... a cup of tea...??...

Already the last of the month...

This means... today's my sister's birthday!

 

And because it is her birthday

I decided to dedicate this post to her

and to our shared memories of growing up together as sisters.

The first thing I always think of when going down that particular memory lane, are our tea parties.

We used to celebrate doll's birthdays almost every day of the week just so we could have a tea party.

Some times, if we had behaved real good,

our mom would even participate

by supplying cookies or a cake

(that she would always bake from scratch).

Some other times we would send written invitations to the kids of the neighborhood and they would came and bring birthdays gifts for our dolls as well.
Then we all would have a birthday/tea party, with lots of singing and fun!

Maybe these childhood memories can explain the thing I have for tea

cups and tea sets.

Though in a very modest scale I do love to collect them and have a few, from miniatures and play toys to real ones.

At the left, just a few samples of my collection.

This knitted/felted coffee with cream cup
was made by me
after a Martha Stewart's tutorial.


The cup bellow is the only survivor  from my mom's real Chinese tea set (at the left),

with a woman's face at the bottom of the cup...
When you're drinking your tea and almost finishing it...
... this Chinese lady's face will show up at the bottom.
It's really neat and really precious to me.

And for last but not least,
a BD gift for my sister...

 ... this precious pic from our travel from Portugal to Mozambique,
on board of cruiser ship "Principe Perfeito",
around January/February 1964.
Because my mom was travelling alone with us kids
(to join my father in Africa),
we all would eat at the children's dining room.

In the picture:
my very pregnant mom
(Rui is the brother she was pregnant with),
my older brother, my sister (the baby) and me,
all very well behaved 

because there never was horsing around with my mom!



Happy Birthday to you
Isabel!



Table runners & Autumn Flowers

I still have some trouble with my sleeping routines.

Shame on me, I know, because

I insist in  staying on the couch and not going to bed

(I blame it on the bedroom TV because of the bad image color).

The truth is it's just easier,

and then there is nobody to wake me up

with honey, let's go to bed...

Those of you who have been there

where I am now

know what I'm talking about.

Anyway...

I had some visitors yesterday

and they are the kind of nice people that makes the world a nicer place.

My thank you to them,

they who keep visiting me

just for the kindness of offering me some company.

If Katy is reading this

she'll know this about her. Loved the card and the words.

So... Yesterday was busy...

... but I did it!

I finished the big project I've been talking about!

Ta da da... (drums rolling),

here it is!

What do you think...?

I really love the visual effect.

And after debating myself, either to keep it

or sell it on my BearyNiceCrafts etsy shop,

I've decided to list it

and it is already there.

What else...?

I've told you yesterday

about my planned giveaway.

I've already started working on it

and very soon I'll give all the details.

I hope all my readers won't miss it

because I truly believe

you'll love it!

See you soon. 

My Quilted Cd Xmas Ornaments Tutorial @ Totally Tutorials

Today Dotty from

Totally Tutorials

posted my Quilted Cd Xmas Ornaments tutorial.

Thanks for your nice words Dotty!

Some of my other tutorials have also been posted by her

and every time it brings lots of real nice people to visit my blog.

Thank you to you all who have been visiting and leaving me a comment.

Who doesn't just love to read the nice words appreciating your work?

My readers and friends

know that I've been trough some very difficult personal times lately

and being able to share here some of my helenismos with you all

really does make me feel like I'm still part of this world.

I've been busy working on that hexagon quilted project

I told you about last time

(it does take time!),

and here's another peek how it is going.

I'm thinking I might be able to finish it by tomorrow.

I' m really happy with it so far. 

I'll let you know.

Today was another very hot day

(we were on the 90's again).

But according to the forecast

it's supposed to start cooling down by tomorrow.

I really hope so.

I still have a lot to do on my gardens

and I can't be outside with all this heat.

My cat Alvin doesn't like the heat neither.

Every time I open the door he sneaks in

and doesn't want to leave.

I'm thinking maybe let him stay inside this winter

(if I ever can make him quit marking his territory inside the house!).

Ah! Almost forgot...

I'm thinking about having a giveaway in a few days.

 I had been thinking about it for my blog first anniversary,

back in August.

Unfortunately,

that wasn't possible for the sad reasons you know.

But I'm thinking now would be a good time,

it gives me a goal and it will keep me busy.

It will be open to everyone, everywhere,

of course,

and all you'll have to do is to leave a comment.

But soon I'll give you all the details

and show you what I have in mind.

I think you all going to like it!

And that's it for today.

I'll see you soon.

Sharing some helenismos...

When I started this blog

almost an year ago I called it Helenismos(toshare). 

Blogging was one of the ways I found to overcome my frustrations,

my loneliness, my cigarette cravings, my willing to keep going if you will... When it all came about what name to choose

I remember remembering

my high school Deutsch teacher calling me Helena of Troia...

(the things our mind remembers!).

And that was it: Helen(a)ismos,

in reference to Greek mythology 

which so much influenced my teenager years...

...when I used to write novels

using Greek mythology character names

given by me to my friends and classmates

and share it with one of my dearest friends at high school

(named Helena as myself,

and tough I lost her track many years ago,

I know she became a judge and was living at the North of Portugal).

Anyway...

today is one of those days

when I just feel like sharing some helenismos...

... LOL...

