Quarantine UFO Series #15, The Last Cat Quilt

 

Back in the early 2000’s, my mom introduced me to quilting. She invited me to a block-of-the-month at a local sewing shop and I was hooked. Around that time, my mom found a whimsical fabric that she loved. It was on clearance and she wasn’t sure what her plan was for it yet, so she decided to buy the bolts that were left; 3 in total.

 

 

A couple of years past and I think she may have completed a small baby quilt with some of it. She asked if I thought I’d like to make something with it, and I thought… why not? It would be fun to practice a block pattern and my quilting. 

 

 

I finished a churn dash quilt in 2007 and then decided it would be super fun to make tea cups, as that is the theme on the fabric. I designed a pattern and started working. After finishing 16 tea cups, I was at a loss as to what to do next. I didn’t have enough tea cups to make a reasonably sized quilt and I was really tired of making the tea cups. You can only do fussy work for so long. So, the project got tabled. Life got busy and I was distracted with other projects.

 

 

Fast forward to now and I have really been trying hard to work through all my backed up UFOs. I have been doing so well and really cranking out these projects. I feel like it’s given me some freedom to consider new projects, and it’s cleared out some of my stash so I can get some new goodies. 

 

 

This one really needed to get finished. It was time. I pulled out the blocks and thought I’d get back to work on them, but instead I realized I can make more blocks that are something other than tea cups. It really opened up the possibilities in my mind.

 

 

 

I was able to come up with a sweet little heart pattern to alternate with the tea cups and then laid it out in a pattern that looks like shelving. I finished the top with a border on 3 sides.

 

 

For the back, I used the fabric I had the most of, the pink kitty faces. I had so much of this that even after making the quilt, I was able to make 5 pillow cases to match! What?!?

 

 

 

 

 

For the quilting, I outlined the tea cups and the hearts, and then did a basic meander to fill in the rest. I finished it with binding with the same fabric I’d used for the borders, and this bad boy was all done.

 

 

It felt so good to use up the last of this fabric. It also felt good to complete a vision I had long ago, even if it was different than what I expected.

 

 

I’m not sure what I’m going to do with this one. It’s future is yet to be determined. That’s okay though. I was able to practice some techniques, fine tune my skill, and fall in love with possibilities all over again. What a great finish!

The American Flag Quilt

 

For years… since I started quilting… I have wanted to make a quilt for each month. I display one on my living room wall for the month and it’s a wonderful way to decorate for the different holidays and keep the house new and fresh.

 

 

For years I have had this goal, and yet it still hasn’t happened. I’m getting closer though. Covid lockdown really helped me focus on a lot of those projects I’ve always wanted to do, but haven’t. It was finally the right time to get some patriotic quilts going.

 

 

I went through my stash to find some reds, whites, and blues to create a scrappy look. I was surprised how few reds, whites, and blues I have. Apparently, I really like pinks (seriously, too much pink, not enough diversity). 

 

 

Even still, I was able to pull enough fabrics to create a good scrappy look and started researching piece sizes and finished quilt sizes for this. I have learned SO MUCH about the American flag dimensions and the design; it was awesome. First, I discovered the blue is always on the left, even if it’s hanging length-wise. I really wanted the flag to hang length-wise so I Made sure to put the blue on the left, which felt backwards at first the when it was all done it worked.

 

 

I also learned the length and width of the flag is very specific. To accomplish that, I figured out how big each piece needed to be to accomplish those dimensions. It’s not perfect, but it’s close. Also, the number of stripes and their order is very specific. This one I knew and was prepared for it.

 

 

Once everything was laid out, I got to work sewing. I put the pieces together in groups and made 4 sections. Then I sewed those sections together to get the final look. At this point my hubby was getting very interested in the project and asked me to leave as is, without borders. To keep it simple I did a basic meander in an off-white to match the white stripes.

 

 

I found a great classic americana fabric for the backing at a LQS and was able to use whole cloth without piecing anything for the backing. I wasn’t sure what to do about the binding. I didn’t want to do the whole thing in red and have that on the blue. But I also didn’t want to do it all in blue just for one section. So, I pieced the binding together so that the blue would match with the blue and the red would match with the red. It worked perfectly!

 

 

I am so happy with how this project came together. This is a very traditional quilt. I am hoping to make some more modern mini-flag quilts in the future, as well some stars and stripes themed quilts. For now, I finally have some patriotic colors to adorn my wall and enjoy the holiday.