S. João

Hey, I'm back...
Been home for a few days...and look what I've been up to...

Yep, I've been home for our most popular event (in Porto), S. Joao. For those of you who don't know about it, it's a bit like St. Patrick's day. The similarities are that they close the city for the party, people head off for downtown to celebrate it and it's all about having fun. This party is not celebrated or known worldwide like St. Patrick's but my opinion is that it is much more celebrated, i.e., I could bet the numbers are much bigger in Porto than in Dublin ( I might be biased but I've been to both).


S. Joao (St. John) is the patron saint of Porto and it's celebrated on the 24th of June, and it's a bank holiday in Porto's Metropolitan area. On the 23rd evening they close the streets in the city and everybody heads off towards the river. The picture above shows my crowd, Herr C., Mike, 'moi' and The Daddy. The 'thing' you see in my hand is a traditional hammer and we hit each other on the head with that. It usually squeaks like a toy. Traditionally you would take a garlic flower and brush it on people's noses, like this one (it stinks):


At midnight, there's the fireworks....half an hour of it...simply spectacular:


You can watch this show from both sides of the river, from Gaia and Porto.
This year they had a giant metal ball hanging from a crane. I saw a very similar thing a couple of years ago in Sidney for the New Year. I remember the fireworks finished and people were still looking at the ball to see what would happen but nothing did. I was very disappointing. I kept wondering if something would come out of this ball...and it did:

Pictures aren't enough...you really need to live it.
Afterwards you just drag your group around town, drinking and dancing..there are music groups performing in each of the stages scattered around both cities. And don't forget, keep hammering:


Here's something you won't find in Dublin, a mobile bakery...not just any bakery, it has got traditional wood fire ovens made of clay and they bake bread with cured meat inside... mmmmm




Some traditional games... at 1am.... in the middle of the street...



Because I'm spoiled rotten..here's what I got from The Daddy :)


And these are my three little (one big) princesses:

(now you try to get the three of them to stay still, look at the camera and say cheese :)

xxx

'M' is for Maria

aka Mia.

Yes, I've been really fortunate to have the lovely and talented Mia as my swap partner for the May OHC Apron swap.
My parcel was sent yesterday by Airmail so I hope it doesn't take too long to cross the Planet and reach her safely. Let's see if she likes it...

Here's a sneak preview:




xxx

Outside

crafty weekend

This weekend I had the chance/excuse to do what I enjoy doing best...sewing.

I was going to meet a friend of mine whom I hadn't seen for a few years and she now has a baby girl. I decided to make something for her little girl and this is what happened:

Of course I also had to make something for her sister's twins (a much belated gift)... both twins' names start with the letter 'S' so I thought it would be a good idea to put the initials on, then they can wear any of the bibs.




And here's a pic of the three bibs with the detail of the back fabric.

I got the bib pattern from here sometime ago and this was a very good opportunity to try it.
It was great fun and I think they liked the presents...

xx

soxs

:)

I learned to knit socks over the last Xmas holidays, in Germany. Me and my boyfriend were over to visit his family and for the first time I was really bored there. I guess it's because it was winter and there wasn't really much we could do. I went to their attic to see if I could come across any interesting findings (craft ideas) but because Mrs. S. (the mother) is a primary school teacher, all the things I could find were children related. Suddenly my boyfriend remembered that Mrs. S. could knit ...socks!!! We asked if she could teach me..and she agreed.
I spent the rest of my holidays there knitting socks. I knitted one pair for my father and one pair for my mother (I don't think I have any picture of these...I posted them home as a Xmas present :)
Since then, I have knitted another three pairs : one for myself, one for my lovely friend Christine and one for Akbhar 'my' technician (I'll explain later).
Christine's socks were actually a special request, as a birthday present. Of course they had to be green because that's her favourite colour.


