cat themed hidden agenda quilt

starting off, i should say that my mom was aware of this gift happening, as it all began from her fabric stash.  i had just finished up my 100 blocks project, and another sew along was just popping up and i really wanted to do it!  angelina had been a pattern tester for it, and another member of my fussy cats fussy cut crew was planning to do it as well... so i just couldn't resist!  the pattern was hidden agenda by angela pingel and it was full of fussy cutting of various sizes and shapes all put together to make one fabulous quilt.  i showed the mom the quilt, told her i wanted to make it, but didn't want to make another fussy cut quilt out of the same fabric i just used for the 100 blocks.  thats when i got the idea to raid her cat fabric stash and offer up two ideas.  one being a christmas version, and another being a year round version.  as you can probably tell, we went for the year round option.
after searching her collection, i noticed there was a strong set of blues, browns and tans which was perfect, because it seemed to match the living room couches and frames quite well.  clearly there was enough cat print to go around, but i needed some accent fabrics to help out.  i had scraps here and there, and also picked up a handful of fat quarters to really help get things going.  i also sacrificed a few of my cat prints, you know... go help with the cause.
the biggest struggle was determining which fussy cuts to place in what size. i kept thinking that my large prints were SO large that they'd fit in the biggest square. NOPE.  instead i had to choose some less fussy cut prints for the big spots and go with some all over prints and gradually work my way down to smaller ones.
even the tiny squares had the perfect size for fussy cuts.  some of these came from my fussy cut sampler box, which helped balance out everything as well.  other fabrics had been sitting around so long from being impulse buys, it was hard to decide to cut in to them!
this quilt was then assembled in quadrants, which was interesting to see how they all lined up. i spent so much time focusing on keeping the prints around the on point squares away from each other, that i didn't even think to check in on how the quadrants were coming together.  oops!  but overall, i think they came together pretty well without too much overlap with prints touching each other, if any.
i quilted this on the long arm, and after much debate i went with a simple meander pantograph.  since there was so much going on already with the prints, the half square triangles and everything else in between, it really helped keep the quilting away from being a total distraction in contrast to everything else.
even the binding came from my mom's fabric stash, which also got put on the backing as well.  i had bought yardage of a bright blue grunge color, and when measuring forgot to add the extra amount needed when quilting.  the little paw prints helped tie the front's browns and tans in to the back's bright blue, pulling everything together. 
while this quilt got a little stressful at times, i would absolutely consider doing it again.  it was also fun to make my mom wait and see how all her fabric came together in a new way.  some of the fabrics were stashed, while others were from outfits made for us kids over the years.  i showed this off at one of our monthly guild meetings, and someone couldn't believe my mom still had fabric from that long ago.  it did make me question the validity of that person's own fabric stash and hoarding skills!
pattern information: hidden agenda by angela pingel
quilt count: 119

legendary "big foot" quilt

this quilt has been on my "to do" list for the longest time, but it wasn't exactly one i wanted to make for myself.  i decided since i had made my aunt the civil war hazel hedgehogs the year before, and jacob & sarah got their boardwalk wedding quilt, it was only fitting that i make this quilt for my cousin ben.  he seems like a sasquatch king of guy anyways!
the shapes for this quilt were fairly simple, they were just VERY repetitive.  i know i spent a good chunk of time assembly line-ing the trees since they are all the same shape in various sizes.  this was one of the times where i used the trick of using yard sale stickers to label the pieces in their sizes to help stay on track.
one of the free motion motifs i learned from natalia bonner was this wood grain technique, which i felt was a perfect fit for the trees and "big foot" featured on this quilt.  instead of the standard top to bottom way of quilting on the long arm, i loaded the quilt in horizontally so that even though i was quilting left to right, my wood grain would end up vertical on the quilt.  i added a few "knots" in there to create some variety as well as be a little more tree like.
when debating what to put on the back, i joked about something historical or monopoly, since those were two very "ben" related things.  or something psychologist related... but that might be digging a little too deep.  haha.  i happened to remember seeing this coffee bean fabric at one of the local shops (fabric garden, i believe) and used it for the backing as well as the binding.  the colors were a perfect match to go with the front of the quilt and tie in perfectly.
the last time i made ben a quilt, it was a two sided t-shirt quilt with some thomas the tank engine sashing on it.  you can take at that beast and my other t-shirt quilts right here!  yeah, it was something alright.  i have to say, i am quilt pleased with the skill set i have now, knowing i can make fun and amusing quilts that are also acceptable to have as an adult.  granted, i'm sure now i could tweak some thomas the tank engine to be adult acceptable.  or at least not the focal fabric... haha
what will be my next elizabeth hartman creation?  stay tuned!
pattern information: legendary by elizabeth hartman
quilt count: 118

