Magnolia in Bloom!

Magnolia trees are so beautiful when in bloom. These past days they have all bloom around town and I never have my camera with me. So yesterday I took the kids for a walk around town in the neighbourhood and we got some photos to show.

I think I took forty shots of that tree and some came out blurry and some came out perfect.

Happy Weekend!!!

It was a big tree and I wanted to take the whole tree but was a bit difficult, I got one picture that came out a bit blurry but shows how the tree looks from a different perspective.

Geese are happy to have warm weather again, some just had babies.

Pansies are looking perfect on the flower pots around the city.

We spotted this cute Owl in one tree at our nearby park. He comes to this tree every year. Last year he had babies there and everyone came to take photos, from local newspapers, nature photographers, and me!

Tulips are out in every color you can imagine. I found these guys in an area that nobody is really taking good care of them. But they don’t need much love and care I guess. I’m not a gardener and have very little knowledge about plants.

 

Have a very nice weekend, Happy Mothers day too.

 

 

 

Update and moving date coming!

Too long I have been away from my blog. Today I changed it a little bit and I have some photos I have taken in the past months but we have been busy around here and with no time to sit and write.

We had a long winter with good and bad news, good people have stayed in our lives specially friends who have been very supporte. On the other hand, I think you always bump into people who are a bit different than you, different is fine I welcome differences but not mean spirited or negative ones, I’ve met plenty like that in my life but this time it felt I was kind of stuck with them, until I managed to shake them off and keep a distance too.

I think that experience really got to me, a bit to Philip and now it is time to move on with our lives and be happy once again because we deserve it!

In less than 4 weeks we will be relocating our family to a new country in Latin America. My husband is already there since January and we came to visit quick in March, to check schools and neighbourhoods. I liked it very much it is a beautiful country and a sprawling city.

Never in my life I thought I would go back to the region, we had decided before that Canada was the place to raise the kids, but sometimes you make decisions and life takes a different course, an unexpected one that’s for sure.

I’m very happy about this move because I will be closer to friends from University, from High School and most of all my family. My kids will finally have relatives close by that loves them , care for them and only want the kids to be happy and healthy, my parents specially are very down to earth and enjoy every second they get to be with us. It is my family’s turn to have us close for a long time, my nephews and my niece get along with our kids so good and my kids feel so confortable with them. You have to take the opportunities right, and why waste time when tomorrow you could die. We will not waste it for sure.

Four weeks more in Canada… I’m excited!! Gaby my daughter is not so much. She knows what this means, leaving her friends, her school and most of all her country. Sebastian can care less I think, he just wanted to know if I was coming and then he said: “Well if you are coming then is fine, I was worried, who was going to make my shirts and make my lunch, he said ?? Okay, at least he likes my cooking and sewing.

So I will try to post two more times before we leave and then I will be off the grid for a while. But promise to come back with some cool pics of our new location and how we are spending summer. Oh, and it is the Soccer World Cup! I never miss this time every 4 years, and I rather spend it in Latin America where people breath soccer, think soccer, eat soccer and dream soccer, they might even fall in love during those days as well. Very intense, and you can hear every house in neighbourhoods cheering for their teams. My team is always Brazil so let see if they still got their JOGO BONITO!

I’m sharing some photos in no chronological order, well maybe a bit.

Happy weekend and Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms in Latin America that take this day off to celebrate their Mamacitas!!

Flowers you find in Guatemala and El Salvador.

Waiting for spring to show up. ( Almost two weeks ago)

Goodbye Canada, you’ve been good to us!

 

 

 

 

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Early Birthday Celebration

Almost 6!!! We had a potluck/birthday/picnic day with Sebastian’s closest friends from school at a local Splash Pad Park. His actual birthday is August 1st, but usually everyone is on summer holidays by then. So on August 1st it will be just a family gathering and maybe a trip to the zoo.

Here are some of his best pictures from that day and a couple I found from when he was smaller. Time has gone so fast, but I’m glad my kids are healthy and  happy, that’s the most important…and that I get some sewing done.

 

Made him a special organic cotton button up shirt using  Cloud9 Fabrics.

A mural in one street of Ataco, a town near the city of San Salvador,  shows kids hitting a Piñata. 

