You Can Never Have Enough Cats

 Another UFO finished and off the pile! This was started way back in around 1999. I joined my very first block swap on About.com Quilting Forum. We were swapping the MaCalls Quilting cat blocks made of what else but cat fabric. Humm .............. I love cats so I was in. The swapping went on for quite some time. In the end I was getting back more of my own block due to the dwindling number of swappers. In all I got hundreds of these little 5x9 cat blocks. I made a queen sized quilt for daughter number one and quilted it by the stuff and fluff method under my domestic sewing machine. That was years ago. I never got around to the second quilt for daughter number two until a few months ago. I was going thru my bins from my sewing room that had been packed away and came across this herd of cats. I told daughter number two that this would be the first UFO that I would finish. I had to sew more blocks and put the top together. I found the perfect fabrics in the stash for borders. There was just enough to piece the outer border but it worked just right.

The back of the quilt was pieced. It is almost a second quilt. I found some yardage of cat fabric inherited from an aunt. I also had some purple fabric left over from the last top and there was just enough to make a row with some giant cats and a few of the blocks that did not make the front. I found the green solid fabric in my stash and it was just right. I had enough to make two rows, along with more blocks and a couple more giant cats. My daughter gets to sleep under the finished quilt tonight.

Sneak Peek Of the Backing for the Cat Quilt

Today I spent a good part of the day making a quilt back. This will be a bed quilt so the back will be seen and admired. I did not have enough fabric to just make a back so I pieced one. First I looked for big hunks of fabric and found some solid green the is really old, likely form the 80's. Of course there was not enough. But if I made some giant cat blocks I could get a pretty wide row. Then with the leftovers I was able to piece a thinner row using blocks that did not make it to the front of the quilt. Then I found a 2 1/2 hunk of cute cat fabric I inherited from my aunt's stash. It was perfect for the top and bottom. OK I was still short about 20 inches. I used the leftover from the Scrappy Trip Around The World I quilted a few weeks ago. With careful cutting, a couple more giant cats and some more random blocks that did not make it to the front I had just enough.

I am gonna get this on the longarm tomorrow and do an allover design on it! Hum maybe I should work on some binding tonight........I am going to use black as the final border is a black background and just might have enough black left from several other projects for binding.

My First Finish For 2014

My goal this year is to work on my UFO's and finish as many of them as I can. In addition to this I am also working on a series of Improv and modern quilts. The very first finish of the finish for this year is a new project that I just started a few weeks ago! I find that kind of ironic. The thing is that I have been working steadily on my UFO and Improv pile. I kind of got distracted and wanted to work on something new. I had found Bonnie Hunters Scrappy Trip Around The World and thought they looked really beautiful. I figured this might be a good way to use fabric I no longer love. See I had been sorting fabric and came across some I just did not want to look at any more. So I forged ahead and began a new project. I also did a bit of soul searching and realized that I have so many UFOs because I get tired of things and put them aside to begin a new project. After about the first 12 blocks I was getting tired of working with this fabric selection. I did not like it and wanted to do something different. Over on About.com my friend Judy pointed out that she starts a project and does not do anything else till she has it finished. OK I vowed to try to emulate Judy so I pressed on. The quilt was going to be much bigger but it occurred to me I really did not want it on the bed so I stopped at 20 squares, found some blue fabric that would work for a border and called it done. It is a nice topper size for the bed or a great couch throw.

Now for the back story. I did not really have yardage of anything to use on the back so I found some fabric in inherited from my aunt and pieced two large hunks of it with some leftover strips I had cut for the front. I actually love the back and think it is kinda fun.

This is also the first quilt I have quilted on my long arm in 4 years. I have my quilting business back up and running. It is great to be working on the Gammill again! I forgot how much I enjoyed making tops into quilts.