2/8/15

Felting Furry Cats

The Quiltmaker's Garden is back on track, after taking me on a hunt for my memory of what the heck I was doing last time I worked on it. Things are set right now. All the cut pieces have been sewn together, and the yardage has been identified insofar as its intended purpose in the quilt. Yesterday, I finished sewing together the strip sets to make 99 of these 2-patches:


And 23 pavers going in two different directions.



Also, I hinted at a little project I wanted to start yesterday that will be a gift for someone special. I won't be able to show you the whole thing for a couple of weeks, but here's a little peek to tantalize you.


Any guesses?

The rain let up for a little while this morning, but we're still expecting plenty more today. According to the forecast, we have one more day of deluge before we get a little break from this. And that, of course, means another day inside. I'm making good progress on my goals for February, and so today, I want to take some time to try another needle felted cat. This time, I'm going to try to make a Gracie. Since Gracie is a lazy girl, I'm going to attempt to make her like the little lying down cat on the right in the image below.


The book I'm working from is all written in Japanese, and so I'll be depending on the illustrations for instruction. Ordinarily, that would be all one would need. With this being my second solo attempt, I'm just hoping it will look like a cat and not something that crawled out of a bog.

To that end, I sorted through my pictures of Gracie to get her from all angles. Here's her beautiful face:


Here's her satellite image. I'd say it's her June Taylor Dancers image, but then I'd be dating myself. (And no, I'm not going to explain.)


Her left side.


Her right side.


And her most important appendage.


As I was sorting through my pictures, I came across this little squirt from the day he found his forever home. 


Life has never been the same. I don't know what the deal was with his whiskers. It looks like someone took a pair of scissors to him. I swear it wasn't Gracie.

I can only work on the felted things for an hour or two, and so I'm going to try to get the next block for Lisa's Retirement Quilt made up. This one is from her husband, Ron:


It shouldn't be too hard. I'll applique the silhouette in the center. If I use a stabilizer, I think I can machine stitch the circle, and then I'll hand embroider the lettering. 

That won't get finished today, but if I can get it to hand embroidery stage, I'll be satisfied. I can finish it up during my regular embroidery time in the morning.

And if I can get all of that finished, I'm going to start quilting the Aspen Tree.


It's good to have a plan. Plan your work. Work your plan. Or don't work. Don't work: that's my plan for a long and happy life. Like I said: Plan your work. Work your plan. Or don't. Hm. I could go around and around with this. It's probably good to stop there.

17 comments:

Jeanie said...

Gracie is beautiful from any angle!

Kate said...

Looking forward to seeing your little Gracie come to life. Goals are good things till they are not.

quiltzyx said...

How nice to see photos of the gorgeous Gracie! I hope your felting felt fine....
I think Smitty cut his own whiskers, he IS a bit of a troublemaker!
Have fun with the Aspen tree too!

Vroomans' Quilts said...

Gracie is a beautiful Grand Dame indeed and deserves a little feltie selfie. A plan is always good, but a flexible one works best for me. We are in for a 3-day snow storm - I may be raising the red flag so you all can find me in the snow heap.

WoolenSails said...

That is funny, never noticed Gracie's colors before, and that photo really shows the difference, she is two cats in one, lol.

Debbie

Donna said...

It's nice to see pictures of Gracie! Smitty probably cut his own whiskers just to get his picture taken. He does love the attention.

Shirley said...

Gracie is such a beautiful cat! I only discovered your blog a few months ago and don't remember that many photos of Gracie. Smitty seems to be the cat who is always ready for a photo op and he is adorable. Love seeing your projects progress and the cat photos. Thanks for sharing!

Marei said...

LOVED the June Taylor dancers...such precision. And, of course, I love Gracie (and remember she loves me, too). As for your mystery project....I say that it's a curvy, swervy, black/white/blue and yellow quilty thingamabob-type deal. Am I right?

Lyndsey said...

Great photos of Gracie, such a pretty girl. I'm not making any guesses about your mystery quilt as it looks like your creative brain is working overtime.

crazy quilter said...

How pretty that Gracie girl is! Sweet little face and I love her most important appendage with the black end and white circle, she is such a good kitty poser. And look how innocent Smitty looks! I know that is why you chose him, who could resist those big eyes? Enjoy your rain,0 you could send some to Texas as we really need it.

Lynette said...

So nice to see Gracie showing her pretty calico colors. Makes me miss our Selma again - what a pretty girl! Looks like the Garden quilt will able to speed along nicely now that it's sorted out and lots of prep work has been laid.

Sharon said...

Gracie is so gorgeous. I wish she lived with us. That would probably be okay with Charlie, but I don't think Tabby would be happy about that. I'd love to see what she looks like in felted wool.

Lynne said...

Glad you got that UFO all sorted -- it was almost a mystery quilt there, I think!
I have a plan -- work on whatever is the next step of the project that takes my fancy! I have a quilt that needs the quilting finished (which I was given today, so it's not my project), a quilt that needs basting, a quilt that has a partially completed back, two quilts that need a backing, two complete sets of blocks that need turning into a flimsy (one of them needs sashing cut), and my personal project (all the others are for donation) which needs unsewing! Then I have two new projects in the wings, and a couple of projects that have been started but are not far along! Enough for choices in the sewing room tomorrow -- but first I need to clean up a bit then spend an hour sorting, ironing, cutting and storing scraps (it seems never ending!)

Dana Gaffney said...

Gracie is so gorgeous, I hope you can capture her in felt.

beaquilter said...

love the cats and I think I see one in the mystery quilt too? and musical notes, so maybe singing cats?

Brown Family said...

Gracie does have a beautiful face! You have plenty to keep you busy on a rainy day, or two!

KatieQ said...

I think Gracie would make a perfect June Taylor dancer. She definitely has the "come hither, but don't touch me" look. The color blend of the felted piece really picks up some of her look.