I finally turned one of my sample blocks for the cat in basket pattern into a cat mini quilt. My youngest daughter picked the 6-inch block which would be a very tiny quilt when used on its own. To make it a more useful size I added a border.
The 2-inch facing strips that I had left over from finishing the edge of “River” were still lying on my cutting table. Since my daughter loves blue it was an easy choice to use those for the border. For the back I used a fun giraffe print. The quilt was quilted pretty dense with a walking foot because I know that it will experience some rough play.
Whenever I bind a quilt and have some binding left over (always), I store it in a bag. You never know when you may need just a little bit of binding. Since I always cut binding the same size these remnants always fit. I didn’t have any pieces that were large enough to bind the entire quilt but I think this combination of two of my favourite binding fabrics of all time works really well.
And then I gave the quilt to my daughter and she had a melt-down because it did not have any hearts on it. Well, I didn’t know that there should have been hearts on it… My other daughter also has a mini quilt made from this pattern and it has a very lovely heart fabric used for the background. Apparently, my youngest then expected that hers would also have hearts. Remember that she picked a finished block to turn into a quilt, I am still not sure how she expected hearts to magically appear.
Did I solve this issue? Yes! I went back to my sewing machine, picked a heart shaped embroidery stitch and blue variegated thread and added two rows of hearts to the border. Do I think the quilt looks better with this addition? No! Is my daughter now happy with her cat mini quilt? Yes! And in the end that is all that matters.
I love the cat in basket design. And I approve of my niece’s strong mind and opinions to make it her own. I am sure that it will see a lot of playtime.
Thank you! She does play with it now, so all is well. 😉
Very cute and a clever compromise with the hearts.
Thank you!
Adorable quilt and great save with adding the hearts!
Thank you!
I do the same thing with leftover binding, but I keep it on an old tape roll, all joined together and ready to use for a scrappy quilt. I usually have enough! I do love that tiny cat quilt!
Thank you! Binding remnants tend to accumulate quickly, so I am not surprised!
What a delightful little quilt — hearts and all! And a lovely post too.
Thank you! It was fun to make!