PatsyPoo Makes

It was good while it lasted. No, actually it was GREAT while it lasted but as it was expected, our British heatwave has come to an end... This morning I actually was woken up by an extremely loud thunder! Barbecue monkey  For the almost 3 weeks of heat the Grundys had more barbies than I can count. And Ginner finally got his apron - which I started about 3 years ago... Oops! I'm so rubbish. The apron in the kitchen It was the very first ever item I've ever sewn. I really like the pocket fabric on the blue. The red and white check looks decidedly cooking and kitchen related to me. Mr Barbecue-man I don't know what took me so long to finish it. At least it's ready in time for more barbies, hopefully, until the end of this summer. The pocket has 3 different sections: 1 wide enough for a phone and other bits to drop to the bottom and 2 long and narrow ones for utensil handles to slot in. Go away with this bloody camera already! I think he likes it - ...

I have been keeping myself incredibly busy the past few days. Especially yesterday. But I don't have anything to show for it, unfortunately. Well, nothing completely finished, that is. However there are lots of bits of things and 'in-progress' shots. Which is a good thing otherwise this would be a pretty boring post. So last week was spent doing some of this: Sprucing up a tea towel  I also found time to catch up on this: Wild Olive Summer Stitching Club 2013 And I worked a little on this: Another tea towel make over in progress But once these arrived, there was not much else happening around here...  New Books! Except for this Grapefruit and Olive Oil pound cake. Which sounds slightly weird but as with every recipe I've ever tried from The Smitten Kitchen , it was lovely. Even Ginner really liked it and he despises grapefruit! Grapefruit and Olive Oil Pound Cake Yesterday was exclusively spent in the sewing room working on curtains for Ch...

Today I've got another teacher's gift to show. This one went to the Teacher Assistant in Liam's class. She was also going to get a bag but after the grief I had while making Miss Lockett's I quickly gave up on the idea. Hoje tenho outro presente para a professora pra mostrar. Esse é o da assistente na classe do Liam. Ela ia ganhar uma sacola também mas depois da aflição que eu passei fazendo a da Miss Lockett , desisti da idéia. Log Cabin Quilted Mug Rug Miss Stephenson is getting a mug rug. It's a cross between a placemat and a coaster so you have room to put your drink on one side and a snack, biscuit, cookie or cake on the other. A Miss Stephenson vai ganhar um 'mug rug' (tapete para caneca). Ele fica entre uma esteirinha de mesa e um descanso de copo. Tem espaço para uma caneca e um biscoito, bolo, etc ao lado. Embroidery detail I got the pattern from  this Wild Olive post . I missed out the I heart Tea writing because I'm not actua...

I have finally smitten the Bag of Doom! Finalmente derrotei a Sacola dos Horrores! The back of the Bag of Doom Many weeks ago, Liam and I decided we'd make a patchwork bag with embroidery detail to give to his teacher as an end of year present. Boy, oh boy, have I lived to regret that move! It was my first ever attempt at patchwork and, although I learned a lot while working on it, our ship never sailed smooth waters. Well, actually, the embroidery panel went well. Liam wrote the message himself then I enlarged it and transferred it onto the fabric. It is surprisingly difficult to stitch over a child's handwriting. Já faz um tempinho que nós decidimos fazer uma sacola de presente de fim de ano para a professora do Liam. Mas como eu me arrependi dessa decisão! Minha primeira vez trabalhando com retalhos e, apesar de ter aprendido MUITO com esse projeto, nada deu certo de primeira. Quer dizer, o bordado no centro foi tranquilo. Mas só. Ele escreveu a mensagem, eu aume...

Right now, as I type this, I'm sat at the table on my patio, under the parasol. The sun is setting in front of me (well, setting as much as it will do at 6pm on a hot July afternoon) and there's a big glass of tonic water, ice and orange slices sweating to death right next to me. Now THIS is the life! Estou escrevendo esse post, sentada debaixo do guarda-sol, no meu jardim. O sol está se pondo, lentamente, como de se esperar às 6 horas numa tarde de julho. Só vai se pôr oficialmente hoje às 21:31. Tenho um copo de água tônica, cheio de gelo e fatias de laranja suando um absurdo ao meu lado. Êêêêêê, maravilha! Patchwork cushion covers

Yes, three crafts in one post! Which means elenty-billion pictures... Sim, hoje temos três formas de artesanato em um post só. O que resulta em trocentas fotos... Three in one!

I was taught how to crochet by my best friend's mum about 15, 16 years ago. I did some borders on tea towels but that was the extent of it. I never 'got it'. For me, knitting came easy. I hardly have to think about it. But crochet... I always found it so damn difficult. A mãe da minha melhor amiga me ensinou a fazer crochê há uns 15, 16 anos atrás. Eu fiz uns barradinhos em uns panos de prato mas parou aí. Nunca me apaixonei como por tricô. Sempre achei super difîcil. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago a lovely lady I follow on instagram was asking advice about how to start crocheting. Next thing I know she almost had a bloody blanket to show off! This made me wonder why can't seem to be able to do this. Everyone always says it's so easy... So I went and got these: Mas uns dias atrás, uma moça que eu sigo no instagram estava pedindo conselhos em como aprender a fazer crochê. Em seguida, ela tinha quase um cobertor pronto para exibir! O que me fez pensar "Por...

Hell yeah! I made a skirt! I made it. A skirt. A MAXI skirt! AND... It's knit fabric! That's right, k-n-i-t fabric. It stays on and everything. I'm so proud of myself. Don't get me wrong, there are a LOT of things wrong with it. But I learned so much and I'm cutting myself some slack as it was the first one. Pois é, eu fiz uma saia! Eu que fiz. Uma saia. Uma MAXI saia! E... usei tecido malha, que estica! Não cai nem nada. Estou super orgulhosa de mim. Quer dizer, tem muita coisa errada com a saia. Mas aprendi tanta coisa enquanto a costurava que valeu a pena. E eu ainda sou iniciante, né? Ready to cut I used this formula to make mine but if I made it again I'd have to make the waistband shorter because mine was a bit too baggy after wearing it all day. I fixed it now. Eu usei essa fórmula para fazer a minha, mas se fizesse outra, diminuiria o tamanho da faixa da cintura porque a minha alargou depois de usar a saia o dia inteiro. Agora já concertei. ...