Quilted Cat Pads

While I realize it may be a little strange to title a post "quilted cat pads," I have made a cat pad with leftover cutouts from another project. I made the cat pad because one of my cats, Willow, loves to sit with me while I quilt. The problem is that she sits ON whatever it is I am quilting. If you know anything about cats, you will see that Willow is NOT happy about me nudging her off the quilt.

Talk about tiny stitches when you are trying to quilt with an 11-pound cat on your quilt. Because she is normally a very sweet cat, I decided to make her a cat pad. It had to be quilted because she only sits on the quilted parts--a picky cat.

At first, she didn't seem that enthused about her own quilt, but seems to have warmed up to it. I will really see if it is going to work when I quilt another largish quilt on my machine and stretch it out across the table.  Below are two photos, unfortunately on a cloudy day, of the cat pad--based on monochromatic napkins designed by Rachel of Stitched on Color for her color theory class. I learned a lot in that class! I love these colors and have to get back to my LQS to buy some more fabric before it is gone. Once I buy more, I will post the fabric information.

Jaspyrr just totally ignored the quilt, so it is a good thing I didn't make him one! Please ignore the weeds in the photo. I really have to get out there and plant some catnip or something prettier.

Tallulah, on the other hand, wanted to make the quilt her own. I guess she gets the next quilted cat pad.

Sashing Choices - Color or Neutral

Finally, after more sewing more hours than I thought I would need, I have almost finished the largest quilt I have ever made. With each additional row, I am slightly freaking out as I wonder how on earth I will quilt this. With the help of Ann Petersen from Craftsy (Quilting Big Projects on a Small Machine), I am going to give it a shot.

I really like the piano key and blue borders and I guess I could stop here, but I think I want a final 3-4 inch border to round it off. I may make the top/bottom pieces about 2 inches longer so I have a rectangle instead of a square. Still pondering that one.

Now I am trying to decide what the last border will be. If you have a preference, please let me know in the comments. I am leaning toward the red, but I'm not sure I have enough of the red fabric. Of course, that means I have a reason to go fabric shopping.

So, if I have readers, what do you think?