6/23/13

Catter Walling

Today we hung the Love Me, Love My Cat quilt in the last available space on the wall of cats in my stairwell.  As I've explained before, I am lining the walls of the two stairwells in my house with cat quilts.  With the finish of this quilt, I've filled one wall.


Both stairwells in my home are enclosed, meaning there are walls on both sides, and so I can't get back to take a picture of the whole wall.  Instead, I'm going to show you all the quilts that are hung on this wall individually.  If a quilt is small enough, I could actually add a couple more to this wall, but anything larger will have to move to the other side.  So here are the other quilts.  For some reason, I have a feeling I've already blogged about this, but I was unable to find the post.  I figure if I can't find it or remember it, then maybe you can't either.

This one's official name is "Cat Nap", but I call it "If you Snooze, You Lose".  This was purchased as a kit.  I did a search to see if it was still available.  If you like this quilt, the kit is still available right here.


I call this next one "Catch as Cat Can".  It was free in a magazine, and it's been so long now that I can't remember where I got it.  Also, I don't remember its real name.  It was one of the first quilts I made, and my first attempt at free motion quilting.


This one is a Bigfork Bay Cotton pattern called "Maestro, I'm Ready", but I call mine "Mewsician".


You might remember this one called "Smitty's World" from the Dots on Dots blog hop.


And then there's this one...oh, wait.  That's the actual cat.  He's not very happy about the condition of his treat bowl.


This one was originally a free pattern from a magazine...well, free except for the price of the magazine.  Anyway, the quilt was designed by Nancy Brown, and she called it "Tooey" after her own cat, as I recall.  I called it "White Tie".  Actually, I made this quilt twice.  The second quilt was donated to the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative with Nancy Brown's kind permission.


This is a Patrick Lose pattern called "A Cat for All Seasons," which is what I call it too.  It was one of my first applique quilts, and I finished it just about the time we had to put our 19-year-old kitty Krissy down.  She was the original third cat of the Three Cats Ranch, and she was a sweety.  


This is the label I made for Krissy's quilt.  We called her the "Gingerbread Cat".  Think of it this way:

Run, run, as fast as you can.
You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Cat

Now you know all you need to know about little Krissy.


I couldn't stand back far enough to get a good picture of this quilt, but here are the individual blocks.



Those are all the quilts on the first completed wall.  I do have a start on a second wall.  This quilt is the only quilt hanging on the second wall.  It is too large to fit on the first one, and so it got the second wall off to a good start.  This quilt is called "Let Sleeping Cats Lie".


So that's it for the cat walls.  

Today I started on my June NewFO project.  The linky party goes up one week from today.  Are you ready?



I was all set to start on the Forest Giants quilt, but then discovered that I was going to have to cut hundreds (multiple hundreds) of tiny pieces using templates.  When I discovered that, I cursed, I swore, I stomped my feet, I marched around and yelled.  Basically, I had a good rant about my hatred for templates.  There is only so much cutting with templates that I'm willing to do, and this pattern had far exceeded my limit.  

So, that stopped me dead in my tracks for a couple of hours while I decided what to do instead.  I was mad at myself for not looking at it earlier.  It didn't look like a quilt that would require templates, but that tells you how much I know.  Anyway...I had purchased some fabric to make it, which meant that unless I could find another similar pattern, those fabrics were going to supplement my already burgeoning stash.  Since I couldn't find anything suitable for those fabrics, I decided a scrap quilt was the best option.  At least that way I would be using up some different fabrics.

After searching through patterns, notebooks, boxes, and books, I finally settled on the cover quilt for this book:


It's called "The Birds Return", although I will undoubtedly give it a different name before all is said and done.

The pieces are all from scraps, but the poles and the bird house holes are made from consistent fabrics.  I selected these two from my stash.  I'll use the polka dots for the poles and the checks for the holes.


The rest, I'll choose as I go and use the picture of the quilt as a guide.  My goal would be to do one vertical row each time I work on this quilt.  Today, I cut out the first vertical row.  Tomorrow, I will sew it together.


So, it was a bit of a wasted sewing day once I decided to reboot, but I'm happy with my choice.

How about you?  Did you have a productive day in your sewing room or elsewhere?

21 comments:

Kate said...

All your cat quilts are such fun. Your new project looks fun too. I've started my June NewFO and have made good progress on it. I'll be ready to link up next week.

Donna said...

What a lovely staircase! The cats are adorable ... even the unhappy real one lol.

WoolenSails said...

I always love seeing the quilts you work on, so fun and beautifully made. I want to do quilts on my stairway too, just need to think about sizes and making them balance as they go up.

Debbie

quiltzyx said...

My first look at a few of those cat quilts! They are all so much fun - great stairwell art.

