Cats by the Dozen

It's a cruel finish I have for you this morning...cruel because this is all you get (and all I get) until February 1st. It seems forever away, but you know how time flies. We'll be on the road again by then, and so at least I'll be posting from warmer climes. 

I sat and stitched up the binding during my slow-stitching time yesterday.

Okay, and I guess I can show you the back too. That won't give anything away.

Okay, that's the last tease until February. (Drums fingers on table waiting for February to arrive.)

Smitty was an excellent helper cat yesterday. He likes that Tragedy-Comedy quilt from a previous challenge. Usually, he's trying to imitate the faces, and then I rate him on a scale of 1-10 depending on how well he captures it.

He got a solid 5 for that face. I think he's actually done a better job of capturing the element of surprise.

But enough of this fooling around. It was time to start sewing the "Never Enough Cats" quilt top together. I started with the inner-most black border strips. Smitty held the ruler for me.

I encouraged him to hold the fabric at another location, and I think I hurt his feelings. He was being his most helpful self, and obviously, I didn't appurreciate his assistance.

From his new helping position, we sewed that top together.

Except for a couple of cats, the ones on the pattern cover were all tuxedo cats. I stuck with that since that made fabric selection and top-stitching easier. However, I made one cat for Smitty. You can tell it's Smitty by the gray fur and the pink nose.

And I made one Sadie cat. The one in the middle is obviously Sadie. You can tell by the tortie fur and the black nose...not to mention the sour expression. She likes cuddling, and she likes treats. She has to box Smitty's ears occasionally, though, and so she keeps her mad face on most of the time just to warn him off.

Okay, and then three more cats were added to the third side.

And three more to the fourth side.

And with that, I had a quilt top. It still needs top-stitching. I'll probably top-stitch all of it in black, and I'll have to stitch in the faces. 

I have some tiny buttons to use for the eyes, but I'd rather not sew on all those little buttons. Instead, I've ordered a supply of hot-fix nailheads in different colors. I'll see if those will work when they arrive. (Shipping is slow these days, and they haven't even shipped yet.) Once I have the top-stitching finished, I won't be able to move along until I receive those hot-fix nailheads.

For the quilt back, I selected this fabric, which has been in my stash a long time. Those little cats are about the size of a dime.

I selected a black and white stripe for the binding, but I haven't cut it yet. I might change my mind about the binding.

Okay, so top-stitching is on today's agenda. I'll probably trace out my next embroidery piece too. I'm closing in on the end of the block for Calendula Patterdrip's Cottage. Mike and I are going to head into town this morning to run some errands. Tomorrow will be a cooking day, and so the week's sewing is probably coming to a close.