Happy New Year!

Hello my dear friends!

This will most likely be my last post in 2011, as the end creeps up on us so fast (and my holidays sneak away so fast too, *sob*). I will try to show you later on my Christmas presents--just a sneak peek here.

First, and above all, let me tell you how WONDERFUL you have all been cheering me on through bad times and good times, and in a way nursing me back to health. These have been 2 complicated, rough years healthwise and it has been fantastic to read your blogs, visit your gorgeous homes, gasp at your fantastic crafts and ideas and find new friends while sharing the little things I started creating again. Your messages have been truly appreciated and if sometimes I don't reply right away I always try to do so at some time.

I want to THANK EACH and EVERYONE of you for being here for me and hope to have many more wonderful days spent with you in 2012, which definitely will be a good one--no more treatments and total recovery, yeahhhh!!!! Just check-ups every 6 months :-)

This year has brought me new friends.

I was lucky enough to have met personally one of them, Carla of Simply by Carla who is an amazing quilter and patchworker--have to take pictures of the fabulous sewing / crafts bag she gave me for Christmas! It looks like a jigsaw puzzle but she says it's not as difficult as it looks. Right. As if I believed her :-)

Then there's Marjo of Marjo's Cosy Corner, a sister in arms as she had to go through the same ordeal I did this year. From knowing what the other one was going through I believe we were able to give each other some comfort and strength--I know she did / does to me!--and I'm truly glad we met this way. Hopefully we'll be able to meet personally in the near future, as Belgium is not so far away from Portugal!

Even though distance is a bit of a problem for meeting personally, there are other fantastic people who are always here to leave a kind word and share a smile--Meredith, Marilyn, Carol, MemeRose, Crissi, (hmmm... what is it with the M's and C's?!) Valeria, Susan, Jo...among so many others! (Please make sure you visit them too, you'll love their work!)

I wish you all and each one a Happy, Wonderful New Year full of joy and love and above all health--and hope to meet you here again soon :)

You're the best!

XXXXX

At last!

Hello, my dear friends! 

Bringing you a llittle bit of the Portuguese holiday spirit...

Amoreiras Shopping Center, probably the loveliest this year

A visit downtown Lisbon, that brought back fond memories of younger years...

The amazing Elevador de Santa Justa, connecting 2 streets downtown Lisbon

Detail of the XIX century elevator (and you can actually go up there!)

Burned down in 1988, the Armazéns do Chiado has a long tradition of merchandising (this was a trading area as far back as the XII century). When it was rebuilt after the fire they managed to preserve the front of the building, dating from the XVIII century, after the earthquake.

The arcades by the Terreiro do Paço

Terreiro do Paço, a.k.a. Praça do Comércio with the statue of D.José

The bridge connecting Lisbon and Almada

Two friends who finally met! Carla and I drooling over gorgeous fabrics :-) (we're sure the girl in the store thought we were nuts, asking her to take a picture of the 2 of us in front of all that fabric ;-) )

And I got to meet Pedro too :)

Christmas wouldn't be the same without a Nativity scene (next year I'll put up my grandmother's)

Sparkle and red berries scattered around the house

And some wonderful scents perfuming the entire place, with Marjo's tulip peeking from behind :)

So... who's coming over next for a visit? ;-)

Wishing you all a wonderful last week of the year 2011

xxxxx

Crochet purse handles tutorial

Hello my friends!

Some of you may know I have a Pinterest profile--it's hard not to get addicted to that place! I've discovered so many gorgeous things to craft, so many talented people... but above all, I've been creating a sort of "box of favourite crafts" I can get back to when I get the time and the opportunity to try something new.

On my dwellings I found this image of crochet purse handles, and a link to the blog with the tutorial.

The blog is Roberta Crochet & Cia and the tutorial is written in Portuguese... so when I saw someone asking for a translation (sorry, I can't find the original request!) I offered to do so.

Here's my translation, hope it's clear enough (it really is very simple!)

Crochet purse handles

Step 1

Make a chain 140 stitches long (approximately 90 cm long) and make 4 rows of sc (single crochet). Slip stitch the top and bottom rows together to form a tube. Join both ends of the tube, to form a circle. Reinforce these stitches to make sure they don’t come apart.

Step 2

Make a chain 35 stitches long (approximately 20cm) and make 8 rows of sc. Form a roll around the tube you made in step 1 and slip stitch it together, top and bottom row of your crochet strip.

Step 3

Chain 3;

Row  1: 3 sc;

Row 2: 4 sc;  

Row 3: 5 sc;  

Rows  4 to 16: 6 sc;

Row 17: 5 sc;  

Row 18: 4 sc;  

Row 19: 3 sc;

You can make it wider or longer if you’d like; work with crab stitch or single crochet around it to finish off . Make 2 to secure the purse handles onto the purse itself.

Please refer to Roberta's blog to see all images, I only added one for each step here but she has a step by step tutorial with more images. Thank you Roberta, for your very clear tutorial!

Hope this is useful! 

Have a wonderful week :)

xxxxx