Outdoor Cushions for the Cats

My sister asked if I would make outdoor quilts for her cats. Apparently Tyco really wanted to share her towel while she was sunbathing, so she brought out the red quilt for him and he was happy. She didn't really want to use the quilt outdoors though, hence the special outdoor quilt request. When I asked why she couldn't just give Tyco a separate towel or buy a patio chair cushion, Julie said Tyco likes things that are "made specifically for him." They are very pampered cats. I was going fabric shopping that day anyway, so I figured why not, and I picked up some outdoor canvas, which fortunately was half off. I was pleased to find matching prints in the colors she requested.

Light green for Cleo's lighter fur

Red and brown for Tyco's darker fur

Purple and Yellow Crosses

This could have been two quilts, but I don't need any more quilts to find homes for, so I made it into one quilt. However, this presented a binding challenge. I usually use the back of the quilt to create the binding, but that wasn't going to be possible here. Typical machine binding looks different on the front and back of the quilt, and since either side of this quilt could be the front, I wanted the binding to look the same on both sides.

Side 1

Side 2

Miraculously, attaching the binding was not the disaster I anticipated. Another miracle was that I didn't put it off for too long in anticipation of the difficulty. Granted, the corner miters could look a bit better, but despite only being able to see one side as I bound it, the other side came out just fine, and everything was properly attached. I think the key was that I did not pin the binding; I simply worked on 8" sections at a time.

Some of my favorite blocks (besides the original inspiration):

Hanging Fabric Organizer

After being very tired of my purple and yellow project hanging over the back of the office chairs, I had to do something to organize my next project that got moved to the back burner while in progress. Fortunately, I had this nifty hanger sitting in the closet unused. It's supposed to hang your pants in a space-saving manner, but, although the arms pivot, it's not really convenient to remove items from the arms. While it's not great for every day use when getting dressed, it's perfect for temporary storage of fabric that you don't want to get too wrinkly. The rest of this project is stored tidily as well while I decide how to back and bind it:

Sharks and Stars (Baby Sharks 2)

I made a baby girl quilt, but the third STAR baby is going to be a boy, so I had to make a boy quilt instead. At first, I wasn't keen on the idea of using a fabric I'd already used, but I really like this orange and blue combination, which is slightly different than the first orange and blue combination.

I liked the quilting design on my last quilt so much that I used it again on this one.

I was very pleased to find orange star fabric.

New items purchased to complete this quilt: the orange star fabric and the backing fabric

Finished size: 37" x 49"

Purple and Yellow Progress Update

I posted about this quilt in March, after finishing the top, and then it sat draped over the office chair in the sewing room until the beginning of July. I had three blocks - two 14" blocks and one 7" block - to finish in order to complete what was going to become either a second quilt top or the back of the quilt. Here are the 14" blocks:

I already had the purple pinwheel parts, which measured 8.5", done - all I had to do was add the yellow - so you wouldn't think I would have put it off so long, but I didn't know what I wanted to do, and was rather overwhelmed by all the tiny piecing. I ended up making ten 4.5" blocks with purple centers, which made it seem more manageable.
 
Hopefully I'll have a finished product soon!

ETA: The finished project!

Blue and Green Paisley Quilt

This was a difficult quilt to design because, while I had many coordinating fabrics, I had less than a yard of the paisley fabric, which I wanted to maximize and make the focal point. I wanted to create a design that used the fabric efficiently and in somewhat large pieces.

I absolutely love the quilting design! So much that I plan to use it for my next quilt.

I started designing this quilt with all these fabrics:

Too many choices

I then narrowed it down to these:

Much more manageable

When I finally decided on a design, it required using only one of the blues.  I wasn't sure which one to pick, but I'm really pleased with the choice.

Close up of the final choices

New items purchased to complete this quilt: one spool of thread

Finished size: 37" x 49"