We're back in the hospital

We're back in the hospital.

J had a problem with his Peg-Tube
and from a minor situation we went into a major one
just because of stupidity...
But anyhow...
we're still here and will be for a bit longer,
not sure for how much longer yet.
Like everything else in life,
we encountered real angels here again,

but unfortunately
there are also some others not so kind or competent.
We have been in the hospital since June 6...
I've brought the laptop

 

and was able to log into in the hospital guest server,

but all kinds of weird things have been happening,

and till now I was not able to sign in to post anything!
I finally launched Internet Explorer 64-bit and that did the trick! 

Oh well... I'm just glad I was able to sign in now.

J is slowly getting better,
but I got so frustrated with everything that unnecessarily happened to him
I got myself in serious trouble. 

I had an heart attack, yes.
It all happened right here in the hospital in J's room

(I totally stressed out about everything going on with J),
but our guardian angels

were here with us.

 

Tough I was submitted to a catheterization and two stents insertion,
I was back in the room with J less than 48 hours later.
I still can't believe it actually happened.
I feel pretty good overall,
and to be quite honest
I'm trying not to think much about all things that happened...
the only thing I want is to get back home with J.
I've tried to keep busy and I've been making some stuff,

but I'll tell you all about it on the next post.

Kittens and Nieces and Orange Zingers

These last couple of weeks have been quite busy and somewhat...

not so good.

Starting with the kittens,

 

there were 2 more litters besides the one I told and show you.

The bad news are... something got the 2 Siamese kitties and the mother... they're gone.

The other new litter of 2 I had found under my carport

(from a Siamese mother)

was also gone the same night.

 

The good news is that the 3rd litter's mother

took in the 3 surviving kitties as her own.

But every morning I've been fighting away

some dogs that come into my deck

and try to get the kittens and mom...

There is a big old bulldog that just sits and barks and looks at me

as he's wanting to get me...

I'm pretty sure that's what got the mother and kittens...

I feel terrible

and can't understand

these people who let their dogs out in the neighborhood without a care.

I might just have to do what I have to do

to protect myself and the kittens in my own property...

Also, my niece was here for a couple days and nights...

She loves to play with the kittens...

She called this one Rascal and begged her mom to let her keep it.

And she did.

Rascal has a new home now.

It was nice to spend time with her, she's a very cute little girl

and likes to do things with me...

And I enjoy the company... for sure.

My routines get a little messed up tough,

since my time is usually all planned out.

She did start a project (a floppy disk treasure box)

but she didn't finish.

 

Instead, we finished a pillow she asked me to sew

made of a pretty horse print

(she loooooves horses...),

but I forgot to take a picture.
Oh well...

As for me... I've been on a quilting mood...
and I did finish some projects I'll tell you about later on.
Today I'm going to tell you about selvages
and zingers and quilting museums...
for some time now that I've been reading
and following Karen Griska's blog @ http://selvageblog.blogspot.com/.
It's all about selvages.
Let me tell you... (oh horror!...) before reading her blog...
I was trowing away all my selvages!
And I never gave it second thoughts until... I found her blog!
I was totally amazed how people's creativity works!
The most beautiful quilts and bags and stools and aprons and dresses and pouches and whatever you can think of... people make it out of fabric selvages!
Go check her blog out and see if I'm not right!
I've tried and made a couple quilts with the strip technique
(if you remember I told you about it in here and here)
and I was quite intrigued about the red zinger I read about on Karen's blog.
I had been collecting selvages for a few months now...
I didn't had red fabric, but I did had orange... not much, but enough to try it...
and so I went for it!
And... here's my orange zinger!

 

 

Not perfect, but still...I'm proud of it!
For the outside borders I've used the strip quilt technique.
And because it's not very big,
I decided it would go just fine as a table topper on my living room...
What do you think...?

A little Portuguese history...a little Portuguese Music...a little Portuguese Super-Star Mom!

Some time ago I've told you I was born in Africa,

in S.Tome e Principe.

So now you know where S.Tome e Principe is located...

As you can see,

S. Tome is one island and Principe is another island.

S.Tome is the island where I was born,

and tough I do not remember my time there

(I do remember my years in Angola and Mozambique),

I can still hear my parents telling me

it was the most beautiful place they've ever lived in.

 

As a matter of fact three of us (me and two brothers) were born in Africa.

The other three (my sister and the two younger brothers)

were born in

Portugal main land in Europe.

My dad was in the military and was placed in different countries of Africa

(then Portuguese colonies) 

during our growing up lives..

But all of us did live in Africa, sometime or another

(except for my baby brother, born in the same year

we all came back to Europe for the last time),

and my childhood was spent between Africa and Europe.

And today I live in North America... life can be weird, don't you think?

Why am I telling you all this?...

Because today I want to take you with me down memory lane,

sharing some pics and some music too.

My older brother
once introduced me to Joao Afonso music,
taping me a collage of one of his albums called Missangas.

This song (Fugir com o Cientista) is part of that album. 

Joao Afonso also lived in Africa

and his so beautiful music has lots and lots of African influence.

Carteiro em Bicicleta
is one of his most famous songs,

and really, really good music, wouldn't you say...?

Joao Afonso is
Zeca Afonso nephew.

Some of you know very well whom am talking about...

but for those of you who don't...

Zeca Afonso

 is (was) the most famous Portuguese Revolutionary Singer

(from before and after the Revolution)

and it was one of his songs
(Grandola Vila Morena)
that triggered the broad casted code
for the Portuguese Military Revolution in April 25th 1974.

