Wednesday, March 7, 2018

A salty finish


Today's finish is this bright quilt made with the leftover scraps from Cool Cats


That fabric was donated to Kat to be used for Covered In Love, and she passed it along to me for that purpose. It's a really nice line from Henry Glass. 


I cut the remaining scraps into squares and set them on point using a method I wrote about here. The last few focal cats from the panel were framed with black fabric and scattered throughout. I also put all the fabrics with black background around the edges to create a border, and fattened that border up a bit with a polka dot from stash.


While I was taking photos, this boat called "Salty Cat" went by. I got all excited and thought that was a great name for this quilt, but it turns out that I had already named it Night Cats because of the dark fabrics. Not that the name really matters. I have generic labels for my quilts with only my name on them, not the quilt's name. These pieces I make for charities are named for my own amusement and to help me keep track of them.


And speaking of salty cats, Angel is fascinated with all the activity here in the marina in Key West. She peeks out through the cat-sized hawse pipes to watch fish, birds and boats go past.


The backing fabrics were also donated to Kat. They are a stripe and a geometric from a Studio E line, and contain most of the same colors as the front. I had to do some creative piecing to get the right size backing. I'm sorry I only have this one overall photo with the wind blowing up a corner. You can see the details a little better in the next photo.


Kat also sent me some wool batting, so I used that on this quilt. I did floppy feathers in the center and mostly straight, mostly parallel lines in the border. I love how poofy the quilting is using wool! However, all that poofy floof was a little hard to wrangle under the needle. At times it felt like I had a quilt sandwich of two layers of cotton and a Samoyed in there.


A scrappy binding used up the very last pieces of the fabric, and I feel really good about making the best use of this donation. Salty Night Cats will be shipped off to Kat this week, along with my blocks for the latest block drive.

27 comments:

  1. So lovely! I love that it looks like it's woven and how the colors seem to float on the black background.

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  2. Another beautiful quilt! I can't wait!

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  3. another lovely quilt and using up all the left over fabrics is even better..... the colours are lovely and show off well with the black. I do love pieced backs....
    Hugz

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  4. Lovely finish Louise and a great name. I think it's amazing that Angel is so happy just pottering around on the boat and watching the world go by!

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  5. What a fun bright quilt, love your humor with the wool bat:)

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  6. Love the new finish and that backing is just right. Such a beautiful setting to take photos. And I love to heard how names for the quilts appear in our lives....very neat.

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  7. Another wonderful finish Louise! Salty Cat is a great name though...perhaps for a future quilt? My favourite picture is of Angel peeking out, awww! I said with my own Bella sitting (finally, because when I was reading she was swishing her furry self under my chin, furs up my nose kinda thang) beside me, purring. :-) I am so in awe of how much you and my dear friend Judy of Quilt Paradigm, do for Kat.

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    1. PS THAT's the other thing! You'd think I'd have remembered after getting and typing furs up my nose... Samoyed and 2 layers under the needle! Snort! (boy lots of nose imagery in my comments today what's with that) Anyhow our first beloved dog WAS a Samoyed/Springer cross (interesting, uh huh) a lovely furry boy who thought himself human, so it was a great mental picture for me.

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  8. Really looks soft and cuddly! I used to camp in the Keys back in the 80's. I know it’s changed a lot since then, but I used to love being there and spending time on Key West.

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  9. I enjoy reading your posts, too. I think Salty Cats is a great name, but I would do the same as you if I had already named it Night Cats. Salty Night Cats -- a good remedy! I had to chuckle to at your wrestling with the Samoyed and 2 layers. Haha. Angel looks like she is doing well and enjoying the travel as much as you two!

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  10. Congratulations on your finish! Beautiful! I love when coincidences happen, the boat going by, super fun.

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  11. What a wonderful quilt cheerful quilt. I think Salty Night Cats would be a great name. So glad to see Angel feeling better. Claudia

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  12. Good finish Louise! So much fun to use leftovers. You did a great job on the quilting. (Doris)

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    1. Thanks, Doris! You're a no-reply commenter so I hope you'll come back and tell us why you're called "quilting Mimi" :)

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  13. Salty night cat is a wonderful name and I love the striped backing on the quilt . I didn't realise s Samoyed was a dog . I thuyght it was the mythical creature in the classic children's book 5 children and it by E Nesbitt. Duh .

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  14. That's another great finish and I like Salty Night Cats for a name. Isn't it interesting where we find inspiration?

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  15. Two layers of cotton and a Samoyed!!! Haha!! I can picture it! Great job on the quilt! Fun story!

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  16. Lovely, lovely quilt. Being a cat person I just love that you have an onboard kitty living with you too.

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  17. I not only enjoy seeing your quilts but your method of naming amuses me too (and I'm sure many others) so you're not the only one! :D You always say something that makes me grin.

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  18. It is always a little unsettling at first when I quilt on wool after single layers of the normal cotton/poly blend. I didn't know you have a cat onboard - that's so cool. Was it hard for her to acclimate? "Salty Cat" turned out really nice.

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  19. You always do a bang-up job with your colors, quilting and naming, super.
    I'm inspired.

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  20. Love your Salty Night Cats finish. Great colors and the pieced backing is just the "Kat's Meow". Love seeing how Angel amuses herself. I wonder if it is hard for her to look but not be able to investigate all she sees in the little window.

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  21. Angel is so funny in that pic. Always inspired by what you create. This one is a h appy, colorful finish for sure.

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  22. Love all those pinks with the black, very dramatic. Congrats on a beautiful finish.

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  23. Wow, that turned out so cute! Love the framed cat blocks scattered throughout, and you can never go wrong with polka-dots!

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