Happy Thanksgiving!

I've been very absent here of late - just working, also working on Christmas gifts! I hope that over the holidays I'll have a chance to catch up. In the meantime, I'd like to wish everyone out there a very Happy Thanksgiving. It's my very favorite holiday and I'll be celebrating here on Saturday. Here's a poem to celebrate the day!

Nothing Like Snow!

There's nothing like snow to get me started thinking more seriously about the upcoming holidays! I have a lot of November birthdays amongst my friends and family, so I always have the feeling that I'm ahead, only to realize at Thanksgiving that I've given most of my gifts away already! I'm determined avoid this realization this year. For today, here are some glances at some knitting that's underway (more information on Ravelry). Quilting shots to come tomorrow!

Before and After

October was a bit of a bust in the crafty department. With Christmas fast approaching, I hope there'll be more posts here in the coming weeks! In the meantime, here's something I've wanted to share for a while.

I've been eying these rather retro telephone tables for a while at flea markets and finally gave in a couple of month ago. Several rounds of sanding and painting later, I'm happy with the result! The new fabric is from Marimekko (sorry, I don't know the name of the pattern). It took a while to find the perfect pulls for the drawers, but a friend finally found some for me at a little shop here in Vaasa. I'd also love to find an old green rotary phone to top it off - I miss rotary phones! I don't even have a land line anymore.

Now I want to recover my IKEA poäng chair...

Online Quilt Festival

I hope everyone enjoyed the slideshow from my quilt group's current exhibit. For those of us who live far away from the big shows, the Bloggers' Quilt Festival organized by Park City Girl is a great alternative! I participated in the first one last April, but soon after, I finished this quilt, which might be my favorite quilt that I've made to date! It's made with Finnish Marimekko fabrics and white Kona cotton. Here's the original post. Don't forget to visit all the other bloggers participating in this great event and enjoy!

Utställning - Exhibition

My quilt group here in Vaasa has an exhibit going on this month. If you're in the area, you can visit it at the Seniorpunkten in Smedsby (Monday-Friday 9am-4pm). If not, I hope you enjoy the slideshow! You can see photos of an earlier exhibit here, as well.

Unfortunately Kajsa's workshop at Loftet tomorrow was cancelled, but I'm hoping to spend the whole day sewing anyway.

I've Been Abducted by that Monster Called Work

There's been very little sewing, etc. going on here of late; the semester is in full swing.

The building where I work was recently renovated, and we've all decided it's pretty sterile and definitely not inspiring or intellectually stimulating. A colleague has come to the rescue with an idea of some subversive textile art. Thus far we've displayed some summer knitting/crochet projects, including dozens of hats made by her hung against a black wall that 'welcomes' people to our floor.

There is also an installation piece in the works, inspired by students' study paths. Here are some of the raw ingredients for that project.

My quilt group is having an exhibit in October, so I hope to have some photos to share from that soon, and there will certainly be photos after Kajsa's workshop here in Vaasa on Saturday!

New Projects

I start teaching again this week, so I suppose it's natural that my summer push to finish up lingering UFOs has lost steam. Instead, I started not one, but two new projects this weekend. The first will be made up almost entirely of pink, red, and white scraps and thrifted fabrics, built around a fussy-cut pillowcase covered with hearts and flowers. It's a little 'girly' for me, but I hope that it will be just right for the intended recipient. I have 37 11.5" blocks and have run out of steam to make any more. I'm planning on some white sashing between the blocks, but I was completely stalled in terms of ideas of how to make it a little larger, especially considering that I almost never put borders on my quilts, until I went to my quilt group this evening. We're getting ready for an October exhibit and one member brought in her first quilt (made 15 years ago), a gorgeous blue and pink full/queen size log cabin with a piano key border. That border was just the solution I was looking for! Unfortunately she doesn't have a blog (and I didn't have my camera with me). Two other members do of the group do have blogs, though, and you can check them out here and here! For the back of this quilt, I'm thinking of using this technique to use up some smaller red and pink scraps.

For the second new project I just made a single 12" block. I'll need to make 55 more. Can you guess the pattern?