slytherin kitten pillow

and now, we enter the phase of christmas gifts.
i'm trying to catch up, i promise!
after having a lot of fun while making the slytherin hazel hedgehog pillow for a coworker that was leaving, i thought about the idea of making something similar for my roommate who is also a slytherin.
spoiler alert, i am also in the slytherin house.
since we are both slytherins and cat ladies alike, i figured this would be a perfect time to test out one of elizabeth hartman's "the kittens" quilt blocks.  i had bought the pattern awhile ago, and lisa and i had strong plans to make them one day, so why not give it a trial run and make a kitten?
i chose to use the "daisy" kitten, because i liked her two tone color scheme.
granted, she's two shades of green, but it was just enough to amp up her cuteness.
we have a gray couch in our apartment, so having the gray fabric in the background helped tie in with our current decor.  well... we also have a red couch... so i guess this helps keep things festive during the holiday season as well?
i kept the quilting simple to not detract from the cute kitten face. plus, a small little pillow is easy to knock out with a walking foot and a ruler!
i used slytherin fabric for the backing and made an envelope style closure.
if i was to do a pillow like this again i would consider doing a zipper backing, just to try something new.  having the slytherin fabric on the back helped tie everything together.
so now that i've made a slytherin kitten and hedgehog, what animal might be next?  ha!
pattern: the kittens by elizabeth hartman

musical pinwheels quilt

twas the night before my final long arm rental at meissner's (that should show you how long ago this was made...) and i had hardly anything to quilt.  i think i only had my snails quilt, which wasn't very big at all, and i didn't want to let my last day go to waste.  i had all the scrap pieces leftover from judy's migration music quilt, so i started sewing those triangles together to make squares and seeing what i could come up with.  well, i came up with this pinwheel-ish creation!
because i was working late in to the night, i literally only had what was in my fabric stash to come up with something.  i had a good amount of triangles in the end, but was still a few short to make a full HST quilt top.  i had a few chunks of red fabrics that didn't get used up, so i measured out my blocks and cut big focal pieces to coordinate with everything to help offset the missing pieced blocks.  and luckily, i also had a TON of this red leftover for the border, which helped make things just a little bit bigger in order to get it a good size.
it was fun to use this triangley pantograph all over to go along with the half square triangles of the quilts. it also made for a nice switch up with using something loopy like i have on most other music quilts.  i also used this quilt as another practice run for doing machine binding!
so when i said i only had what was in my fabric stash to work with, i really meant it... down to the batting and the backing.  i had to frankenstein some batting scraps together, which was an easy feat since i had done it a few times now with various projects.  but the back... that was a creation all to itself.  i was grabbing yardage of all shapes and sizes to see what i could create to be the right size for this quilt to be on the long arm.  there are at least three different projects these came from, not counting all the times some of these fabric have been used in music quilts.  of course, i had to photograph the back for future generations to admire... or really just for me to high five myself a lot when i'm feeling down.
this quilt ended up getting donated to my former high school's band program (which i'm sure you know by now was where i spent my high school years) and was raffled off at their annual crab feed.  now that i've worked most of the red fabrics out of my stash, now i can get back to the traditional black & white ones for next year's crab feed. maybe i'll even throw some gold in there to make it real fancy!
if i hadn't thrown this quilt top together, not only would i have wasted a final day of long arm renting, but i also wouldn't have met genevieve and gotten in the loop with her and the other quilters for her "cohort" laqca.com where i am lucky enough to rent from now :)
pattern information:
half square triangles, my own layout
quilt count: 117