Make cute pillowcases with the Cat’s Pajamas

One of our neighbors had a really rough week. We hope these kitty pillowcases will help to cheer her up.

One-size-fits-all pillowcases.

The pillowcase cuffs with the shooting stars is glow-in-the-dark. It will probably be a surprise for our neighbor when the lights are off. I found both of these fun fabrics last week at Around the Corner Fabrics, a great little quilt shop in Covington (Latonia), KY.

The Cat’s Pajamas pillowcases with glow-in-the-dark cuffs.

The main print is Feline Faces from the “Cat’s Pajamas” fabric collection by Patrick Lose. The cuff is from “Space Glow” from Lewis & Irene Fabrics. The bolts were sitting on adjacent shelves at the shop—just meant to go together.

Glow-in-the-dark cuff fabric: Space Glow from Lewis & Irene.
Pillowcase main print: Cat’s Pajamas by Patrick Lose.

You can’t have too many personalized pillowcases, right?!

What we learn from messages and views of others

When people choose to highlight a piece of your work as one of their “favorites,” what is your take-away from that? In last month’s September Textile Love challenge, sponsored by Seam Collective, the prompt for the last day is “Favourite post from another participant.” Two of my posts were selected (both a surprise and delight to me!) by two different participants and one post was included in the highlight reels from Seam Collective.

Embroidery and hand stitching over watercolor painting.
From my 100 Day Project—Paint, Paper, Stitch—in 2024.

Anna Armitage choose this piece (above), from my 2024 100 Day Project called “Paint, Paper, Stitch,” as one of 9 favorites from the September Textile Love Challenge. It’s one of the watercolor compositions I created on paper and then hand stitched and hand embroidered. In response to one of the comments on this Day 5 “Stitch” post, I shared a few tips about stitching through watercolor paper… something I learned through working the 100 Day Project.

“A Tribute to Steve” (below) was my response to the Day 28 prompt, “Frame.” It was featured in Seam Collective’s reel for that day. Their observation was, “The word < frame > holds so much more than just a boundary. It’s a space where creativity is nurtured, the structure that shapes our stories, and the lines that guide our thread. And of course the magic happens when we think beyond it. When we challenge the frame, break its limits to get closer to a sort of truth—let the fibers tell their own story. The framing is not just about the containing, delineating, porting… it’s about the act of laying the table, setting up for infinite possibilities.”

“Here [from veronica.fiberantics], each color provides framing and contrast that changes our perception of the adjacent block. Speaks of depth and intimacy.”

“A Tribute to Steve”
Improvisationally pieced, machine quilted, with hand embroidery.

Julie Aldrich, who narrowed her favorites to three new-to-her artists whose work stood out to her and also choose this same piece, and said, “Your creative quilts have given me just the nudge I needed to use my stash and just go for it!”

I posted this photo on Day 27 in response to “Superpower.” “Yep—that is really a superpower!” was a comment from Claire Manners Wood.

Free-motion quilting (back view).

My take-aways

Knowing the background story of each of these pieces, I have a certain perspective on them. Unless told in a description or artist’s statement, the viewer does not have this knowledge and only responds directly to the work visually. Here are my thoughts about the viewers’ insights that were shared with me:

• I think the most powerful pieces (the ones people respond to) are the ones that we, as the artist/maker, are passionate about. If one lets the passion direct the work, it comes through to the viewer. This passion cannot be forced.
• Don’t give up. The piece from my 100 Day Project took different twists and turns before it was completed. Working on this composition extended multiple days—moving between painting, stitching, painting, and stitching more. In the final composition, there is a lot of depth, nuance, layers, and color shifts. The initial composition was not very good or interesting, but in the end—through additional work and determination—it became more complex and interesting.
• Setting up—and showing up for—your art practice is critical to progress.
• Seeing a piece through another’s eyes brought me insight I had not thought of, or seen. The idea of a  “frame” is an example of this. I’ll be thinking about this as I face future work.
• It’s so gratifying to get insightful feedback from other textile artists. It’s a wonderful, encouraging validation of the time and work that one devotes to one’s craft or discipline. Sometimes we get too close to our work and miss the forest for the trees.

