Warm and fuzzy.

This saturday we gave away our first gift hamper. It was composed entirely of products from our veggie garden. The hamper contained: 3 onions, 4 beetroots, mint sprigs, bay leaves, a bunch of pigweed, red currants, oregano, 3 jars of dried flowers to make tea, a dozen eggs, and a CD. The red currants are as tasty as they are pretty. And as you can see things are going well in our garden. I am super happy that we have enough for us and to give.

The CD in the hamper, did not grow in our garden but it was recorded here in Meimão so in a roundabout way it also grew here in our backyard. It is Charanga´s new Album. Going by the name of "Borda Tu", which means "Embroider", it is a break beat influenced Portuguese electronic folk mash that is sure to liven up any party. You should check out their site. And if you happen to be in Lisbon this Saturday, the 13th of July, you can go to their album launch.

Meanwhile, we are struggling here with extremely high temperatures, averaging 40 degrees celsius over the last week. I can´t complain really, otherwise these stories will turn into a list of weather complaints, "too cold", "too hot", "this rain is too wet" kind of blog. But the interesting thing is how fast we forget how cold it was when all of sudden it is always so hot. Last winter due to this very same temperature dementia we forgot to collect pine cones during the summer. Pine cones come in really handy when you need to light a fire in your fire place. Just a little hint. So today we climbed the hill, sweating profusely, to collect pine cones to keep us hot during the cold season. Couldn´t think of anything worse, like trying on a wool jumper in the middle of Summer.

Some pretty fresh fabrics I bought at the market, samples of 70´s curtain fabrics. just to cool us down a bit.

And back to wool again. A couple of weekends ago I went to a festival in Sortelha and there was a girl selling hand spun and died wool. The project is called Lhana, and has its roots in Duas Igrejas, a small town in Miranda do Douro, in the region of Trás-os-Montes. The wool is wonderful and is died using either natural or synthetic dies. If you want to buy wool you can get in touch through this email, lhana.info@gmail.com. I bought two skeins, both hand died, the grayish one was died using black berries and the yellow one using Reseda Luteola, commonly known as Dyer´s Rocket or woold. Now I have to think up some cool project to use this wool. Best done with a cold beer in hand.

Manecas... my first intern.

Manecas, my first ever intern, finished his woven scarf today. Manecas was brilliant and a super fast learner, I was very impressed. He helped with setting up the loom and from there he took over. He chose the colors to use, filled the navettes, and wove all on his own. He is a true natural. And he was very happy too with his work as can be seen from the photos. Manecas made his scarf over four sittings of about 2 hours each. One day we set up the loom and the others were spent weaving, 20 cm a day. I only helped with the last 18cm. I think it was a really fun experience for Manecas, who even mentioned that he wouldn´t mind being a weaver. For me it was very rewarding to see how happy my first intern was through the whole process and to see him learn so fast.

If that story was not enough to get you all happy on the inside, I leave you with Bela Luísa. She is the newest addition to the family. She is only 2 months old and extremely well behaved and very mellow, except for when she bites my ankles with her razor sharp teeth. According to Ti'Domingos from town she is going to be a good dog because she has four eyes and those are the best dogs. The extra 2 eyes are those brown spots above her own pretty, pretty eyes. And if you are wondering about her name, Bela Luísa, it is another name for Lucia Lima or Lemon Verbena, and is my favorite plant to make infusions with. Very soothing!

David´s Link Jacket

David´s green woven wool jacket is finally finished. I will be sending it off to the Blue Mountains tomorrow. As soon as David gets it he will start designing the buttons and will make me some buttons for my jacket too. I am very excited. You may remember David Loong from an earlier post. He makes the most wonderful jewelry and had made me my beautiful fibula. This jacket is my way of saying thank you.

David asked for a green jacket. I was free to choose the wool and so I opted to make the jacket from different shades of green. At first I thought it was going to look like a Christmas tree but I am very pleased with the result.

