pública ...

Saiu na revista do Público a semana passada, mas ainda não tinha visto .. A Andreia foi uma simpatia e avisou-me agora ... fica aqui uma foto roubada ao blog da Lara, e se quiserem ler o texto também está aqui no blog dela


 

best books of the year ?

just a quick post, to make me forget the dreadful presentation for a few minutes :P
inspired by this BC thread, I quickly glanced through my list of books read this year and came up with this temporary top 5:
- Norwegian wood, by Haruki Murakami
- The shadow of the wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
- Checkmate, by Dorothy Dunnett (Chronicles of Lymond, Vol VI)
- 84 Charing Cross Road, by Helene Hanff
- Second glance, by Jodi Picoult

Maybe this might change until the end of the year, but by the looks of my current TBR I don't think it will happen ...

And my list of favourite authors "discovered" this year (this time, in specific order):
1. Dorothy Dunnett
2. Haruki Murakami
3. Jodi Picoult
4. Ann Brashares (The sisterhood of the travelling pants was my favourite chic lit of the year, that's for sure ;-)

 

busy week

sorry, no new photos today - this week I will hardly have time to breathe so no updates on this blog until Thursday or so ... I have 3 projects to run at work (my other work, not the crafty kind), plus a really important presentation on Wednesday that's driving me insane :P
I did finish some knitting during the weekend, but nothing else since it was also my first weekend of the third level of the shiatsu course .. which was great, because even with all the stress this week I'm feeling quite relaxed - all those massages had to produce results :-) it was exhausting, both mentally and physically, but totally worth it. And I even had a pleasant surprise on Sunday: a friend I hadn't seen since summer showed up and it seems that life in Switzerland is agreeing with him ... to finish my weekend in greatness, a great concert of classical music at Gulbenkian followed by dinner with dearest friends ...unfortunately I didn't have the time to go and see the latest HP, but this week I will (and thank god it's a holiday on Thursday)
on a final note, the snow has finally arrived to the Alps and Andorra, which means a great skiing season this year (we only go twice a year, but we're just tooooo obssessed), so I leave you with a few photos from last year's trip to Val d'Isére.



 

kitty splurge :-)

.. I personally blame kitty-san for all this spending, she's the one who let me know in advance that these gorgeous items were coming to Oysho ;-) By the way, check out her site, she makes amazing scarves and beautiful fabric origami X-Mas ornaments like these.

and finished another matching set, orders from S. ...


 

new books and another cover

#134, order from V.



The new books from amazon.co.jp that T. helped me order have finally arrived, and they are soooo amazing. I love these japanese crafts books, they're always so original and although I can't understand any of the written instructions, usually the diagrams and photos that are included are quite self explanatory.

This time I chose these two: Simple Chic, because I love the simple cut and design of these dresses, and Zakka & Wear, because of all the cat designs, of course ;-)

Some of my favourite projects are these...



Zakka & Wear, ISBN: 4579110293




Simple Chic, ISBN: 4579109619

 

#133, #138 ... we love pucca :-)

#133, order from I.


#138, order from L.

 

bags #35, #36

I love bags and really like making them as well, so every time I finish one I feel like keeping it to myself :-) So I end up saving pieces of the same fabrics, hoping that sometime soon I'll have more time to make myself the same ones .... no wonder my fabric stash keeps growing ...

#35, order from B.


#36, order from G.

 

crafty weekend

with all the rain this weekend, I just felt like staying home and work on all the million things I have to finish before X-Mas ...although I did manage to spend Sunday morning at one of the malls and finish my X-Mas shopping (well, almost .. just a couple more presents to go and then I'll be really done ;-)

Otherwise, I didn't even go to the knitting meetup I had planned to, but instead I finished the knitting needle case for my trade with Laurie, the Hello Kitty pouches I'd been meaning to do since I got these cute fabrics - one is for me, of course, the other is an order from A... and crocheted two more X-Mas gifts for friends. In between all this I finally finished reading AFFC - fabulous reading, as all the others, but I just wish my favourite characters had been on this volume instead of the next one (I really miss Tyrion, Dany, Bran, Jon ...). So let's just hope Mr Martin doesn't make us wait another 5 years for "A dance with dragons" (supposedly it's almost finished, but who knows ?)







 

bag #35

another bag, #35, order from C. (it seems that everyone loves this fabric, it's one of my most popular requests :-)



...I still need to finish the other mitaine, but here's another X-Mas gift that is almost finished ... I'm so happy this year that I've been able to make a lot of the gifts for my friends, usually there's no time or not enough inspiration ...



... my trade from soniart has arrived .. lovely flower necklaces and matching earrings ... thanks sonia, I loved them :-)))



and look at these cuuute Pucca softies made by charlie-pop



 

kitty book

Just in time for X-Mas, my Hello Kitty crafts book has finally arrived :-))))))




 

birdies ...

#130, order from I.


#131, order from I.


#132, order from S.


 

#126, #127, #128, #129

#129, beige cover with pink hippo, order from I.



#126, #127, #128 ... simple bookcovers, order from P.






 

shopping and knitting

on Saturday morning I officially started my X-Mas shopping this season .. I mean real shopping, which means I actually went to the stores to browse and purchase things (online shopping started weeks ago ;-) I usually despair during these outings, because either I never find what I had planned or I get stressed with all the crowds and confusion which are normal during this season. But this time it actually went well ... not a lot of people, and I managed to buy all I wanted for my never-know-what-to-get-them uncles and aunts.
The rest of the weekend was very crafty - I'm really trying hard to finish all orders quickly and at the same time find time to do some of my own presents ... I did finish the pair of fingerless gloves in pink I was knitting, and added a small rosette on the side to make it a bit more feminine ...



... started and finished the first of many to come crocheted hats, from this pattern I wanted to experiment for quite some time now.



and started a couple of other X-Mas gifts, a restigouche scarf in two tones of pink mohair, and a pair of mitaines in striped blue (both patterns from Marie)







 

#124, #125

orders from D.





 

#123, needle case #5

#123, blue cover with dragonflies, order from C.



and needle case #5, order from S.



 

#122

#122, a special order from A., who loves diving ...



... and I started my X-Mas shopping early this year :-) This package arrived yesterday from Ricardo with a couple of gifts I ordered for A. (not shown here because he might be curious and read this ;-), and a few extra surprises ...