Tunisian on the round

Since I discovered Tunisian crochet,

aka afghan stitch,

I fell in love with it.

Tunisian finished product 
is a sturdy woven type of fabric,

very suitable for many of my projects.

But my latest discovery on Tunisian

is the Tunisian on the round.
It is surprisingly easy!
I've found this really good tutorial
to learn how to make Tunisian on the round.
I wanted to try it at once
and made these bracelets in about an hour.

The green one was suppose to be a collar for Baby, my cat.

But that was a bad idea,
just like all the other store bought collars she has!
The scratches on my arms are proof to that!

You wear them!, 
that's what she seems to tell me.
So... I decided to offer it to my brown bear

who holds my TV remote
and wears it proudly,
without a single complaint!
So there you have it, miss Baby, spoiled brat!

Penny Rugs and Candle Mats

A couple days ago
I told you about
penny rugs

and showed you the ones

  I had made.

I've also told you about I enthusiastic I was about these penny rugs.

So... I've made a couple more

this time specifically to be used as candle mats.

The first one is simply made out of small felt circles.

Each complete circle made out of 3 different sizes circles
stitched together using a blanket stitch

and attached together by slip stitches in a hexagon shape.
Each circle has a same color backing

which allows
a perfect and clean finishing.

I really like the effect and think it works perfectly as a candle mat.
The second one also is a candle mat
and I REALLY like it!

I've designed an octagon on a red felt piece and made only eight complete circles plus one for the center.
The red, green and brown gold make it perfect for Christmas time
or not!
Haha, I like it so much I can use it everyday!
The backing... to clean finish the work...

... and then just glued down some crystals...

I do love how it came out about, don't you?
I'll see you all later!

Spring Festival

For the first time this year I heard about the

Spring Festival

of Strawberry Plains.

So I researched a little bit

and learned it's organized by the

Strawberry Plains Community Alliance since 2006.

Somewhat naive, it was nice tough to see the effort put on to it.

In my mind I thought I would encounter something more like a farmer's market, but I was wrong.

Some craft vendors, some food boots, and a tepee along with a couple of Native American craft boots

belonging to the local Native American descendants.

The parade included the Indians

the Scottish,

which I presume would be

the most representative ethnic group here in East Tennessee...?,

or at least meaning most of the East Tennesseans are

Scottish descendants...?

I really couldn't find much on that,

but the Indians and the Scottish

were indeed the only ethnic groups represented.

Also a few old rods,

some old time John Deere tractors,

and a few horseback riders.

Nevertheless,

It was a lovely blue skies day

and it kinda felt goog being outside around people.

What the Finns need to know about Portugal

I got an email from my sister today.

It had a video attached to it.

A video about Portugal.

Some of you may remember I am originally from Portugal.

And I do not (want to) know (much) about politics

but I do know Portugal is going trough

a real bad financial and political time,

and it's supposed to get a financial help package from his partners of the European Union.

Finland is one of those partners and it seems not willing/agreeing about helping Portugal. 

Have you ever been in a down situation

and been ignored/mocked/stepped on

by someone once you helped out...?

Please watch the video.

You'll never get confused again about this great country of mine!

Penny Rugs - an essay

A few time ago 

I came upon something totally new to me

called

penny rugs. 

Did it ever happen to you...?,

to fall totally in love with something at first sight...?

It does happen to me since in a while.

An that was the case this time.

I just got fascinated by the possibilities!...

But first thing first: I had to find out more about penny rugs.

The wikipedia is a good source of info, of course,

but I'll tell what I found out anyway.

It seems that around the 1800's and after the Civil War,

some women had the idea of cutting men's old wool suits

into circles of different sizes, using coins, or pennies,

to draw the outlines of the circles

(thus the name penny rug).

Using mostly a blanket stitch,

they would sew together 2 to 4 circles of these wool scraps

and then applique by stitching the circles

(again, using a blanket stitch)

on a bigger piece of wool (circle, oval, rectangle...),

creating a pleasant design.

The pieces created could be for a rug or a mat for the floor,

a table center, a mug rug or a piece for the mantle.

All the pieces would have a wool or burlap backing

to hide all the stitching and give it a clean finishing.

I didn't had wool suiting,

but I did have felt,

a really good substitute for these penny rugs...

I just used basic circular shapes, different sizes and colors,

and kinda just played around with it to create my designs.

These are my creations so far.

I can't really pin point why,

but they kinda remind me of Inca or Maya design motifs...

I've not decided their purpose yet,

 maybe as a table center,

or maybe as part of a wall hanging,

but I do know for sure I'll be making more

and also experimenting with different designs.

I hope I made you curios about penny rugs and willing to try to make some.

I'll see you all shortly!