Crazy Cat Lady Coasters

Crazy Cat Lady Coasters

I did it!!! I finally found time to do some sewing and managed to finish the 'Thank You' gift I had planned for Mum before we even left Queensland. Oh well. Better late than never, right?

Long story short, my wonderful Mum did an unbelievable amount of organising to make our move to Tassie much smoother than it could have been. From calling electricians to dealing with real estate agents to cleaning our house (yes...she even cleaned our house so it would be nice when we moved in). My Dad and brother helped too, but they don't appreciate handmade as much as Mum....so they can have stinky old bought gifts LOL.

I wanted to make something unique and fun, so when I came across this fabric I knew it would be perfect. She is a crazy cat lady after all. 

How awesome is this fabric?

I also chose coordinating fabrics for the backing and binding.

Firstly, I cut each cat square from the panel. I tried to keep them straight, but wasn't overly obsessed with it. I wanted them to have a nice hand-made feel about them.

Cut each cat square.

Then I cut some batting and backing fabric. I deliberately cut these a little larger than the main square to leave room for movement during quilting.

Cut the batting and backing a little larger than the main square.

Next, I made a little batting sandwich. I laid the backing fabric, right-side down, followed by the batting, then placed the main fabric on top, right-side up.

Lay the backing right-side down, followed by the batting.

 I did this with all four coasters in preparation for quilting.

Four cute little batting sandwiches.

I free-motion quilted each coaster. I pretty much just aimlessly wandered around until the coaster was sufficiently covered. My goal was to not have it so small it distorted the beautiful cats, but not so large that it was poofy (that's a word right?) and would be unstable as a coaster.

By the way, this would be a fantastic way to practice free-motion quilting. I'm no Leah Day (http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.com.au/p/start-here.html), but I'm sure I'll improve over time.

Free-motion quilting is so much fun!!!

Once all four coasters were quilted, I removed the excess backing and batting. Again, I tried to keep them reasonably straight, but really wasn't too concerned about it.

Oooo they're starting to take shape.

Finally I added the binding.

Add the binding.

I'm still quite new to quilting and haven't done mitred corners yet, so I wasn't game to try now. In hindsight, I wish I had...but hey, we learn from our mistakes.

One finished kitty.

The back. Looking good!!!

I was so happy with the final result (which is rare for me LOL). They just look so cute.

A happy little cat family.

Poppet keeps stealing them and excitedly showing us the 'tats'. I guess I'll have to make her a set too.

Ready for a deserving Mum.

I really love how these turned out. They'd make a great Christmas present for a teacher or much loved Nanna.