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| Sixteen kitty quilts. A Make Nine 2025 finish. |
Yep, big pile of kitty quilts. 16 of them!
I’ve been working on these little quilts since December of last year—a time when I can purge outdated fabric headers and organize the scrap piles.
Working in batches—either sorting scraps and orphan blocks, sewing patchwork units, assembling quilt tops, sandwiching and basting, free-motion quilting, and finally binding by machine—I tackle a few quilts (maybe 2 - 3) at a time. Once all the batches were completed, the final count was 16.
I’m counting this as my second Make Nine finish for 2025, in response to the “Simple and Stress-free” prompt.
Stress-free quilt making
Making charity quilts—especially kitty quilts—is a therapeutic sewing endeavor for me. It’s definitely simple and stress-free. I can play in the scraps, experiment with patterns and colors, enjoy improv patchwork, and practice free-motion quilting without the pressure of a deadline or needing to have a “perfect” outcome. It’s making quilts just for the fun of it!
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| Scrappy kitty quilts for local animal clinics. Make Nine 2025 finish. |
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| Kitty quilts. |
Several of the quilts incorporated orphan blocks and leftover units from other projects.
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| Improv patchwork with scraps (left) and orphan blocks (right). |
Each one finishes at approximately 25” x 27,” which fits the size of the cubbies at the clinic.
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| Improv patchwork. |
Some of the quilts have flannel on the fronts and/or the backs to make them snuggly and extra soft.
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| Scrappy kitty quilts. |
I love that they are so colorful!
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| Quilt fronts and backs. |
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| Various flannels for the quilt backs. |
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| Flannel backs. |
Free-motion quilting and binding
It takes me approximately 40 - 45 minutes to free-motion quilt each one. This is probably the quickest part of the entire process for me. Sometimes the fabrics or the patchwork inspire a FMQ quilting motif, or I try out variations or combinations from my FMQ repertoire. It keeps me in practice.
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| Scrappy bindings. |
The bindings are scrappy as well. I attach them to the back, bring them around to the front, and stitch down by machine—frequently with a zigzag stitch.
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| Scrappy bindings. |
For these quilts, a 40 wt. 100% cotton variegated thread for the zigzag stitching shows up well for the bindings. The color changes blend and accent the fabrics of the top.
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| Not quite enough! A small piece was inserted to complete this binding. |
For these quilts, I went through 9 bobbins of 50 wt or 60 wt thread; matching the thread color with the color of the backing fabric.
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| Front and back of quilts. |
Make Nine 2025 finish—16 kitty quilts and counting
This is my second Make Nine finish for 2025. I’m sure I’ll make more kitty quilts throughout the year and will add the documentation on my tracker. I love making these quilts and the animal clinics appreciate them, too.
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| Make Nine 2025 tracker. February 2025. |
Sixteen and counting for 2025.
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| Sixteen finished kitty quilts for the animals. |
