It feels like Fall! It looks like Fall! It is Fall!

Fall is finally here!

The smell in the air, the changing colors,

the crispy feeling of the evenings...

everything brings back sweet memories

from another time an other places... 

I remember the beach in the Autumn evenings back in Portugal...

Here there is no beach.

Just my backyard, me, and J, and the things I make.

And the cats, of course.

Oh no, I'm not complaining.

I love it here,

as long as J is with me everything still kinda makes sense.

And if I do miss a lot of things

I also just love some other things we don't have there

like Halloween.

That's right!, Halloween is just around the corner...

I still don't know what my grandson wants to be.

Last year he was a knight...:0)

But anyway... I just finished sewing

a few halloween baskets.

They are really easy, quick to make and I think quite cute!

Today I also baked some banana bread

(used a very common and usual recipe)

and I added some dried sweet cranberries.

The house smells so good!

And also made some bread from scratch

(which I have been doing for the last couple of years!).

Today I've decided to bake some rolls (adapted from a french bread recipe) in an atempt to copy the portuguese carcaças which I miss so much

They were really tasty!!!!

My sister just spoiled me with some goodies she sent from Portugal... :0)

(obrigada de novo sister!),

So, for supper tonight, I'll have a carcaça with farinheira... :0)

It's (almost) time to start planning...

Lately I don't know where does time go!

It's already September!...

I know we still have to go

through

Halloween and Thanksgiving,

but

Christmas will be here in no time,

so I better start planning

what am I going to make

for gifts this year.

Last year I made this lap quilt for my husband

with all the christmassy ladiesI really thought he would enjoy it!

It came out really OK,

don't you think?

For the girls,

I made some journals out of composition books

and I do believe they enjoyed it.

Anyway ...

... yesterday I finished another quilted tote.

I used the same idea and technique from my Babouskha wall hanging

(as on one of my posts in August)

thinking it would be great for a tote bag!

I had seen a cute doll pattern at http://freebiesforcrafters.blogspot.com/

so I used that same doll pattern for both boy and girl.

As in the Babouskha,

the background is made out of scraps

pieced together and then quilted.

It's lined with a

tiny pretty purple (of course!) flowers print.

Now that is finished

I don't think it will make a Christmas gift!

I'm definitely crazy about it

so I'm pretty sure I'm gonna keep it for myself!

I've also finished another

raggedy quilted tote

a couple days ago.

(I've already talked about them earlier last moth)

This one is the biggest I've made till now,

big enough to carry everything

I would need for one or two days.

Also some time ago

I made this Sleeping socks,

out of basic granny squares!

Each sock takes 1 big square and 3 smaller ones.

I might make some of these

for some of my Christmas gifts for this year.

I hope I succeeded on my intent

if you came here to look for some ideas or inspiration for making Christmas gifts.

And also in my blog's spirit of sharing,

I leave you all for now with

a pic of my latest super cute little friends...

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.