WIP: The Owl and the Pussycat

I just finished the Monkey Quilt and gave it to my son for his birthday this week. You can see it in my post for May 26, 2014. After that long labor of love I wanted a quick and simple project.

I pulled out a quilt kit I had sitting around for the while. I'd bought it at the Cotton Patch in Lafayette, CA because I thought the image was charming, it would be good FMQ practice, and it was marked down 50%. It consisted of a printed panel, backing fabric, and binding. I figured it was a good deal even if I repurposed the backing and used just part of the panel. Here is the feature panel.

Although I liked the center image I was not fond at all of the outer border. I decided to change the outer border so I cut off the black/pink/yellow printed star blocks and the pink/black sawtooth edging leaving a 1/4" seam allowance.

The kit included blue wave fabric for the backing and solid blue fabric for the binding. I decided to use those and they are the two blue fabrics on the left. I added the green and pink fabrics from my stash to substitute for the border I was removing. The pink chevron is one strip out of a jelly roll. Yes, I had the audacity to break up a jelly roll set. After buying it on impulse I realized that a whole roll of that chevron print would be a bit much in a quilt so I decided to break it up and use it as accents. The bright pink would pick up the pink wording and the pussycat's collar. I liked the bright cheeriness of the green dotted wave and thought it would go nicely with the green and blue of the panel.

Since I had only one strip of the pink chevron I had to slice it lengthwise. I only wanted a narrow accent anyway.

I originally was going to cut the green wavy stripe on the cross-grain and have it radiating outward on all four borders of the panel. Then I realized its curvy pattern was like waves of water so I ran it all horizontal everywhere by cutting the top and bottom borders lengthwise and the side borders crosswise. This also made the seams at the corners less visible.

I have already prepped the blue binding but I might change my mind on using it. Here is the top with its batting and backing size check, ready to be FMQ'd and bound. Hmm, if I stare at it too long I become slightly seasick. I still like it better than the original and at least it disguises how square the center panel is or is not!

Time to step back, regroup, and evaluate my statistics for this week of quilting.

Completed projects:

1. Monkey Quilt completed and gifted (May 26, 2014 post)

Ongoing projects:

1. Owl and PussyCat quilt (this post)
2. Chicken quilt - spray basted, awaiting embellishment (April 24, 2014 post)
3. Classic Cars strip quilt (August 3, 2013 post) - need to back, quilt, and bind
4. Grinch quilt (May 22, 2013 post) - all borders added, need to back, quilt, and bind
5. Overlapping square wall hanging - awaiting FMQ
6. Mask quilt (October 19, 2011 post) - hidden away awaiting inspiration for arranging hexagons

New projects:

1. Owl and PussyCat quilt

It's time to link up to this week's Freshly Pieced's WIP Wednesday.