Of Animal Caps, An Umbrella, and a Nutcrakcer

I'm sure lots of grandparents follow the habit of bringing small gifts to their grandchildren when they visit them!  I certainly dol  This time I brought the two grandchildren Halloween shirts from Target, adorned with Jack o' Lanterns.  I brought them two extra gifts, too:  a nutcracker for Locke (to add to the collection I started him a few years ago--this one a Cowboy), and an umbrella for Lia.  This latter gift is timely, since it has been misting rain for the last three days.  When we were in Colorado together in August, I bought Michigan grandson Malcolm a knitted cap that was a frog's head;this was a birthday gift, for his 9th birthday, which we celebrated there.  The other three loved his cap so much, that I subsequently bought all of them animal caps.  So here are Lia and Locke in their moose and beaver caps.  Also the umbrella and the nutcracker! 

China Dolls Bee

I've been a quilt guild member for some time now, but I've always wanted to join a bee.  Finally I have, a new one, just starting up; our first meeting was today.  There are six of us quilters in it, and it promises to be a fun group.  All seemed to be rather "project oriented."  So I think that most of the time we'll be working on joint projects (items to sell at our Guild's next show, in the bazaar) or charity quilts.  On occasion, like next time, one of the members will demonstrate a technique and teach it to the rest of us.  We plan to meet twice a month, alternating houses, so that eventually, all of us will host the bee.

We first made our plans, and then our hostess gave us a house tour, showing us many of her quilts that are displayed, her quilting spaces, etc.  Then we had a delicious lunch.  Here are some pictures that I took before the batteries ran out in my camera!  [There's a big gap between the picture of Rita and two other pictures that I posted, a gap that I can't seem eliminate, so keep scrolling down for the last two pictures.]

The quilt above the bed in the master bedroom

Here a Teddy Bear naps, wrapped in
perhaps a doll quilt, atop a mirror!

table-runner sized quilt, at the end

of the bed

This Dear Jane quilt hangs in the living room; it is one of several that Rita has made!



Another Dear Jane--this one, made of
30s reproduction fabrics.  The other was
made from Civil War reproduction fabrics.  I was
in Rita's Dear Jane class, but dropped out when
my fall last year became too hectice!



Here Rita, our hostess, is showing us a "double-sided" quilt.  She

promises to teach us this method, in which a block is made and quilted before

it is sewn into the quilt, and the quilt then become reversible!

Jinny Beyer design, paper-pieced, that
Rita is currently working on.

Close-up of the quilt Rita is showing us above.

Cruise Journal #8--Kristiansand, Norway

The "white city" of Kristiansand

We docked at Kristiansand, our last port in Norway, on August 9th. Three years ago we also visited this port, and Bob, our travel companions Jo and Ray, and I all recalled especially the open air museum we saw on that visit, one of the cruise excursions outside of the town. This time we decided to stay in town and explore on our own.

Almost as soon as we got off the ship, we came to a location quite familiar to all of us—one where we had walked in the afternoon on that other cruise. Another fish market! But this one was enclosed, and it was in an area of most attractive shops and restaurants, built around an inlet where ducks peacefully swam.

Bob admiring lobsters!

Check out the slipping
trousers on this troll!

From there we headed for the City Center. Kristiansand is built on a grid, and thus it is easy to find your way around. Along the way we came across a display of impressive sand sculptures.  In addition to the sand sculptures, we immediately identified a "real" sculpture and knew it must be one of Vigeland's; sure enough, we found a plaque that proved us to be correct.




boy riding a polar bear, by Vigeland



Kristiansand Domkirke

In the main square in town was an imposing cathedral, Kristiansand Domkirke, which faced a lush park with many lovely flower gardens. This cathedral is the fourth to be built on this site. It was completed in 1865, after a fire five years earlier.

Posebyen

From there we sought out the area known as Posebyen. In Kristiansand’s early days as a fortress and garrison town, the soldiers lived in private houses in what has now become the best-preserved part of the old town. The name Posebyen stems from the French reposer, meaning to rest (French was the military language of the time.) These small, attractive, white houses have survived several fires and the threat of demolition. Nowadays, Posebyen is a fashionable place to live, and the historic houses are maintained in pristine condition by their inhabitants. The popularity of white-painted houses here has led to Kristiansand’s nickname, “the white city.”

