One of the things I like about living here is that people nowadays accept the foreing concepts of Halloween and they add it to their own traditions here in Mexico. I think is kind of funny to see papel picado hanging from the houses mixed with ghost, pumpking decorations, and plastic graves. The neighborhood even has a Día de Muertos celebrations that is basically for the kids to go trick or treating.
Last weekend we visited downtown and to our surprise there was a "Zombie parade" scheduled for that afternoon. It is supposed to be a manifestation of the interest of the Mexican youth to participate in politics. I bet more than half the paraders thought it was a Halloween parade of so. At the same time there were "Concheros" dancing next to one of the many churches around downtown in commemoration of Día de muertos. The Zombies paraded right next to the Concheros, it was a bizarre scene... I thought of posting pictures but those zombies were gruesome.
On a more crafty note, I just unpacked my Halloween bunting. I thought it was a good idea to re-post it since the day is almost here and this bunting is so easy and quick to make.
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I actually made two tutorials: one in English and one in Spanish, both of them include the template for the flags of the bunting.
You can find the English version of this tutorial here and the Spanish version here.
These are my favorite pants at the moment. I'd say that they really look like pants, or a skirt but they are amazingly comfy. I found mine in Argentina in a Pakistani bazaar. After studying them a bit I realized they are not that hard to make. I guess this tut is good for whomever loves to sew their own clothes or simply for those that don't have a middle east goods supplier around town.
Here we go...
Since these pants come in "one size fit all" kind of sizing, I used a 66" by 44" fabric. This is a Vlisco Wax Hollandais cut that I've been treasuring for years. Iron and trim the fabric from selvage to selvage. Spread it in a big enough space: table top or floor.
Fold your fabric in half like so... check that the "V" in the middle measures the same on both sides.
You'll end up with two flaps on the sides. Fold those in half and pin them to the rest of the fabric.
Flip the pants, and do the same with the other side.
Sew the previously pinned legs. One seam is in the from, the other seam is in the back. If you have a baby lock thingy majiggy go for it, if not just run a zig zag in the edge of the fabric to avoid fraying.
For the waist line, put the pants on and measure how high do you want them to be, mark them and cut.
The way you keep your pants in place is a personal matter. I cut some bias and made an elastic casing for the waist. For the ankles, I hemmed them and put some elastic tape through the hem.
Easy peasy!! This is me with my new pants posing for you.
and me again... with my etching press...
Now, who's brave enough to go out wearing their freshly made pants?? I kind of look like a weirdo around here but that's OK with me.
Around
2009 a dear friend, the one that got me into quilting, gave me one of
her two antique sewing machines, for me... to keep.
It
has lived in storage for already four years. This time around we have
enough space for it to be displayed. It turns out that base on the
serial number, this treadle sewing machine is dated way back to 1919.
It was made in Elizabeth, NJ in the first large Singer factory for
mass production.
If
this info is correct, that makes this sewing machine 94 years old.
With such an old age, I can't helped but wonder about all the places
this sewing machine has being to, and how many owners it already has
belong to. For sure it has already being in three different countries
with us!
Who
did this sewing machine belong to? Was it a sewing machine for
working or for leisure? How much did the first owner paid for it? I
wonder if it ever was used for the making of quilts...
If
this machine could talk, I'd be all ears.
There's
a good chance we can put this baby to work again. The belt and the lid
to the bobbin are missing.
I
feel lucky and forever grateful for owning such a treasure.
Time
sure flies by!! I just realized that this week is my blog anniversary,
and my birthday too!! The birhtday celebration is usually full of mystery as the girls and my husband plan and prepare something fun.
El
tiempo vuela, me acabo de dar cuenta que esta semana es el
aniversario de mi blog y también
será
mi cumpleaños. La
celebración
de cumpleaños
es usualmente un misterio; las niñas
y mi esposo siempre planean y preparan algo divertido.
As
for the blog anniversary, I'd would like to celebrate with a week of
3KF quilting tutorials. In five years I wrote 12 free quilting
patterns, and a 2 free embroidery patterns. Most of them are in
English and Spanish.
From
my point of view, this quilty world is mostly about sharing.
Technically, there is very little that is new under the sun besides
gadgets and new products; it doesn't make sense to keep quilting
knowledge for oneself. That's why I love sharing it all in tutorials
of what I've learned so far.
It's
my way to say thank you to the craft/quilting community.
En
cuanto al aniversario de mi blog, me gustaría
celebrar con una pequeña
retrospectiva de los tutoriales que he compartido en este espacio. En
5 años
he escrito 12 tutoriales de quilting y tengo también
dos patrones de bordados de descarga gratuita; la mayoría
de ellos en inglés
y español.
