Our Cats a mixture of machine appliqué techniques and varieties of domestic shorthair cats who live in and around our building and within our family. I have changed the colors of some of the cats for design reasons. One of the cats is black for the lady who would have bought a cat pattern, if only we had had a black cat!
There are 10 feather drawings included in the pattern for quilting designs or extra appliques. I found feathers outside for inspiration from hawks, pigeons and the guinea hens down the street who police the neighborhood. Thread painting is explained and used for shading on some of the cats.
The quilt in the photo measures 34" x 50". Your quilt could have different dimensions depending on how you combine the blocks.
We have made several quilts with this pattern and they all come out with different measurements because the arrangement of the blocks has been different. Should you leave out a block the whole configuration changes. If you make one block twice (reversing the design and using in a different fabric) the whole design changes. Also, if you used all the designs in this pattern twice, the quilt could be really big. Combining this pattern with other Critter Pattern Works patterns will vary the size of the finished quilt even more.
How do we combine blocks of different sizes? If you have a long block and a shorter one and you want them to go together, add a strip of fabric in a different value (darker or lighter than the ones around it) to the shorter one. Sew those two fabrics to the longer applique block and square them up on the outside edges. This is now a unit. Make more units. If the units don't fit exactly together, add more strips to make them work together. When all your units are sewn together and are big enough to make it the quilt size you desire, add a border and quilt it.
We have How to Applique videos if you learn visually. Watch our designer, Debora Konchinsky take you through all the steps to make a Critter Pattern Works quilt.
