Near as I can figure, it was 3 and 1/2 years ago that my sister invited me to attend a Quilt Show with her. I invited my mother-in-law along and we made a day of it. So many quilts to see but my eyes landed on one in particular.
The Crazy Cat Quilt by Buggy Barn. The lady who made the quilt was deaf yet she still communicated with us. Her quilt just stood out above all the others! The color scheme was perfect and the cute fabrics she choose fit in with the cat theme. I was inspired! I wanted to have that quilt and I knew the only way I was going to get it would be to make it myself.
My mother-in-law bought the pattern book from Buggy Barn and gifted it to me for my next birthday. I needed the perfect fabric though. I knew that I had fallen in love with the quilt because the fabrics were put together so well. We shopped and shopped. Nothing appealed to me. And so the quilt went on the back burner for the first of several times.
One day I realized I had several fat quarters that I loved sitting in the cupboard. They were all from the same line and matched the color scheme I had envisioned. And so it began…on December 4th, 2014, the cats were cut and over the next several months, I pieced them together. They went under the bed to rest on several occassions.
When they were finished, I had to go to the store to buy fabric for the flowers. Craft Warehouse had just the fabric. I had been feeling like my colors were too dull. The fabrics for the flowers really brightened things up nicely!
With the quilt blocks all finished and pieced together, I had finished the most enjoyable part of the project. The thought of quilting the thing intimidated me. I had only done little baby quilts up to this point. And only the jig saw puzzle stitching. Trying to make a decision for designs to quilt on here baffled me. And, I hadn’t found a backing fabric I liked yet. On the back burner it goes again.
My mother-in-law asked about the quilt from time to time which reminded me I wanted to finish it up. I searched Pinterest high and low for backing fabric. I fell in love with this one fabric from Red Rooster so much so I just had to have it! My quilt would not be complete without that fabric! After hours of searching the internet I learned that it was an old
pattern, no longer being printed or sold. Ugh! I knew I couldn’t find fabric I loved as much as that. One day when my mother-in-law was over I showed her the fabric on pinterest. I had given up hope of being able to have that fabric. But she went home and got busy! Next thing I knew she was calling me on the phone saying “I found you’re fabric! It’s at a quilt shop in Nebraska!! They’ve got 5 yards, how much did you want?” Dumb founded I said “Buy it all!!……how in the world di you find it!?” I guess a quilt lady knows what to look for just as a musician knows how to find that certain sheet music they’re after. I still couldn’t believe it. We both half expected to get an email notice that they had made an inventory error and actually did not have the fabric afterall. But it showed up in the mail! Now this was motivation!! I set out to FINISH that quilt.
We won’t mention how long it took me, but finish it I did!! This is quite an accomplishment for a girl like me. Sewing is totally not my thing….until I want something specific. Something I can only make myself.