Personalmente,
pienso que el quilting es más
que nada algo para compartir. Técnicamente
no hay nada nuevo bajo el sol en cuanto este tema aparte de nuevos
aparatos y productos; qué sentido puede tener guardárselo
para una sola? Por eso es que me gusta escribir estos tutoriales y
compartir lo aprendido.
I'll be re-posting some of my favorite
tutorials to remember with you what have I done so far, and to share
it with the readers that didn't know this blog for that long.
Stay
tune for a week of tutorial, and maybe a little surprise at the end
of the week.
Esta semana publicaré
otra vez mis tutoriales favoritos para recordarlos con ustedes y para
compartirlos con quienes no saben de ellos.
Las
espero a una semana llena de tutoriales, quien quita y haya una
sorpresita al final de la semana.
I
made some draw string baggies sets, they waited for a while for the
string (ribbons in this case) to finally be done. I used the first
paper hexies I cut by hand to make the appliqué
part. For me ribbons are hard to resist, I've been carrying a box of
ribbons for quite a while that gets its spools of ribbon goodness
renewed every now and then.
Hice
estas bolsita con jareta y se me quedaron guardadas esperando a que
les pusiera el listón.
Usé los primeros
hexágonos de papel que
corté a mano para hacer
el appliqué de las
flores. A mi me encantan los listones y los rollos de cinta, he
acarreado en mi mudanza una caja llena de carretes de cintas que se
me acaban y renuevo una y otra vez.
Today in Mexico we’re celebrating “El Día del Niño,” “Children’s
Day.”
It’s the first time my daughters get in touch with this part
of Mexican culture. They woke up all excited about the celebration they’ll be
having at school: special lunch, movie time, extra recess, so on and so forth.
Hoy en México estamos
celebrando el Día del Niño. Es la primera vez que mis hijas lo celebran como
parte de la cultura Mexicana, así que
esta mañana se levantaron muy contentas pensando en todas las cosas que iba a pasar
en su escuela en este día tan especial: una iba a tener un lunch especial, otra
que iban a ver una película, otra va a tener más recreo…
In
order to commemorate such a wonderful day [blog-wise,] I’m posting an
inspiration mosaic with some freebies, and ideas to make something special for
your children, or for the little child that lives in our hearts.
I hope you feel inspired as well, and that you celebrate in any part
of the world a wonderful Children’s Day.
Para celebrar este día en mi blog, decidí hacer un mosaico lleno de inspiración y con algunos
patrones gratis para hacer algo especial ya sea para nuestros niños o para el
pequeño niño que aún vive en nuestros corazones.
Espero que se sientan inspiradas y que celebren un muy feliz
día del Niño en donde quiera que estén.
Enough
with the celebrations! At least the all the Christmas and New Year
celebrations. I feel extremely well rested and excited to start
working on the new projects for this year.
Resolutions??
not as a list or so, for me this year will be about being more
positive, and grateful for the oportunities that I have to keep
growing up. About my sewing projects, I'd just say that my head is
bursting with many ideas to try out, and my sketchbook is also
getting filled with plans for new embroidery patterns, quilts, and
prints (as in printmaking.)
Suficiente
con las festividades! Al menos las de Navidad y Año Nuevo. Estoy
super descansada y con muchas ganas de empezar a trabajar en todos
mis proyectos para este año.
Acerca
de propósitos de año nuevo, tengo algunos pero no en forma de
lista, este año quiero enfocarme en ser más positiva y más
agradecida con las oportunidades que me da la vida y seguir creciendo
a nivel personal. En cuanto a mis costuras y bordados, les cuento que
mi cabeza esta llena de proyectos esperando a materializarse y mi
cuaderno de dibujo también se llena rápidamente de bocetos para
patrones de bordado, quilts y grabados también.
As
family, we're again facing a new adventure. This year we're moving to
a new location, not only a new house or a new city. The 3KF household
is moving to a different country [again,] this time: Mexico!!
A
nivel familiar estamos a punto de empezar una nueva aventura. Este
año nos mudaremos otra vez, no solo de casa, o de ciudad. Esta
familia se muda a otro país [otra vez], esta vez nos vamos a
México!!
Are
we excited? Yes, we are!! I have to be grateful for this oportunity to spend some time in my own country but this time with the whole gang.
I left Mexico 16 years ago to study abroad. We're moving to a
different city from the one I used to live in, so it's kind of new to
me too.
Qué
si estamos contentos? Si lo estamos!! Tengo que estar agradecida por
esta oportunidad de pasar un tiempo en mi propio país pero con toda
la tropa. Dejé México hace 16 años para estudiar en el extranjero
y ahora vuelvo a otra ciudad que no es en la que yo vivía, así que
para mí es todo nuevo otra vez.
From
next month on, this blog will be more about embroidery and
handstitching. My sewing machine will be traveling with the rest of
our stuff in the belly of a big ship to Mexico.
