Saturday's fun

I had my yo-yo project all laid out, and Kitten decided to play with the circles and messed them all up.

So I decided to practice my free-motion machine quilting (lack of) skills.

Kitten was not helpful with that either, so I made her a bed of her very own with her very own favorite fabric.

AT LAST I could work!  Free motion practice was easier as I used the design on the BACK of the fabric (and also added a Super Slider to my table) to make something akin to regular lines.  And then I thought MAYBE I could bind this little practice quilt and have a gift for the baby one of the tutors at work is expecting in July.  I have always stubbornly stuck to bias binding and then hand-stitching it closed even though Mom has told me a couple of times that "you don't have to do bias." Well, I put together a couple fat quarters, cut 2" strips, and somehow, by the grace of God, managed to join the strips with the diagonal joins all leaning the same way, and then MACHINE-stitched the binding on and then ALSO CLOSED.  It was an amazing experience!  I feel so free now!  I can do it!  It really is okay; it really works!

Last week, when I was proving to my husband that I couldn't stitch a printed pattern, I put the paper drawing of what I wanted my stitches to look like on top of the quilt and stitched over it.  That was a bad idea, but I wanted to prove to him how hard this is to make a "real" design.  When I finished with the binding, I still had little pieces of paper stuck in the stitching. (I think hubby got the hint though.  Not that it made any difference.  My little tantrum was not worth it.)

So now I had to wash it to get the paper bits out (and the cat fur off).

I am tickled pink!  The little practice piece will make a fine utility quilt for a baby boy!

Some quilting from last week is a little fancy-ish.

But I found loosely following the design on the BACK of the quilt was easier than trying fancy designs (and reduced my frustration level-this needs to be fun for me).  So I quilted from the back side of the whole cloth quilt.  Not that a side mattered too much, but I had all the safety pins on the other side, so I had to be even more careful to watch I didn't stitch over one.

Oh yeah, Mom mentioned she made a turtle quilt:

You know.  Just so I don't get too cocky.  Oh, and on the Mom subject.  She did NOT use a pattern for the kitties quilt.  She says the only tricky think about that quilt is getting the ears on the correct head.  So, for me, that would mean keeping Kitten out of the room after I lay it out, if I decide to jump into piecing one.

Such are the challenges of owning a cat and loving to quilt.