Thanks for Seam Collective for hosting September Textile Love. This was my 7th year participating. It’s always a wonderment of inspiration! You make us all think “beyond the frame.”

The Seam Collective manifesto:

Seam Collective manifesto.

Create Daily 2024 tracker: Q3 is complete

Three-quarters of 2024 have passed as we say “goodbye” to September. On October 1, I’ll begin filling in the last diagram of My Create Daily tracker.

Create Daily 2024 tracker, September 30.

During the last week of the month, the squares were colored with four different colors—each representing a different creative activity. While traveling, my take-along project is hand knitting.

I’ve also been active in a new sketchbook with exercises from the Sketchbook Revival online workshop. This page was nature journaling and contour drawings with Melinda Nakagawa.

Sketchbook page: Nature journaling and contour drawings.

On the weekend, I made a thread sampler stitch-out with Scanfil Organic Threads for one of my customers. It shows examples of free-motion quilting, hand quilting, hand embroidery, and machine decorative stitching with Scanfil’s 100% long staple organic cotton threads; 50wt and 30 wt.

Thread sampler detail: free-motion quilting, hand stitching, decorative machine stitching.

The sample was improvisationally pieced with American Made Brand [AMB] solids from Clothworks. The binding is from the 2.5” Edition collection by Art Gallery Fabrics.

Scanfil thread sampler, 8” x 10.5”.

And I rounded out the last day of September with slow stitch mending. It’s been a colorful and productive month. 

Welcome October!

“Straw for strays” and “Flannel for fuzzy ones”

A couple of weeks ago, I reconnected with Connie, my friend and work associate in New Jersey, who rescues feral cats. I’ve sent Connie a few scrappy kitty quilts in the past for her inside and outside cats. Here is a "3-kitty pile-up" on one of the quilts I've sent her.

A 3-kitty pile-up on a kitty quilt.

In our conversation, Connie was telling me about two elusive young outside cats that were escaping capture. She’s enticed them several times with tuna fish (yes, sometimes one must resort to “people food”) but they had somehow avoided getting caught in the cage carrier. Her cat-trapping escapades made me chuckle. 

Flannel for kitty quilts

As the weather has begun to turn chilly where she lives, she mentioned she would soon be getting straw to begin insulating a shelter for the ferals. “Straw for strays. Hay for horses.” is her mnemonic device for remembering which to buy. Our conversation got me motivated… so I headed to my stash of flannel fabrics because... well... "Flannel for the fuzzy ones."

Getting ready to pin-baste a charity quilt.

Between last weekend and this, I got 6 scrappy kitty quilt tops pieced, basted and quilted.

Kitty quilts pin-basted and ready for quilting.

The larger, all-flannel quilts have a poly batting for more loft and warmth. They will go to Connie for her cats, and the smaller ones will be donated to my local Cat Clinic.

Six scrappy kitty quilts quilted and ready for binding.

This is another of Connie's cats that "claimed" one of the quilts I sent her last time.

"This is MY quilt!"

Using large free-motion quilt patterns

I use larger designs on my charity quilts which makes the quilting process go quickly. Larger "unquilted" areas allow for more loft (good for kitty snuggling) and more drape in the quilt. A few of my go-to patterns are shown here—concentric circles, flowers, and feathers.

Circles (far left), flowers, and feather quilting patterns on charity quilts.

Quilt stats

I do choose an appropriate thread color for quilting these charity quilts. 40 wt. variegated threads were used for the top thread for these (gotta make it fun for the quilter, right?). 

• Top thread: 40 wt. cotton (YLI and Superior Threads King Tut)
• Bobbin thread: 50 wt. cotton
• 6 bobbins
• 4.25 hours of free-motion quilting. With these larger motifs, it takes an average of 45 minutes to quilt a small cat-size quilt.

Binding by machine

The final step is to add bindings (by machine) and get these flannel quilts shipped off to all the fuzzy ones at the "Connie Cafe." 

By the way... after 4 hours in the rain early one Saturday morning, the two kitties mentioned at the start of this post were caught with the help of the local Cat Rescue organization. The kitties have been neutered, vaccinated and returned to the neighborhood. Connie's persistence and her love for cats paid off!