1º Mercado de Natal da Penha Longa

It's TOMORRROOOOWWW!!!

AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

(pictures soon. Wish me luck!)

6 days and counting...

The countdown is ON!! And so is the work... It's been full steam ahead, as much as possible, considering my schedule.

Photos very very soon! Some positive energy will be highly appreciated! And some caffeine as well...

Work in Progress

Hello.

This is a top I completed many many weeks ago, but I found it so bland and uninteresting. Then, one of these nights it came to me in a dream (yes, since hearing about the fair I dream in patchwork every night).
This is the result:



It's meant to be a small tablecloth for a coffe table of something like that (don't know if there's a better name for it). I quilted it diagonally, haven't done that in some time now and I was very pleased to realise I'm getting better at it, as it is my favourite quilting pattern.
Mushi decided to model for me but,of course, her excitement became too much.......

What a difference a layout makes... The magic of quilting!

Hello.
I've been looking for the perfect project to use this fabric, it's been waiting for almost a year, as it was a Christmas present.

I was so indecisive about the layout I decided to do two! And my, what a difference!
The exact same fabrics used, displayed in two different layouts, and this is the result:

It's a very cute cat fabric, these photos don't show it properly. I'll try to photograph it later.
Even more amazing to me is the fact that both these baby quilts will look completely different once it's quilted and, AGAIN, with the binding.

Truly, the magic of quilting!

Uma família feliz ::: One happy family :)

Scotties ready for Winter :)

SOLD! :)

I want your... Kiss Kiss :D

Work in Progress...

Big days ahead!

Hello.

Today started out as a pretty normal day, as most surprising days do. By lunchtime I had been invited to take part on my very first Crafts Fair! It will be a Christmas Crafts Fair and it will be at Penha Longa Hotel, this very amazing, very beautiful hotel.

I am, of course, very stressed. What do I know of Fairs? Sure, I visited a lot of them when I had Gone Fishing but I never organised any, I never participated, I have no idea of all it takes to have a sucessfull, fun participation! Does it show how much I'm stressing????

Anyway, I think it will be amazing! I only wish I had more time to prepare and to create stock, of course. So now, everything else is on hold until the second week of December.

Any suggestions?

Quilt for Baby Maria Inês - almost done!

Hello!

This baby quilt is almost done, after this one it's all about Christmas baby!!
I'm finishing sewing the binding tonight, if my kittens allow it, because the temperature keeps droping and they are very cold, which means they need a lap to snuggle on :)

This was such a fun quilt to make, so colorfull and happy. It's clearly different from what I usually do, but I must say I quite like it. Maybe it was the rain that made me want to bring some color into this quilt.

I hope baby Maria Inês likes it :)

The Chritsmas Towel Update

Hello.

Here's what I've been up to lately. Unfortuately, my new netbook does not like bluetooth, so it's been hard getting these pictures here.

Hope you like it. Only wish I had the time to do this and nothing else. hehehe

Sandy's little helpers...

Julieta

Nico

The tale of two Projects: One for the Baby, one for Santa Claus

Since I couldn't decide whether to start working on my Christmas table cloths or a Baby girl quilt a friend asked me, I decided to do both!

I'm going to build baby Maria Inês a cute little brick quilt :)

And for Santa, I'll make my very first Christmas table cloth. Hopefully, this will be the first of many. Well, a few at least, you know how I love my Christmas collections! :)

This should keep me busy well until next week :) I'll keep you posted!

Lately...

Lately (in the last couple of months) I've been noticing something I've never noticed before, maybe because I didn't really need to.

Whenever I sew in the morning, my whole day becomes chaotic. Seriously! I get so into it, so involved, so absorbed, everything else looses meaning. Last time I had a project, I actually messed up my working schedule and ended up showing up at a completely different time! And sometimes I get lost on my way there because my mind is so full of ideas and projects and all of that we all know so well!