I used all 100% portuguese wool. I have to thank my model André Neto for being so brave and wearing it for these photos today in full sun and temperatures averaging 35, real feel 40 degrees. In the Blue Mountains it is getting cold and so I am sure this garment will be very welcome. According to David, at the moment, the spinach in his garden is "like an amazing showpony variety from the front of a posh cookbook", perhaps when they come around to take those photos David can wear his matching jacket. 

Sweet things

I have finished the workshop I told you about awhile back. The workshop was in the town of Maçainhas and aimed to teach how to make the "Papa" blanket a popular blanket in the region of Serra da Estrela made from sheep wool. The last factory making these blankets by hand closed last year and now in an attempt to preserve this tradition this workshop was organized. It was very useful, a lot of fun and hard work. Even though it was not exhaustive in the sense that we had the opportunity to try all the parts of the process involved in making these blankets we at least got to have a go at weaving. The loom is massive and old and has a brilliant system to work the shuttles that are propelled using a rope. It is a very physical job and extremely hard work. I got tired weaving a small section that was basically getting through a loaded shuttle, but a normal day in the factory implied that 7 blankets be made, each blanket measuring a little over 2 meters. After the blankets are woven they go into a machine that washes and felts and then another that cards, which is what basically makes the blankets have that hairy fluffy look. The blankets are then taken outside, (a process done only in Summer, the weaving normally reserved for winter), to dry in the sun, stretched on metal structures called "râmbolas". The felting and carding these days are made using machines but there was a time when these processes were also done by hand. The carding was done using the dried head of the wild Teasel. You can see Teasels pictured above. We also got to weave using smaller table looms, but for me this part of the workshop was not particularly interesting.

Yesterday´s project was fixing an old chair. My friend Chagas had already sanded the chair back and given it a good clean and I varnished it. Awhile back I noticed that Sra. Maria da Gloria had some chairs at home she had fixed by making cork seats. I thought this was a brilliant idea and asked her if she had some cork to spare. Last week she finally gave me the cork and clear instructions on how to proceed. The cork has to be soaked in water for a few days if the water is cold, or the process can be sped up a little if you soak the cork in hot water, so that the cork can be more easily cut. I just left the cork in the tank for a few days and turned it occasionally to make the process even. Then it is just a matter of cutting the cork straight and line it with the back of the chair, I made a few extra cuts so the cork sits nicely into the shape of the back, nailed this part secure, then proceeded to cut the other 3 sides and nailed them in place. The result, I hope you agree, is fantastic on many levels, and super comfortable.

My small veggie patch is finally growing, you can see various beetroots, sunflower, lettuce...

To end the week, a small expedition to find wild strawberries. We found very few berries, but the extra sweet taste made up for the lack in quantity and the naturally smaller size.

Gifts

We all love to receive and these last few weeks I received many gifts. This makes me very happy as you can imagine. 

It started with a visit to Sra. Maria da Gloria. She used to live about an hour walk outside town, past the dam,  in the loveliest place. Now she spends half her days in town, a recent move which leaves her extremely sad. After visiting her I now understand why. She offered me a "refresco" of honey in water. The honey she said was still her father´s. Very old honey, and very tasty. I am now addicted to honey water. Before we left to make our way back to town Sra. Maria da Gloria turned to me and asked me if I wanted a stool. To my surprise she presented me with the most wonderful cork stool. She made it for me, with cork from trees she has on her property, and finished it with an old vinyl floor covering she cut to size. The vinyl makes it cheery. Even though it is probably not the best combination with the cork in terms of warmth, I love it.

Then I received a swift. I now no longer need to dance around two chairs or ask for help with the job of  taking wool skeins and turning them into balls to use as I please.

Then Sra. Lizete told me she had a bag of fabrics for me. They are lovely and so happy and some are quite old already. I have to think of a little project for them. The fabric that made the happiest is the one pictured with the donkey and squirrel, what a wonderful combination.

And today I received these blocks of soap, also made by a lady in town, Sra. Fátima. She makes them from olive oil and other things I cannot remember. She says it lasts forever.

