Cats and UFO's

On my last blog post I had told you I had been working on some projects,

and showed you a pic of Pooh-Pooh, my cat.

And I promised to come back to it, remember?
No último post no meu blog disse-vos que tenho estado a trabalhar nalguns projectos, e mostrei-vos uma foto da minha gata, a Pooh-Pooh.
E prometi voltar ao assunto, lembram-se?

Well, this is it.

Today I'll be talking about UFO's,

and it's connection to Pooh-Pooh.
Então, pois aqui está.
Hoje irei falar de UFO's, e a ligação destes com a Pooh-Pooh.

If you're a crafter and are owned by a cat... you know exactly what I'm talking about, don't you?

If you haven't guess it yet... sewing, crafting, knitting... and cats... always came together!
Se faz artesanato e se um gato é o seu dono... sabe exactamente do que estou a falar, não sabe?
E se ainda não adivinhou... costurar, fazer artesanato, tricotar... e gatos... vêm sempre em conjunto!

Your cat will always be there, supervising you,

giving you a hand (read:paw), pulling a little string here, another little string there, and if you don't behave or try something she won't approve... you'll get a deserved slap in the hand!
O seu gato está presente o tempo todo, como um supervisor, dando-lhe uma mãozinha (leia-se: garra), puxando um fiozito aqui e ali, e se você não se portar bem ou se tentar alguma coisa que o gato não aprove... receberá uma merecida sapatada na mão!

How all this goes with UFO's...?

That's easy!
O que é que tudo isto tem a ver com UFO's...?
Essa é fácil!

 Last week I've decided to finish some UFO's (unfinished objects)

and, of course, Miss Pooh-Pooh was right there,
Na semana passada decidi acabar alguns UFO's (objectos inacabados) e, claro, a menina Pooh-Pooh- estava lá,
to help and check things out!

Eventually, her eyes started to get heavy,
para ajudar e fiscalizar!
Finalmente, os olhos começaram a ficar pesados,

 

and I rushed to finish my UFO... which was a huge quilted ornament ball (the same technique as in these quilted CD Christmas ornaments, remember?).
e apressei-me a acabar o meu UFO... que era uma bola enorme para fazer um ornamento de Natal (forrada com tecido dobrado que dá a ilusão de ser um quilt, a mesma técnica que usei para estes ornamentos de Natal feitos a partir de CDs, lembram-se?).

Because this specific ball was huge,

Porque esta especifica bola era enorme,

it became an UFO... and was laying on my work area, forgotten,

for more than an year... it took me about some good 4/5 hours to finish it.

acabou por se tornar um UFO... e ficou em cima da minha área de trabalho, esquecida, por mais de um ano... e levou-me umas boas 4/5 horas para a acabar.

But it was well worth it, don't you think?

Mas valeu bem a pena, não acham?

It hangs from my doorway now,
Agora está pendurada no umbral da porta,

and it sure does look nice!
e fica mesmo bem!
Of course, Pooh-Pooh has been practicing her jumping skills to get to it... luckily for me, she still needs to keep practicing a lit bit more!
Claro que a Pooh-Pooh tem estado a praticar as suas capacidades de salto para a alcançar... felizmente para mim, ela ainda tem de praticar bastante!

I'll see you all soon!
Até breve!

My Quilted Cd Xmas Ornaments Tutorial @ Totally Tutorials

Today Dotty from

Totally Tutorials

posted my Quilted Cd Xmas Ornaments tutorial.

Thanks for your nice words Dotty!

Some of my other tutorials have also been posted by her

and every time it brings lots of real nice people to visit my blog.

Thank you to you all who have been visiting and leaving me a comment.

Who doesn't just love to read the nice words appreciating your work?

My readers and friends

know that I've been trough some very difficult personal times lately

and being able to share here some of my helenismos with you all

really does make me feel like I'm still part of this world.

I've been busy working on that hexagon quilted project

I told you about last time

(it does take time!),

and here's another peek how it is going.

I'm thinking I might be able to finish it by tomorrow.

I' m really happy with it so far. 

I'll let you know.

Today was another very hot day

(we were on the 90's again).

But according to the forecast

it's supposed to start cooling down by tomorrow.

I really hope so.

I still have a lot to do on my gardens

and I can't be outside with all this heat.

My cat Alvin doesn't like the heat neither.

Every time I open the door he sneaks in

and doesn't want to leave.

I'm thinking maybe let him stay inside this winter

(if I ever can make him quit marking his territory inside the house!).

Ah! Almost forgot...

I'm thinking about having a giveaway in a few days.

 I had been thinking about it for my blog first anniversary,

back in August.

Unfortunately,

that wasn't possible for the sad reasons you know.

But I'm thinking now would be a good time,

it gives me a goal and it will keep me busy.

It will be open to everyone, everywhere,

of course,

and all you'll have to do is to leave a comment.

But soon I'll give you all the details

and show you what I have in mind.

I think you all going to like it!

And that's it for today.

I'll see you soon.

Quilted Cd Xmas Ornaments Tutorial

For these last couple of days 

I've been making some quilted Xmas ball ornaments,

as I had told you about on my last post.

I had learned this technique a while back on YouTube

and had already made a wall hanging and the wind rose,

along with a couple of Xmas ball ornaments.

After finishing some of the quilted ball ornaments,

I've decided to try the same type of effect with a Cd.

It came out pretty alright, I think,

so I decided to make a couple more.

And because Xmas is a-coming quite quickly,

I thought about making and sharing a tutorial with you all.

First of all

let me tell you that the title quilted Cd Xmas ornaments

is not quite correct;

in fact, this technique is a faux quilting,

but the result looks like it's indeed quilted.

You'll going to need

four different prints/colors of fabric:

8 2" squares of Xmas print/color  (first row);

16 2" squares of different Xmas print/color  (second row);

16 2" squares of another different Xmas print/color  (third row)

16 2" squares of yet another different print/color (fourth row).

You're also going to need an old Cd, of curse,

and glue (I used Tacky Glue, works great!),

metallic Xmassy trim,

Xmassy string,

and pins to secure the glued trim while it dries.

Get one 2" square from the first row of print/color

right side down,

and fold in half,

pressing with your finger nail,

like this:

Then in half again,

like this:

Open it up, and then fold one of the sides to the median crease,

to create a triangle,

like this:

And then do the same for the other side,

like this:

You'll have one bigger triangle formed by two small triangles.

Now it's time to apply some glue.

Open up the folded triangle and apply a little bit of glue;

like this:

Fold it back and press with your fingers.

You are now ready to start the quilting on your Cd.

Turn the already glued triangle face down

and apply a bit of glue on the back,

like this:

Glued it with the point facing the center of the Cd,

like this:

Repeat the procedure for the remaining 3 squares of the first print/color,

like this:

Now the first row is completed.

You are now going to fold the eight 2" squares

for the second row the exact same way,

and repeat the same procedures,

like this:

Try to align the central fold of the triangles in every row.

You can already see the first star showing.

Repeat the same thing for the third

and for the fourth rows.

And now you see the four stars.

You have one side of the Cd almost finished.

Turn it around,

and repeat everything the same way for the other side.

Your quilted Cd Xmas ornament is almost done,

but not completely.

Now is time to hide the messy parts

and make it look really pretty!

Start by trimming any bit of fabric

that might be hanging out the Cd borders.

Then apply some glue all around the edge.

Start by gluing the string and then the trim,

covered by the trim,

like this:

Secure with pins till is totally dried and secure.

Once it's dried, do the other side.

Let it dry.

Aren't you happy with what you've just created...?

Go ahead and just make a bunch of them!

I did!

Enjoy!