Mushrooms, hazelnuts, stone path and one quilt

Autumn has finally arrived and the leaves have turned to gold. There are many simple things that make me happy and this last week was full of them. A visit to the countryside, collecting Saffron milk cap mushrooms, picking hazelnuts, making a stone path and a quilt to match the colour of the leaves.

Percy Power

Percy Power says it all really, so if you are thinking of starting a little garden or just making yours a little happier then Percy has the right advice for you, just take a few minutes to listen. This purse is travelling North as we speak I hope it makes someone happy somewhere in Italy. A little Autumn garden cheer.

Golden Autumn

A pretty new golden autumn purse for sale on bigcartel. The weather has been amazing lately and what should be the beginning of a fresher season has turned out to be a even better and hotter extension of the summer that has now passed, with temperatures in the low 30s. Chestnuts are being roasted and sold on the streets and I am saying "bring back the ice cream!". The city feels a little strange and slightly out of sync and the smoke from the roasting chestnuts creates a haze that makes it all seem even more romantic. The perfect time to start growing pineapple heads.

Don´t look into the sun...

This baby quilt is pretty much finished now... I am happy with the way it turned out... the nice textured fabric was an old tablecloth that was not being used anymore and the combination with the african fabrics works really well. It is so nice and cheery as are the days here. The yellow flowers remind me of sunflowers and in turn of what Allan Ginsberg said, that "we´re all golden sunflowers inside, we´re all blessed by our own seed & golden hairy naked accomplishment." (Sunflower Sutra)

Come together...

The quilt I started earlier this week is almost finished, I just need to find a suitable fabric for the backing. And so I started another quilt. The fabrics I am using for this second mini quilt are vintage Portuguese and a vintage tablecloth I picked up from Stockholm that was slightly damaged in one corner and so I did not feel so bad about cutting it up. I am thinking about using an African batik fabric to join all the squares together. The African fabric has tones of yellow and midnight blue... I think it will come together nicely.

By next week I hope to have these 2 quilts finished and move on to new projects. Exciting.

Patch it up...

Well... finally getting back on track with the studio and why not start by patching things up. This is the beginning of a small but special quilt. The season has started to change and the nights feel cooler. Even the swallows have left to spend the winter in Africa somewhere south of the Sahara. A transitional season. It is a welcome change, as is this step forward into my rhythm. I like it.

It has been sometime...

...
New studio...
... back on track. Soon I hope.

I will keep you posted. I promise it won´t be so long this time. As Douglas Adams said " I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." And perhaps a change of direction is on the cards. Lots of ideas for new projects which at the moment have little to do with bags, but I´ll just have to wait to see what happens. If you happen to be near and want to stop and say hi, I am in Lisboa, Chiado. It would be nice to see you.

Another year, another quilt.

Moving on with some fabrics I bought last year, I made another quilt combining vintage curtains. I am very happy with the result and hope to soon have the time to get back on track with making more bags. For now another month will go by of decisions and indecision.

Patching a little path together, just like bits of fabric, for the months and seasons to come. Taking it easy, wasting time. Montaigne´s take on his friendship with La Boétie would suggest "... we pick our friends not only because they are kind and enjoyable company, but also, perhaps more importantly, because they understand us for who we think we are."* And so I hope.
*Alain de Bottom

2011

"The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you´re uncool"
Lester Bangs