Craft em curso: a Manta

Decidi mostrar como está a minha manta para ver se apanho vergonha na cara e a acabo de vez! É que já ando com ela desde Maio de 2009 (MAIO DE 2009!!!!) e não há meio de a acabar...

Não me entendam mal, eu gosto muito da maneira como ela está a ficar. Mas estive taaaaanto tempo sem lhe tocar, e ela é tão grande, que parece que não saio do mesmo sítio.

Inicialmente ía pô-la na nossa cama. Mas a sacaninha ficou larga demais! Agora não sei se a ponha no sofá do salão, ou se a deixe dobradinha no sofá de casa para nos tapar a todos nos dias mais frios...

Uma coisa é certa: vou continuar a fazê-la até decidir que tem o tamanho certo para servir para alguma coisa.

Crochet and knitting projects

Hello, everyone! Last week I was reading my blog (I do that from time to time. Everyone does it right? RIGHT?) and I realised that I didn't show you the finished doilie. I took a picture of it with the intention of making a post with it, but then I got sick and forgot about it. So today I have decided that it was time to FINALLY show you the doilie.

Like I said, it's not perfect, but good enough for me. Since the beginning of Spring, the doilie is on our dining table with the Spring fairies and the fake flower.

The doilie is too small for the table, but for now it works. It has to work because I'm not going to do another one in the near future. Meanwhile, my sweet MIL taught me how to knit, and so I started a scarf.

See? There's me sitting on the couch knitting the scarf. I thought that knitting was not so difficult after all, so I made two scarves. The other one I gave it to my niece.

But now I have another love.

It's addicting and, because it will be HUGE in size, I only hope to not get bored with it (like the "Last Supper", remember?)

There you go. Meet the beggining of my ripple blanket.

Like I said, it will be huge in size. But I think it will be "oh so beautiful" on our bed and I can't wait to have it done.

Let's talk about cross-stitch, shall we?

After finishing the crochet doilie, I started to think what I wanted to do next. I have a lot of new projects that I want to do, but there is one unfinished project that I can't get off of my mind. It's a cross-stitch picture, and today I'm going to tell you all about it.

I learned how to crochet and cross-stitch when I was on primary school (between 6 and 10 years old). We used to make something for Mother's Day (which in Portugal is always on the first Sunday of May). Since then, I didn't even remebered I knew how to make those things, until my first niece was born. I wanted to make her a cross-stitch pillow, but didn't do it until my first nephew (her brother) was born. Then I made two pillows in cross-stitch, one for each. (I don't have pictures of them, but I'll ask sis to send me a few so that I can show to you)

By that time I was already dating hubby, and he was all into boats. So when he saw a few boats in cross-stitch in one of my magazines, he asked me to do them, and so I did.

After the boats, I made these ducks. They are in my kitchen.





After we got married, and before getting pregnant, I found this "Last Supper" and thought it was perfect for our dining room.


I started to make it, and then I got pregnant... and then the twins were born... and then my life was turned upside down... and then I had no time to do the things I liked. For the past 5+ years, this is how the "Last Supper" looks like.


Every time I try to do it, I feel overwhelmed and put it down after a few days. Just look at the amount of different colours it has. Just by looking at it, I feel overwhelmed already...



But I really want to finish it. That's why I've decided to alternate it with the new projects I want to make. After the crochet doilie, I'll be making the "Last Supper" for one month, then I'll make something else in crochet, and then one more month of cross-stitch, and so on until the "Last Supper" is finished. This way, I hope I don't get so overwhelmed and can actually finish it.

I'm starting this weekend. Wish me luck!...

It's done!

Finally, the doilie is done! It's not perfect, but I'm happy with it. I'm going to wash it, iron it and then I'll show it to you. But for now, I'll show just a little bit...

I know...

... I haven't been around much and I would like to apologise.

A lot has happened in the past two weeks, both good and bad. I've had a hard time accepting the bad ones, but God has helped me to pass through them. *thank you, Lord!*

The house is looking good. You know that we are trying to sell the house, and we've had more visitors to see it in February than the whole last year! So the house must be clean and tidy up all the time. I'm still having a hard time to stick to a daily routine to clean it, but I'll get there. And regarding the "organizing" part, I'm going to start again my challenges and mini-challenges. This way it will be easier.

My crochet doilie is almost done! I'll post a picture when it's ready. After that I think I'll do some cross-stitch. As for books, I finished reading "The edge of Winter" by Luanne Rice 2 weeks ago, and I LOVED IT!!! Last week I started "The Lucky One" by Nicholas Sparks.

And that's all. I hope you have a good week, with lots of love.

So, what have I been up to...

Oh yes, photos again! Let me remind you that these were taken with hubby's cell phone and this was really the best it could do. Now, let me tell you a little story:

Once upon a time (one year ago actually) I was really sad about my life. The house was messy, I felt messy myself; I didn't have the time to do anything I wanted, I didn't have time for ME and my stuff. Then, I decided it was time to change that. And so I started with the house, slowly putting it together: decluttering a few things here, organizing some things there. And then I started to breath again. But I still couldn't find the time for me and my stuff, because when I was at home I had to clean it and keep it organized. That's when it hit me like a bomb:

LUNCH HOUR ON WEEKDAYS!!!!!!!!!

I have one hour and a half for lunch from Monday to Friday, and instead of surfing the net I could do something I truly enjoy. So, 3 months ago, I attacked my parents books and found these

They are from The Readers Digest, and each one has 4 stories. I already read 3 of them, but before I read the others, I came accross these

and I had to buy them. I am now reading "Nights in Rodanthe" by Nicholas Sparks. (That's the second book, in black, see?)
Remember my pot holders? After doing them I wanted to crochet some more. Since I have so much white yarn that I bought several years ago (before the twins were even born, I think) to make doilies, I went thru some of my magazines and I found one doilie that I really like. So, I started doing it.

I don't know when, but it will eventually, become this:


That's a lot of crochet don't you think? But I think it is adorable!! I want to put it on our dinning room table, I think it will be beautiful. The kids are always asking to see if it has grown some more, but I think it will take me a few more weeks (or months actually!) to finish it.

Now my cross-stitch it's a whole other story and I'll tell you all about it some other day...

Photos!! Photos!!

Finally, the photos are here!

Remeber I told you that last Saturday we bought some things? Well, here they are:

The baskets for the books. Like I said before, it doesn't have to be pretty, just a designated place for the books that were in the living room. Now when the kids want to "read" one, they go there, take one, and after they're done with it they put the book where it belongs.

The new yarn. Aren't these beautiful?

I think that they can be used both in crochet and knitting. I still have to buy the proper hooks for crochet, and mom said she will give me her knitting needles. I don't know how to knit, but I already have 3 possible teachers: my mom, my grandmom and my MIL. They are all willing to teach me. You know, my grandmom used to crochet and knit a lot. When me and hubby got married she offered us a bedspread that she crocheted. It's beautiful! So when she asked me to show her the pot holders, I did:

They're not perfect, I know that. Just remeber that I don't crochet for a long time AND I was doing this without a tutorial. (I can't tell you how many times I had to UNDO the circular one!)

Anyway, this is what I wanted to show you!