We were in Kristiansand on a Monday, and we were amazed at how many residents seemed to be not working, but sitting at ease in the many sidewalk cafes, shopping, relaxing in the park. Soon a sign informed us that this day was the beginning of a weeklong Summer Festival, Sommerfesten!

The next day we sailed for Copenhagen and our long flight home, after a wonderful 18 days spent cruising in the Lands of the Midnight Sun!

After many days we finally saw another sunset!

Cruise Journal #7--Bergen, Norway



The Edvard Grieg house

Our next-to-last port was Bergen, one of my favorites of the cruise. We took a ship’s excursion to visit the home of Norway’s favorite-son-composer, Edvard Grieg, and also one of the fast-disappearing “stave” churches. Both were well worth our time! We wished we’d had a longer time to spend at the museum at the Grieg house, but our guide unwisely advised us to see the house first and then the museum. She didn’t realize that at least two bus loads of tourists had gotten there before us, so we had to waste many minutes in a slow-moving queue.



Grieg composed his
music in this little
building, which is down
a steep incline from
the yellow house.





At the Grieg location, this was the first sod-covered building we saw on this visit to Norway.  In 2007 we saw many more!

Inside the Stave church



The little door at the left was used by the pastor to serve Communion to those of his parishioners who had leprosy!

 

Exterior of the Stave church--the rain made getting a clear picture a challenge!

 



The church was lovely with all the natural wood and its unusual architecture. It was cool and rainy on the morning we went to these two out-lying destinations, so taking the tour ended up being a good way to spend our time.

That afternoon the misting rain had stopped, so after lunch on the ship we walked into Bergen’s Old Town. One of the most distinctive trademarks of Bergen is the area called Bryggen, formerly a warehouse district established on the northern side of the harbor by the German Hansa traders. Long after the days of the Hanseatic trading in Bergen, the warehouses became a trading center for fish and fish products. On several occasions the medieval gabled buildings have been ravaged by fire. The last in 1955 left only 10 gabled structures standing. Today this area is a center for artists and restaurants.

I tried to get photos of Bryggen that would duplicate the postcards that clearly show how the buildings seem to be tilted to one side, much like men standing shoulder to shoulder, all leaning in the same direction! Alas, I couldn’t get the proper distance away to get this perspective, so my pictures don’t accurately depict this charming aspect of Bryggen.



Bryggen



We visited the open-air produce and fish market, too. The latter seems always to draw Bob! Jo, Ray, and I all recalled vividly how we practically had to drag him away from the sights and SMELLS of the gigantic inside fish market in Athens, Greece, when we were there in 2003!



Bob's favorite--the fish market!













Cruise Journal Six -- Harstad, Norway



View of Harstad from on board our ship

 

I had intended to combine our last three ports, Harstad, Bergen, and Kristiansand, into one posting. But when I wrote the journal entries on which I am basing these blog posts, I realized that I would not do justice especially to  Bergen and Kristiansand (our final two ports) if I attempted a combined account here!

So, first Harstad. This is the third largest town in Northern Norway. When I say that it celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2004, that sounds as if it is a “new” town, but actually this area has been settled since the Stone Ages. Located here—though we didn’t visit it because it is at some distance from the town center—is the 13th century Trondenes Church, the world’s most northernmost medieval stone church.

 Though it is 20 to 30 degrees farther north than cities such as Chicago, Beijing, and Toronto, it experiences warmer winters than those cities. At first this was thought to be because of the Gulf Stream, but more recently it has been speculated that Northern Europe’s mild climate is due to intercontinental weather patterns driven by North American’s mountain ranges. Thus Harstad residents don’t experience the brutal winters of most locations north of the Arctic Circle. Summers here are cool, with average temperatures seldom reaching 70°. The city experiences the midnight sun during the summer months from May to mid July. The polar night lasts from November 30 to January 12.



