12 stash-buster kitty quilts: an opportunity for improv piecing, free-motion quilting, and holiday cheer

These 12 kitty quilts are heading out the door. Seven are going to the kitties at the Cat Clinic of Chattanooga. Five are headed to New Jersey to two of my associates who have adopted or rescued kitties.

Twelve completed kitty quilts.

Stash-buster quilts

Over the past few weeks, I've been stealing a few minutes here and there to purge a bottomless scrap pile and spread a little holiday cheer to the owners, helpers, and caregivers of our fuzzy friends. 

Some of the fabrics nearest the top of the scrap pile were flannel holiday prints. These tops were fun to make and got me into a festive spirit.

Two kitty quilts made with flannel holiday fabrics.

The red thread used for the quilting as well as the zigzag stitch on the machine binding added a colorful contrast to the holiday themed fabrics.

Contrasting red thread for quilting and binding.

Improv patchwork

Anything goes when making kitty quilts! This is a quiltmaking project where I not only get to use a variety of fabrics, but I can combine them with leftover patchwork bits and work with improvisational piecing. 

Sometimes a color palette emerges from the scrap pile, or the fabric prints are from a single fabric collection, but most often it's an "everything but the kitchen sink" conglomeration. This kind of improv patchwork is exciting, spontaneous, and certainly stress-free... which is what I love about these quilts.

Improv piecing with scraps and leftover patchwork.

A free-motion quilting opportunity

I always tell my free-motion quilting students that charity and kid (or kitty) quilts offer a great opportunity to practice their free-motion quilting. 

Scrappy kitty quilts are good stash-busters.

On a few of these quilts, I brushed up on free-form feathers.

Back of a quilt showing free-motion feather motifs.

Feathers are flexible, fast, and forgiving. They travel well, fill the space effortlessly, and are easy to combine with swirls and other quilting motifs.

Free-form feathers on batiks.

Machine binding is the way to go on these quilts. Since discovering the magic sticky tape, stitching the corners by machine is a breeze.

Attaching the quilt bindings by machine.

A warm and happy holiday season

So now that the kitty quilts are finished, the next best part of the process is to give them away! Stan Leigh, one of our outside kitties, wishes all our kitty friends a warm and happy holiday season.

Stan Leigh says Happy Holidays to all the fuzzy ones.
The kitty quilts are on the way.

Point Taken: Peppered Cottons and FMQ ruler work—Part Three

After quilting my Point Taken quilt, I knew this quilt would benefit from blocking. See Part One for the fabric selection and Part Two for the quilting and ruler work on this quilt.

Point Taken: back view.

After submerging the quilt into room temperature water, it sat for several minutes to let the water absorb into the fabric and batting. The quilt was then removed, squeezed and rolled in a terry towel. The damp piece was laid out on a cushioned board, measured and maneuvered, and pinned in place until dry.

Wet blocking.

You just have to wait for it...

Point Taken: blocked and bound.

The blocking evened out the surface of the quilt and made the trimming easy.

The backing fabric is a quilting cotton, Primitive Basics by Blank Quilting (color: forest). This tonal blender shows off the FMQ and ruler work and the olive green color complements the colors of the patchwork of the quilt top. The binding is also a Peppered Cotton (color: begonia leaf).

Point Taken: back view.

Below are detail views of the completed quilt.

Point Taken: detail. The dimension of the prairie points can be seen here.

Point Taken: detail.

Point Taken: detail.

The finished quilt is 26" x 25.5". I would have liked a better [evenly lit] full view photo, but I was finishing the binding in a hotel room and not in my studio. I had to drop the quilt off at Mountain Creek Quilt Shop and thought Terri would prefer a quilted and bound quilt sample—rather than just a quilted one. So it goes...

Point Taken
Finished size: 26" x 25.5"

So that is the story of my latest completion. As I am often asked, the Quilt Stats are listed below. They tell the "other" side of the story. I hope Point Taken gets you inspired to get out your pretty threads, drop the feed dogs, and let the colors dance upon your patchwork. Let the music begin...

Point Taken
Finished size: 26" x 25.5"

Quilt stats
Finished size: 26" x 25.5"

Threads:
WonderFil Spaghetti, 12 wt. cotton
WonderFil 50 wt. cotton Tutti variegated and Konfetti solids
Aurifil 50 wt. cotton (solid colors)

Bobbin thread: 60 wt. Bottom Line #613 sage

13.75 hours free-motion quilting
3 bobbins

Blueberries, watermelon and feathers!

Kim's red/white/blue Twister quilt top that I showed you in this post, has been quilted. I still love the red-and-white checkerboard that appears only on two sides.

Red, white and blue twister quilt. Approsimately 55" x 63".

Free-form feathers in a rich Christmas red thread [Wonderfil Kotton, 50 wt. cotton] were quilted throughout the center.

Twister center with blueberry and watermelon fabrics.

The feathers spilled into the second inner border.

Free-form feathers spilling into the white border.

The thread was changed for the white border. And changed again for an outer feathered border.

Free-motion quilting in the inner and outer border. 

 Here is the back—which really shows the quilting since Kim chose a solid fabric.

Detail of quilting from the back: outside border and corner.

Free-form feathers intertwine and meander through the center of the quilt.

 This is a happy quilt!
What color do you think she will use for the binding?