It seems like my big craftwind last week has died down. I managed to
tweak out these two projects before life got the better of me.
First
up is a few cat pillows for around the house. I found this microfleece
blanket for $5 and was able to make 3 pillows out of it (with lots of
leftover fabric) for the cats so I was glad to find such an inexpensive
piece of fabric to use. The pillows are your basic rectangle stuffed
loosely with fiberfill. The cats like to sleep on the floor in front of
our heating vents, so I made two for in front of the vents and one for the couch. (Mental note: buying a dark couch is not such a good idea when you have light colored cats...we are constantly vacuuming fur off the grey surface). As soon as I finished the first pillow and set it
on the floor, NukuNuku jumped off my lap and splayed herself across the
pillow. It's always nice when someone appreciates my work! Even though
we have three pillows, they always seem to be fighting over the use of
whichever pillow the other cat is using.
Nuku Nuku thinks I iron everything too well...she always likes to make sure everything is sufficiently scrunched up.
I also finished my green quilt top. This was modeled after my other
baby quilts (here and here) and the blocks in this quilt are 5" square instead of 2.5"
square. I used 10 fat quarters from the Timeless Treasures Apple
Collection and 3.5 yards of fabric for the top. I was able to cut 12
five inch squares out of each fat quarter, for a total of 120 squares
that were then cut in half. I cut the green fabric into 5" wide strips
and cut out 120 squares from each strip and used the remaining fabric
for a border.
The quilt is 14 blocks wide and 16 blocks tall with a 5" border of sashing around the edge. From my estimates, the quilt is approximately 72x81. I'm not sure how I'm going to quilt this yet. I was thinking about doing some straight line stitching a quarter inch in from each seam to make concentric squares, but I might just stick with basic stippling. Any ideas?
I was planning on giving this away as a gift (I don't think the person reads my blog), but after I told Jon my
intentions, he became very protective of it. Hopefully he'll let me
part with it!
Your cats are beautiful and so is that quilt! Have you seen the blog "365 Days of Freemotion Quilting"? She has started giving some quilting ideas for the whole quilt and they are really interesting looking.
ReplyDeleteThat is sweet of Jon but you'll have to remind him that some can be gifted or you'll end up with a room full of quilts one day!
ReplyDeleteYour cats are beyond adorable, NukuNuku has THE sweetest face. And I am so adding cat pillows to my to do list. If only so I end up with a spot on the sofa for myself next winter.
Love this quilt! The colors are so rich and that is one of my favorite collections. Your cats are so beautiful too. I totally know what you mean about the gray sofa and light colored cat hair. Our front living room has gray sofas and our one pug is tan, he makes a wonderful mess on those sofas. We can't win though, in our t.v. room the sofa is tan, which works for that pug, but then there is our black pug and he makes that couch a mess. Can't win! :)
ReplyDeletewhen you showed the preview triangles a while back, I think my reaction was something like, "kelly green? really?" but of course it turned out rad - a great innovative color combination. you have vision.
ReplyDeleteThat quilt is fantastic - love the pics of your kitties too! I wouldn't let you give that quilt away either, lol.
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking of making my younger cat a little bed... her older sister has one and she doesn't. Poor Izzy.
ReplyDeleteAnd I just love that quilt... don't blame Jon for being protective! If it were me, I'd probably just do a criss-cross grid pattern.
i think jon is right, you shouldn't give that quilt away!
ReplyDeletelove the kitties new pillows too.
i've made some pillow-type/blankets for my cat. while they are works in progress, she cannot get enough of them. sitting on them, hiding under them. the moment they are actually finished, she loses ALL interest in them.
ReplyDeletetypical cat!
I love the cat pillows. Our cats move from place to place. The only consistent place they always sleep is on the back of the couch. The quilt is looking good, too. Love that fabric!
ReplyDeletebeautiful!!!! i want to try that desing! by the way, one of your cats (the white/orange one) looks like twin of my brother cat (cilantro)...
ReplyDeleteHave you ever checked out the "Line Dancing" book (or something like it)? http://www.cozy-creations.com/linedancing1.htm
ReplyDeleteI just quilted a lap quilt for my husband using her approach and it was fun. I don't have a longarm or anything - I did it on my regular machine. Some of the techniques, like leafy vines or something - would work really well on that quilt.
i need to make a second bed for bruno for when i'm working in the studio...he hates those hard floors. maybe i can find a blanket that will work for him. love this quilt. the green is stunning!
ReplyDeleteThat quilt looks AWESOME. I love that 'around the world' syle. It looks very satisfying to make.
ReplyDeleteThe green is just beautiful! Suketu says that the baby looks great in green--so I think green is my new favorite color!
ReplyDeletethat quilt is amazing! love the colors! i can see why jon doesn't want to let it go. your kitties are very lucky ducks too with those wonderful pillows!
ReplyDeleteCats do enjoy texture and luxury, don't they? My most recent quilt has been commandeered by my cat and I'm thinking I'll have to make a little one for him to put over it so I'm not spending the next thirty years peeling the hair from it. Maybe I'll back it with a towel. :-)
ReplyDeleteYour green quilt is fabulous.
Love this quilt top! It is so striking that green is perfect with the prints you are using! Can't wait to see it finished!
ReplyDeleteYour cats are so cute! I love this quilt, I really like the green. Such a fun pattern!
ReplyDeleteI always love seeing your quilts - they're all gorgeous. I don't blame Jon for wanting to keep that one :)
ReplyDeleteI love the green quilt, it's lovely!
ReplyDelete