Sunday, May 6, 2012

Tessellating cats, part 5

A few more additions, and this will be ready for quilting. Once all the cats have faces embroidered on, there is an opportunity to add a bit more color ... or to balance out the colors you have already used by adding balls or other objects. The balls added here are about an inch and a half across. They can be made rounder by cutting a round of batting the same size and making a sandwich when appliqueing them on. Since this is a table runner, I have left them flat.

Since the side margins of the cats move by the tails width, the background could be balanced by adding another ball or some other object in the wide spaces. On the larger quilt I moved the outside balls into a line and added a sideways cat at each end.  Here I am auditioning a butterfly.

Though the tweedy cat and the striped one do not seem to show up well next to each other in the photo, they do a bit better in real life. The hardest part of this cat pattern is selecting fabrics and placing the cats so each one shows up against its neighbor. Small prints that read as solids seem to work best. If I had made this quilt larger, I would have separated these two with a solid.


I have also added a night cat patrol around the border. Judging from the yowling we heard there must be at least this many. And, since I had gotten this fabric out too, I added a bit of the daisy field.


The hanging pot on our front gate has put on a show. It must have enjoyed the rain more than I did.

 
And one petunia in a pot hanging from the wall must have survived the winter and has begun to bloom. When I was a kid, my mother loved petunias but they had to have the finished flowers picked off each day in order to continue blooming. Since my mother could not get down that far, it became my task to tend the petunias and I never had a particular fondness for them. These days, there are new varieties that are perfect for hanging pots and never seem to need tending as they begin early and bloom all summer through.

When I get frustrated with new things (like blogspot "improvements") it is nice to see that a few improvements, especially when it comes to plants, are really for the better.

7 comments:

  1. I am realy enjoying watching this little quilt (table runner) come together x The flowers are so bright and cheerful xx I so agree with your thoughts on "change" xx

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  2. Great progress on the cat quilt. Lovely to see your hanging pots blooming and providing colour.

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  3. Watching you sew your cats has been so entertaining. You need to think about making apart tern and tutorial for us :)

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  4. I find that photos either wash my colors out or make them too bold, but your kitties look wonderful in the photo.

    Debbie

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  5. Love the kitties... I would love to see it in person! Petunias are my grandma's favorite flower and your comments reminded me that I used to tend to her petunias as well - those sticky blooms - so beautiful!

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  6. Your cat quilt is looking wonderful! I like the additions of balls and the night patrol. Kitties favorites!

    Your flowers are gorgeous!

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  7. I love you kitties quilt and the (b&w cat) border is perfect.
    I'd love to see the tutorial.
    I have attempted crochet mats with cats and got it right but this one on a quilt is adorable.

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