12 kitty quilts donated. 6th Make Nine finish for 2023

Yesterday, we dropped off 12 kitty quilts to the Cat Clinic of Chattanooga. These charity quilts are pieced and quilted throughout the year as time permits… or when I need an improv patchwork project to occupy my hands with something mindful. 

Twelve kitty quilts with scrappy bindings for the cats at the Cat Clinic of Chattanooga.

I use up scraps and discontinued fabric samples to piece these quilt tops and I attach the scrappy bindings by machine.

A Scooter Cat reception at the Cat Clinic

Jessie and Walker, two of the Cat Clinic's scooter kitties, were out in the front reception area when we arrived. 

Here is Walker, one of the scooters.

Jennifer, one of the techs, says that Dolly, another of the scooter kitties, has a particular affinity for the quilts. She expects a different one to be put on the floor every day... just for her. 

Dolly on a new quilt. Photo credit: Cat Clinic of Chattanooga.

Scrappy patchwork for kitty quilts

Here are photos of this batch of scrappy kitty quilts. The patchwork for the quilt tops include a variety of fun prints and geometric patterns—cactus, sugar skulls, farm animals, snowmen, aliens, circles, dots and stripes—in a rainbow of colors that are puzzled together to a size approximately 25” x 27”.

Four of twelve donated kitty quilts.

I practice free-motion quilting on these quilts and sometimes try to come up with new design combinations.

Four of twelve donated kitty quilts.

Four of twelve donated kitty quilts.

The quilts all have either a flannel backing or flannel on the front with a cotton backing. 

Showing the flannel and cotton backings on the kitty quilts.

I try to donate a batch of these quilts each year. Although I've not counted, I imagine there have been close to 50 quilts donated to the Cat Clinic over the years. The kitties and the staff at the Cat Clinic love them. What’s better than that?

Make Nine 2023 finish #6

I’m also counting these 12 charity quilts for one of the Wild Card prompts for my Make Nine 2023.

"Wild Card" prompt for Make Nine 2023.

Make Nine 2023 tracker, July 2023.

12 scrappy kitty quilts donated July 15, 2023.

Make Nine 2020 finish: charity quilts for cats

I’m feeling good about checking off this item on my Make Nine 2020 list. It's because it's my Charity project goal. I finished this stack of 12 kitty quilts for the Cat Clinic of Chattanooga during shelter in place.

Make Nine 2020 Charity project: 12 kitty quilts. One for each month of the year.

Early in March, when the Coronavirus quarantine went into effect, I needed a purposeful project to counteract all the upheaval and uncertainty in the world. Improv patchwork and running fabric scraps and orphan quilt blocks through the sewing machine was good medicine.

Improv patchwork kitty quilt with scraps and fabric samples.

There is little precision required for improv patchwork and the 25” x 29” size of these quilts made this project achievable. I felt productive and useful with each little pieced top.

Flannel samples were strip pieced for this quilt.

Scraps, a leftover border print and a Christmas panel were all transformed into useful objects.

Charity quilt from a holiday fabric panel.

Charity quilt using a border print remnant.

It was satisfying to use up orphan and test blocks such as the star block in this quilt...

A single star test block and strip set cut-offs assembled into a quilt top.
(I rather like how this quilt turned out.)

... and several technique test samples—curved piecing, random string inserts, a paper pieced star and leftover strip stratas—that were languishing in the fabric stash.

Several technique samples are combined.

These four quilt blocks were from a block swap. They seemed to shelter in place for 11 years... until now.

Four 9" blocks from a block swap.

Making these quilts also gave me the opportunity to practice free-motion quilting and test new quilting designs. Hooray for a learning opportunity!

Detail of back side showing the free-motion quilting of radiating petals.

Free-motion feathers.

Free-motion leaves.

Several of the kitty quilts have cat fabric prints on the back.

Cat prints for the quilt backs.

Some backs are pieced.

Patchwork backs.

Bindings were done by machine and a good use for leftover 2.5" precut strips.

Bindings by machine. 

When our city reopens and the Cat Clinic is open to visitors, these little quilts will get delivered to the cats and kitties.

12 kitty quilts going to the Cat Clinic soon!

Four other items from my Make Nine list are in progress so I feel I'm on track this year.

Make Nine Challenge goals for 2020.

Putting scraps of fabric, batting, binding and orphan blocks to a good use!

Although charitable giving should be a year-round activity, I seem to have more sewing machine time during the holidays. I was able to devote some late night hours this month to piecing batting, machine quilting and machine binding five charity quilts for the kitties at the Cat Clinic of Chattanooga. We dropped them off last Friday.

Machine binding small charity quilts for kitties at The Cat Clinic.

Scrap busting and repurposing orphan blocks
I fit scrap-busting patchwork into my schedule throughout the year. It's a great mindless activity to do while de-stressing, mentally sifting through To-Do lists, and overcoming creative blocks... while still being productive! A guild program on re-purposing orphan quilt blocks also prompted an archeological fabric dig to uncover a few of my own. Results of these activities went into completing recent kitty quilts.

Left: flannel scrap buster top.
Right: three re-purposed orphan blocks from a block swap.

Scrap buster quilts.

Leftover 2.5" strips from pre-cut strip collections are put to good use on the bindings. I had fun mixing and matching colors and prints!

Right: a hexagon orphan block upcycle.

These are great little projects for patching together and using up leftover batting bits, too! Use a machine zigzag stitch, fusible batting tape or hand stitching to hold the batting pieces together.

Batting bits are pieced together.