Today, having two very inspiring, very absorbing projects, I burned my lunch and, as I started looking around, noticed my working table pristinely tidy and everything else around it completely in chaos.
Before, this wasn't really important, when I had Gone Fishing Gift Shop I would wake up to go to work, then come back and sew for hours until I remembered I had to go back for dinner, then return and sew some more until I couldn't use the machine and then I would cut some fabric until my hands hurt. And I loved it!

But now, with two jobs, I have to get up to sew, or I won't be able to finish anything, BUT I have to keep alert so I won't miss my classes and then I'll have to rush off to Ikea, meaning I have to plan everything very tightly or I'll end up forgeting my working clothes or my class plan or something like that.

I think this is the reason I sometimes stop sewing for periods of time, when I'm busier or more concerned with other issues. It's not that I can't find the time to sew, you can always find some time to do it, it's the way it makes me feel, the spacing out, the losing myself in it. When I most need to concentrate, I let go of the pleasure and the serenity that sewing gives me in order to stay focused on what's important and that makes me sad.
I've always known I was an all or nothing type of person, but I wish I could change that, I wish I could do it both and have the best of both worlds.

Is this something I can change? Something I can train my mind to perfect? I hope so!

New fabrics...

Let Christmas begin!!!

A new experience...

[Blogtoberfest Day 25] No time, no health, no Blogtoberfest

Also nothing to show you really, I forgot to take final pictures of the projects I had been working on and now I don't really have the stamina to start anything else. Now it's all about Halloween and my little students. Next week it will be all about my sister's birthday, so maybe after that I'll get back on the sewing machine.

Meanwhile it's all about cough cought. It's a good thing blogs only require writting, because I can't really speak. :)

[Blogtoberfest Day 18] Wops...

Skipped day 17. It was just one of those loooonnnggg days, and I was too tired...

Today, on the other hand, I quilted, cooked and rested. This evening I intend to bind two quilts. Wish me luck!

[Blogtoberfest Day 16] Reached the top

Hello!

The top is finished and this weekend wasn't quite as quiet as I anticipated :) All worth it though.

This will probably be the last quilt of this design I make in a while, it's starting to feel a bit too mechanical and I need to feel inspired to do my best work. I've been making this design because I was in my "square" phase, but now I feel a need a brand new phase to give me fresh momentum for Christmas projects. I'm still searching :)

[Blogtoberfest Day 15] A day's work...

Hello.

It's still pretty hot here in Portugal, temperatures soaring to 32º in Lisbon, so Autumn is nowhere to be seen.

For the first time in many many many weeks, I've had the weekend off, so I'm trying to get my sewing up to date.

Tomorrow I plan on finishing this top and maybe even quilt it. Enough for today :)

[Blogtoberfest Day 14] What's on my mind...

You probably know this well, but for me, it's a novelty :)

[Blogtoberfest Day 13] Crafty Halloween Ideas needed!

Hello.
I've got no pictures to show you today, as I'm too tired to even think about sewing. I've started my day at Ikea and ended it in class, so it's safe to say I'm ready for bed.

In the meantime, Halloween is fast approaching and I'm trying to plan some fun classes for my kids, I intend to make it a big Halloween stravaganza, particularly for the 4th graders, since it's their last year before "real school"

We'll be doing games, decorations and songs and, of course, masks for the big day. Any ideas on simple cradts that are fun and easy to do with a big class? I wish I could work with crazy materials, but since there are so many students, paint or clay are out of the question, I supose...

I could really use your help! :)

Finished Project : baby quilt for baby Kiko

It feels great to have the time to work on my projects at full speed. Of course, as you well know, this only brings more projects into one's head and it never really stops, does it?

The challenge was to make a baby boy quilt, in blues, with a "Gant" blue binding, and let me tell a lot of research went into what exactly "Gant" blue is. This was my conclusion, except now I feel the need to go shop at Gant since I've seen so many of their sweaters...

