Kitty Quilt

A few months ago, my parents decided to give up the RV lifestyle they'd lived for over 10 years and move back into a house. They needed to furnish their new home and I helped out by giving them an antique bedroom set that I had leftover from transforming our guest room into a craft studio. That meant I needed to empty out a dresser full of fabric. I loaded it all into plastic storage bins and was determined to keep it to three. But, they were a little bulgy...


There wasn't anything I wanted to get rid of. So, I needed to do some stash busting. The bulgy bins were just what I needed to finally get the inspiration to do something with some quilt squares my mom had made and given to me years ago. Since she had put time and effort into making them, she must have liked them. So, what about using them to make her a Christmas gift? Seemed like a good idea to me. There were 16 cat blocks, a little pattern book and a bag of buttons for eyes.


I went through my stash to try and find coordinating fabrics to finish it but had no luck. The fabrics were from the 80's and that made it challenging to find colors that worked. I ended up buying a solid blue that matched a blue in most of the cats. I used it to outline the blocks. I also bought some cute green print fabric from a local quilt shop that I had planned to use for a border. But, by the time I had put all the blocks together, it was so large that I didn't need a border. It would have looked adorable on the back with the leftover kitty block in the center but I didn't buy enough.


I found a thick, furry fabric that I used for the backing and batting all in one. It was wide enough that I didn't even need to piece it! I tied the layers together with white crochet cotton and bound the quilt with more blue fabric. The furry fabric feels really nice and it looks good too. I think this quilt will be nice for her to curl up with on the sofa in chilly weather. It's soft and cozy.


It's all folded up and ready for wrapping. I hope she likes it!


My fabric stash didn't go down with this project because the cat blocks were replaced with green print fabric and a little leftover fur. But, hey, I tried. And, I'm not giving up just yet. I have fabric for a couple of quilts and some garments that I'm anxious to get started on. I wonder if finishing those will lessen the stash enough to close those bins? At least, those kitties won't be staring at me anymore when I look through my stash!