Other gifts were received that are not pictured. Of note is a can of tuna, a very random gift, from the man at the fabric shop in Sabugal. And Cherries from a lady from Massarelas, who is also attending the weaving workshop in Maçainhas. The cherries were the brightest red and far too delicious and when I remembered to take a photo, it was too late, they were all in  my belly.

Surprise Patchwork Quilt

I can finally show you the custom order quilt I have been working on since April. I delivered it to my friends in Porto this weekend. I was nervous of course having worked on it for so long and knowing how bad surprises can sometimes go. But I am happy that both Olivia and Paulo are also happy with their new quilt.

I started with the center flower, a pattern I got from the Quilting Arts Magazine. Then everything just kind of grew from there. The only request I had was that the colors to be used were brown, yellow and orange. The rest was up to me. This much freedom is not always a good thing especially if you are as indecisive as I am. But somehow things fell into place quite naturally. I love it when a fabric chosen for a particular place is just enough to the mm as though it was meant to be.

The batting I used is a 50/50 cotton and bamboo blend. It is a good choice. Easy enough to quilt, all natural and eco-friendly. The quilting part is always the hardest. First finding the space to lay the whole quilt flat to baste all the layers together, then quilting all those tiny stitches. By the end my fingers were bleeding and I have a tiny whole in one of them from the back of the needle constantly pushing into it, totally my fault for not liking to use a thimble. 

This was the good news.

Now for the bad news.

The corn we planted has all but almost died because Spring decided to turn to Winter overnight and it frosted.

The birds that had been reusing a nest from last year right at the entrance to our house forgot to do some much needed home renovations and upgrades and all 3 of their baby birds fell from the nest on the same day, before they even got to grow feathers and... died.

Bright, work and play.

Last week I made it down to Lisbon and of course to Feira da Ladra. I was fairly lucky this time and bought 3 brightly coloured patchwork bags, an even brighter small hand stitched rug and a hand knitted woolen hooded jumper inspired in the traditional fisherman´s outfits from Póvoa de Varzim.

I also managed to buy some more fabrics to add to ´that´ patchwork quilt I am making. Better still I caught up with friends. Ben, who was visiting from London, brought me over ´Robocup´, a genius set of measuring cups.

Back on the farm, as you can see the office is not so bad. I decided to work there specifically to keep an eye on our chickens after we built this extra fence to keep them from getting to the veggie garden and still have plenty of space to run about and feed on grubs and green things. Either our chickens are incredibly smart or as I am starting to believe we are the least smart of all the animals that we share this space with. They managed to find every single weak point in this very badly built structure. I am not really sure why they feel the need to go beyond it, they have so much space to run around and do what they need there. But when they see an opening they go running as fast as they can, even take flight for a few seconds, lifting off to a height of about 30cm or thereabouts, such is their excitement at having even more space to scratch about.

I made 2 potholders to give Alice as a small thank you for looking after our chickens while we were away. They are hanging for this photo on my studio wall garden which is also coming along nicely now the weather has warmed up.

We learned how to make balls from the leaves of the Asphodelus Ramosus, commonly known as Branched asphodel. The leaves are wound round to form the ball and then fastened using the left over tips of the dried seed pods of the Cistus Ladanifer, commonly known as the Gum rock rose. These balls are what kids used to play with in a time, not so long ago, when creativity and resourcefulness ruled the world, two things often confused or mistaken unfortunately, as much then as today, with poverty.

May is the month to start collecting and drying flowers to make infusions for medicinal purposes. I have been busy collecting the flowers of the Baccharis Trimera (Less.) (of the aster family), the Fumaria Officinalis (Earth smoke) and the Lavandula Stoechas to name a few. I am hoping to build my own herbal medicine cabinet. I feel like a bee when I am picking these flowers, although I am sure bees are a lot better at navigating from flower to flower, less easily distracted, than I am. I see flowers here, then spot some more over there and off I go leaving half the flowers to be picked behind. The real bees can have those flowers. It is a fun activity apart from the fact that I am constantly thinking there is a snake about every time some weed or stick brushes my feet or legs and I have a small panic attack.