As for Akbhar's socks...well, you see, Akbhar is the knitting technician at my University and since my PhD is in knitting (not this kind of knitting :p ) he is 'my' technician. Anyway, when I told him I had learned how to knit socks over Xmas he offered me a couple of cones of wool, so I thought I should make some for him. I hope one day he will teach me how to knit socks in one of our circular knitting machines ;)


I've asked to be taught how to knit gloves next Xmas holiday...can't wait!!! Might be so lucky to have the grandmother teaching me...

Tschuss
x

Crocs (sort of)

These are my new 'Crocs'...well, sort of. These Mary Janes' are actually by Skechers and I think they are actually nicer then the Crocs version 'cause the front is not so wide.

And I'm so in love with the colour too...CHOCOLATE!!!

The nice photo (not mine!!! the one behind the shoes :p ) was taken by my dearest friend Martinho during his trip to Egypt.

x

My backgarden...done!

Specially for my mate 'Mike':

here's a view of the backgarden completely renovated. It took an entire year to get all this work done. The pictures show the work in progress and final layout. This was all done without spending a penny...well, I did buy some seeds and the compost bin, but that's it.
Hope you like it!

First step (June 06): My (very helpful neighbour 'Blue' started digging up the crazy paving and built a new step which made up to a quarter of the garden. I made a 'stone' wall with the dug out stones.

August 06: He eventually completed the entire step and this is what it looked like (as well as the mess left in front of it):

April 07: I used some of the stones to build a couple of little walls at each end of the step (see next pic on the left corner, just behind the carpet).

And finally...just completed this weekend (May 07)....

xx

sewing room (work in progress...forever?!)

When I first started this blog I posted some pics of what my sewing room looked like (Sep06).
Here's a few pictures of what it looked like in Dec 06:

It looks empty doesn't it? Think of it more like a blank canvas...

apron swap

I've joined the May Apron Swap organised by lovely Mia from One Hour Craft.

All I keep thinking of is how can I come up with a colourful and different design for my swap partner (no names revealed, yet!), as suggested by her. mmmmm

Anyway, with aprons in mind I've been looking at some eBay stuff and I found aprons just like my favourite one when I was a child. I loved this apron because of the colours and the very useful pocket. Here's a few pictures I found on current auctions on eBay (click on the photos to follow the link):

And of course I had to get one..mine is green :) I quite love the yellow one above, though.

I think my swap partner would love these but I don't think I could get all that embroidered within one hour...so, I'm now going to turn to my sketch book and let my imagination flow through my pencil...

x

(almost) 9 Months Later

Yes...almost nine months to get me blogging again...
it's even too late to apologise..so I'll get some news on.
I'll tey to get something new everytime possible. I have finished decorating the sewing room, i.e. carpet and painting...so I'll be posting some pictures in the near future.

Today I've decided to talk about FREECYCLE. ''Freecycle(tm) is an email list where people give away things that they no longer need for free" and their moto is " Changing the World One Gift at a Time".
The idea is for people to give away things they no longer want for FREE. Members of the group can also post WANTED items, etc.
To find out more and to join your local group check www.freecycle.org

Today I'm going to offer an extensible dinning table as I got given another one recently from another freecycler.
Some crafting coming soon...
x

Day 1

I've decided to start sewing again...
So...I've got to sort of backtrack on my steps...
First thing..organise a sewing room...before that, decide what it's going to be like...

These pictures are of my sewing room-to-be on the day it was left vacant (Mike's gone back home :(.
It will have to double as a guest room, and it needs decorating anyway because the walls are a bit of a mess. They are not the worst in the house (you'll see what I mean in the next few days).

So, all these ideas for new sewing projects start jumping in. This is when I became acquainted with this 'blog' thing and started searching for ideas..and then I found this 'swap' thing...

All very new to me...but found myself already involved with 3 swaps!!!

One asks for 3 embroidered tea towels, another one is called 'Aqua and Red' and the third one is 'Purple and Orange'. (Just look out for some nice photos in the near future) .
I thought this would keep me motivated to start sewing again...never mind that the academic year is just about start at the same time as I'm going back home on holidays...

But no excuse for the lack of time...

multi-tasking..multi-tasking...