My first week in Brazil

Today it's exactly a week ago that I arrived in my new city Sao Paulo.
It has been a week of very mixed emotions, culture shock and good vibrations! For the first 3 days we stayed in the hotel where my DH has been living for the past 6 months. Friday we got the key to the apartment and a bed, table with chairs and two fauteuils were delivered by a rental company. It will be all very basic until our container with our own furniture will be released by the customs authorities in Santos. When this will happen, nobody knows.... Our first impression of Brazil is of a very bureaucratic country where setting up life is very hard, but when you have taken that enormous hurdle, life will be great.

There is so much to tell but maybe I should tell you a little bit about my first Sunday in this city. That morning we went to the Ibirapuera park which is only a 10 minutes walk away from the apartment. On Sundays one lane of the main street, going along the park, is cordoned of for bicycles only. In the park many joggers in fancy outfits are running by, dogs are walking their owners and kids want to buy a fancy coloured toy. I simply love to watch the beautiful trees and flowers in the nursery.

Later that day we went to a street market and bought some delicious fruits and fresh vegetables, it feels so good to have this so close to the house. People are all so very kind and helpful although I can hardly explain what I want as I do not speak Portuguese yet. With my Italian and Spanish I can somehow survive, but the Brazilian Portuguese is a bit different...

This week the kids will join us here for their holidays and hopefully the gas in the kitchen will be working so we can cook a decent Christmas meal! A new friend borrowed us some plates, cups, pots and pans, and mattresses for the kids, so Christmas time will be celebrated in a kind of camping style!

As we do not have our TV yet, amongst so many other things (!), I want to get out my scissors, needles and fabrics that I stuffed in my suitcases. Hopefully I will find a quilt shop and meet like minded people soon! Hilde

We made the move!

With 2 dogs, 2 kennels and 2 suitcases I made it safe and sound to Sao Paulo!
We arrived last night and all three of us were tired of all the stress that comes with planning a trip like this.

I was lucky my parents could help me during the last days in Holland with all small errands I had to do. Here they are standing in line before the check-in at the airport of Amsterdam.

It is always hard to see the dogs in their kennels being transport to the no-go area, from where they will be taken to the airplane. They are in a special part of the plane where the air is at room temperature but without television...

My DH, who was already here for the last 6 months, and I are  are staying in a hotel, waiting for the keys to the apartment. We will rent some furniture like a bed and a table until our furniture will arrive.

I am prepared: I have enough fabrics with me, Japanese and K. Fassett, to make a few projects by hand in case the container with our furniture will be delayed.  The first-aid sewing kit is in my suitcase too!

While I am having a cappuccino at Fran's Cafe, outside people are lining up for tickets. It is so crowded and I have no idea for which event tickets are being sold, because I don't speak Portuguese yet. Later I found out it is for a U2 concert in April '11. Well, I prefer going to Brazilian concerts first! But not for now, I first want to 'make my bed' before anything else! Hilde

Java express quilt

Yes, I did it in the fastest mode ever! The quilt is done and I hope DD will like it. She better does! Washing instructions are visible on the quilt so she cannot go wrong, unless the colours will bleed as Xue mentioned earlier on...
I will leave it in The Hague so she can take it with her to London on her way back from Brazil after Christmas.

Isn't this cute! There is a big group of wild parakeets in The Hague and some other cities in Holland surviving the winters after having escaped captivity 6 years ago. Every year there are more and more of these green exotic birds.

My suitcases are almost packed, I have to do some more cleaning up and in the evening I relax with quilting the project visible on the sofa. Don't know if I will finish it before I leave next Tuesday. Never mind, there is no rush as I will be back in the apartment in a couple of months when I visit my family and friends and stock up on Dutch goodies. Hilde

Snow sew sew

All blocks, 90 in total, sewn together and spread out on the floor. Well, because the table and carpet has to move out of the way to make space for this action, Mr. Bickel takes the chance. I was hesitating if I would make the quilt smaller to make the quilting by machine go easier, or do it in 2 pieces, but I just left it as it was.

Outside the first snowstorm passed and left a thick white carpet on the streets. Freshly fallen snow, I love it and so does Mr. Bickel! Outside my window  birds are coming and going to the feeding station on the small balcony.
Inside my old Bernina, about 18 years already, is doing a great job with quilting in the ditch and diagonal lines over this huge quilt. The quilt seems to be growing while pushing it through the small opening next to the needle. It is a hurdle I do not like and I am afraid to pucker the quilt.

Quilting is finished, what a relief! Now only the binding and I will concentrate on my flight to Brazil next week: dogs health check, official stamps for customs, 2 kennels, 2 suitcases to pack, cleaning the flat, lunch with friends, one more quilt bee with my new friends and many other things... Hilde

Mom, can you make me a quilt???

Chat over Skype with my DD in London:

DD: Mom, can you make me a simple quilt?
Me: sure, but all fabrics are in the container on their way to Brazil...
DD: well, you can buy some new ones!
Me: I will be leaving in 2 weeks!
DD: I was thinking about a simple one with only squares, big squares
Me: hmmm
DD: :-))
Me: what colours would you like
DD: can you make me with some Asian fabrics? I miss Singapore...
Me: I will see what I can do
DD: :-))

Well, what can you do when your child wants you to make a quilt and you like doing this? I have 2 weeks left before I leave for Sao Paulo and not much on hands, so why not! My DD has lived in Singapore for almost 8 years, during her teenage years, and during the wintertime she misses the tropics a lot.

Can you imagine how happy I was to find a wide selection of Java batiks in a new fabric shop in The Hague?! They bring back good memories.
I will cut blocks of 25cm square and sew them randomly in rows.

This should be easy and quick, right?

I you are interested in the new fabric shop, it is De Boerenbonthal Stoffen. They have a shop in Amsterdam and since November 9 opened their second shop in The Hague at de Papenstraat.

Java batiks and boerenbont (traditional farmers cloth), two traditional fabrics the Dutch have a lot to do with!
I better get going and focus on this Asian batik quilt. Hilde

Set of 3 in snake print

One of the small things I wanted to do today was to finish this set of boxes. I made a box similar to the bottom one before, for a dear friend (click here). It turned out be such a nice combination of colours, that I wanted to make a few more in different sizes as you can see on these pictures.

Covered completely in book binders linen, snake print paper on the outside and Italian paper on the inside and a small metal handle attached to the lid.

Sizes are in cm: 24(w)x17(d)x11(h), 16(w)x12(d)x8(h) and 8(w)x8(d)x7(h).


The set of 3 boxes is available for 75 euros, not including shipping, anyone interested? Hilde

New house on the block

If you google 'house on the block' you get a lot of different options: ugliest, loudest, spookiest, coolest, best, looniest house... well, this one is certainly none of those, it is the latest one I made for my Dream House Quilt. Because that is what I still do: dreaming about our next house in Sao Paulo.

With Cosmo embroidery threads, I have spruced up some houses I finished before.

Our new home should have at least one room for my sewing and box making, some flowers in pots will be added and with the dogs there too it will be quickly my new best place to be!

Because we have not found a place yet, I will stay in Holland for a few more weeks. More sewing can be done on this quilt while slowly the snowflakes will start covering the streets. Just hoping to be in Brazil in time for Christmas!

And yes, I finished my Saturday project. It was an easy and simple design. This is me in my mom's garden!
Hilde