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.
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| 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."
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| Getting ready to pin-baste a charity quilt. |
Between last weekend and this, I got 6 scrappy kitty quilt tops pieced, basted and quilted.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| "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.
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| 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!
