August Hopes and Dreams .....

Since life has been so busy lately, I'm leaning toward calling my plans for August more like hopes and dreams LOL!  We have a trip to Carolina planned this month for our niece's wedding and a nice visit with the kids and grandkids (and my sweet Mom!), which will carve out a good chunk of the month.

I did manage to finish up my July OMG - "Moon Over Meowmi" - but failed to find the time to write up a blog post so I could join the linky party :(  Oh well, I guess I would rather have the finish than the blog post, right?  Always look on the positive!!!

Of course, "finished" is a relative term, since this is only to the flimsy stage, which is all the farther I was prepared to take it for now.  There are already several quilting projects in process, and they have to be cleared before I can do this one.  As I said HERE when I posted the project as my July OMG, this project was begun way back in 2013, almost to the day, so to have it this far after sitting for 3 years is a WIN in my book!

I got down to business with this project at a quilt retreat last week.  The background fabric is a hand-dye by Colorways by Vicki Welsh.  I purchased both the pattern and that piece of fabric from Vicki.  The next piece that I thought would be critical to the success of Meowmi was the black.  Did I want a solid, flat black, or maybe a fun and funky print?  I never dreamed I would end up going with a slinky, shiny, glossy black that is anything but cotton!  Can you see the shiny black pattern fabric in this picture below?  It is a glorious fabric!!!  I have absolutely no idea what kind of material it is.

I came across it in my Miscellaneous Fabrics drawer while looking for the iridescent gauze remnant I had picked up several years ago and put back for the moon.  I keep things like Minkee and rayons, etc, in that drawer, fabrics I don't ever look for but sometimes happen upon in a remnant sale or at Goodwill - like a magpie, if it shines and glitters I'm hooked LOL!  I ended up falling hard for the black for my cats.  I even love that it frays a little on the edges making it look more like fur!

I really wanted a piece of white fake fur for the bellies, but didn't have time to shop before going off to retreat.  I was lamenting about this when Carole pops up and says did you say white fake fur?  I don't have fake fur, but I do have a nice while fluffy fabric with lots of texture - would that work?  Would it ever!

This white is just fluffy enough against the slick black - it's perfect!  We were all pretty amazed that someone "happened" to have the exact fabric I needed for my project - and enough of it that she could share with me :)  That was fun!!!

The iridescent gauze I had saved ended up working well for the moon, but I had to add a shiny silver behind it to make it show up enough.  It still needs a good trim, but I want to quilt it first.  See how sparkly and moon-like it is?

I also found this AMAZING piece of blue-green slinky fabric that I had picked up thinking I might make an infinity scarf out of it.  It worked perfectly for the bowl the cats are sitting on....  and who needs a silly old scarf when you can create an amazing bowl for cats to sit on?  Am I right?

I had a terrible time deciding what to use for the rim of the bowl.  I originally had a sparkly brick red piece, but I melted it on the iron - the retreat's iron!  Thankfully it came off okay :*)  I finally went with a wonderful blue grunge that looks a little like pottery. Everyone says the swirls in the bowl fabric look like fish figures :*)

As for the leaves, I decided to go with a variety of green cotton prints and batiks to change up the texture.  The tree is a gorgeous brown/black batik, so I think it all works well together.  The leaves will be 3D and will branch out beyond the binding when the quilt is done.

For someone who is not an art quilter, this quilt was a fun challenge for me!

This was my first retreat away from home since Rocky came to live with us, and I was a little worried about how he would handle it.  He's used to me being in and out all day, and tagging along at my heels wherever I am in the house.  As luck would have it, My Guy also had business meetings several nights that week, so Rocky spent two days alone from 6am to about 10pm.  My Guy said he almost attacked him when he walked in the door in the evenings LOL!!!  Here he is begging him not to leave him again ....

I was curious to see how he would treat me when I came home.  Gypsy used to very pointedly ignore me for a day or two just to make sure I knew how displeased she was with my deplorable behavior.  But Rocky's sweet nature doesn't seem to have space for such airs and punishments... he was delighted to see me!  For the next two days, he barely let me out of his sight....

I couldn't even read without him right there demanding my complete attention!  What a little sweetheart he is :*)

So that was it for July - wow did it ever go by at the speed of light, right?  As for August, my Guild UFO number this month is #3, and that means that my August OMG project will be my Patchwork Snowman Table Runner kit by Shabby Fabrics. 

I love that this is a new project - not even pulled out of the bag yet!  I realize that some don't consider an unstarted project a UFO, but for me if it has been sitting on my shelf kitted up (by me or someone else), then it is a UFO and needs to get DONE!

