Of Cats and Quilts

I finished this small doll quilt back in 2020 but never shared it.  Since the video for it is now up, I wanted to write a blog post to go with it.  

Photographing anything is more challenging with Mushu around!  He always has to ham it up for the camera!  I think this is my favorite photo of him as it aptly shows his personality!  

So here's what the quilt looks like.  The blocks are 6" when finished, making the quilt 20-21" square.  Perfect for a doll!  Originally, I had wanted to make a lap quilt with these blocks, but I ran out of the bird fabric that was used as the focal fabric.  And since it was from fabric my mom had, it was long out of date with little chance of finding more.  

For the back, I had hoped to use the yellow and pink floral fabric and do a self binding with it, but I didn't have enough.  Instead I cut the required binding and used what I had left to add a strip down the center. The green and cream fabric is the same as used on the alternating blocks on the front.  

Knowing that I wanted this to be a functional quilt suitable for my grandchildren to cuddle with, I opted to use simple seam embroidery with no additional embellishments.  All the blocks use the same basic assortment of stitches, but with a few variations.  

It's amazing what just a handful of stitches can do!  

It's always a challenge when stitching on brightly patterned prints to find the right contrast of color to help the stitches stand out.  

This is the block that I made for the "Basic Crazy Quilt Piecing by Hand" and "Basic Seam Stitching" videos for my YouTube channel.  These continue to be the most popular videos on my channel!  

I think Chickadees are my favorite birds, so this little one got an extra flourish with the detached chain seam that looks a little like flowers! 

Mushu hamming it up for the camera.  "You didn't want a photo of that doll!"  

"Oh, come on, aren't I sweet?  Wouldn't you rather pay attention to me?"  I must admit that though he is incredibly exasperating when he's being bad; he has the best personality and is a lovable kitty!  Thankfully, as he gets older, the mishaps get fewer (though seemingly bigger!) and further apart.  

You can find the YouTube video here:

CQ Doll Quilt