“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!

“September Textile Love” prompt is a reminder to label quilts

I’m participating again in Seam Collective’s September Textile Love challenge. Today’s prompt is “Spinning a yarn” for which I have responded with photos and details about this quilt, “Blue Rhino Moon.” This is a  story—or “yarn”—that is worth re-telling.

“Blue Rhino Moon”
2014 Guild Challenge

Textiles have stories

I believe all textiles have a story to tell. (Oh, if some could actually speak!)  When I look at the quilts I’ve made over the years, I think the stories behind the ones I remember most are the Guild Challenges I’ve participated in. This quilt,  “Blue Rhino Moon,” is a Guild Challenge piece that often accompanies me when I bring samples of my work to my workshops, like my Intro to Free-motion Quilting or Intro to Improv Quilting. This is when I get to re-live and re-tell the story behind the quilts. 

“Blue Rhino Moon” detail.

“Blue Rhino Moon” was made in response to my guild’s “Paint Chip Challenge” in which participants had to find three paint chips whose color names began with the our initials, use fabrics in these colors as the predominant colors of the quilt, and include some type of hand embellishment. My colors were Volcanic Ash (grey), Hang Ten (turquoise), and Oh So Red—VHO. I love the vibrancy of the complementary color palette, and the contrast with the black and volcanic ash fabrics. The quilt is improvisationally pieced and free-motion quilted on my domestic machine. The hand embellishments are tiny crocheted and tatted motifs. 

Back detail of free-motion machine quilting.

Here are detail photos of the machine quilting from the back of the quilt.

Back detail of free-motion machine quilting.

The message is: Label your quilts!

I so appreciate when one of the requirements of a Guild Challenge is that a label be attached to the quilt. Labels are one of the best ways to document a quilt, its maker, and its story. Yes, it takes a little extra time and effort when we are running up to the last minute of that Challenge deadline… but we have too many quilts by “makers unknown.” Don’t add your beautiful quilt to that list.

The title for this quilt came from a fabric scrap that was amidst the fabrics I pulled while making the quilt. This fabric scrap (with the rhino) incorporated the colors of the quilt so I used it and other trimmings from the patchwork to create the quilt label.

“Blue Rhino Moon” quilt label.

In the astronomy of ancient cultures, from where other full moons get their names— like the Strawberry Moon, or the Harvest Moon—I don’t think there is such a thing as the Blue Rhino Moon. But for the story of this quilt, the Blue Rhino Moon does exist.

And this story also includes a reminder to document your quilt by including a label!

Make Nine finish #9: the Triangle Pouch

The final finish for the Make Nine 2024 Challenge is this group of triangle pouches. This new-to-me pattern was introduced to me and participants in a summer workshop with Arouna Khounnoraj. The triangle pouch is a perfect little project for featuring special fabrics, using up batting scraps, slow stitching with decorative threads, and it can be made exclusively by hand (if you choose).

Hand stitched triangle pouches.

The first triangle pouch I made was in the workshop using fabrics that were dyed with natural dyes. I started a second one. This one incorporated a naturally-dyed fabric that was also hand stamped with a tjap design.

Triangle pouch using natural dyed fabric scraps and hand embroidery stitches.

You can see the tjap I used to hand-stamp the design on the hand-dyed fabric.

Tjap and hand-stamped fabric for another triangle pouch.

Last weekend, I started a batch of these pouches for a take-along handwork project prior to an overnight camper trip. This part of the pouch was sewn by machine (for expediency), but could also be done by hand. I’ve used a variety of commercial fabric prints in various colors.

Prepping the pouches for hand stitching.

After the decorative hand stitching is used to “quilt” the pouch, it is assembled with a drawstring and a decorative bead, button, or charm. The pouch can be used to hold small notions, a spool of thread, candies, or other small treasures.

Opened pouch showing the drawstring and vintage button.

One of the fun parts of making these pouches is searching the button stash to choose a complementary, decorative or vintage button to coordinate with the fabric.

Triangle pouches with vintage and decorative buttons.

Hand stitched triangle pouches.

Make Nine 2024 is complete!

These triangle pouches fulfill my “Learn more in ’24” prompt. 

“Learn more in ’24” prompt on Make Nine 2024 tracker.

And thus completes my Make Nine 2024 Challenge! It’s my 6th year participating and I’m feeling quite productive about this year’s projects. 

Completed Make Nine 2024 Challenge tracker.