No blood shed, only the people's will and

the soldier's carnation guns made it all happen...

no more war, no more deaths in the war...

I remember my mom just saying

"Thank Goodness my son will not go to the war!"

She was talking about my older brother who at that time

was about to be drafted and be called into the military.

And that was the FEAR of all the Portuguese mothers...
isn't it the same with all the mothers..., all over...?

Any How...

Africa does scar you for ever.

I used to dream of Africa, literally, when we definitely move back to Europe.

I used to wake up during the night and not being sure of where I was.

I'd miss my friends, my play grounds, my growing up fantasies...

my doll tea parties with my sister and friends,

my Enid Blyton like adventures with my school mates...

All of us girls were like The Five aficionados,

we even had a club named THE FIVE ,

and we gave each one of us the same names as the characters

and would try to run the same adventures...

I still remember the poor girl chosen to be Timmy, the dog...

if she wanted it in, she had to accept it...and she did, of course! 

So many stories and so many wonderful memories!

My older brother had the good fortune to go back

and revisit Africa a couple of years ago

(still waiting to see some pics brother...)

and if I ever will make out my bucket list,

go back to Africa is definitely one of my top ones!

And before I finish this post about my beloved Africa,

one last thing I would very much like to share with all of you:

the beautiful movie star like

 my MOM in Africa
(Guine-Bissau),

early 50's, when she married my Dad!

(We all love and miss you Mom & Dad!) 

Rainbows & Kittens and Snacks & Quiltings...

A couple days ago I went outside and saw...

...a huge, wonderful, colorful rainbow over my sky!...

Immediately on my brain played the song
Somewhere over the rainbow...

I LOVE that song!

I've found this one on YouTube from Eric Clapton,

and I couldn't resist to insert it in here for all of you to enjoy:

And since today I'm about sharing beautiful things...
 I just can't resist to show you...
at first I thought they were only three...

 

 

Oh boy!, was I wrong!...
There's six of them,

 but the mama took one away and I can't find it.

Aren't they gorgeous?, the cutiest little things!
They all have problems with their eyes, so I've been washing it every day, hopping they will be alright.
Who could resist and not take care of these cuties...?

They are my friends and keep me company.

 

Any who...

Also during this last week

I've finished another string quilt.

It's a smaller one (about crib size) and I think it came out pretty good.

 

 

It's quite fun to make this string quilts,

and I'm already planning a new one.

I'll show you when it's done.

 

I've also been cooking a little,

and I had been looking for quick and simple recipes,

kinda like quick snacks.

I found one for tuna bites

(in one of my culinary books).

Very easy and quick, and tasty also.

For the ingredients you will need: 

• 2 tuna cans (in water), drained
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 tbsp whole wheat flour
• parsley
• salt & pepper to taste
• vegetable oil to brush

Drain the tuna and mash it with the egg, salt, pepper and parsley.

Add the breadcrumbs, mixing well, and then the wheat flour, just enough to bind everything together.

Form small balls with your hands (about 1" each).

Let it chill for about 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (about 200 Celsius).

Grease a cookie sheet (or just use parchment paper as I did) and space the tuna balls evenly on the sheet, brushing each one with a little vegetable oil. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes.

Really tasty!

Enjoy!

Snakes & turtles, fabric scraps baskets & rodilhas

This week

I got my Mother's Day gift from my son

and I'm all excited about it!

 

Can't wait to try this Celtic patterns on a quilt!, 

I promise I'll show you when I do.

Also with the book came a 5"x5" charm pack of beautiful fabric prints!

I loved it!

  Speaking of my son,

I found a couple of pics he took some years ago of a snake eating a frog,

and I thought about sharing it in here

(we were all together in Canada when the photos were taken and

I think they are quite good):

Can you see the frog on the pic above...? 

 Now you can't see it, can you...?,

but...

you actually can see WHERE the frog is, right?

I know, it's awful but yet pretty neat, isn't it?

Thought not as spectacular as the snake's

here's a couple more I took this week at the creek's banks...

Ta da!...

the snapping turtle!

There's a bigger one (I saw it a couple weeks ago, but didn't give me enough time to get the cam).

One of this days I'm going to share with you all

some of my animal photos

I took trough the last 10 years.

I will have to finish organizing all my albums in this computer

(I have been working on J's comp since mine has been sick...

still got to get it fixed.

And I'm still organizing my new laptop,

but I do have a LOT of pictures, so it will take time for sure.

What else for this last week...?

I made another fabric bowl/basket,

a couple of very cute little purses key chains

and something else I have been trying to figure out how to

for a while now...

I finally took the time and figured it out.

Did some research on the web and this is it!

I really don't know how it would be called in English,

in Portuguese it's called a rodilha or rodizio.

 

It's made out of fabric scraps

(from used old garments most of the times)

and the purposes it serves is to protect the head

when women used to carry stuff on their heads,

like this pic I found on the web shows.

It's an old picture and it pics the aguadeiros,

people that used to sell water on the streets in the late 1800's early 1900's.

The girl on the right is wearing one

and also the first woman on the right at the fountain.

Also this recent picture

that I found here.

Can you see the rodilha

between the woman's head and the basket she's carrying? 

I found the pic on a fine blog about Portugal traditional garments.

It's in Portuguese but you can always translate the page

or just look at the beautiful pics.

I am sure my son remembers seeing it at his great grandmother house back in Monsanto.

And I'm sure I'll be making much more,

not only for the fun of it but also because I really enjoy its design

and I think I will be able to find some other uses for it.