Another Alphabet Quilt

 I started another alphabet quilt from a panel. This is what I have so far.

This one was printed lengthwise on the fabric so in my mind it was not useable without cutting it apart. I cut all the squares and of course they were not exactly square. I cut them all square by cutting a bit less than 1/4 inch  into the printed "sashing" between the squares .    It worked out well but it gave me  5 3/4 inch  squares to work with, kind of an odd size.  I cut my sashing strips 1 1/2 inches from red fabric which was almost exactly the same shade as the printed sashing.

In addition to the lettered squares there are 2 squares with several of the animals in the square and no letters. That made 28 squares and setting the squares 5 to a row and 6 rows, I needed 2 more squares.

I thought of pinwheels but 2 or even 3 colors in a pinwheels seemed be lacking. I found some 16 patch leftover blocks that had all the colors in the quilt and I took the rows apart from 2 of them and added the rows to 2 other blocks and made 25 patch blocks that fit the corners exactly.  So.... there they are and I am not certain they are the best choice. In person they are much brighter and the colors are a good fit.

I am ready to add a bright blue speckled fabric for the borders and the backing will be the same.  If I have to piece the backing, I might make pinwheels. We'll See. 

Cat Quilts

 I have been cleaning and sorting and purging and making a ever enlarging mess.  I do have a plan in mind but until I can move some of my sorted things along, I am not making a lot of progress. 

Sometimes you just have to sew, even in the middle of the chaos.  I have a lot of cat fabric and as I have mentioned before A LOT of scraps. My new neighbor has 2 young cats who have no quilts.  I can fix that. The cat who received the quilt I made last month was pleased with his quilt so I am encouraged to make more. Cat quilts are fun to make and I have a number of cats in mind to be the recipients. I have plenty of raw material for making quilts and they will hopefully use up a respectable amount of fabric and batting. I will also be able to keep on sorting and purging and when I need a break I can make cat quilts. 

This is front and back of a previously made quilt. It is about 24 inches square. I had used odd shaped scraps of assorted cat fabric and a lot of short strips. I quilted in the ditch around the strips.

Below, is the quilt I just made. It is also about 24 inches square and it was a panel so it just needed a border. I quilted around the squares and around the individual cats. I am using only what I have so although I would have liked to use a print on the back to hide my quilting stop and start knots, I used a plain allover print. That's what is nice about cats they won't care.

I am working on another child's alphabet quilt from a different panel than the last one. More about that another time. I do need to get it finished quickly so I have organized the current mess in my sewing room in a way that will give me space to work and space to sort.

My plan is to work my way through each bag or box at a time and put away or dispose of everything in each one before I drag out another box or bag. No more opening another one because there are things in different places that go together.