Harstad is an attractive town with a mix of old and new architecture. It was one of the few coastal towns in Norway to escape German bombardment during WWII. We and the Cannons chose not to take any of the official cruise excursions here. We walked through the city center, visited a modern mall with a bookstore that had many familiar American best sellers in Norwegian, as well as many books in English. On the next level of the mall was a store that was obviously Norway's version of Crate and Barrel.  As usual, I was shocked at how expensive everything was.  From the deck of the ship we spotted a interesting looking church, so we decided to walk up to visit it. The church was locked, but from its location, we had a lovely vista of the town. As usual, I took many flower pictures in Harstad; soon I will blog just about the flowers of Norway!  But I will put a few flower photos here, too.

I loved these hanging flower baskets on all the lamp posts in the City Center!

the little church
we walked up to
see

Here are a few other pictures from Harstad.



Harstad city center



A residential street, a typical (though larger than most)
Norwegian house

Yes, they have Mexican food in Norway!

From out verandah, Bob and I watched them load fresh produce onto our ship.  It takes hundreds of heads of lettuce to feed 684 cruisers!

Sailing from Harstad


 

Making a SEWN Fabric Postcard--Pillow Case Style

Not to neglect the friend who might possibly want to SEW together some fabric postcards, here are directions for that type.

Materials:
1.  Fabric for the front; light, plain fabric for the back; and white or cream flannel for the batting
2.  the ususal quilting supplies:  rotary cutter, mat, quilting ruler
3.  postcard stamp and ink pad (or permanent, fine-type Sharpie or a gel pen for fabric)
4.  sewing machine and iron

Press all of the fabrics well.  Cut out the 3 fabrics 4" x 6".  Stamp the front of the plain fabric OR fill in the usual information (see the preceding post).

[If you want to do a bit of quilting, you can put the front fabric on top of the flannel and quilt "as desired."  I usually skip this step!]

Put the front and back fabrics right sides together, with the flannel on the other side.  Thus you will have a quilt sandwich at this point that is back fabric, front fabric (right sides together), and then the flannel.

Sew around the edges in a 1/4" seam, leaving an opening for turning.  Take out of the machine and clip the corners at an angle.  Turn the little "pillow case" inside out through the opening.  That will put the flannel in the middle for the batting. 

At this point I usually pin the opening edges together and top-stitch all around the them, securing the section I left open for turning.  Press again.  Voila!  You've made a sewn-together fabric postcard!


I for convenience just use a regular 1st class stamp on the postcards.  Be sure to adhere it firmly!  I have a little brayer that I use for this purpose, but the side of you thumbnail also does the trick.  When you take them to the post office, ask them to hand cancel them.  At first, my "post lady" looked at me strangely, but now she is used to my asking her that.  She was also skeptical about whether they would "go through," but all (so far) have been delivered!

Here are two I just made.  One finished and one "in process": 

The pink one is the finished one.  These two I DID lightly quilt before sewing
the edges together.  The one at the top--school print and light green--have not yet been
sewn together.

How to Make No-Sew Fabric Postcards

A friend wanted to know if fabric postcards could be made without sewing.  Yes!  I just made two this morning.  So here are directions and pictures to illustrate the technique.

First, a supply list:
1.  focus fabric for the front of your card
2.  a coordinating, light-colored fabric for the back
3.  cotton flannel, white or cream colored preferably
4.  Steam a Seam fusible product (it comes in packages)
5.  rotary cutter, a cutting mat designed to use with these cutters, and a see-through quilting ruler (any fabric store would have these 3 products, which would make this project infinitely easier!)
6.  iron (heated to the cotton setting)
7.  nice to have, but not essential:  a rubber postcard stamp, with a message side and an address side, along with an ink pad

Cutting the plain fabric, using the rotary cutter, quilters' ruler, and cutting mat

1.  Cut your three fabrics 4" x 6".  (This is out-sized to allow you to trim at the end.)  Ink the rubber stamp, if using, and  center it on the coordinating fabric and press down firmly.

flannel, plain fabric,
focus fabric, cut to size

the two pieces of Steam a Seam
cut to size

2.  Remove one sheet of the Steam a Seam product.  Cut a strip from one side that is 12" x 4".  Then cut this strip into two equal sections. 