I love the colors in this kit and look forward to having a Christmas finish this early in the year :*)

There's also a bonus project I'd like to finish - it's one of those that I mentioned clogging up the quilting queue ....

This is my August Calendar Quilt - it's only been in the works for a couple of years LOL!  I got it appliqued and fused down last July, and had every hope of getting it quilted this July but that obviously didn't happen.  This is as far as I've gotten...

These quilts designed by Kim Schaefer have the cutest little details!  This little bee will have to be quilted in a light color so his head will show up :*)

I'd love to finish it this week if possible so I can enjoy it on the wall for a while this year.  And since the September quilt hasn't even been started, it might get to stay on the wall until October :*)  After this one, the Blooming Nine Patch (BNP) is next in the queue for quilting.  I want to finish that one SO badly!!!!

I'm linking up with Quilting is More Fun than Housework for this week's Oh Scrap! party!

Julie over at The Crafty Quilter also has a fun UFO linkup party ....

And I'm also going on over to Red Letter Quilts to join the linky fun there!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=

OMG! Project for July

I'm just sliding in under the wire here!  I haven't gotten my OMG! projects posted the past few months, and I really want to be sure to do that the rest of this year if I can.  It's a FUN party to join - with prizes!!! - hosted by Heidi at Red Letter Quilts.  There's always something fun going on over there!  So if you haven't been playing along, I'd love to encourage you to quickly post your own July project :*)

I always like to partner this party with my Guild's monthly UFO Challenge, and this month the number called was #5 - for me, this means finishing up this little wall-hanging .....

I'm calling this one Moon Over Meowmi - isn't that just the cutest name???  Yep, I think so too!  And of course you know I love anything to do with cats, especially in my quilts =^..^=

This UFO was started waaaaaaayyyyyyy back in October of 2013.  In checking back over my posts, I found that I listed it as my NewFO project for July of that year.  So, this project is now officially 3 years old and still hasn't budged an inch toward completion since that last post!  *shaking head in shame!*  (And by the way, if you're wondering what a "NewFO" is, it was a monthly challenge that used to be offered by my friend Barbara over at her most excellent blog, Cat Patches.  I do miss that party, but my UFO shelves are simply groaning at the weight of all the projects I started while playing along!)

And when I say started, I mean just that - started!  I traced off the pattern pieces onto fusible ... and that was that.  Nada.  Nothing else.  It's still sitting awaiting further orders from me!  I'm really glad I put this cute wall-hanging on my UFO list because I really love it and will enjoy having it done.  What will you try to finish up this month?

Linking up with Heidi at Red Letter Quilts for OMG! July :*)

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=

2013 NewFO Challenge for July

Whew!!!  I just realized today is the last day in July, and what with all the drama traveling in my life this month, I almost missed starting a new project for Barbara's NewFO Challenge over at one of my favorite blogs, Cat Patches!  Talk about sliding in under the wire!!!

So what did I decide to start?  I wanted something FUN and fairly easy, and I also wanted to keep in line with my new direction of making quilts to add some colorful wall decor in my guest rooms.

 I bought this wonderfully whimsical pattern and a length of the hand-dyed background fabric from Vicki Welsh at her Etsy shop - vickiwelsh.etsy.com.  Vicki hand dyes some of the most yummy fabrics!  She also blogs HERE showing off her latest creations.  When I saw how she paired her gorgeous fabric up with this design by Deborah Levy, I was a goner!  I hit the "Buy" button before I took my next breath!!!  I'm thinking I'll call this quilt Meow Moon =^..^=  (Edit:  I just thought of the purrfect name!  "Moon Over Meow-mi" - yep, that's it!!!)

Isn't this fabric just mouth-watering GORGEOUS????

I'm so excited about working on this project!  And since it is fairly small, it will be decorating one of those guest room walls pretty soon :*D

In order to get in on the NewFO Challenge for July, I dug all the stuff out of my closet began work on this project first thing this morning!  First the pattern pieces had to be taped together.....the tree was 3 pages and so long I couldn't even get a good picture of it, but aren't these cats just the cutest?!!!!?!!!!

Next I began tracing off the fusible pieces....

All the pieces are now traced off, and I still need to pull the other fabrics I will use.  Will I get any more of this done today?  I'm hoping so!  But I've gotta stop now and take care of a few errands.

Click HERE to go check out all the other new projects started in the 2013 NewFO Challenge Linky Party at Cat Patches!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=