Making Christmas apples

So, I spent my first advent making Christmas apples of the 12 days of Christmas fabric I have left from making the rag quilt. The quilt will soon be put together (if I can get my sewing machine to work again) and I can show you =)

In the mean time, my first apple, I've plans for a few  more. The picture was taken with my cellphone so the colors aren't the best, it's much less gray in person =)

I have a "design wall"

Or maybe more correctly, I have a very temporary but oh so useful piece of batting pinned to my wall ;)

I figured it would solve the problem of getting cat hair on all my fabric pieces while I was arranging them, so I bend down to pick up the camera and voila, there's cat hair getting on my fabric anyway since I looked away ^^

So without further ado, my not so fancy design wall and Diana, who's very, very quick:

My new telephone needed a cover

I just got a new phone, a HTC Desire HD which is a really awesome phone. I can work from it and it really makes my life a lot easier. That and the fact that my old phone (and I'm talking ancient, inherited Sony Ericsson here *lol*)  gave up about two months back this was such a relief that my new one finally arrived! That and it's so much fun to finally be one of the cool kids with a smartphone =)

But since it's one huge phone I couldn't find any telephone covers that would fit it so I decided to make my own, very simple just two rectangles sewn together with a little thin batting and a hand sew on binding. I got to try my new, iron on, super thin batting from vlieseline, which was fun, I'm quite happy with it, perfect for small projects.

Front with phone in:

 Back:

A beautiful gift

Since everything got turned upside down I completely forgot to post the pictures of a beautiful gift I received on the 26th of October. Yvonne is a super sweet woman I met on my 2009 summer quit retreat in Våmhus. She and her husband came to Malta and when we met up for coffee she gave me the best type of gift = Fabric! And not just any fabric, kitty fabric - which is the best type of fabric  ^^

All of these adorable fabrics where in the bundle, thank you so very much Yvonne! <3

Trying to get back to some kind of normality...

So since life luckily tend to go on even when you think it's incredibly offensive of it to do so because you heart is falling apart - we're starting to settle into some kind of everyday life without Edward. But it's much less fun then it used to be to be at home.

So I've started to sew again and my 12 days of Christmas Rag Quilt is moving along nicely. I'm planning on posting a little Rag Quilt tutorial once I'm done as it's such a fun and easy to do project for everyone, no matter if your sewing machine isn't  "made for quilting" =)

I've sewn 84 of these little piles (which is half of the quilt) and yes, I want the flannel to be slightly bigger then the cotton square, it's not bad cutting on my part *lol*:

 Which has resulted in this somewhat bulky and messy looking thing which I know will be lovely once done. If anyone is wondering what the ugly plastic box is, it's a dehumidifier to save my fabric and machine from the most terribly enemy - Humidity!:

The house and our hearts are empty....

Our best friend, our baby, our amazing kitty Edward (GIC S*Räserråttans Gustav, NFO) went to heaven on Monday and we've been completely destroyed here at home. I can't with words describe how much he meant to us, what an important part of our lives he was and how it feels like someone cut out a piece of our hearts that day.

I thought he didn't seem his usual active self on Friday morning so I immediately checked his mucous membranes and they did seem a hint of yellow. I panicked and we called the vet and went there in the afternoon. Sadly our worst fears where realized and he had gotten back the liver infection he had suffered from two years back which he only barely made it through after a year of fighting. This time his liver however was to scarred to even have a chance to take care of the infection. On Monday, only three days after we first discovered he was ill we had to make the most difficult decision of our lives and let him go as he didn't fight at all this time.

We however got two extra years with him from his unwillingness to give up last time and we're so grateful for that. He was so special, he loved his life, his family, every other living creature on the planet and he's in his days made friends with everything from other cats, to dogs, our friends and so on. I've never met a more grateful cat, if we bought him anything from a cat tree to a blanket or a toy he'd love it, he'd sleep in it, play with it and really cherish it in a way I've never seen a cat do. He was no ordinary cat and will always be remembered by us and others who's lives he's touched, the judges on all the cat shows he's been to and won by his gigantic size, amazing temperament, and gentle soul and by the fantastic kittens he got with beautiful S*Wildwood's Repris: http://www.sannafjallet.se/k_kull.htm

You'll live forever in our hearts lilla plogen and one day we'll meet again! <3

I finally got my fabric from the US!

My faked document worked great with a new customs officer despite the one from last time trying to mess things up for me, I couldn't believe his nerve when he walked in and tried to unclear my cleared items... Luckily neither could the other officer so some interesting, not very nice sounding Maltese conversation took place while the nice officer waved at me to sneak out with my things *lol*

So yesterday I finally got to bring home my fabric from fatquartershop.com! Work has been more then a little crazy lately through and I wouldn't have had much time to sew anyway until now to be honest.