I'm with you on the whole template thing. Are you sure you can't figure out a non-template way later on? I do like your alternate quilt choice too though. :D

Vroomans' Quilts said...

Love your Cat quilt wall. I don't deal with templates either - I had thought it was paper pieced from the picture, but you found a super replacement project.

Mary said...

Love all of your Kitty quilts. They are wonderful.

Kate said...

Aww, I love all the cat quilts! What a happy staircase. And I like your version of the cat/snails tails quilt. On mine, the cats are all sitting up, which clearly is not the case in my house. Napping cats would be more accurate.

BillieBee (billiemick) said...

Love alllll your kitty quilts.

The Birds Return and the kitties lie in wait.......:D

Anonymous said...

Love all your kitty quilts, especially you snooze you loose, very cute!

Hmm there is no need for templates that I can see with Forest Giant, just because that's what the pattern says doesn't mean you have to do it that way :) I would just do it like a French Braid quilt. Start with the large triangle at the bottom, sew a background triangle onto the end of a green strip and sew it to one edge of the triangle and trim it level with the other triangle edge at the top, then repeat for the other side of the triangle. And again and again until your tree is tall enough!

Email me if this doesn't make sense :)

Jeanie said...

Lovely wall of cats! Your newest addition looks fabulous!

Dana Gaffney said...

I have read about your wall of cats before but don't remember any pictures, it looks good.
I agree with SoozeM, that pattern doesn't look like it needs templates, it's just a braid, make it your own.

Sherry said...

Just love all of your kitty quilts. And I agree with the others adapt the pattern for use without templates. I tend to boycott templates whenever possible.

Carla A Few Of My Favorite Things said...

Love your kitty wall collection, what a great tribute to your wonderful kitties! They are all wonderful, especially love the seasonal kitties!

Cath said...

You are so productive Barbara. I am in awe of you and how lovely is your Kitty Quilt wall? The newest quilt looks lovely there.
Cath @ Bits 'n Bobs

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

You told us about the cat quilts on the stairs, but, you never showed us any pictures (you tease). Lots of cute kitty quilts. Thanks for showing them. I agree, templates are a pain! I think I have that book, hidden in my basement somewhere. I remember liking that picture of the birdhouses. Hope Smitty doesn't try to catch a bird from one of the houses.

Snoodles said...

Productive? Meh. Business meetings. Phooey! I'd rather be sewing!
We have an enclosed stairway, too, and boy, do you have me thinking now!

KittyAnn said...

I absolutely love how you've arranged your quilts! Your kitty looks about as thrilled a my two, except when they've wrecked my fabric shelves by climbing all over, heehee. I have a 'bucket list' of cat quilts I'd like to make, here are a few, all from the same website, the owner has 150+ cat patterns! The miniaturized Google URLs probably won't be clickable via the comment box so I've sent them via email as well. Best, Ani >^..^<

http://goo.gl/4yMej Flo Flo - reminds me of your Krissy
http://goo.gl/hyh6D KITTY CORNER CATS *great graphically, the artis has a different version on her website
http://goo.gl/lJbhv Kitty Kamp *just too stinking cute!
http://goo.gl/fk8xB My Cats Garden *have always wanted to do but it's such a big project & price!
http://goo.gl/U4M0k Peek-a-boo Puss *cute in a Halloween theme
http://goo.gl/g01MO Quilty Cats *just because it's quilty & catty >^..^<
http://goo.gl/NZDep Sewing Cat *have purchased pattern, haven't started though
http://goo.gl/KZuzR Cat & Mouse * I LOVE this one, not the colors used though, the graphic nature is striking
http://goo.gl/gryoq Cat Nap *Interesting technique for the cat
http://goo.gl/yrrgF CURIOUS CATS *LOVE this one, looks easy enough
http://goo.gl/f9XjY Claire's Cats *blanket stitch around and embroider the faces, there's a vol. 2 too
Now if you're 'really' a crazy cat lady here's a few patterns you should make:
http://goo.gl/XKGIX Kitty Coin Catcher *hilarious
http://goo.gl/MIIqR Purrfect Purse *Too fun!
http://goo.gl/sh5wj SHADOW CATS TOTE *For when you need your bag to be 'haute cat-ture'

Brown Family said...

I have "Let Sleeping Cats Lie" pattern! I have never seen it completed in bright colors. I like it!

Nan

Dar said...

Your cat wall qults are delightful. What a clever idea to display them that way. I too do not like templates any more. My MayFO was to be a quilt for a wedding present and I discovered it had templates. Needless to say, it did not get started yet! But I do intend to make it some day soon. Maybe it will get started in June if I hurry.

Rose said...

Love your cat quilts, such a cute way to display them.

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

I love looking at your cat quilts the best! They are so colorful and whimsical. It's the sort of thing I'd love to make and hang up- someday when I am better at this.