Mushi had to pop in for a quick supervision. Always the supervisor, never the recipient, poor kittens. Off to the washer it goes. The quilt, not Mushi :)

As usual these photos were taken as soon as I finished, which means it's night and there is no proper lighting. Oh, and I used my phone to take them. Sorry about that, I just get to excited and have to share immediately!

Enjoy!

[Blogtoberfest Day 12] An Autumn Quilt for Baby Kiko's mom...

[Blogtoberfest Day 11] Baby Quilt for Baby Kiko

[Blogtoberfest Day 10] I am a girl, therefore I multitask...

Hello again!

I was so shocked to realise it's been almost two months since my last post!! Time flies when you're super busy and with no  proper computer, I supose...
Sadly, I've missed the first 8 days of Blogtoberfest, but I think I'll still join in  on  the fun.

How has everybody been? Over here it's been Ikea, teaching duties and some quilting, though not nearly as much as I wished. I have some orders but I have been extremely slow to get things done. Also I wish I could sew into the night, but living in an apartment with very little sound blocking makes it very hard to do so, I'd have to use the slowest speed and that takes me ages!!

Here is my current project, I've been making this sofa cover for a great friend of mine who has just moved to a new home. Now, all I need is time to finish it :)

And here we have Julieta sleeping peacefully. She looks so calm and well behaved when she sleeps :)

Broken computer, work, loads of orders, new kitten, oh my!!

Let's elaborate: My laptop broke, so I've been completely offline for about a month, until I decided to recover a very very old computer, circa 2003 I think.
In the meantime, work at Ikea has been very tiring, there are a lot of people on vacations, which means more work hours for yours truly.
Quilt orders, it has been a great month order-wise. Baby quilts mostly, as usual :)

New kitten, where to start. Last week I was driving to work on a very busy road when I see a car stop and drop a very very small kitten and drive away. Of course I had no option but to pick him up a bring him home. The original idea was to give him for adoption but who was I kidding? Meet Oscar, my newest family member :)

I'll post some pictures of my latest projects soon, if this old but very friendly computer allows it.
I miss vacations, I miss the Augusts from my childhood. I miss traveling. I also miss blogging :)

Hello Blog, I've missed you!

Hello!
I see here I've posted on the 14th but to me it seemed so much longer than that! I've been über busy lately! Although I work only 4 hours a day and this schedule suits me just fine, there is always so much more to do, I'm still getting quilt comissions, wich I love and it makes me so so happy, but at the same time, something has to give, I suppose. And lately, it's been blogging.

I'm currently working on two quilts for a couple of baby boy twins. The idea was to make two different quilts that complement each other. The only specific request was that I added their names to the quilts.

This is what I've got so far:

This first one is almost complete, all it needs now is to trim the edges and then add a solid frame around it for some balance. To me, a nice solid frame is perfect for making the colors stand out and, let's face it, in a boy quilt, with such cold colors, it needs a little something to make it pop!

For the second one, I still need to sew all the rows together as well as adding the frame, but I think that you get the idea from these pictures.

Hopefully it will work out as nicely as I see it in my head!

The anatomy of a baby quilt, Part III - The End!

Sorry about the photo quality, but it was the best I could do at this time.

Let me tell you, this quilt was such a challenge, well, just the binding actually. I took it out twice before coming to this result, the binding just seemed to shrink, unbelievable!!

But it is now complete and it will be delivered tomorrow, hopefully she'll love it! :)

Today was also the first time I bought Ikea fabrics with my wonderful employee discount. LOVED IT!!

The anatomy of a baby quilt, Part II - Driving me CRRAAAAZZZZYYYYY!!!

The only specific request was this satin binding. And let me tell you, it's been driving me crazzyyy!!!!

 This is the preliminary result, but I'm not so sure I won't have to start all over!!

Mushi seems to aprove though... :)

The anatomy of a baby quilt, Part I

 This...

... turns into this...

... which turns into this! :D