We had some piñata frenzy moments, no injuries, only those feelings of wanting to get most of the candy. It all worked out…I think. I love this photo with all the shades of hair and skin.

Every kid had a chance to hit the “Burro” “Chupacabra” “Llama” or whatever ancestral animal was that.

I grew up going to to birthday parties where a Piñata could not be missing in such event. The food menu was pretty simply: Chicken sandwiches bites and horchata ( a drink made out of rice, sesame seeds, nuts, cinnamon and milk) and of course a cake either homemade or store bought.

This is how Horchata looks. There are ones just made out of rice which is the most known and very easy to make. But the authentic Salvadoran one has all those ingredients on the right side photo, some seeds are hard to find outside the country.

Credit image: horchata and Seeds and nuts

Birthday parties have evolved in so many aspects, but the part I enjoy the most is getting to know the parents and the kids, sharing stories of our own or just having the usual conversation about what we now know best I think, Parenting!

I want to thank everyone for coming to the Fiesta and making Sebastián so happy that day. He really loves each of his friends, and I think this has been the best year for him, taking that we moved back from the States to Canada, for him was a big transition but manage to survive!

Looking forward to more memories and most of all good health!!!

Gaby Celebrating her fourth birthday in El Salvador.

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Palm trees dress in Rayon.

I made this dress for Gaby way before there were signs of warm weather, but I could not wait to make it and try the fabric as well. It is a light weight fabric, Rayon in a very summery print with palm trees and ocean waves, and sailboats…I hope she still fits in it by the time we make our trip to El Salvador this year in December. Pattern is from Kana’s Standard II and next time I will make it a little bit longer maybe just right at her knees…she was not confortable wearing it without leggings underneath, too short she said!!! So looks like I need to find or make capri leggings to pair them with the dress.

 

Dabbing is part of our photo sessions now…anything for a photo I think.

 

I think I have a few projects already finished but I haven’t had the time to blog about. Maybe tomorrow I can post a couple more.

Thanks for stopping by…now I have some more sewing to do.

 

 

First signs of summer. Some sewing projects.

This year has been a year of changes in our lives, lots of obstacles, goals to accomplish, moves and transitions  and honestly is all my sewing that has kept me sane and motivated to keep going and hope for amazing things to come in the future.

But I want to thank a very special person in my life, an amazing human being, he’s a very unconditional friend, partner, son, brother, and my husband. We make a great team together and my love for him is endless, the love he gives me is inspiring and I hope more people around us would give themselves a chance to see him like I do. My kids are lucky to have a great father like him, I couldn’t have asked for more in this life. Thank you Philip.

I’m very grateful for what we have now, not for what we don’t have or wish to have. I have never taken things for granted, and life has taught me that since I was very young. But in these fast pace of life we are all having sometimes, you tend to forget your religion if you have one, your mantras, your spirit, your confidence, life puts you to the test constantly.

I thought that at my 40’s I would have had my life figure out, or that I was a very humble and tolerant person among other things…turns out I was not!! So, with my sewing space at home, that has been giving me all this time lots of courage, lots of “thinking time” and peace of mind without losing perspective of our main problems that need to be fix.

Thank you guys (sewing community: IG, FB, Blog) for inspiring me everyday, for the support that you guys give me without knowing your doing it. You crafty, artistic, creative women/men are amazing and I love each of you and the work you do.

I don’t want this to turn into a whiny little post. But just wanted to say that and put it out there, don’t know why.

Now, I want to share something I made yesterday and a few days back for Gaby my daughter.

Summer is here in Canada, and in most places around the globe. I always look forward to this season, until it gets unbearably hot and then I wish for cold winter days…?

I made these cute overalls for Gaby. Pattern is from a japanese pattern book called Kana’s Standard for Kids, C-4 , instead of pants turned them into shorts.  Made a small mistake with the straps but I was able to fix them and you can’t see it. I think I cut them too short so I had to add 8cm to lengthen them. It all worked out. She has been asking them for a long time, and I couldn’t find the right material for this project. Then I went and look in my stash and found this gorgeous denim in such a soft drape. I need to find something like this again for some shorts or skirts for me or the kids. I bought this fabric last year on our last camping trip in California, in a cute fabric store up in Eureka named Eureka Fabrics!

Happy Sewing and Happy Wednesday!