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. 

what I've been up to...- FWQ

I finally finished all my Fw blocks. I've made 83 for i'm doing the Twin size quilt. Last week I received from Fat quarter Shop all the fabrics for the sashing, corner stones and setting triangles.
After cutting all the necessary pieces i finally began joining the blocks, this is what I've done so far...

Design Wall Monday - What's new

I'm back to work today. Vacations are gone! In the mean time I did a little bit of sewing, this is what I've got to share with you

A new table runner. I still need to hand stitch the binding

I used some Treasures & Tidbits by Piece O'Cake Designs for Robert Kaufman. It's a wonderful line of fabric with bright and cheerful colors.

I used the leftovers and some more fabric and made this scrappy pot holder, it's not ready yet.

Slowly my Double Wedding Ring is growing, I've added another ring to it. Please forgive me the poor photo but I'm using my cell phone for my daughter took my camera away. Nevertheless you can have an idea of how it's coming. Today I'm linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times, join the fun,too.

Pay it Forward - More goodies

Yesterday I received a surprise package from Tanya at Wee Little Birds. It was my PIF. Oh my God, I'm so lucky to have such wonderful friends

Look at the beautiful bag she made me. Full of other gifts,too. A sewing case, some pieces of beautiful fabric, golden thread and a personalized card.

 A matching sewing case, both with the most wonderful embroidery

this is a close up of the bag's embroidery. The stitching is perfect! I am so happy with my gifts.
Thank you very much Tanya!!!

Pets on Quilts 2012

This is my first Pets on Quilts participation. Why? Because I didn't have a pet until last year. Blackie, my mini schnauzer came to live with us almost a year ago. He is the joy of the house and my quilt inspector,too.

Here he is counting all the hexies I had sewn on my "Sweet Summer Cottage", he was just a little puppy at the time.

 Inspecting the border and the softness of his own quilt, the "Blackie's Quilt"

Hum... Are all the seams matching each other? I think he spotted a faulty one on my " Penelope's Garden ".

 But his favorite quilt is my daughter's, he loves to jump up to her bed and take a nap on the "Catarina's Hearts"

Don't miss all the fun and join us,too. Make sure you check out all the other pets and quilts in this wonderful blog show HERE!! 
And if you liked Blackie, please vote for him!

I'm back....From vacation

I haven't posted for quite a while but there was a very good reason to do so. I was enjoying some days away with my family.
We went to the Algarve, in the south of Portugal. We spent the most wonderful six days.
The resort was wonderful, the weather was hot enough to enjoy the pool and the beach and the nights were warm.
The animation staff were wonderful, lots of different activities, aqua gym , darts, beach volley, cocktail games, you name it. There was fun everyday long and also night shows.
The food was splendid ( I gained 2 kg). We had a great time. But now I'm back to real life and I'll be returning to work very soon. Until then I'm posting some photos.

The pool

 A view of the resort and the beach

An apartment block

 Our rooms

 A view from one of the three restaurants

Another view of the pool and the bar

It's my birthday today

Today It's my birthday. I'm officially 47 years old. To commemorate I offered myself a nice framed purse. I made it in  my favorite colors, yellow and blue. I used some Summer breeze II. I love my new purse. It's huge and I can get all my stuff inside.

WIP - Small Stuff only...

Hi, it's that day of the week again and here I am to share my work in progress with all of you.
I'm enjoying my Summer vacations so I have been to the beach with Dh and my sewing has been put into second place. Nevertheless I still manage to escape to my sewing room no and then and make some little things that are quite easy and quick to make. Besides it's been too hot ( about 30 degrees) to do any quilting, my tops have to wait until the Fall in order to be quilted.

Here's what I've been up to...

 A big metal framed purse for my daughter, she loves purses!!!

This one is huge.

 A pretty little pouch, of course my daughter asked me to make her a miniature one

Here they are...Mother and daughter!!!LOL

That is all I have to show you but link up with the lovely Lee at Freshly Pieced and you can enjoy many wonderful works in progress.

 Have a nice week,

Hugs,

TERESA