I almost chose the free McCall's pattern Caribbean Sunset for it's pictured use of this fun color range. However, I found that I wanted to make a gift quilt for a real cat lover so I searched for cat quilt patterns and found this super fun one called Cat's Meow from Lunch Box Quilts. I ordered the pattern in Canada from Hamel's Fabrics and Quilting.
After looking at the pattern on the size 8.5 x 11" paper I determined that I wanted to work with a larger size applique, so I enlarged the pattern to 11 x 14" paper at Staples. That gave me my preferred size larger applique pattern.
I was able to use a lot of small pieces from my batik stash, and it felt really good to finally put those "saved for a rainy day" pieces to use. (See below for my organizing task...ugh).
I ordered my main front fabric, fabric for the cat block background, binding, and backing from http://www.equilter.com/. I love using their online design board! Unfortunately, I didn't really get my usual cost savings (compared to purchasing at my local quilt shop) because of the Canadian dollar exchange rate AND I had to pay a large duty fee at the post office. Not happy about that...but still pleased with my purchase!!
I loved choosing the colors for each cat and I worked steadily away each evening over the past month. Even the satin stitching was fun and didn't take as long as I thought it would!
Before I began this quilt I FINALLY decided to sort all my fabrics into separate colors. That took up one evening and NOW I need to do another blog about figuring out how to permanently organize this gong show of fabric that has been in my living room for the past month!! Any ideas would be highly appreciated!! I don't have a separate sewing room right now, so need to store my fabric in something portable.
That's another blog for another day! Cheers -
Sheri
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