Let the mice in!...

The mini quilt is ready but, the "real" one is waiting for me to sew borders to it... That´s the worst part for me. The hardest one. Feel like quiting...

I´ve let the mice in... 

Hope they get the job done.

Cinderella complex, maybe...

A morning finish

And there it is, an "araucária" apliquée panel, a kind of pine tree typical of Southern Brazil. 

This wall hanging will be sent to a friend´s daughter who was born and raised in Curitiba
and has become a Swidish citizen.

I like the way it came out.
I´ll probably carry this idea on to other works.

My UFOs and a favourite

Some of these prints were brought from the US in 1994, when I took my daughter there to meet my "American Family".

Some of you may know I´ve been an AFS exchange student back in the 60´s, hosted by a lovely family,living  in Ohio. That´s when I saw snow and quilts for the first time. My American Mom has quite a few beautiful handmade pieces and I don´t have to close my eyes to practically see them on the rack she used to keep them. I wish to learn how to quilt real good so I can send her a Made in Brazil quilt. I think that will be nice and´ll be happy to do it. 

My daughter was 4 years old when we went to Ohio first and then Disneyworld. This should explain my having bought some of the prints. I didn´t work on them until now, though. We say "objects chase their owners", here in Brazil. I´ll be happy when these objetcs find theirs. It´s been a long long way since they exist and I have been keeping them. It´s about time for them to go.

But, the photo above doesn´t show all my UFOs.

Not at all. 

I have worked on an imported print, which maybe will look "out of date" to some of you, but looks quite new and special to me. I have been stitching it patiently and the more I stitch the more I like it. 

The stitching makes it look even more puffy and beautiful. 

I like it so much I´m not sure I´ll be able to sell it after it´s finished. 

Is there a fair price for something one likes a lot and has put the best of one´s energy into,

night after night?

What do you think? 

We are the World

Tempo is a Portuguese word for both Time and Climate. Time and climate both go on changing all the time,  both charge us with scars.  Even more so in 2010 which has just started and seems to tell us, reminds us, everyday ""there are no certainties". Way too warm below the Equator, more than average cold and snow above. Tornados, floods, drouts...

And the tectonic movements joined Cronus´ chorus line: no certainties for Haiti, Chile, Açores,  Turkey, Argentina, Brazil... Uncertainties everywhere on Earth.

This We are the World chorus video reminds us, in a very particular way, how transitory everything and everyone really is, and also that only love, compassion and caring for each other may ever comfort us along our uncertain path.

Trying harder

...on larger projects now.

... sure they´re not perfect (both quilts and pictures)  

but are coming out a litlle better than the first ones...

well...going back and forth...

... always attempting to do my best for the moment being...

It´s been a hard junior quilter´s life

but I suppose I´ve been doing some progress.

Enough for today

 I put these pieces together when I first started to quilt, a few months ago. I soon got interested in complex techniques, which of course I´ve not yet mastered, and this quilt was kept unfinished, on a shelf, for quite a while. Until today. It´s now complete and that´s it.

I had assigned myself another task for the day but I felt I had had enough of sewing. This way, I stuck to an old shabby mirror the pieces I had for an appliqué.

I decided it deserves to be displayed. At least for a while. 

I was happy to be able to hang it on a wall in my studio. I love recycled stuff.
It goes with the pale green couch beneath and, of course, the lap quilt will go back to the shelf where it belongs.