Easter Bunting

Hello!
I am all ready for Easter, at least the decorations are ready.
I finally made  my version of Nana Company's Spring banner. Well, I think mine is more a mix of Amy's from Nana Company and Sandra's from Cherry Heart.
I used Amy's pattern for the ticker tape applique that you can get at her blog, but changed the style of the banners to be more like Sandra's.

Eu estou pronta para a Pascoa, pelo menos a decoracao esta pronta.
Finalmente eu fiz minha versao da Spring Banner da Nana company.
Bom, eu acho que a minha e mais uma mistura das da Amy do blog Nana Company e da Sandra do blog Cherry Heart.
Eu usei os ricos para as aplicacoes estilo ticker tape da Amy, que estao no blog dela , mas mudei as bandeirolas para o estilo mais como as da Sandra do blog Cherry Heart. Os links est~ao na parte em Ingles.

Another change I made was to add a tulip, so I could have five different designs.
Outra modificacao que fiz foi adicionar uma tulipa, para ter cinco motivos diferentes.

Look how messy! Had to tie all the loose ends.  I made two bunnies and three chicks to be able to get favorites.
Olha que bagunca! Tive que amarrar todas as pontas de linha. Eu fiz tres coelhinhos e dois pintinhos para poder conseguir meus preferidos.

And here is the finished bunting (or banner).
I am very happy with how it come out, and it is a lovely addition to my Easter decor.
E aqui esta a banner terminada.
Eu estou muito feliz com o resultado e 'e uma linda adicao para minha decoracao de Pascoa.

Now, my cubby shelf all decorated for Easter. I was able to fill up all the twenty cubbies!
E agora minha prateleira cubby toda enfeitada para a Pascoa. Eu consegui encher todos os vinte espacos!

And one last thing. My fabric carrots I made following the tutorial from Clare's Craft Room.
E uma ultima coisa. Minhas cenouras de pano feitas seguindo o tutorial do blog Clare's Craft Room.

 

Happy Easter!

Feliz Pascoa!

Ana Paula.

A Robin

Hello!
I have a small finish to show.

The light is bad, and I wish I had stitched it on darker blue fabric, the white branches would show better... This is a pattern from Christiane Dahlbeck.
I made several changes, because of the aida fabric. The design has half stitches that would only work on linen. Very different half stitches. Well, I will have to live with it.

I wanted to use a small frame for this design. Could not find anything that worked at Michael's.
But I found this  laser cut frame at the wood aisle. I think it was about two dollars, no more than that. I spray painted white,  and because it is a flat frame, I had to do a little trick to finish the ornament.
I wish I had pictures.
I got a piece of white cardboard just a bit bigger than the frame opening and put it on the back of the stitched piece, folding the edges of the fabric to the back of the cardboard and gluing it with Tacky Glue.
After that,  I put a thin line of glue around the back of the opening of the frame and carefully pressed  the stitched piece against it.
To finish the back I glued white felt on the back of the cardboard.
The finished ornament has to lay on something to stand, but you can make a stand to the back using cardboard, or even glue a ribbon to hang.
I hope my directions are clear enough.
I just love this little frame, is so delicate! I think I will have more finishes like this.
It was the first robin I ever stitched, and I want to stitch some more. I love robins, never saw a real one, but I think they are just adorable, specially the European one.
The robin on The Secret Garden movie (I love it!) and Beatrix Potter's robin on her Peter Rabbit story
are my favorites.
Since I only have sparrows here in my courtyard, I got the robin figurine on the picture above at a gift shop in San Diego. He is darling!
Anyways, that was my first robin cross stitch, and the first ornament for my cubby shelf from my previous post.

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Ana Paula.

Thrift Store Treasures

Hello!
I love thrift stores! It's so exciting to look around and find something that you love!
I go often to Salvation Army, both for donating stuff and to shop.
Other day, we decided to go to Goodwill, and it was such a good idea.
I really love this cubby shelf from Pottery Barn. It looks so pretty on this picture.

And guess what? I was lucky to find this very similar shelf at Goodwill !!!

Close enough, even with only 20 cubbies. Just $15.00.
I am planning to use it to display cross stitch ornaments and seasonal trinkets, like at the banner on the  Little House Needleworks website.

Looks lovely with Diane's ornaments, don't you think?

And I found more...

I know...this looks so ugly! But I see potential here. My husband can't understand why:)

Much better without  the junk inside.

I also found this, that will be used for a project soon.

My last treasure is this unused muffin pan, with some scratches, but very good quality.
It was a great shopping day!
Now I need to work on some new cross stitch ornaments... have to find the time!
And one last thing:  a picture of  my lovely tulips.

