Sawtooth Cats

maybe a year and a half ago, two years, i came across a small ziploc baggie containing what appeared to be pieces for a set of quilt blocks.  i vaguely remembered having purchased the embroidered cat squares from a seller on ebay and having cut out pieces to make them into sawtooth star blocks.

a couple of weeks ago i was feeling lazy, wanting to sew, but not wanting to change thread colors to work on a project in process.  instead i pulled out the baggie and finished the sawtooth star blocks.  to make the quilt top larger, i dug into my stash and pulled fabric for sashing and cornerstones.  i also pieced a backing.  then i basted the quilt top, which measures 34" square, and set it aside, knowing i had a FMQ class coming up the next weekend and intending to save it for practicing.

after my class, i got to work quilting and tried out several new-to-me techniques.  for each of the blocks using the cat print fabric in the center, i quilted a tiny stipple in the white parts of the block, which really makes the stars stand out.  of course, i had a heck of a time seeing what i was doing, quilting with white thread on a white-on-white print!  i also stitched in the ditch around the center squares



in each of the four blocks with an embroidered cat, i also quilted with a tiny stipple on the inside of the star, around the embroidery.  in the blue parts, i quilted words.

in the first block, which reminds M and me of Mister Bat, i quilted the names of our current cats, as well as the fairly recently deceased Fat Thom, in addition to "cat words" to fill out the remaining spaces.



in the second block, which reminds us of Ringo, i quilted "The Baby" directly below the embroidered cat, since that's what i call ringo.  the other blue parts contain names of friends' cats, past and present, that we've loved.



the third block reminds M of Bandit.  the quilted words in this block are various words that come to mind when i think of our cats.



the fourth embroidered block reminds both of us of Ozzie, because he's always wanting food!  this block includes the names of all the cats from my childhood.



so, you ask, where's Miss Kitty in this quilt?  well, i did indeed have an embroidered cat that looked like a prissy kitty, complete with a bow, but i was one blue corner square short!!!! plus, the layout didn't work with just one more embroidered block.  i'm planning to make a label for the back using that block, and the quilt will end up in the basket she likes to sleep in!

even though this was really just an old WIP i wanted to cross off my list, i had such fun with the quilting!  there are feathers quilted in some of the sashing, vines in some, and hearts in most of the cornerstones.