3.  From one of the sections of fusible, remove the protective paper, exposing the sticky side.  Carefully place the sticky side down on the wrong side of your focus fabric. Keep the protective paper that you just removed.

4.  Do the same with the 2nd piece of fusible web, placing it on the reverse side of the plain fabric.

bonding two pieces of fabric together
by ironing

5.  Place the piece of flannel on top of the fusible side of one of the sections.  Using the two sheets of protective paper as a pressing sheet, iron this section.  Press down firmly with the iron to ensure a good bond.
(It's important to use something as a pressing sheet; you don't want to get any stray pieces of the fusible material on your iron.)

6.  Now place the other section of the postcard, fusible side down, on top of the flannel-covered section of the other side.  You now have a "sandwich" of focus fabric, fusible web, flannel, fusible web, plain fabric.
Iron this "sandwich" again.   Press firmly, using the pressing sheets.  Turn over, press again.

7.  Now take your postcard back to the cutting mat.  Trim 1/4" from all four sides, making your postcard measure 3 1/2" x 5 1/2".  (Trimming as the last step ensures that all sides of your "sandwich" are perfectly straight, without any "ingredients" of the "sandwich" peeking out!)  If you stamped the card, fill the address and message side in as you please!  If you don't have a stamp, simply write POSTCARD across the top of the reverse side, and then draw a line down from it, dividing the reverse side into message and address sections.

8.  Now you have a fabric postcard, and not a stitch was sewn!

Two postcards I just made for this demo, one for Malcolm and the other for Dawson, my two Michigan grandsons!

P.S.  Of course, sharp fabric scissors could be used for this project, but it's difficult to get the cuts as straight as you can get them using a rotary cutter, ruler, and a cutting mat!

P.P.S.  When you are ready to mail your postcards, press down the stamp very firmly.  I use a little brayer for this purpose, but you can also use the side of your thumbnail.  (I always have those "forever stamps" on hand, so therefore I use them.)  Then, at the Post Office, ask the clerk to hand cancel the cards.  The first time I went to our local PO, the clerk seemed a bit dubious about the whole process, but I assured her that I had received some that had come through the mail to me just fine!

Great-niece Alice Makes her First Fabric Postcard!

My great-niece Alice spent part of Saturday with me today.  I had made a fabric postcard for her when she was at camp this summer.  I asked Alice if she'd like to make a postcard herself, and she was delighted.  So she chose a colorful print for the front, a coordinating fabric for the back, and then she stamped the back with the message and address sections.  After the front, back, and batting were cut out, Alice and I sat down at the sewing machine and I showed her how to operate the foot pedal.  She worked the pedal, and I guided the fabric.  She soon was confident enough to guide the fabric herself.  After we did the initial sewing, we turned the postcard right side out, Alice chose a lovely shiny rayon thread for the top-stitching, and I did the final step.  After we finished the postcard, Alice practiced some more machine sewing on a scrap, and by the time she had sewed four lines, she was very much at ease.  I've told her to come see me anytime for more sewing lessons!

P. S.  This fabric postcard is a surprise for her sister Katie, whose Bat Mitzvah will be in October.

Here you can see the lovely, festive fabric that Alice chose for the front.

Jubilant about Jubilation Quilt!

Jubilation
Designed and Pieced by Alice Baird
Machine Quilted by Judy Steward

At last!  Six months after attending Quilting Adventures and making this quilt under the tutelage of Cara Gulati, the quilt is done!  I picked it up from the superlative machine quilter, Judy Steward, who does all my machine quilting for me and has for years.  I could not be happier with it.  Once the binding is hand-sewn to the back (Judy sews it to the front by machine before turning it back over to me), and we've hired some men to come hang it on a very high wall, I will take pictures of it in place in our living room.  Here it is pinned to my design wall.  Now, some pictures to show how beautifully this quilt was quilted by Judy!



I truly love the quilting design and the thread color Judy used
to quilt the background fabric!