Fat Cat and Mousey on their way to a new home

Fat Cat and Mousey

Fat Cat and Mousey are on their way to a new home.  My lovely friend Marti Lew is married to a Pediatric Oncologist.  In Bangor, Maine, there will be a new facility just for these children.  Fat Cat and Mousey will be installed as soon as it is finished.  This is just the perfect home I was hoping for these two comical and friendly creatures.  I'm looking forward to seeing them installed.  Fat Cat is ready to give hugs to children and stuffed animals.  I just hope it brings a bit of cheer and comfort.

Golden Sunrise

Golden Sunrise, redone

Not happy with the quilted sky, I ripped it out.  After steaming out the stitch lines, I used gold metallic thread to tie the sky in a circular pattern emanating from the sun.  Difficult to see because of the metallic and the camera's reflection, it does add a small bit of texture, while allowing the atmosphere to just be more as Turner would have done it.

Golden Sunrise

10" x 10"

The challenge is to capture the essense of  'Turner's Light.' As I look at it now, I wish my golden thread was not so heavily stitched.  However, I just spent the afternoon [and last night] ripping out one quilt; not ready to do another even if it is really small.

This is my third try at this challenge.  It is miles better than the other two.  However, I now have more ideas to attempt.  It seems one painting/quilt always leads to another.

Katharine Hepburn quote

"If you obey all the rules

you miss all the fun."

Katharine Hepburn

Window Study 1

Window Study 1

10" x 10"

The Fast Friday Fabric Challenge was to use a photo of our choosing to sketch the lines to become inspiration for a quilt.  The colors were to come from another photo we used for photo inspiration.  To quote Cynthia Morgan, the "Challenge: Use the element of Line and the 3 elements of Color (Hue,Value, Intensity) in a design study piece. You will need 2 inspiration sources:  one for line, another for color."

Photo Inspiration and Sketch-Tracing

Color Inspiration

These colors came from a Rights Managed photo, so I am not posting that.  It is a photo of a spectacular fire works display over a body of water.  Besides lighting up the sky, the colors are reflected in the water.  I had to deviate from these somewhat because I do not have many bright colors in my stash.  What a dull stash I have.  I am working on getting bright colors.

Fat Cat and Mousey

Fat Cat and Mousey

32.75" x 39.5"

As you may have already guessed, this was a FUN project!  It is my response to a Fast Friday Fabric Challenge.  It is also my February charity quilt.

This started out as a comfort quilt for my guild's stash.  Unfortunately I had serious stitch tension problems which required me to apply glue on the back of ALL the stitching so that I didn't have to worry about it coming apart.  The glue made the back a bit stiff and scratchy; not much for a comfort.  My present idea is to find a place for it as a wall hanging in a hospital children's wing.  Someone at my guild mentioned the Barbara Bush Center in Portland, Maine.  Too far for me to drive, so I'll try to connect by phone to see if they might be interested.  I'll write a follow up, if and when, this happens.

Fat Cat and Mousey side view

The eyes and nose were freezer paper turned applique.  I never thought I would ever used this technique which was demonstrated last year at one of my guild meetings.  The ears were make using the pillow case technique then attached to the quilt.  I did this before I quilted.  However, it would be much easier to add them later. 

Fat Cat, closeup of face and tail

The whiskers were added after quilting because I wanted them to be really secure.   When I sewed the tail seam, I also sewed in two pieces of polyester quilt batting. I wanted the tail to puff out; didn't want to worry about the stuffing shifting.   It was a bear to turn inside out, but I do like the effect.  I stitched the tail down after quilting; leaving just a short end free.  The ruffled collar was created separately then attached to the quilt top.

Mousey

Mousey was created separately from a very simple shape, then stuffed with lots of polyester to keep the nice fat shape.  To get the tail to curl, I made a loop and left it for a while.  Fat Cat's paws have velcro on the ends for holding Mousey or some other object of a different size and shape.  The nose and eyes are heavily stitched.

Sketch/Pattern for Fat Cat

I used a large piece of newsprint to sketch what I hoped would be a charming, comical, playful cat that might appeal to a young child.  During the construction stage I cut the sketch apart.  I marked connection lines where two pieces would join.   Then, I cut and sewed; making several changes as I went to ease construction.

I took this quilt to my guild meeting tonight.  I was soo disappointed that no one liked it very much.  I love it.  Hope children will too.