it is not to go happy galloping, adding this or that until it all turned into some variety of eau de chat LOL.

I also found a maybe quilting project in a jelly roll book (the very same one where the stars in the tablecloth came from), but reading the instructions I realized I need to get another (I only have one) Omnigrid triangular ruler (in inches, not cm) before I can even get started. So online quilt shop owners – beware.

From rags to riches

What make you feel rich? I mean apart from family, friends, having a roof over your head, a job and so on. When it comes to more earthly stuff I can’t help myself but to sing along with Madonna: “I’m a material girl”. Oh don't get me wrong - I’m not a compulsive shopper and I don’t crave diamonds every month, but there are stuff out there that really get my juices flowing and make me feel rich, rich, RICH.

First of all I love books and after having suffered quite a few years with a concentration disability. I mean it – really, really suffered: I have not been able to read anything more than the morning paper and some trade magazines. But for the last six months or so I’m back again and with the “help” of online bookstores (and a very dear and generous friend in the US) I manage to build a nice little stash of novels. I feel such a pleasure to be able to stand in front of the bookcase and choose one out of several to read next.

Secondly I love all my natural perfumery raw materials (and some perfumes too) and I have been known to sit in my studio whispering presssiousssss while sniffing a jasmine essence from Grasse or a deep dark patchouli that I have aged myself. Or one of my own tinctures; Bourbon Vanilla beans, saffron, citrus flowers or my very own invention – bee-goo immersed in high grade alcohol.

Thirdly – all love quilting fabrics and just viewing the colorful piles on the shelves in my studio. Most of them is not bought for any particular project, but because they spoke to me. And when they arrive in the mail after their merry journey across the world, and I sort through the different pieces, stroke their surface and go into that prrrrreeesssiousssss state again ;-) Well, the same thing goes for quilting threads….bought only cause they where beautiful and I have this passion for variegated threads – the spools are like jewels and I get almost the same pleasure going through my boxes of threads as I get for choosing a book.

Fourth (but it ought to fall into the third category – neh??); Jelly Rolls. Okey I admit, it does sound a bit wacky but bear with me. It's like with the threads - I simply can’t figure out why they attract me so much, but they do. Not all (cause I don’t like all fabric collections that are out there), but the occasional ones that just shouts: Buy ME!!!! So far I have been a good girl and only purchased four (and got one as a gift) since these things are not cheap; the newest Moda rolls go for round 37USD and with the shipping cost to Sweden added, the cost for one roll is simply too steep…. So I save up and wait for this or that online quilt shop (or an eBay seller) to have them on sale and then I splurge on a roll. Just to be clear – a jelly roll in this context is not something you can eat, even though some of them are so sweet you could be tempted LOL. A Jelly Roll is fabric strips rolled and tied up with a ribbon and IMHO they should be from the same collection of fabrics from a specific manufacturer for a short time and each roll contains round 40-42 2-1/2 in.strips.

As for what you can make out of them rolls, here is one thing:

It's the very first project I made from a roll and it has taken it’s own good time to finish. But let me tell you this – I’m sooooo mighty pleased with the outcome, both front and back. It’s approximately 180x180cm, thin batting (for table cloths) and almost all quilting was made with freezer paper templates of my own design:

The big question now is: what to start on next. I have absolutely no friggin idea - do you?

Dead as a DoDo

To those who have read my erratic posts over the last years on my Perfumum blog (www.rubysjewelstreasures.com/perfumeblog), I sadly must report that it's dead as a DoDo. No that there is anything wrong with the actual blog, but I simply can't log in. The Wordpress system refuse to accept any of my renewed passwords - no matter how much I try. I confess - I don't think the fault lies with WP, but with my laptop. I have the hardest of times to log on to everything from Schoolsoft to this blog and honestly, it was just a hit and run to get in here.... I can't for the life of me figure out exactly where the problem lies, but it's friggin frustrating to not be able to use the passwords on file. I can't bloody well set up a new blog once a week can I???

On a totaly new note: I'm currently reading the most terrific novel; Sovreign by C.J. Sansom. If you haven't read it, run out and grab a copy - it's a totaly engrossing read and you can actualy smell the smells, see the town of York, taste the food of King Henry the 8th England while you read.

Cheers from a grey and very windy Stockholm,
Wolfie

First time out - pillows

All of my American quilting friends call me Wolfie, since Ylva is almost impossible to pronounce correctly in English. I live with my dogs, kids and the "love of my love" in a suburb to Stockholm in Sweden. I have had a blog called Perfumum (about natural botanical perfumery), but after trying in vain to get into my Wordpress account( can't get the password to work, no matter how many times I request a new one), I have relented and got me this Blogger blog which main purpose is to show my quilting stuff.

I've been into arts'n crafts one way or the other for my entire life and I've tried all sorts of thread and fabric crafts; crocheting, embroidery, knitting and garmentmaking. Since the summer of 2007 I have been passionatly interested in patchwork and quilting and have been quietly building my stash of fabrics and notions every since

When I started out I started small, small as in pillow cases and most I designed myself:

A DIF pillow for one in the family who cheers for the soccer and ice hockey team Djurgården.



Another pillow, for the other DIF fan in the family.



First pillow for the couch, the design is my own and it's handquilted.



Second pillow - should have been a fan shaped circle, but to me it looks more like a bunch of neck ties LOL. The centre circle is hand embroidered to match the color scheme and I hand quilted the whole thing.



The design is from the Japanese Block Designes book . I realy like the puzzle look of the blocks and they are pleasingly interesting to the eye.



I made this one as a birthday gift for my MIL 2007. She liked it - a lot:-)



Inspired by a quilt design I saw at the Sewing Festival in the fall of 2007, I went home and worked on my own version. I don't own EQ6, so it was made with pen, paper and a ruler. When each block was finished, I nailed it to the paper to make sure the whole thing came out even.



The last one of the pillows so far. This one too is from the Japanese Quilting Blocks book and as the first one, it was hard to piece it together correctly. The colours are different from what I used so far, but the DH wanted something more "colourful";-)

That's it for today, new post will probably be about aprons, before we move on to the big quilts:-)

Have a wonderful weekend all,
Wolfie