Have a wonderful day!

Ana Paula.

Sewing and Valentine's Day

Hello! I hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day! We had a great day yesterday with lots of flowers! I just love these red tulips!

And look at the gorgeous pink roses my husband gave me.

Talking about Valentines, a while ago I made this table runner to donate to The Children's Tumor Foundation .

I had a hard time working with the batting. I will never get that stuff again. I am so used with cotton batting, that's the way to go.
I need to make a Valentine table runner for my side board. I had no time this year.
Right now, I am sewing some new clothes for Brenda. She is growing like a weed (a very cute weed), and outgrowing all her church dresses.
I have a big problem finding nice and affordable clothes for her now. Clothing people have no idea how a girl 8 and up should dress. Not like a teenager! And most of the teen stuff is not good anyways.
I will be making her a couple of new dresses and blouses, but for now I made some new skirts.

They are all very simple. This one has two layers.

And these two are made of very light corduroy.

This is the last one. Pink corduroy.

Some of the fabric I had for a while. I am working hard to use my fabric and declutter my place.
Now I have some Spring /Summer skirts to make.

Have a great weekend!

Ana Paula.

Daffodils

I finally have a finish!

This is a very small and simple finish, but I always loved this pattern.

It comes from one of my old cross stitch magazines from Brazil, and I believe it was originally from The Cross Stitcher, but I am not sure.

I love the bit of ribbon embroidery mixed with the cross stitch.
I had finished the stitching a while back but could not decide how to finish it. Seems like an eternity since I finished a cross stitch project.
Organizing my stitching stuff other day, I found the little hanger my friend Jodie gave me a couple of years ago, and here you go,I made a tiny mini quilt!
I know, the polka dot fabric was not being nice to me...one of those days. The dots are wonky, but I like it anyways.  And with the cold we are having here in Southern California, daffodils make you think of Spring.  I am starting to work on my little garden already.

Have a wonderful day!

Ana Paula.

Last Year.

Hello! Last year I made a lot of projects, did many things with my family, but was not able to post everything.
So, today I will try  to post some things, just for record.

The first ones are these fleece blankets. They are for Brenda's bed. Both are reversible.
The blue and white is on her bed right now, and it's very soft. The floral has a green back and it's also very soft. About two  years ago, we got a nice blanket for her bed at the store,but  she suddenly  got watering eyes and a running nose. After a couple of days we figured out that was the blanket. It went to Salvation Army and I made these ones for her. No more allergies.

For Brenda's baptism last June, I made cupcake liners from paper doilies. My friend Wynter made the cupcakes.

For her Baptism I also made the little satin bolero to match her dress. The dress is from Burlington Coat Factory.

For Colorful Clothes Day at school I made Brenda a new dress.

I also made some new hairbands.

As a birthday gift, I turned two of Brenda's cute old dresses onto new dresses for her American Girl doll Felicity. Ooops! Felicity was wearing the pink dress when I took the pictures. The lavender one inside the trunk is her original dress. I also made the thunk. The basket is from Great-grandma's. I used a lovely Laura Ashley fabric for the inside. I can't find pictures of Felicity wearing the new dresses.

I finally made the rainbow pencil roll, also for her birthday.

And a CTR towel for her Baptism using another of her sweet old dresses.

The last handmade gift,  was this set of scripture bag and cover that  I made using a lovely flower fairies fabric. In our religion is a tradition the child get a nice set of scriptures on her Baptism day. Brenda's Grandpa gave hers.

And I did more sewing :)  A cover for a bowl. Great for potlucks!

I worked on a couple of skirts for Brenda.

And for Christmas I made for her this sweet little doll that she named Daisy Rose. Her skirt is from another of Brenda's old dresses. I got the doll pattern on Etsy, and it was fun to make her.

Now, we did many things as a family this last year.

We went to the Children's Tumor Foundation Racing for Research Party On January.

And to the San Diego Walk on Fall.

We also went to the Highland Games, as we do every year. It was fun, they were promoting the movie Brave!

Even living near Disneyland we don't go there often. When we go is a real treat for Brenda.
This time it was amazing. Always is, but somehow things worked better than ever. The characters were just lovely. Such kind sweet people, that take the time to make a child feel special. They do a wonderful job! Oh! I made the top Brenda is wearing at Disneyland!

But, the highlight of the year was the trip to Brazil in August,  to visit my family.

Well. That's a huge post, but I guess I was able to show some of the things we did in 2012. There is a lot more, but I think I am fine now.
I will try very hard to post more often this year.  And to craft more.
Since we still in January, Happy New Year!

Have a wonderful day!
Ana Paula.