Why am I telling you all this...?,

well... I reckon this past week

has been one of reflexion, memories, day dreaming...

Since we came back home

I had been busy caring for J,

getting my routines back on track

(still have tons of paperwork to file, bills to pay and whatnot's to finish up...), and didn't had much time

to think about everything that happened.

I guess this past week things finally soaked in...

in a way it made me feel a little bit depressed... 

and then... also this past week...

I've (re)found a very dear old friend from my childhood!

Ah!... walking down memory lane

can lead oneself into a very nostalgic path!...

Life can be weird and strange sometimes,

and tough I always thought there are no steps out of the path

(como dizia n... nao ha passos fora do caminho),

sometimes the missing (as saudades!) of my family, friends and my old live

can really become overwhelming...

But...it's about time to pick oneself up, and just go for it!

So... that's what I did!...

... I've lined and binded a small tunisian crochet pouch today 

(it has been laying on my to finish projects tray for a long time)

and I really like how it turned on!

...and the inside look...

 I've also been practicing a little serging...

Did I mention before I bought a serger...?...LOL...

I know I didn't... it was a couple months back...

with my cigarette's money savings... LOL...

I was waiting to become a real good serger so I could tell you all 

about the fabulous projects serged with my new serger...

...LOL...

but... that's not the case yet!

I've just been sewing seams, regular serged seams...

Ah!... but I am waiting on a new book I bought to arrive early next week.

Then I'm sure I'll be able to serge beautiful things and blog about it!

Bellow you can see my new Brother Serger Lock!

Awesome, isn't it...??? Ah!... the possibilities!

And to finish today's nostalgic post,

a pretty pic of...

Miss Beca!

and a promise to tell you all about the kitten saga on my next post.

Till then!...

...and thank you for visiting!

Strip quilting, new curtains making and J's shower

Another week went by, and I didn't succeeded on my purpose

to publish my posts more often...

The truth of the matter is I keep really busy all week long,

more now than in winter time

because of all the outdoor work that has to be done.

Oh!, but I'm not complaining, no...

keeping busy is good, really good!

During the week we had several thunderstorms warnings

but never got any rain.

Anyway,

this post today

is really to let you know what's been going on...

So, a few time ago I started a new quilt,

it's called strip quilt and it's made very much the same way as a selvage quilt (I've been collecting the selvages for ever!,

but still didn't make anything with it).

I've been sewing the blocks and I'm still kinda playing with them,

rearranging the patterns to see which way to go...

Here's what I've got so far:

I'll show you when it's done.

Also this past week I received my fabric order for the new curtains.

Remember when I told about the curtains I've made that I didn't like very much?, I told you about it in this post here.

OK, so I decided it was the right time to make new ones

(ah!ah!, tax refund time!).

And I've been working on it too.

I will show you how they came about when I'm done.

Today was J shower day,

and I thought about showing you all a little bit

what it is like giving him a shower.

I do it every other two days

(remember I am totally on my own for all of his care).

I've started around 9:00 AM and finished around 1:00 PM

(from the moment I start getting things out to the moment I finish cleaning the bathroom, after J is totally done and ready back on his bed).

I get the lifter out,

get the shower chair ready and in position

and when is already rolled in the bathroom,

waiting on me to shave and shower,

I'll make the bed,

getting it done and ready for when we finish the shower

(I'll be showering him with my bathing suit on, 'cause I'll get totally wet).

As soon as he's finished and dry,

it's time to lift him back from the chair and into his bed.

The bed has a low air loss mattress system,

which has been terrific all these years

(J doesn't have any pressure ulcers, aka bed sores).

This is the little engine gadget that inflates and alternates the air in the mattress.

After he's back in the bed, I still have to do his trachea care, change wet dressings, roll him over again and again to get the sling from under him and then again to wash his back (which I can not do while in the shower since he's sitting on the chair), do the breathing treatment, and so on and so on...

After all that, have to clean the bathroom and do the laundry (3 loads every time).

And that's why it takes me 4 hours to shower J.

But let me tell you:

J loves all this routine,

and I would do it every single day if I could.

Lolita tutorial posted by TotallyTutorials, a couple of softies and some snow

My Lolita tutorial was posted yesterday by TotallyTutorials,

a great blog for craft freebies!
You can find it here.

Dotty does a wonderful job posting all these free tutorials.

Thank you Dotty!

And by the way,

I've finished two more Lolitas in the last couple of days.

I've also made a couple of softies

one a cat like...,

and the other a robot like...

And I reckon it's about it.

This week was really busy.

J had to go back to the wound center

(follow up on the surgery wound).

It's healing well, but still is a very large wound.

I am still in a kind of shock how could this have happened...

I mean, the whole thing... I should have never authorized this surgery!

Of course now I can't cry over spilled milk, so... it's one more thing for me to endure, that's for sure.

We had some snow last Wednesday, not too much but still a little bit.

This is how it looked.

Luckily, it happened the day after J went to the wound center.

I'm thinking about putting another ramp at the front of the house,

'cause with this winter weather the ambulance can't drive to the back,

where the ramp is (look at the picture above).

It was an adventure to get him in the ambulance this time.

They decided to bring him out trough the ramp and then

just push him trough the yard.

But everything went well, thank goodness.Till next time.

And this is it for this post too.