I'm still alive

And in search of inspiration for a new baby quilt. I had in mind presenting one of my best and oldest friends with a quilt for her baby, but then her pregnancy took a turn and all plans had to be put on hold. Now the baby (born very prematurely) is finally at home, I have the fabrics - my friend asked for yellow, i know her favourite colour is purple, then i pink-fied it a little bit, so now that's the range I'm working with. Just need to choose a block and... find the time... (it's getting harder everyday and the lack of sewing, quilting and blogging can speak for myself).
It's safe to say I'm addicted to squares, but my last quilt (a picnic quilt for my daughter's kindergarden teacher as a tolken of this first amazing year) was a disappearing 9 block, so maybe no squares for now.
Any suggestions? I plan to take pictures of the fabrics and post them. But it's a plan, not a promise (stopped making those a long time ago...)

In your face!

Why handmade is "so expensive"?

Moved me to tears... I'm such a cry baby!

The irresistible or terrible twos?

365 days of love!!!

(yes, i've pretty much seen all of these...)

Happy ho-ho-holidays!

Customize your own greeting card

One year later...

Baby H. crib quilt is finished!!! And just in time for Blogger's Quilt Festival! (Don't forget to check out all the other amazing entries out there!)

I started thinking about this quilt and buying fabrics (online because I was in bed rest) in September of 2010 after discovering the sex of the baby I had on the way. During the months of October and November, exactly one year ago, whenever I could master some strenghts I would cut fabrics, but never got to piece them together. It was physically too much for me to sit in front of my sewing machine and however much I missed sewing I always thought to myself: "More important than sewing this baby quilt is keeping the baby it's meant for SAFE". Three days after my doctor finally said I could get out of bed... she was born!
As a first-time-around-recent-mommy, free time was little and mostly used to sleep. Then work got in the way. But every little chance I had I would make some progress on the quilt.
Yesterday I took a day off and finally cut the binding and decided to try to sew it on by machine, for the first time, because this is always the most time consuming part and I was already so "late" in finishing the quilt that I couldn't wait any longer to have it finally done. And in no time I finished it!!!
It turned out ok, not perfect, but the alternative was so... undesirable and unappealing that i don't mind at all living with my flaws. After all, one lesson i will someday teach my daughter is the capacity to live imperfect lives.

So, without further ado, here is my latest accomplishment (and probably my favourite quilt, second only to the "Good News Quilt", which is also hers): the "My Precious Butterfly Quilt"!

At first I had decided on a disappearing 9-patch top but wasn't totally sure, so I ended up changing to this pattern, which I don't know if it has a name or who has already done it (but someone I'm sure).
And I had though of a Dream Dot back but then had a change of heart and went with Flower Shower instead.
Also, the binding wasn't meant to be Kona Cotton Peony, but a yellow dot fabric whose name I can't recall and that it turned out I hadn't in as much quantity as I thought and needed.
Finally, I decided to quilt it 3/4 inch into all the white parts in a pink 100% cotton thread, but maybe because of being so sleep-deprived it turned out pretty wonky. I can always blame it on the baby ahahaha!
So all this goes to show that surprises and hick-ups and obstacles and changes can be a good thing. I actually love this quilt even more because of all its history.

I still have some more things I would like to make for her bedroom, but the main thing was the curtains (check) and this quilt (check). Yeiii me!!!

Customs

Well, I do most of my fabric shopping online on Sew Mama Sew or other US shops. It's cheaper, even after paying for the shipping costs, and there is a lot more variety and novelty. Some fabrics are not available in Portugal or they take a few weeks to get here.
Until today, everything worked out for me. But now, with the new government policies, for the first time I had to pay a customs fee. Just to think that someone was opening my package - I know it's just fabrics but even so - is really upsetting to me. And then having to pay a tax on top of what I have already paid... I mean... C'mon!!!
So, sad and upset and frustrated, from now on I'll be looking for an online shop in the UK, so that it's considered an import from within the European Union market and it doesn't go through customs. Anyone has any ideas?

Another thing: I went on macculloch-wallis' shop site and tried to order fabric but... in the Cotton menu alone I had like a gazillion types of fabric to choose from: puppytooth crepon, swiss cotton jacquard, birdseye pique, scoured cambric, warp stripe herringborne, floral lawn, regency stripe... just to name a few. I'm so confused!!!

Seal of approval

For all those cat owners out there... here goes to show that my lab also enjoys the batting stage :)



(Baby H. quilt is finally coming together!!! More pics coming soon!)

Date night

We are leaving baby H. with my parents and going to have dinner and a movie. A date night!!! And the fact that i haven't been to the movies in over a year (due to bedrest and then because of nursing the baby) makes it all the more special.

