Wednesday, September 8, 2010

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!

Saturday, September 4, 2010

How my days have been...


While I was working this morning
everything I wanted to tell you just came out easy into my mind,
but now it kinda feels is not as easy as at first thought.
Where to begin...?

It has only been two weeks
since J was laid to rest.
And yet.. it seems it has been a long time ago.
And some other times
I still feel like I'm in a bad dream...
... and I will wake up...
... and every morning takes me a few moments to realize what's happening.
Memories, family and friends support,
and sometimes
my favourite musics have been helping me a lot.
Leonard Cohen was always one of my best favourites.
Two weeks ago this particular song gave me the strength I needed
to survive the day.
It got me really really close to J, like it always did.
My gratitude
to the wonderful Leonard Cohen!

I've been quite busy of course,
and thank goodness for that!
Last week I reorganized my home,
and put the master bedroom back together as it was back in 2004.
That gave me some peace, and brought back all the good memories
of our live together as it use to be before.
And because for the last six years I spent all my time in this room with J,
I've transformed it into my working room.
This is where I spent my days again,
and it makes feel secure and very close to J.

This next pic
is what I've been working on today,
some quilted Xmas ornaments.

This past week I've finished my grandson's quilt.
It's a belated Birthday gift,
but I was happy with it and I think he will enjoy it,
while wrapped around it to watch TV.

I've also finished
some small projects that had been laying around for ever.
I've also made a felt yellow Mr. Bunny for my sister-in-law.
She has that cute little bench
(a wonderful find at a garage sale)
she wanted to transform not into a time out bench
but into a sit and relax with me bench.
I'll ask her to take a picture
when she'll finish it and will show it to you.
And that's it.
I'll be talking to you all soon.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Memorial


It has been an year since I've started blogging in this space,
as an attempt to overcome some difficulties in my personal life.
As my friends and family and some of my online readers know,
my husband J had suffered a TBI back in 2004.
Since then we both fought very hard
just to give him the time he needed
to somehow defy the odds and maybe one day
the light of his soul would shine again in his eyes.
J was an extraordinary person and I never ever gave up on him...
...till the last 17 of August...
when I finally couldn't bare any more pain,
couldn't allow no more hurting, no more mistakes...
which finally cost us his precious life.
I've considered for a long time
and decided I would keep this blog,
not only because for me is a safe space of communication
but also it revealed itself
as a therapy when I needed to quit smoking,
and provided goals for my life,
and it worked as a outlet 
for the things I would make and create.
To all my family and friends
who gave me their precious hand and shoulder to cry...
my forever THANK YOU.
To all the others who will eventually read these so sad words...
from the bottom of my heart, a thought:
enjoy,
enjoy life
every single minute as it would be the last...
I did,
and for that I have no regrets.

To J, my husband, my friend, my love...
You'll live in me for always.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Oh Dude...who are you...??


After my sister's phone call earlier today
I've finally realized I had to dig myself out from the hole
I had buried myself in...
And to be totally honest with you
I really don't exactly know how I got myself in there in the first place!
Maybe it was just a series of unfortunate events...
Oh well!..., I'm back and willing to be back.
So... these past two weeks
were kinda full and kinda stressful also,
but fortunately they're gone by now.

Let me update you all with the kittens...
I finally discovered what happened... and it's quite amazing!
All the kittens but the little Calico
were gone missing like I've told you about. 
Calico was the last remaining survivor...
...till last Wednesday, when he went missing
only 30 minutes after I had been playing with him.
I looked everywhere in the backyard where he always was... nothing!...
and then it just popped in my mind to go to the front yard and look for him.
Tell me about a sixth sense!
It's still hard for me to believe my eyes!
What I saw:
my niece's male cat that was always around chasing the female cats... dragging my little Calico by the neck trough my driveway!!!........
I almost had to get physical for him to drop and let go off the kitten!
The poor little scared thing!
At first he was acting kinda silly...not really moving around...and then he just started running back and forth...it was pitiful!
Luckily he wasn't hurt,
but I had to call my sister-in-law and tell her about what happened.
She had observed the cat's same behavior previously, but she though he wanted to mate with the kittens!
Now we know who the killer was!
I had read about male cats killing the newborns to be able to mate again with the mother,
but never nothing like this!
This was really a vicious thing!
She did give him away to some people in a farm, she told me.
And since then everything is good and quite...
as you can see little Calico is doing well
and loves to play with Alvin,
my male cat who's a mellow yellow and a good friend to Calico!

Also,
I did some cleaning on my back deck,
the outside furniture was really looking... not so good...
lol...
So... I finally made myself go out and wash it.
With the temperatures feeling like 100's ... it actually felt kinda good.
And it looks good too!

My niece was over for a couple of days and spent one night.
We made the sweet fried rings
my sister had reminded me about,
and I've told you about in here,
and they tasted very good.
Here's some pics of our partnership in the kitchen
(while I was doing all the frying of course!).


Yummy!....

What else?....,
I did sew a little bit
and made another raggedy bag,




a reversible one this time,
and I think it came out pretty good.

 

Ah!.... I had almost forgotten... the Dude at the top...
it's a surprise!.... Shhh!....
I'll have to tell you all about it on my next post!
Until then,
and thanks for visiting!