"Step on it!!!" - "Pé na tábua!!!"

Long time no blogging around here, hã? It's not only the lack of time, nor the busyness... It's Autumn. :(
I always try to look on the bright side of life (like the Monty Pythons) but it all comes down to this: Ihate the end of Summer!
Ihate to wake up in the morning freezing and grumpy... I hate when it is too cold to wear sandals, but still too hot for shoes... I hate not knowing what to wear these days when it can be cold in a minute and hot the next... Uff!
Well, at least not all is bad. The fresh smell of humid soil after the rain... Oh! That is "home" for me!

















Also, sitting in front of the sewing machine and sew all evening, no matter what goes on theTV, no matter dinner, or anything else...That's a favorite too!
And here it is, now officially a kind of a small afghan (I don't know if you can call it like that, maybe that's just for knitting or crocheting?!)
or just a warm softy cover for Sunday rainy afternoons watching movies and having tea with biscuits...
After several days of joining tiny pieces together, I'm now quilting. It's not easy, one has to be very careful not to let it too tight or too loose...

















Nevertheless, I love my sewing, my quilting, my crochet, it's my best way to fly away!...

Quilting - Passion for details, or the construction of life.

I always regarded life in a constructive way. I think it is always a process of adding diverse things. Each person has their own "patchwork quilt". It's true that you can also have losses through life, but I can't see those as a subtraction, in the sense that one always gets something out of it... To me crafting is also a similar process. When I "build" a project, either sewing, embroidering, crocheting, drawing... I am making choices, transforming ideas, developing concepts, and above all I'm being me. As a consequence I usually don't manage in following projects. I really like not to know what will be the final result. As for the process itself, it's importance is major. Only by observing the process can you really "deconstruct" the work, the purpose, the achievements and failures... Maybe that's the great thing about blogging too. One can show the working in process disasters, bad experiences, trade precious information on techniques and know-how, all in the same chair, quickly and easily , and in a appealing way.
Here's my new WIP, a quilt, not like the first one, this time bigger, bluer and patience-devouring!

This was the easy part: making eight big squares with 12" to 14"...
















Then I saw a tremendouly gifted quilter's blog ... and I understood she would sew a lot of tiny pieces together...
















And after having one large piece all made of small pieces, one should cut that in other pieces, as if it was a normal fabric.
Here you can see the detailed stripe made of tiny 2,5" wide stripes... lot's of them.. uff!
















I still don't know if it's going to be a big quilt, for a couple's bed or just a small "afghan" to keep on the couch for wintery TV watching nights...

Another of my favorite quilters: Rosa!

Novidades do outro lado do globo... - Novelties from the other side of the globe!

A new swap has arrived! Nina sent me a very nice package with a lot of goodies in it.

















She really has got an eye for strange things, she collects amazing old or new stuff. I would love to take a peep in her house...eh!eh! I think it must be some kind of odd museum. Anyway, you see for yourselves, she is "Fun Old New" at flikr.

A pretty candle, lots of american postcards...
















Wonderful vintage lace...
















And look! The fabrics even have that border with all the printing details!

















Thank you Nina! I'm delighted with your gifts, and I hope you like mine too.
In this swap I tried to pick up old products from portuguese origin. Some of them you can't find anymore, because the foreign products have taken over our market... welcome to globalization.
Others are still on the market, but maintained their original design since ever! I think I can give you just a small taste of our beautiful country. Enjoy!

"Piensa en mi"...

Uma grande voz, sim, mas muito mais uma grande Senhora. Um presente (não de agora) da ChipChip que muito me diz e me faz vibrar... Chavela Vargas. Dizem algumas línguas (más ou boas) que namorou Frida Kahlo...

















Entretanto as novas pregadeiras partem, e apesar de tudo sinto sempre que fica algum vazio... gosto de olhar para as coisas que faço. Quando a mesa fica vazia, fica...vazia.

My favorites at flickr

My favorites at flickr, originally uploaded by quartodeideias.

Here's a selection of some of my favorites at flickr. Just love them all!

Small treasures in a cardboard box - Memories in fabric

Finally I can show the wonders my grandma had for me. She had a store a long time a go. They sold a little bit of everything. In those days my grandfather would go once a month or so to Porto and Lisbon. There he would buy the best portuguese cotton/ wool fabrics. I say cotton and wool, because that's exactly what was produced in those days. Now everything is a mixture of fibers and something else. So, grandma always kept a few yards of fabrics that were left over after the shop closed. As you can imagine, all my life I had asked her if she didn't have some fabrics for me to make things and to learn how to sew! By now I had already given up... but the other day she goes like: "Come to my place there's a few fabrics I'd like you to take a look at" - Wow!














These two are double sided! Gorgeous!














These are some of my favorites, specially the tulip one.














I remember these on my pijama's...














And here she is, then and now:



















And here I am, the most yellowish, unhealthy child... eheheh! All my trousers and skirts were made of that fabric, wooly and not very nice for a girl who loved lace and ribbons!














And now, the dearest of all treasures in my grannie's house: one of my very first sewn dresses! Watch the details! All handmade, of course ... Things have changed that much, I guess...

Now, hands to work! New stash, new life!