It was the most amazing feeling to open up the package and actually get to take it out, see the fabrics I'd dreamed of for so long after seeing them around the net! It was amazing! It is so much fun to have so many different fabrics that match so nicely, and not to mention how fantastically fun it is to not have to spend so much cutting! My left hand always hurt when I cut so this is so great.

My box of pure happy:

As you can see, there's a couple of jelly rolls (how I ever will be able to make myself unroll them I don't know, gosh they're so pretty tied up!) and a little non Christmas yardage hiding in there too, what will become of that I'll tell you later ^^ Now I have to get back to my Christmas project, more on that tomorrow, but I can tell you I just had to start straight away:

If you wonder why my cords to the sewing machine is covered in froggy flannel, it's because Diana chews cords so I have to cover them up XD

Emerald is back and how I hate Maltese customs!

Yesterday I got to pick up my dear little Emerald! He's working again... Most of the time ;)


I've finally finished my Christmas table runner, it turned out very nice I think, I really like it now. Had I made it today through I would have put all the kitties facing the same direction.

Christmas Kitty Table Runner with Hearts

I asked my fiance to take pictures for me, went to powder my nose and when I get back this sight meet me, my pretty table runner used as a kitty blanket at and armrest at the same time *lol*

Closeup of one of the adorable Christmas kitties

On another note my long awaited fabric from fatquartershop.com arrived! BTW, costumer service there is AMAZING! I was a terrible costumer, ordered to little and had to add to my order last minute, lived in a country where normal shipping methods didn't work and they just kept being so friendly and helpful, will order from there again for sure! The thing is through on the subject of the fabric, I've seen it, but I haven't got it...

How's this you ask? Well Malta is an annoying, backwards little country is the answer! :(
I get to the customs office with my notice they left me, my ID card and my wallet, should be enough right?

Nooo, that's not enough! After the customs officer opened the packet, he looks very confused, looks at me and ask:
"What is this for?"
I answer "Quilts"
The officer replies "So curtains?"
I reply figuring this man isn't the sharpest pencil in the box, "No quilts, bedding".
I get back an "Aha" which clearly states he still has no idea what I'm talking about...


He then asks where my "eBbay receipt" for "the stuff" is, and I reply "I didn't get an eBay Receipt as it's not bought from eBay". He looks confused and then says that I have to have an "eBay receipt or Paypal receipt" to be able to collect my package. So I reply I can't get either of that as I paid with a card directly on the site and the site is not eBay. He's now getting really aggravated with me and says I have to call "the eBay" and get them to send me  another receipt so they know the value of the "the stuff" (no matter that it says on the label  what the value is) or my package will be sent back...

So here I am now, trying desperately to fake an "eBay receipt" that the not too clever customs officer will accept and I can get my fabric. Just another day in Malta... At lest I have my Emerald back =)

Still no sewingmachine

Ok, so I'm slowly going crazy, not a word form the sewing machine guy, any day now I'll go over there and take a hostage to be returned when I get my machine, I kid you not.

In the meantime I thought I'd show you some really teeny tiny vanity cases I made a while back. They're about 7 cm long, one is a standard half circle shape and the other is more box like. The photos don't really do them justice though, they're adorable ^^ The half circle one is always in my purse carrying my spare contacts,  medication, earplugs etc. The other one was made as part of a gift to some very dear friends. A very handy size or all that small stuff that otherwise would get lost in the depths of my purse. They're lined with adorable cat fabric too, I don't know why I didn't take a picture of that back when I made them, but now I don't want to, it's not as white anymore =D

Sometimes living in Malta isn't very fun...

There's one, ONE person on the island that repairs sewing machines, and when we finally got there when he felt like being in the store (took 3 tries) he told me he couldn't fix anything electrical should that be the problem and that "I was lucky to have such an amazing quality machine". No offense little Emerald but you and I both know you really aren't THAT high quality even though I love you.

He would give Emerald some TLC and see if he could fix the issue with the thread tension. No promises made through.
I naturally asked, "How much will this cost me"?
He replied "Not very much".
* facepalm*
So I ask again, "How much will this cost"?
And he replies he can't really tell as he doesn't know what's wrong...

I tell him I at least want an approx price or I can't really leave the machine with him and he finally says that it'll cost about €40. "About €40", no telling for sure. I sighed and told him I can't pay much more then that as it would be more economical for me to buy a new machine if it gets more expensive, the guy just shrugs and walks away! Customer service, not his strong suit that's for sure...

He also said it'd be done in the beginning of next week, hopefully, no promises there either. So I'm more then a little upset at this point as I'll be without a sewing machine for so long, and not knowing if it will be repaired or not. :( All in all, I've not been a very happy quilter lately.

Since I don't have anything else fun to share with you today I thought I could show you my trusty quilting helpers, Edward and Diana, here at work with my Crazy Rainforest quilt:

Edward says he knows he's not allowed on this particular table, but what if he only walks on the very edge?

Diana is very happy with the layout and has decided to lie on it so I can't change it around again. =)