(Big) City Girl - representing Ålesund, Norway

Welcome to my corner of the world! The city I am representing today is small, just like my country. You may not have heard of it, but when you see these photos of my city (Ålesund, Norway) you will see it is well worth a visit!

The city is located on the west coast of Norway and has beautiful architecture! The city burned down in 1904 and was rebuilt all in the Art Nouveau style - so cool! I don't live there anymore, but my mother does so some times I get to visit.

1. Ålesund, 2. Ålesund, byen med skifertak, 3. Ålesund, 4. Ålesund, walkabout, 5. Centre national d'Art Nouveau, Ålesund, 6.Fra Ålesund, 7. flickr.com/photos/77730890@N02/8717753481/, 8. Ålesund, 9. Ålesund

Just look at these amazing details!

1. Ålesund, 2. Jugendstil, 3. Jugendstil with grapes, 4. Art Nouveau - House detail, 5. Ålesund Detail, 6. 245 Art Nouveau detail, 7. Art Nouveau manhole cover, 8. Ålesund, 9. Jugendstil

And as you can see, the details are quite organic and not easy to translate to quilting patterns:) But I have tried and made a loose interpretation of one of the sunflower designs - looking something like this:

TUTORIAL - Art Nouveau Sunflower

Materials needed:
Printout of Template Page 1 and Template Page 2
Background fabric 9.5"x12.5"
Scraps of fabric for large petals (A), small petals (B), center (C), stem (D) and leaves (E)
Double sided fusible interfacing

Step 1: Trace pattern pieces on fusible web, fuse to chosen fabric pieces, cut out shapes and peel off backing paper.

Step 2: Make a crease down the center of the background piece (fold long sides together).

Step 3: Place stem (D) onto crease, bottom of stem should be about 1.5" from bottom. Fuse in place.

Step 4: Place large petals (A) in a circle, centered at top of the stem. Fuse in place.

Step 5: Place small petals (B) on top of large petals (middle of small petal will cover space between large petals). Fuse in place.

Step 6: Place center (C) and fuse in place.

Step 7: Place leaves (E) as desired and fuse in place.

Step 8: Stitch as you prefer around applique pieces and enjoy!

A big thank you to Aylin and Amy for hosting this Quilt Along. If you want to join this QAL you can read all about it here. It's very low key, so if you want to make one of our blocks or design one of your own showing off a place you love, please do join!


Thanks for visiting!
-Marit

Kenwood Major cover tutorial

Welcome fellow hustlers (and old followers)! How are you coming along with your to-do lists? I know I'm behind... And as of today we are 2/3 of the way there. Yikes!

One of the items on my list is a cover for a Kenwood Major stand mixer for my sister-in-law. I have one of these too. If we had pretty KitchenAid mixers we probably wouldn't want to cover them up. But these are more utilitarian and less pretty.

Now, my sister-in-law was quite specific about how she wanted it and it wasn't quilty! What?!? Not everyone wants their house quiltified? Nope! She wanted it plain and linen. Well, I guess I can oblige...

So here's what I came up with and below I'll share with you how I made it.

Materials
Main fabric, lining fabric and interlining (or fusible fleece) - 2 end pieces 10.5" x 14.25" and 1 body piece 17" x 37" of each.
Ribbon - 4 pieces approximately 15" each

All seam allowances are 1/4" unless otherwise noted.

1. Make template for curving top corners of end pieces. I started curving about 4" down from the top and ended the curve about 3" in from the side. Cut both top corners off all end pieces.



2. Baste the interlining fabric (or fuse the fleece) to the back side of the main fabric 1/8" from the edge. The linen I was working with was difficult, so I cut the interlining to size and basted it to the linen before cutting it.



3. Attach the ribbon pieces about 6.5" up from bottom of end pieces and secure ends so they stay away from the seams.



4. With right sides together line up the end of one long side of the body piece with one side of an end piece. Backstitch at beginning. Backstitch over ribbon ends when you get to them. When you get to the curved part make sure your needle stops in the down position and carefully curve the straight edge of the body piece along the end piece, stopping to readjust the fabric as needed.






5. At the end the body piece should be too long. Don't worry about this. Backstitch to secure end of seam.



6. Cut off excess fabric from the body piece. Press seams toward body piece.



7. Repeat step 4 with other end piece of the main fabric. The body piece should be the right length now.
8. Repeat step 4-7 with the lining fabric pieces. Press seams toward end pieces.
9. With right sides together pin main and lining pieces together along the bottom edge. Sew around the edge leaving a 4-5" opening for turning. (Optional: assemble with wrong sides facing and close up by binding the bottom edge.)






10. Turn right side out, press and topstitch along bottom edge (this will also close the opening used for turning) 1/8" and 3/8" from bottom edge.






11. Press and put to use!

There, one Christmas gift crossed of the list. So many more to go...

Thanks for stopping by!

Marit

Fabric Origami Ornament (Tutorial)

This is my favorite fabric ornament to make. It is very easy to sew and is sewn all by hand - perfect if you want to get out of your sewing space for a while:) And for a very inexpensive item, it sure looks fancy (i.e. it makes a great gift).

Materials needed:

• 3 fabric* squares (one for center, two for front/back) - 5" squares are easy, 4" squares make dainty ornaments
• 2 buttons/beads for embellishing center
• String/yarn for hanging loop
• Needle, thread, scissors

*Fabric should be "creasable", not fray too easily and not be too thick. Most quilting cottons work well. I haven't tried it, but spray starching the squares might be useful if using thinner fabric.

USEFUL TIPS:

• Finger press all folds in all steps.
• Fold and tack in place on side at a time for all steps (then you don't have to pin anything)
• Cut you thread long enough to last for the whole piece

Step 1: Fold square in half and finger press crease, open up and repeat in other direction to make a creased cross in the center.

Step 2: Fold two opposing sides in towards center and tack in place at center.

Step 3: Fold the other two long sides in towards center and tack in place.

Step 4: Place a finger in one of the "ears" and flatten into a square. Tack in place. Repeat for the other three sides.

Step 5: Fold the sides of one of the little squares in to make a point and tack together. Sew all the way around, tacking in place on the sides of the "arrows" and where the folds meet.

For center square: You are now finished. Just fasten the thread and cut it off. The back side should look like this - don't worry, all the stitches and raw edges will be covered:

For front/back squares: Continue with step 6.

Step 6: Fold one corner towards the center of the back and tack in place. Repeat for the other three sides. Fasten the thread and cut it off.

Okay - almost there!

If you have made all your three squares you should have something that looks like this:

Step 7: Make a sandwich of your pieces (you should be able to use your crease lines from step 1 to see where the front/back points should meet) and tack together at all corners of the front/back.

Step 8: Sew your embellishments to the center front and back (sew through the sandwich) and sew a string through one of the points of the center (green) square to make a hanging loop. Congratulations, you are finished!

Front view:

Back view:

And it will look something like this hanging on your tree:

Alternative 1: Make it classic! (Gold fabric is a very thin laminate)

Alternative 2: Make it neon! How cool would a tree filled with these look?

So, this is my first tutorial ever written. I hope it makes sense! If you make one of these, send me a pic or link to a blogpost - I would love to see what color combinations you come up with.

-Marit