Tunisian crochet... and cold turkey!

Let me tell you today about me being a quitter... :0)...

Back in early April this year

I've decided to quit cold turkey

(everything else I've tried before had failed).

Gosh!!

It ain't easy!!!!!

Thirty five years of addition are not easily turned off...!!!

But again, life is about choices.

And that was the moment I felt I had to choose:

do it, or else...

or else ... meaning I have not only myself

but my husband to consider

(he totally depends on my survival for his own survival, no kidding).

And that is when I went into the survival mode I told you about a few days ago!

It wasn't easy and it still isn't easy... but ...

it feels soooooooooooo... good!!

I can do now lots of things I wasn't able to do before

(and I had not realize I couldn't!... amazing, isn't it?!).

Anyway... how does the Tunisian crochet fit in all this quitting talking.....?

Ah!.........

....... that was one my strategies to succeed:

the determination

to learn and/or to make a new pretty thing every day!

And so...

I love to crochet!

For sure!

Have made lots & lots of blankets!...:0)

Early mornings

(I would wake up really early, the cigarette cravings killing me)

I would sit at the computer,

watch YouTube tutorials

(I gotta say this: I love all those wonderful ladies

for sharing their knowledge and helping me out!)

and learn everything I could about Tunisian Crochet!

I'm not going to describe the technique here,

if someone wants to learn how to

it's really easy to find about it on the net,

but I will tell you it is a crochet technique

made will a special hook

(it's just like a crochet hook but much longer)

and the way you work it looks like knitting

but

it's in fact crochet!... :0)

Now... once again... if I want to master it

(and believe it, I already do...:0)...)

I have to practice a LOT... and so I did...

The pics do tell the rest of the story!

**** By the way: it has been 4 months & 15 days and no smoking... :0) *****

A moment... with the Teddies & the Bunnies

I remember the poet words

Tudo vale a pena quando a alma não é pequena

(Fernando Pessoa, one of the greatest poets ever!)

and also something I've always believed to be truth (and I still do)

there are no steps out of the path (já dizia N)

and in a way I think maybe everything happens for a reason.

Maybe. Or maybe not. Maybe it just happens.

But what it really matters is the choices one makes.

That and one's ethics.

That's why the Teddies and the Bunnies live in my living room.

Sitting on the back of my coach to be precise.

Because I chose them to

and because

I want them to

and because

I love them.

They're quite jolly fellows and I believe they make me happy.

I've made them alright

(I'm sorry I can't remember the web site where I found the patterns; it was quite a while ago though I only made them very recently),

but they do cheer me up.

What else could I ask for?

And why I am talking about the Teddies and the Bunnies?

Because they don't care

they're made of felt

yarn

and scraps.

If they will make you happy...

they'll for always be

The Teddies and the Bunnies!

Angels... and baskets!

Talking about crafts, and sewing, and quilting,

and about my determination

to make and/or learn a new or pretty thing every single day,

I've decided a while ago that I needed some angels.

That's right!

While growing up (both in Africa and Europe in the between)

my mother always had a guardian angel picture hung on the kid's room

and I really liked my guardian angel.

And so much later in life now

I've decided that we both needed that guardian angel back

(and I mean my husband and I)

and so I started making and collecting angels.

These are just some of the wall hangings with angels I made.

I'll come back to this subject probably later on, with some more pics and some other works.

Another of my favorite things are baskets.

A couple days ago I was just surfing some crafts blogs and found some really neat tutorial and how-to tips to machine sew fabric baskets or bowls from http://freebiesforcrafters.blogspot.com/.

I had made some baskets before but I stitched everything by hand.

These are so much easier and fun to make!

Thank you Linda Permann for sharing!

So ... like always ... I just had to make some!

Made a couple for my sewing needs (notions, treads and scraps),

another one to store my rings

and a couple more for whatever is just lying around and needs a place to be stored away!

I've been fighting the blog for a while now, trying to place my pics where I want them but somehow it always places them on the top of the page!

I know, such a newbie around these things...

Oh well... gotta ask for help,

probably my son or daughter-in-law

(by the away, did I mentioned Rochelle is my daughter-in-law? (yeah, the same Rochelle from http://acquiredflavor.blogspot.com/; check her blog out, she has some fabulous recipes!).

Before I go,

just a few special words to my sister and brothers

(my devoted followers)

Beijinhos para vocês!

and a BIG hug to my friend Irene

(mando notícias em breve, beijinho grande para ti).

Wall hangings

Waking up and trying to decide what to do today.

See... my day-to day has been very much the same for the last five and so years. I've developed a daily routine and have to stick to it.

Every day I try to do something that pleases me, something pretty or useful, or whatever, but to do something.

That's part of my self prescribed treatment once I went into survival mode.

So...I´ve finished my Babuskha wall hanging and I just love it!(thank you http://weefolkart.com/ for your free patterns).

For the background I used small scraps and for the doll applique pattern used felt and did some embroidery for the face and chothes.

Since I was a little girl I have had a fascination with Russian dolls (which I recently learned are incorrectly called Babushkas, meaning grandmother or old lady or a certain type of headscarf that ties under the chin; the correct term for this type of dolls is Matryoshka dolls, meaning mother, and it's connected to fertility - therefor the Russian nesting dolls we all know).

Many years ago, when I wouldn't miss a single Festa do Avante (que saudades desses tempos onde os amigos habitavam e a alegria podia ser tão ingénua!), I bought one of these nesting Babushka Russian dolls which are the delight and fascination of grand kids when they come by.

For all of you Babushka lovers, http://www.etsy.com/ (just type in the search box the word babushka) has lots & lots of Babushka items.

And... besides my daily routine I've done nothing more than blogging... although so newbie to blogging I have to admit this is really addictive!

Oh well... I guess this will have to do for my pretty thing for today!

I'm in a rag mood...

I love to garden, and whenever I have a chance there I am, pulling weeds, mulching, planting, or just enjoying it.

Last month I found this little fellow under my Calla lilies.

Ain't he something....??

Like I said, I love to garden and love to make things.

How neat is it to make a bag, a blanket, a doll, from a few scraps of fabric, tread, or yarn?

I made these place mats for my son's birthday, he loves oriental stuff. It does have an oriental look, doesn't it?

Lately I've been in a rag mood...oh well, what can I say?...

Anyway... when I'm in the mood, I'm in the mood... :0)

And I make things! Lots of things!

Kinda christmassy looking, but I like it!

Dots & kittens & purple, some of my favorite things.

A vintage kinda looking rag quilt tote.

And so much more... I'll tell you about later.