Cat-scrapaganza

quilts
A very large throw quilt made up of rows of cats in various shirting fabrics in pinks and browns and blues and oranges. In the bottom right corner are two outlier cats, one is white with orange highlights and one black.

Years created: 2024-2025
Piecing technique: machine
Quilting technique: hand
Summary: This cat quilt was made for a good friend. I used the basic block from the pattern “Meow–a-pa-looza” by Laura Heisler. The fabric came from a big set of shirting scraps and small pieces I was given by another friend. I added my friend’s two cats in the bottom right corner.

The two non-shirting cats belong(ed) to the receipient. On the left, a Turkish van with a heart shape on its back. On the right, a beautiful perfectly-black little cat.

A very large throw quilt made up of rows of cats in various shirting fabrics in pinks and browns and blues and oranges. Some of the cats are sitting with their butts touching and some are head-to-head. There’s a thin brown border, then a thick border of vertical or horizontal strips of the shirting.

A closeup of the bottom right corner, where there are two outlier cats. The one on the left is a white cat with orange ears and an orange heart on its flank. The one on the right is a black cat. They’re snuggling face-to-face.

Rather than use a traditional stencil, I wanted to make overlapping circles that were the actual size of the quilt blocks. I used the method of making a circle in the right size, pinning it on, and tracing it with a Hera marker. This mostly worked, but each row and column drifted a little, which was discouraging.

A work in progress photo with a pinkish fabric circle template pinned to a square.

The backing fabric came from the receipient along with some other used textiles. It was originally a homemade laundry bag.

A view of the backing with cute hopping and playing frogs and little flowers.