Flannel backings provide softness and warmth

The quilt backs are flannel so the kitties have one side that is extra-snuggly. (These flannels happened to be cat prints.) Due to a scrap collection of flannel fabrics I was working with, a few of the quilts also had flannel patchwork on the front. Double snuggle!

Flannel cat prints are used for the quilt backings.

The quilt with the hexagon orphan block prompted the machine quilting design. I started the quilting in the center of the hexagon block and went out from there (see the quilt's back below).

Hexagon quilt back showing the free-motion quilting.

Eleven kitty quilts donated in 2019

Cassandra (Cassie) is one of the Clinic's office mascots. She was more interested in her box than investigating the new quilts this time. However, the staff is always appreciative of the donation and they like the colorful fabrics and novelty prints in the quilts.

Cassie (left) decided to stay in her box rather than investigate the new quilts.

With these 5 quilts added to the 6 dropped off in September, the total donation comes to 11 quilts—almost one for each month of 2019.

If you're looking for something meaningful in which to use your fabric and batting scraps, small charity quilts are a good solution. Check with local organizations or shelters to see what their needs are. Or here is a list of national organizations that accept donated quilts, fabrics and sewing supplies. Pass along some quilty goodness!

Got orphan blocks? The Cat Clinic kitties will adopt them.

Another wonderful use for orphan quilt blocks and fabric crumbs is the making of charity quilts. My quilty donations go to the Cat Clinic of Chattanooga where these little quilts are used in the cubbies where the cats and kittens recover from surgeries and medical procedures. My kitty quilt pile grew to 6, so it was time again to visit the kitties!

Six kitty cuddle quilts ready for drop-off at the Cat Clinic of Chattanooga.

The finished size of the kitty quilts is approximately 25" x 27". They're small, manageable, quick and fun to make. In addition to comforting the cats, a quiltmaker can benefit by 

• practicing free-motion quilting on them.
• trying out new quilting techniques—such as ruler work or curved piecing.
• practicing binding by machine.
• testing decorative stitches or new quilting motifs.
• and using orphan quilt blocks and scraps to create something useful and appreciated.

Charity quilts made with orphan quilt blocks and scraps.

I combine orphan blocks and various fabric bits to produce colorful patchwork menageries. Dr. Toumayan, the veterinarian and founder of the Cat Clinic, says both the kitties and the clinic's staff enjoy the bright colors and fun novelty prints! I usually put flannel on the backs of these quilts for an extra snuggle factor.

Flannel fabric is often used on the back.

Upon my arrival at the clinic, it didn't take long for Mooch, the current office cat waiting for his forever home, to check out the delivery.

I got to meet Mooch at the Cat Clinic.

Mooch is a sweet, friendly cat. He and his brother would make great additions to anyone's family! Oh, and he likes quilts.

Mooch inspects the new quilts.

Filling a defined shape with a quilting motif

Sometimes we want to fill a specific space on a quilt with a quilting motif. It could be an alternate block, a setting triangle, sashing or other defined space. Why not practice free-motion quilting and filling shapes using improv patchwork? 

Filling defined shapes and spaces with free-motion quilting.

This improv quilt is for Jesse The Wonder Cat and the kitties at The Cat Clinic. The improvisational patchwork actually has parts of a fabric handbag that never made it to the quilting stage, so I decided to repurpose the pieces for the kitties. Other improv blocks were incorporated to make the top to size.

The "handbag" kitty quilt, 30.5" x 25"

When I sit down to quilt these small format quilts, I decide on a technique or motif I need to practice. With the larger blocks and a variety of sizes of squares, rectangles and triangles, this quilt top was a good canvas for fillers and motifs in defined spaces.

Zig-zags and a feather in triangular shapes

Moving from section to section, I also got in practice for ditch stitching. You can see the outlines of the shapes (stitching in the ditch) more clearly from the back.

Ditch stitching (back view).

These kitty charity quilts have an abundance of potential for practicing free-motion quilting. And the kitties love them!

Enjoy the antics of the special kitties, Jesse the Wonder Cat, Silly Willie the Super Scooter, Good Golly Miss Dolly that reside at the Cat Clinic of Chattanooga. And if you're thinking about opening your heart to a furry friend this holiday season, there are many cats and dogs that need forever homes. Contact your local shelter to inquire.

Kitty Quilt inspection and approval

Three new kitty quilts were dropped off at The Cat Clinic of Chattanooga yesterday. Of course, before they are put to use in the cubbies for the recovering kitties, Jesse the Wonder Cat, the Cat Clinic's king, chief inspector and ruler of the office had to inspect them. "Just doin' my job, ma'am," says Jesse. 

Jesse the Wonder Cat inspects the kitty quilts at The Cat Clinic.

 "Helloooo... anything in here?"

Checking inside and out.

"Let's see about this one over here."

Jesse inspects the three new kitty quilts.

"Gotta check under here, too."

Jesse doesn't miss a thing. He's very thorough.

"This one's got cute animal fabrics..."

Improvisational patchwork with novelty fabric prints.

"I like the flannel. It's soft and warm."

The kitty quilts are backed with flannel fabric.

"Ok. Job complete! What's next?"

Kitty quilts are kitty approved!

The associates reward a job well done with some kitty scratching and food!

Petting time for a job well done.

After inspection, the associates fold up the kitty quilts and take them to the back.

Food time.

"Oh, here comes Cassandra. She's gotta get into the action."

Cassandra joins in after the work is done.

There's always something going on at the Cat Clinic. Jesse, Cassandra and Willie the Super Scooter welcome cat and human visitors alike. The Clinic also has kittens and cats for adoption. Jesse would love for his feline friends to find forever homes!