A
partir del mes que viene, mi blog sera más acerca de bordados y
trabajos a mano ya que mi máquina de coser estará otra vez
viajando en la panza de algún buque a México.
Here
in the southern hemisphere, things move in a totally different
direction from what we were used to. Contraire to the North
hemisphere, here we're almost at the beginning of Summer. The heat is
quite unbearable with temperatures rising into the 90 degrees
farenheit, and witha almost daily humidity of 70%. We 'have to' spend
most of our afternoons in the pool. On the other hand, school is almost
out. With all these, sadly, Christmas is kind of in the back burner.
Acá, en el hemisferio sur, las cosas se mueven totalmente en dirección contraria a lo que estábamos acostumbrados. De manera opuesta al hemisferio norte, acá, en Argentina estamos a punto de recibir al verano con temperaturas cercanas a los 90 grados farenheit y una humedad de alrededor del 70% (al menos en Córdoba) casi todos los días. Pasamos la mayoría de las tardes refrescandos en la alberca. Aparte del calor, el año escolar está por terminar y con todo esto la Navidad está tristmente olvidada, dejada de lado.
Tomorrow
is the last of day of school for my girls, and I finally found the
time to make some cosmetic pouches for some of their teachers. What can
I tell you?? School was far off from what we expected, it was a
tough year. Yet, we managed to come around some amazing teachers,
that put their hearts into making my girls feel comfortable in their
new environment. For all that I'm thankful.
Mañana es el último día de escuela para las niñas, encontré el tiempo para hacer unos bolsitos de cosméticos para algunas de las maestras. Cómo les explico?? La experiencia educativa de estos lares fue muy diferente a lo que esperabamos, fue un año muy duro. Aún así, tuvimos la suerte de tener maestras fantásticas que se esmeraron en hacer que nuestras hijas se sintieran integradas a su nuevo entorno.
You
know what our craft is all about, we crafters talk through our
stitches. We don't have better way to say heartfelt “thank you”
than with a handmade gift.
The pattern for these pouches is in Rashida Coleman's book "I <3 patchwork."
Es solo un detalle, así somos los artesanos, los quilters, hablamos a través de nuestros trabajos, en mi caso de las puntadas y no tenemos mejor manera de decir 'gracias' sentidamente como con un regalo hecho a mano.
El
patrón de este bolsito cosmético es del libro de Rashida Coleman “I
<3 patchwork”.
I
had 21 or 22 drunkard path blocks. I spent some time looking at them,
arranging them in different ways.
Tenía 21 o 22 bloques de drunkard teminados, los veía, los pensaba, los acomodaba de diferentes maneras.
I cut them a bit, they measure
5.5”. I sewed them in rows of four, and I quilted it with wavy
lines. In the end it turned out to be a pillow. The front was made with Kona Solids. The fabric I used is from may "baking fabric" stash. The binding is Joel Dewberry's Ribbon Lattice in Gold.
Los achiqué,
cada uno mide 5.5”, los cosí
en filas de a cuatro. Los acolché
a máquina
haciendo líneas
ondeadas. Al final los convertí
en un almohadón. El frente del cojín esta hecho de Kona Solids, la parte de atrás es de mi 'banco de telas". El biés es "Ribbon Lattice" de Joel Dewberry.
Now it seats along side my other two favorite, favorite pillows on my bed.
Ahora está puesto en nuestra cama junto con otros dos de mis cojines favoritos.
When I finished the tutorial from the last post, I realize I can still make a little something out of the little scraps still left. Desdren plates have always been a favorite of mine and I always wanted a circular table topper. I quickly made a template, and I started cutting the spokes. In one peaceful Sunday afternoon I got to finished the whole thing.
Al terminar el tutorial de hace un par de días, me dí cuenta que todavía tenía tela para un proyectito más. El desdrén siempre ha sido uno de mis patrones preferidos aparte de que siempre había tenido ganas hacer de un mantelito redondo. De volada me hice un molde y empecé a cortar los rayos y en una tarde tranquila de domingo acabé el proyectito completo.
It measures 20 in. in diameter, part was machine quilted and part hand quilted, not that I quilted it a lot... The hardest part was the binding. I try to make some of that continuos binding but it didn't work, so it's far from perfect. Next time I won't try to get a shortcut and I will decently cut my bias pieces one by one.
Mide 20" de diámetro, el acolchado es parte a máquina y parte a mano, tampoco es que tiene mucho acolchado... La parte mas difícil fue el biés, traté de hacer un biés continuo pero no me salió muy bien. La próxima vez cortaré mis tiras una por una como corresponde en vez de tomar atajos.
The best part is that it was aproved by the girls who are anxiously waiting to make some Halloween cupcakes to share with their friends.
Lo mejor de todo es que fué aprobado por la chicas quiene esperan ansiosas el momento de hacer unos cupcake con tema de Halloween para compartir con las amigas.
