The Cat's Meow {a quilt in memory}

This week's quilt is literally the cat's meow. I scored 11 of these cat blocks during Cynthia's orphan adoption event. They came from the very generous Laurie at ThreeOldKeys.  I made a 12th cat block (the peeking cat on the lower left) to finish out the set of cat blocks and built them up into a top with browns from the stash.

I sashed all the blocks up to 12.5", then they are set in a "Dancing Nines" type arrangement a la Bonnie Hunter, where the outside sashing alternates sides.

The cat blocks I was sent included 6 paper pieced 4" cats, several odd sized larger cats, and a couple of applique cats.  Moon cat is one of my favorites.

Quilting was pretty simple, just outlined the cat blocks and stippled in the background.

There was one exception to the simple FMQ.  I did a cat FMQ in this nine patch that needed something a little more (tutorial here at Inbox Jaunt).

Although a couple of my FMQ cats did end up looking a bit like squirrels.

I'm told these blocks were made by the members of a long defunct quilting bee.

This quilt is bitter sweet for me. Sweet because I obviously love cats, and I love it whenever I can take UFO blocks and finish them out. Plus it's another quilt for Covered in Love. Bitter because, well, Wilson has been missing since the beginning of June. One of the hazards of living in the country is that there are always bigger, hungrier animal lurking in the woods. We actually lost Elvis, too. I've been too sad to mention it on here until now.

It's been over a month and I still keep looking for him, wondering what he's doing, and wanting to go to the door and call him. I always assumed he'd die of a pneumonia one winter, and that we probably wouldn't have too many more years together with his compromised lungs, but I thought I would have time to say good bye.

These boys. I miss them.

I'm absolutely not "over it" yet, but I am telling you about it today because this week the next chapter began. Her name is Rorschach, aka Rory, and she's 6 weeks old.

Notice the "ink blot" on her forehead.

Learning to sleep through the noise of the sewing machine.

Linking to Finish it Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

School Spirit

The sewing machine has been humming right along here, making a pair of A&M quilts for a friend who wants to give them as Christmas presents.

I first made 2 panels with the A&M logo. One is applique, the other is reverse applique. Both have batting sewn in under the letters to make them pop.

The first quilt is laid out (minus the bottom 2 rows which didn't fit) and partially assembled.  I put these quilts on hold for the moment to work on an older WIP.

The memory quilt made of Hawaiian shirts from my friend Nate's dad is under the needle finally getting quilted.

Large swirls.  It is difficult to be really careful not to get any puckers or distortion of the shirts because there won't be much krinkle happening to disguise any mistakes.  I am hoping to get it done and bound today.  Hope you are having lots of sewing time, too!

Linking to Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday.

1,008 Little Squares

1008, that's how many 2.5" scrap squares are in this little quilt!  Every time I start to think my scraps are running low it's like that jar of flour in the Bible story-- they never run out!

This is another Covered in Love quilt. I am going to piece together a tri-color backing for it and then it will go in the pile to be basted.  Meanwhile, I realized I had enough flannel scraps to make an all-flannel scrap quilt, so I've been cutting those up.

I decided my largest squares would be 8.5", so I am also cutting 4.5" and 2.5" squares, whatever is the largest size I can get from that particular scrap.  Soon to be assembled!

Linking to Oh Scrap! @ Quilting is More Fun Than Housework and Design Wall Monday @ Patchwork Times.

Historic Route 66 Quilt

This was a fun quick quilt that evolved out of a remnant bin find. I got two pieces of the Route 66 novelty fabric from the bin at Hancocks and decided to create a quilt around it.

 I pulled tone on tone fabrics to match the colors in the primary fabric. You can see a little bit of my design process in this WIP post.

Quilting was a simple stipple over the whole thing.

I ended up having one extra square of the Route 66 fabric to incorporate into the backing along with the labels. This is another quilt for Covered in Love, if you aren't already tired of hearing me talk about it go to the charity page to read all about this charity!

Linking to Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it Friday.

Chain Piecing All Day Long

You may remember months ago when I had sewn a panel of 2.5" blue and low volume squares together. That project sat for a while but now it's back on the wall, and it has company!

Squares go under the machine...

...and out the back.

Up on the wall with the blue squares.  This is the width of the quilt but I have one more color panel to add to the length.

Linking to Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday.

Black and White and Red All Over

Q: What is black and white and red all over?

This top for Covered in Love is being sewn up out of scraps and stash. It actually started because I had cut 24 of those red squares for another project but ended up not using them, so they went into scraps. I needed a way to use those squares in a top and then I saw this tutorial: perfect!  FYI, I used 5.5" squares and 2.5" sashing (both unfinished measurements).

And here is the latest progress on my crumb blocks. 8 sashed, 3 to go! I am doing pretty good if I can tackle one of these per day.

 

Also, I had this baby panel and a couple of coordinating prints in my stash for some reason, probably a remnants bin find.  I stitched it together and, in the interest of trying something new added prairie points.  

For anyone interested, this is the tutorial I used and it worked great.  Since the front is so muted I think I may go with something nice and bright on the back ;)

Linking to Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework and Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.

Hot and Cold {do. Good Stitches May}

Finally, a finish! I tend to work in cycles where I work on lots of WIPs then finish them all at once, and this week was full of finishes.  First up is this bright and happy quilt from the NURTURE circle of do. Good Stitches.  This blocks is called a Four Patch Charm Square, you can find my tutorial and links to the original here if you are interested.

I am thrilled to say that this is the first quilt my group has made which will go to Covered in Love, my pet charity giving quilts to the families of patients who pass away in the hospital where I work.

For quilting I did FMQ with ribbon candy-type squiggles in the cool colors and a stipple in the hot colors.

The ladies in my circle did a great job getting their blocks done right and quickly. It's amazing how a quilt made by 10 people can look so cohesive.   The quilt finished at 50"x62".

For backing I used a really bright blue-green print that looks like coral and a strip of bright red. Binding is a crisp, sort of sour-apple green, except for one strip of yellow where I ran out.

So satisfying to see both those label sewn on together. Thank you to the NURTURE circle ladies for supporting Covered in Love, I promise these quilts will be well used.

Linking to CrazyMomQuilts Finish it Friday.