Candies...

..to my eyes...

From this...to this:

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Handmade Craft Fair @ Winchester

This was at Winchester Guildhall:

And there were lots of lovely stall to visit...

This one even had a Portuguese name: Meninafeliz...and I loved their work!! Specially their coastal range!

And I have met some local artists..that live very very close to me!!!

This is Raspberry:

And this is Caroline Green Pottery:

These two artists will be participating in the Hampshire Open Studios event.

I can't wait to visit them!!!

xx

learning to spin...

anything better to do on your holiday?.. I don't think so.

I went home for a relaxing holiday and couldn't sit still..so let's look for something fun to do. How about learning a new (crafty) skill? Spinning??? Yeah!!!

A bit of internet searching put me in touch with Tita, from Oficina do Fio. Besides being a lovely person who enjoys sharing her knowlegde and a great spinner, she's also got the loveliest house (I am into old houses) packed with spinning wheels, and looms...summary: paradise!

I had a lovely time with Tita, and I learned quite a lot..though I have to admit I am not the best student.

1. one of my versions of paradise (another one could be a ribbon shop, buttons, fabrics, etc :)

2. Granny squares blanket...an original one! amazing. The brown furry thing you see is a poncho made of dog's fur. It is so soft you wouldn't believe. Now that was new for me, that you can spin dog's fur.

3. An Ashford Spinning Wheel (joy). This one is very compact!

3. The portuguese spindle. Tita is forever THE Portuguese Spindle enthusiast.

4. Tita showing me how it's done....my tries had too many lumps to be allowed in a picture



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..and the second...

was even nicer.
Look at this...

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birthday card

My latest (last minute) crafting session turned into this:

A birthday card for two brothers...two big boys!!

Here's more details:

The fishy smell has been eliminated by stuffing the cuties with lavender!

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cathedral window

..another patchwork technique...
.. a pincusion ... a sweet smelling pendant...and a block for a future project (don't know what yet, any ideas?)

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SEEDS of love...

I made these little bags for a plant swap...



It was so difficult to let go of these...combined with the desire to share these cuties.

The seeds were from packs that I go withe some gardening magazines. There were four little packs in an envelope. I made a bag for each of the packs and embroydered 'Seeds', so then people can use them with any seeds they have. I made a tag using the graphics from the seeds envelope. I glued a picture of each of the plants on the little pack; these pictures are from the front of the envelope. On the the tag I used a smaller picture from the back of the envelope which was next to the sewing instructions. so on the back of the tag I glued these sewing instructions.



These are so thin that you can fold and put inside an envelope and post to some friend...maybe your own 'special seeds'..all you have to do is take a picture of the plant whilst in bloom; otherwise it's like a recipe book without pictures. (Unless you want it to be a surprise)



Let me know how you liked these..
(and sorry for the bad photo)


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Quilting-all other blocks

because I am so slow in posting sometimes...most times...I have decided to post all the other blocks I did in my Patchwork and Quilting classes so I can show you what I have been doing lately.

Lesson 7 : Bear's Paw




Lesson 8: Baskets

Lesson 9: Log Cabin

Some day I will put them all together into a quilt...someday...

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Quilting - boat (lesson 4)

This is one of my favoutite blocks

Quilting - Shoo Fly and... (lesson 3)

and a variation.....

Quilting - Friendship Star (lesson 2a)

Using the same techniques as the previous block...

Quilting - Jacob's Ladder (lesson 2)

This one uses squares and triangles..


they say quilting is very forgiving....I surely hope so...some squares became rectangles (hope you didn't notice )

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What I have seen ... recently

from my trip posted previously...

I found all of these in a fantastic restaurant called "O Bernardo" in Boavista dos Pinheiros (near Odemira and Vila Nova de Milfontes), in Portugal.
I wanted to take everything with me...and I did...in pictures...



...a rag rug...
... a lovely couple...
(sewn by the owner of the restaurant...and she says she can't sew?!....)

...some patchwork bags...

I've seen some of these posted in A Saloia ... she calls them 'Talegos'

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a mouse or a cat?

well...
I made a mouse but my friend insisted it was a cat.
I made this mousie for my friend's 3 year old son and he loved it! At least he was playing with it all day; I guess in kids terms it means they like it?!

The pattern was taken from the book ' For Sweet Baby' (isbn4-07-246385-X), one of those cute Japanese books you just can't resist.

Here's some more pictures from the book in Angry Chicken's blog.

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still sewing....

... believe it or not...

this beauty is used to hold plastic shopping bags and is now in a beautiful country kitchen. Perfect!





xxx

smells like...

lavender!

I made this little sachet for C's mum.


This is the kind of stuff I come up with when I am totally bored and have nothing to do. Fortunately, it seems that Frau S. always has everything I need... and the lavender is from her garden, handpicked that day.

THE business card wallets!!

Here they are, the business card wallets finished sometime ago..but I hadn't had the chance to show them off yet....

Sam's:



Tina's:



Marie Louise's:



Marguerite's:



Aren't they so cute?



xx