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