Saturday, January 16, 2016

Scrappy Blue Saturday; The Cat Edition

Welcome to Scrap Happy Saturday!  We are continuing with blue for the month of January for our 2016 Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Everyone links up over at Angela’s blog, So Scrappy.  We invite you to check out all the great blue eye candy!

First up: cats.  I adore Sally’s kitten pattern, so decided I had to make a litter.  But before they were all even born, they began mewing for a mom. So I drafted a Mama Cat pattern and sewed them up a mom. I didn’t like any of the patterns I found online because they either had weird ears or no tail or no paw or were just otherwise unsatisfactory.


To Sally’s kitten block I added a strip at the top so that the blocks came to an even 6.5 x 6.5” unfinished (6” finished).  Mama cat is 12” finished, so I decided that this setting (above) was perfect. All sewn together it measures 24.5 x 24.5”.  So, nine colors should make a nice 72x72” quilt.  That way I can skip a color if I don’t have enough scraps.

Here are my Mama Cat pieces cut and laid out on my mini design boards.  Yes, one of the boards has a cat fabric border. 


If you like the Mama Cat pattern and would like a copy, let me know. I’ve written it up in pdf format and can email you a copy. Feel free to share. 

I had enough large scraps to do three Dresdens, but they are not yet appliquéd to blocks. It took me forever, auditioning all sorts of background fabrics, to decide what I wanted to do. The point was to use my existing stash. Eventually I decided to stick with Plan A, which is to to use pink and yellow background squares. I’ll make as many Dresdens as each color’s scraps allow and alternate between putting them on pink or yellow backgrounds. I hope to have enough by the end or the year to make two quilts - one pink and one yellow (backgrounds). 

 

I saw a Dresden quilt on Pinterest where the maker had used old doilies for the centers, so I am going to borrow that idea (see below). 


Each doily will need to be backed first so the centers are solid. I have some white linen I may use for that. Altogether, there are about 18 or so doilies. I'll have to dig deeper to find more. There are bins of linens I need to go through - things that will eventually make it into my Etsy shop.  :-)



In addition to cats and Dresdens, I made 10 scrappy 16-patch blocks using my 2.5” squares. There are 12 squares of color in each, with for black and white patches in the center. I will continue making these and figure out a use for them later in the year.....



I also squared up and pressed over 160 blue and white HST’s for heaven-knows-what. But I will make HSTs every month and throw them in the box with those. 

And last but not least (well, they probably ARE the least) for this week are the miscellaneous blocks I either dredged up or sewed. The top tiny Dresden is a vintage piece I found in with my vintage blocks (more about that some other time). There are three strip blocks; 2- 8.5” blocks that I did straight instead of slanted (what was I thinking?), and one that is slanted strips @ 6.5”. The other two 6.5” blocks are left over from last year. I think I will just throw together miscellaneous 6.5” blocks as I near the end of the scraps every month. Eventually they will find a purpose.  



I’m still continuing with my blue scraps for next week. (Will this month ever end?)  I’ll play with the selvages and make a block or two with those.  And finally, I have the remaining bits and pieces and will make some blue crumb slabs.  So, I will have all that to show next week. Hopefully!

Finally, I did manage to sew something besides blue this week. I pieced a very large block quilt in red and gray for my brother-in-law. It’s his favorite color. Yeah, it’s pretty simple and pretty ugly. I’m calling it “Seeing Red” because I hated working on it. It will get basted tomorrow and quilted over the next couple weeks when I need a change from the blue.  And a spur-of-the-moment Valentine Quilt is waiting in the wings.  

Thanks for dropping by! Until next time,

Cathy maroon

24 comments:

  1. All of your blue projects are great! Can't wait to see more in coming months!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You went to town with the blues! Love the cat family. So wondering if all nice blocks with be cats, or will you mix up the animals a bit??? I was going to do dresdens this year, but decided most of my scraps have been around forever and some would not make very pretty dresdens.... changed to bear paws. lol

    ReplyDelete
  3. WOW!!! Fabulous selection of BLUES and blocks!! LOVE your Kitty Family block because it's SEW different from any of the other kitty blocks that I've seen. Nice work!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Well you certainly have been sewing up a storm! Lots of nice things going on there. I like your "seeing Red" quilt lol

    ReplyDelete
  5. Please remember to spay and neuter your cats or pretty soon the blues will mix with red to make purple cats and eventually you will have all brown cats. Best regards from Molly the Adopted Kitten.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I LOVE the doily centers for the Dresden plates. You've got a lot of great things happening.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh my goodness, you are busy. Kitten/cat blocks are so cute, and I just love your Dresden plates the backgrounds and doilies are fabulous!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love your kitties! (Sally T makes the best critters, doesn't she?)
    You've got so many fun things going on - lots and lots of pretty!

    ReplyDelete
  9. You have been a busy bee in the sewing room! IJust love your cats and the layout of the block. have some cats in the drawer that want to come out and play with your kitties =) I think they might have to see daylight next month... once my current UFO's I am working on are done.
    So many lovely blue blocks.....

    ReplyDelete
  10. The mama kitty is just so sweet. What a lot of blue you sewed up this week. I don' t know how you can still have any left at all.

    ReplyDelete
  11. So kind of you to make a mother for those poor orphan kitties. And they look just like her! Great idea. The doilies for the Dresden centers are a terrific idea. You really had a productive week. Good going.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Kathy...love your cat/kitten blocks and would really appreciate a pdf copy of your "Momma Cat" pattern. It is Saturday evening (1/16) and I am sitting with my hubby. He is watching football and I am reading blogs. Life is wonderful !! All the best to you !!

    Gayle
    aquiltersplayhouse at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  13. You have some lovely projects going on - great way of setting the kitties. I love your use of doilies of in your Dresden plate block.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Wonderful projects...all of them. Congrats!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I would love a copy of mama kitty pattern.
    colleennoel at gmail dot com
    Thank you very much
    Colleen

    ReplyDelete
  16. Love all the projects. You sure have a busy week. Beautiful blues.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I love your cat and kitten block. It is going to make a beautiful quilt.
    I would love a copy of Mama cat please. lynnmcindoe@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  18. You have been very busy! Your kitties are very cute.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Love your mama kitty and all her babies, very cute. Using the doilies for the center of the Dresden Plates is a great idea. You've got some pretty ones in your pile. You've been very busy with all the blue scraps this month. You'll have lots of options for rainbow quilts at the end of the year.

    ReplyDelete
  20. What a fun idea to use the doilies as the centers for the dresden plates. And you have been VERY busy stitching/pressing your blues!!

    ReplyDelete
  21. All I could think when I saw those cute little kitties was how tired that poor mama must be having to look after all those wee ones. Love the idea of the doily for the centers of the dresden plates. Really pretty!

    ReplyDelete
  22. What a nice variety of projects you've got going. I love the mama cat block! I'd be tickled if you would send it to me
    louise (dot) hornor (at) gmail

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Love the sweet kitties, I'd be very pleased if you would send the pattern for mama to me. Thank you so a much!

    rkingscott@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete

I appreciate your visit to my blog and love your comments!