tidying up the "house"

No, no, I haven't been dragged away to the ends of the world, I'm still around... Always the same excuses, too little time and always the same promise, I'll be better next time!!

Here's a little summary about what I've been up to since... well, I'm almost ashamed to say it, since August.

Firstly, I would like to apologise to the lovely Kim for taking all this time to write about the amazing package that she sent me for the Summer Swap (yes, I said Summer...) which I mentioned in this post. Just look how lucky I was, honestly I don't deserve all this goodness!!


The package included:

- a personalized needle book and tutorial on how to make it.
- 3 very cute strawberry pincushions.
- sewing notions, including a handmade bag filled with buttons, ribbon, a flower shaped patch and ribbons.
- Japanese "hankies" (I'm so spoiled!!)
- fabrics from her personal stash (no, really, I'm really spoiled!!)
- paper, envelopes, stickers, stamp pad, postcard all for writing letters (and feeding my obsession with all things paper related)
- a book... (again, feeding my obsessions)
If you want to see what she got, here's her post about it, written at the right time like the lovely
person that she is :)



After being totally spoiled, I was lucky enough to be chosen to be part of the Quilt Project organized by the very talented Kirsty from Kootoyo. You can find the project's flickr group here and just allow yourself to gawk at the loveliness!! To honest, I cannot wait to see the whole quilt together, I just wish that I could be in Melbourne to see it life, it is going to be wonderful!!
When I started my square, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I always wanted to do something going back to my Portuguese roots, based on a really traditional style of embroidery called "Lenco dos Namorados" (Lover's Kerchief, already mentioned in this post). The only think that I wasn't too sure about was the verse always included in this kerchiefs, for awhile I thought of using an English verse, but, it just kept nagging me. It just didn't fit!!
So, I decided to go for a very traditional Portuguese verse but, without the spelling mistakes... It was just a bit too much for me.

the verse

Se o Amor tivesse asas (If Love had wings)
Voava que nem um passarinho (It would fly like a little bird)
Entrava pela janela (It would come in through the window)
Para te dar um beijinho (to give you a kiss)

I also mentioned in a previous post that I was going to make a U softie for the Plush You exhibition at the Bluebottle Art Gallery in Seattle. I was able to finish it surprisingly quickly, I guess that unlike most of my softies, this one never went through the computer stage where I usually create my patterns in freehand, it was all drawn by hand on tracing paper then glued onto cardboard and cut. I tend to freak out when things don't look perfect during the pattern stage but, for some reason this just felt right made this way. Also, it was too big to be printed at home!!

Hope that you have enjoyed this little catch up!