Cattywampus

Work in progress (summer 2005)


Section of completed quilt ~ August 2005

"If we treated everyone we meet with the same affection we bestow upon our favorite cat; they, too, would purr." (unknown)

I signed up for Cyndi's Stargazey Catz class when I was working part time at the quilt shop. The Stargazey patterns are deliberately lopsided and supposedly liberating because they don't require matching points and lining up seams. That, plus Cyndi's quirky enthusiasm, inspired me to try something really "out of my box."

I easily chose hot pinks and purples for my color theme. This quilt demanded non-traditional colors. I had long yardages of two different purple fabrics which would become the backgrounds, border, and backing.

For months, I gathered fat quarters of funky pinks and wacky purple prints. And yet, during the first class, I found I didn't have enough options. More fat quarters and a marvelous black with a neon plaid of hot pink, bright yellow, turquoise, purple, orange, and lime green to frame each cat's face.

I went home from the first class with a horrible headache. A tradionalist, coming out of the box and being asymmetrical was SO hard for me. But I was determined to finish this project to prove to myself that I could do it.

So much cutting and so many little pieces . . .

Eventually, the relationship between the block sizes became apparent, but it took a while.

By the time I had figured out the system, I was bored with the quilt. The second class was better than the first since we were actually stitching, but I was still bored.

I missed the final class because I had to make an airport pick-up run. I wasn't sorry to have such a good excuse.

The unfinished project went into a box and stayed in the bottom of my closet for months. Then, one day, out of nowhere, came the inspiration to simply use the blocks that were complete and make a smaller quilt!

No more cutting out, no more designing, no more hours of tedious construction . . . and once again I was motivated to complete the project.

I can't imaging having twice as many blocks in this quilt. That would have been sheer overload!

"Cats make one of the most satisfying sounds in the world ~ they purr. A purring cat is a form of high praise, like a gold star on a test paper. It is reinforcement of something we would all like to believe about ourselves ~ that we are nice." (Roger A. Caras)