The most wonderful Sunday

When I entered the blogging world I would never guessed I'd make so many friends. About a year ago I "met " a girl named Celia, she lives in Australia and guess what...She's portuguese. Since then we've been in contact with each other either by the net or by phone. This Summer she came to Portugal and we met yesterday. It was fantastic. She is the most wonderful person, I loved spending the afternoon with her. We talked a lot, it seemed we knew each other for ages. She will be back nest year and we are going to meet again but this time for a longer period of time.

 We had lunch together at Vasco da Gama shopping center in Lisbon, this is a photo taken outside the shopping facing Estação do Oriente.

 In our hands are the present bags we exchanged

    It was a fantastic afternoon, hopefully there will be more next year.

During our lunch I couldn't resist and opened my gifts. Oh my God! I'm so lucky to have such a generous friend. Look all the fantastic things she brought me all the way from Australia. I fell like a kid in a candy store

                       Beautiful fabric, I love the kangaroo print.

           Some quilting magazines and the latest Lynette Anderson's book

      Some great patterns, a video lesson on needle turn applique, a flying geese ruler and  fabulous needle case that opens both ways.

                             A gorgeous table topper with a lovely label. I'm going to cherish it

 An apron panel with a wonderful cheery print

Friends are really one of the most wonderful things it the whole world.
Thank you Celia for being one of my dearest friends!

WIP wednesday - Half way through

I'm back with a WIP report

Today I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced and share my work in progress.
There isn't much to show, I've been rather busy sewing the sashing, the corner stones and joining the rows  on my Farmer's Wife Sampler. It's time consuming and I do most of the work on my week-ends. Nevertheless I'm half way through

Forgive me the poor background, in fact is my hall floor, but it was the only place where I could photograph it with a better lighting.

I'm not doing the 111blocks, I prefered to make the twin size quilt which involve only 83 and it's still a good size quilt.
Join the fun and share your Work In Progress.

Great Storage solution

Fabric baskets make wonderful storage. You can keep many of your sewing stuff inside. I also use them in my bathroom, they are great to keep  our make-up and other small items.
If you want to make some of these baskets  there is a great tutorial at Pink Penguin, by the lovely Ayumi.

You can make a bigger one like this ( I enlarged the measurements)

 Or a "petite"

 They are great to use and highly decorative too.

Right on Schedule!!!

This month I have two swaps to honor, my QBSA September block and  the Cushion Swap hosted by the lovely Sue at Quilted Hugs.
I have been too busy lately and the sewing got a little behind but fortunately this week-ennd I got everything ready. Right on schedule!

My QBSA September block is a postage stamp, a fairly easy block but when it is made of 144 little  1" finished squares... I have to confess I got a little bit scared, I never failed on a swap and I have always been able to match my partners wishes. Well, no pain no gain, here it is, my postage stamp for my partner Jen in the U.S.A., I hope she likes it

My cushion for the Cushion Swap is also ready, my partner asked for cream and burgundy. I love the combination, I made a little embroidery surrounded by squares of different sizes framed by a brown border. I had a wonderful time making it. I really love swaps!

Finally I got some sewing done...

It's been a while since I've posted anything on my blog. It's Summer vacation time here in Portugal and the staff at the place I work is reduced to half. As a result I've worked very hard and when I get home I'm so tired. Nevertheless the house chores have to be done, cooking, washing, ironing. By the time I'm through with it I fell exhausted and I haven't been able to do any sewing. It was only today that I sneaked into my  little sewing room and I got something done.

I finished a kitchen set. A table runner and a round table topper.

Then I got added another row on my Farmer's Wife Sampler quilt.

It's not much but it feels so good to be back.