Cool Cats

Cool Cats is a finish! Well, except for a trip through the washer and dryer, at least. This quilt will have to wait until we're back at a dock for its spa day and journey into crinkliness.

And I'm expecting it to crinkle quite nicely, what with all the different quilting motifs I used on it. Each fabric has its own design: stipples to ribbon candy, wishbones to flower petals. The focal ribbon of Cool Cats got outline quilting to make the kitties poof out a bit.

On the white background, I did a bit stippling in the corners and wavy lines radiating from the ends of the ribbons. The small white inner squares are unquilted except for SITD. A bright green binding picks up several bits of that same green from the cat fabrics.

Another piece of the yellow plaid from Sean's aunt makes a fine backing, and it shows all the quilting well.

And look! I even got the backing pretty straight this time, even if the photo is a bit crooked. Nothing is square or parallel on a boat, so I'm hoping you'll be distracted by either the Master Quilt Holder's feet, or perhaps our sturdy windlass and anchor chain.

Cool Cats will be donated to Covered in Love, a charity that provides comfort quilts to patients who pass away in the hospital. The fabrics were generously donated directly to the charity and I was very happy to be asked to use them.

I admit that at first I was a little worried about using such bright, cheerful, whimsical fabric for a quilt that would end up in the hands of a grieving family. Then I remembered that the charity's coordinator, Kat, has made several quilts in similarly upbeat colors. She tells us that the chaplains who distribute the quilts have a sense of what will work best for each family. Perhaps there are young grandchildren sitting at the bedside of an elderly patient in renal failure, who might be charmed and comforted by the smiling kitties.