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!

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:

Star on Fire Christmas Pillow

I was going to call this post "Christmas in July Roundup", kind of as a joke. When I started blogging in early June, I quickly came across some Christmas in July blog events that I was really eager to participate in, but July came and went and what did I make - ONE Christmas pillow. But what a pillow;) I really do love it! And I am so happy it is finished (I DID finish it on the last day of July)
Jeg skulle kalle innlegget "Jul i juli sammendrag", litt som en vits. Da jeg begynte å blogge i juni fant jeg raskt noen "jul i juli" blogaktiviteter som jeg var ivrig etter å være med på. Men juli kom og gikk og hva fikk jeg lagd? EN julepute. Men for en pute;) Jeg må si at jeg syns den ble kjempefin!

So let me share the details with you/Her er noen detaljer:

Pattern: Snowflake block designed by Rebecca of Sew Festive Handmade. A very beautiful and complex pattern!

Mønster: Snowflake blokk designet av Rebecca hos Sew Festive Handmade.

Method: Paper pieced center block consisting of 24 sections with a total of 96 fabric pieces (is this a lot, or what?). Hand quilted with DMC floss. Envelope closure on back.

Sydd sammen med papirsøm - 24 deler med totalt 96 stoffbiter. Ganske mye, ikke sant? Håndquilted med DMC broderigarn.

Fabric: Various stuff from my stash. The red pointsettias (and green in center) is from Alpine Wonderland by Riley Blake. The green houndstooth around the edge is also from Riley Blake. Background is Kona White. The fabric is left over from the pieces I have cut out for the Vintage Holiday QAL over at Fabric Mutt.

Stoffet er fra stashen - det er rester fra biter jeg har skjært opp til Vintage Holiday QAL hos Fabric Mutt.

Favorite part: Definately the hand quilting. It was my first attempt at hand quilting (I've done some embroidery, so wasn't a big stretch) and I think it turned out great (if I may say so). I must say, though, that I was happy it was a small project because I don't have a thimble and I quickly felt like I needed one.

Favorittdelen var håndquiltingen. Første gang jeg har prøvd dette (men jeg har erfaring med broderi, så var ikke akkurat vanskelig å få til) og jeg syns det ble kjempefint om jeg kan si det selv. Men jeg var glad for at det var et lite prosjekt, for jeg har ikke fingerbøl og det kunne jeg trengt!

Least favorite part: Trying to get the center of the block to allign. It didn't. I wasn't precise enough when piecing the blocks and with a whopping 16 points coming in to the center there were too many seams to fiddle with. So I made do and covered the worst bit with a festive button.

Det verste var å få midten til å møte opp. Det gikk ikke. Jeg var ikke presis nok da jeg sydde sammen delene og med hele 16 spisser som skulle samles var det alt for mange sømmer å flikke på. Så jeg skulte det verste med en fin treknapp.

I don't think anyone will think about it too much when looking at the big picture - or what do you say?

Det er vel ingen som tenker så mye på det når de ser det store bildet, eller hva sier du?

And just a final note about this project - I was debating between Kona Snow (slightly warmer) and Kona White (very, very white) for this, and decided White was the best looking option. But I was very hesitant, because this will be on the couch in a season of hot cocoa drinking and cookie/chocolate eating galore. So what did I do while making this pillow? I picked it up to finish quilting right after eating a peanut butter sandwhich and totally got a stain on the white part. I forgot to photoshop it out, so you can see if you find it on the photo above:)

Jeg valgte (med stor nervøsitet) å bruke et veldig hvitt bakgrunnsstoff, selv om denne vil være i sofaen i en tid med kakaodrikking og masse sjokolade/småkakespising. Og selvfølgelig klarte jeg å få en flekk peanøttsmør på den allerede under konstruksjon. Du kan se om du finner flekken på bildet ovenfor:)

OK, since I am so pleased with this project, I am going to show it off in bloglandia. I hope you don't think I brag too much, I really am quite modest about my skills... I will be linking up to:

If you are visiting from any of these places (or elsewhere) - Welcome to my little blog, hope you like what you see. Leave a comment and I will surely visit you too. Let's be social!