Time

I've had a project in mind - it's a gift for my friend - and it implies finding out each member's favourite colour. I'm finally going to start on it on Monday and I remembered that when I had the idea I wrote her an email asking her for the inside information... 2 years ago.

So, I've been thinking about doing this for 2 years and only now will I have the chance to finally do it.

Isn't this crazy???

Friendship

When I was pregnant and confined to a bed, I spent most of my time online in a site for pregnant women to share experiences. There I met a bunch of girls who were all going to have their babies in March like me. We used to complain about the normal pregnancy aches, share ideas to decorate the baby's room, tell each other our daily adventures, the problems with the husband or the mother in law or the boss... Everyday, for the main part of my day, these girls kept me company and we formed a very beautiful friendship.
Now our babies are out in the world and although time is more limited we still talk to each other on a daily basis. Now it's "what vegetables to put in the baby's soup", "diapers are on sale on the supermarket", "my baby is already teething", "look how my baby is already crawling" and typical proudest-mom-ever stuff like that.
We consider each other's babies are our nieces and nephews, we are worried when one of them is ill and proud when one of them achieves a new development stage. We live across the whole country and some of us are even living abroad but we managed to have a national meeting in the summer and several local meetings have also been held.
This group of friends means a lot to me. I talk to them about stuff that I don't tell my other friends, either because they don't have babies yet or because their children are older than mine or because I don't want to bother them about the same subject. With these girls that is not a problem, all we talk about is our babies!!!

One of them has sent me an amazing gift by mail and she has been ill, so to think that she took the time to send me this has even more meaning. I can't thank her enough... You know how I feel about buttons!!!
See, like my group of "Moms of March" with whom I talk about baby stuff, YOU are my group of friends with whom I talk about sewing stuff. Noone else would get my buttons crush... So, thank you for your friendship as well (and I'm sorry if lately I've been so out).







(doesn't it look like CANDY??? hehehe)

Never forget

I wish I were...

Less head in the clouds.
If there is one thing I would like to change is to be a more attentive and thoughtful person. Of course that the kind of exhaustion I've been experiencing lately doesn't help, but my poor memory really is a trace of personality since the beginning of times...
I finally finished a quilt - a gift for my husband's goddaughter - and I forgot to take pictures of it before giving it away. Is this just plain dumbness or what???

Était une fois...

Lamps, cats, friends, art... What could be better? Check out this awesome project: Était une fois.

Check out my birthday presents!

So, every year I buy myself a present for my birthday. This year it was this custom made wallet, the perfect wallet I should say! I really needed a new wallet now that I'm not in bed anymore and I'm out there spending money again. I wanted one where I could have money and cards but it couldn't be too big or too small or too something, you know?
This one is perfect and it's handmade and I got to choose all the details. And I'm very happy with it.
The lady who made it for me is very nice and talented. Check out her site here and her facebook page here.






I have known since November that my other present is a ticket to next Sunday's concert. The Bon Jovi concert, that is. OBVIOUSLY. My ticket is special because I will be up front very close to the stage. I'll be going alone, as all my friends bought cheaper tickets and will be far away. I'm not richer than my friends, I'm just a bigger fan. My husband doesn't mind.

As for my parents gift, I'm very delighted to introduce you to "Chiquinho", my new best friend who feeds on dog fur, which is something we have plenty of around here.

Pathetic

So my maternity leave is close to an end and little sewing has been done around here. I've finished the nursery curtains and have a baby quilt missing only the binding, but apart from that... nothing else to show! (and the quilt is not even for Helena, but for my husband's goddaughter)
And why? Because I've spent the last 3 months either translating books (I'm actually in the middle of the third one) or nursing or sleeping.
I don't know when I'll have the time to go back to sewing, to be honest, but I miss it a lot. And I miss blogging about it too.
I'm happy, but a little overwhelmed until I find my bearings. Going back to work, turning 29 and starting feeding her solids all in one week promises to be quite a challenge as far as bearings go, so... I'll try to keep you posted more often.

Until then, an updated photo of my little butterfly!

Oh this pouting face will be the end of me...

Busy bee

Once a friend of mine told me that after becoming a mother never again did she have the time to just sit down and read a book.
Well, for the past month I've been not only reading a book but actually TRANSLATING one, which pretty much means I don't have time for anything else.
No sewing, no sleeping, no blogging, no meeting friends, no cleaning the house, nothing. (It's not like I miss cleaning the house hehehe) Just baby H. and this book.
I wake up at 6 am, I take care of the baby until the hubby gets home and his "shift" starts (around 7 pm because he has to walk the dogs first) and then I sit in front of the computer and work up until 1 or 2 am, depending...
Just a few more weeks stuck inside these four walls is nothing, right? Tell me about it :( Revenge will be so sweet!!!