Independence Day!

Yesterday Costa Rica celebrated our Independence Day. We had a great time. I live in a little town about 30 minutes from everywhere, it's close enough to be comfortable, but far enough to still retain the country charm. It's one of the few towns that has parades in front of the local church, whereas all the rest go to the major cities and have the parades there.

I wanted DD to have a big heart for her country, I never liked those parades much, having participated every school year in them, it's always hot, thirsty and tiresome, but as a mommy I need to build her country spirit.

We walked from our house to the "town square", about a mile, mile and a half, and got just in time for the parade, in which children from the local schools play marches and cheerleaders and batons and flags move to the beat. It was really nice and all of us enjoyed the nice day out.

My father-in-law flew in from Guatemala, where he currently lives, so he had a taste of the local custom as well. He only comes about once a year, the last time he came was when DD had just turned three. I was a little worried, since she doesn't see him much how would she react to him. He is a big burly guy full of hugs, but to both my DH and my amazement, she hugged him and never let go. They have been glued together this whole weekend. I was very happy for that, and he is just static. I wish we could see him and his wife more, they look like they need family around.

It's FRRRIIIIDDDDAYYYYY!!!!

Hurray!! Friday!! and a long weekend to boot :)

There's so much I have to do before I log off, but I'm happy. Today is one of those days that you feel you can actually finish your to do list at work. It's beautiful!

I'm also crocheting a wonderful something...not sure if a table top or a rug, depends on the size. It's currently 7 inches accros and I'm doing round 9 of 28, so there's a high possiblity it's a rug. I'm using a size E hook and kithchen twine for thread. I love the stuff, most of my work is done using that. It's really cheap cotton twine, 6 ply and works wonderfully for crochet as well as knitting. Aran knitting look marvelous done in that stuff. I love that natural color and feel, completely opposite from the acryllic stuff, which is mostly what I get down here.

The pattern is from one of my favourite magazines of all time, it's called "Trabalhos em Barbante", a Brazilean production made specifically for, you know it, projects made from kitchen twine :) A match made in heaven :P

Have a safe weekend everyone!

A very sad sad day...

A few years ago, I was working in a souvenier shop in El Pueblo, we closed the shop at around 10 or 12 every night, opened at 10 am, a really tough schedule. We used to crash the second we hit the bed and woke up just in time for a quick shower and hurry to the shop again. So when the phone rang at around 7 am I was not a happy camper. It was my mom, the only thing she could mutter was put CNN something happened in New York. Her voice was so weird I just turned on the TV. I thought it was a prank, there, before my eyes, was a burning tower. I nudged my husband awake and in panic saw how the second airplane hit the towers, Mom was still on the line, the three of us completely silent. How horrible it was to see the towers go down, all those people panicking, it was terrible to see, I don't want to imagine how terrible it was to have been there. My cousin's husband works as a police officer in the Big Apple, it wasn't until later that we found out that their child was sick that day, and they had taken her to the doctor's office. He didn't go to work that day, otherwise I'm quite sure he would have been in one of the towers helping people, his jurisdiction is that area.

I cry everytime I remember that day, although I did not lose anybody it doesn't mean the lives lost mean less. My heart goes out to all who lost relatives and friends in that tragedy, may God always fill your hearts with peace.

Love

Irene

There's no place like home!

aaahhhh there's no place like home :)



I'm working from home today, the beauty of being the only person on my team in the country, the rest of my team is scattered all over the place: Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and US, it's a beauty.



As promised, here are the pics of my corsé. I haven't started sewing it yet, but at least I have all the pieces cut and labeled, hope it's not too hard to piece together. I'm still trying to figure out the ribs...don't know what I'll do. I did see someone was using the plastic from the ice cream containers to make ribs, I don't think I'll go that far, but I guess anything can work.

Uncut pieces...

Me cutting my pieces...
Mama's little helper :)all pieces cut and labeled...

I made the pattern myself. When I was like 12 mom decided it was a good idea I learn to sew, so she took me to a sewing school, in which they not only taught me how to handle needle and thread, but also how to make my own patterns. I have never thanked my mom, I used to hate going, but it is one of the most useful things in the world to know. Funny thing is, I can't follow normal patterns like MCcall's, I can't understand them :P. So now I make patterns for everything and they fit like a glove....I love it!!

Wish me luck on sewing my project!!

Another Monday Morning

Why are Monday mornings so awful? I can't seem to get a grip on Monday mornings, breakfast is eaten in a hurry, I can never find anything to wear, DDs hair looks terrible no matter what I do, she always cries (she is quite brilliant so she refuses to go to preK because it is "too boring", happened to me too), my DH requires a crane and a drill sergeant to get out of bed. Just plain horrible! To top it off, I had to come to the office today!

Anywhooooo...I guess we have to live with Mondays, just makes us wish Saturday and Sunday would last forever.

I started my corsé yesterday, I made the pattern, marked the fabric and cut the pieces...so far so good. I do have one problem, I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to use as ribs. I don't know where I can get lingerie ribs around here, and I don't know what to use as an alternative. I have to do some research on that.

I took a lot of pictures yesterday of my progress, but of course forgot the SD Card at home, so I'll post them tomorrow. I do however have pics of past projects....enjoy...

Oh, and yes, I'm finishing the mini skirt by hand, I could't help myself :(

Sewing troubles...

I'm having the hardest time sewing a really really cool skirt I saw. Here's my inspiration:

And here's how it's coming along:

Of course I'm not using real leather, it's just PVC, but man is it giving me headaches!! I've set the machine's tension to the fullest and the thread is still bunching up underneath...URGH!!

In a desperate move I have decided to sew with the right side facing up and completely ignore the thread bunnies underneath, it's not a skirt I'll use all the time anyways and I'm not planning to enter any contests with it, sooooo...as long as it doesn't fall off in the middle of the Club, I'm good. Which of course isn't true since I'm a perfectionist, probably what will happen is that I'll finish it by hand. it's such a cool idea, it's just killing me!!

I do have a corset planned with the same material in the nearby future, so I better find a solution soon.

On a lighter note....

I finished this beautiful shirt for my DD, it came from a Burda magazine Pattern (03/08 pattern 132B)

She looks absolutely adorable in it :D

Enjoy!

Intro

Hello dear reader, welcome to my first post.

My name is Irene and I love (not like, love) crafts, right now my fav's are Knitting, Sewing, Crocheting and Scrapbooking. Besides doing crafts, I have a 9-5 job and a family, so my day is pretty full.

I would like this blog to be about everything that is important about my life, so you will see me jumping from subject to subject with no clear path, somewhat similar to my state of mind :)

This is one of my latest inventions, I had some left over yarn and knitted up the Scrap Baby Sweater, it's kinda cute, my daughter looks wonderful in it...Pattern came out of my head, color was due mostly to the amount of white I had at hand. Hope you like it :)

Thanks for dropping by

Hugs!