If any of you are like me, you'll understand what I mean when I say that I'm a 'fabric hoarder'.  Regardless of the amount of fabric in my stash, I always have room for more if it catches my eye... and that happens A LOT.  Sadly, I not only accumulate tons of pretty fabrics, but I have issues with throwing away the scraps.  I blame it on my childhood...  really. 

I spent my entire childhood in my Mum's fabric store.  Some of my fondest childhood memories involve rainy afternoons in the fabric aisles, matching up colors and patterns, or sitting on my Mum's lap to 'help' her while she was sewing.  It was an innocent, happy time and there is something in that which rubbed off on me and I now carry it with me as an adult. 
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Sophie Puss lounging on Charlie Dog's cuddle quilt.
I've made quilts for Charlie Dog (see above) and Oliver Kitty (and actually bought the fabric specifically for them), so when little Sophie came into the household, I felt it only fair that she have something of her own too.  I wanted to make her something pretty and special, and went for a wander through my fabrics to decide what to use.  I found a whole bunch of scraps left over from a variety of projects--a dress, a skirt, a shirt for my husband--and decided to use them to make her something unique.

Here's the result:
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Sophie's modified 'Log Cabin' kitty cuddle quilt.
I've always been a fan of the Log Cabin pattern, and I decided to create a modified version of the classic motif.  My Mum tells me that the fabric strips should be lighter in color on one side and darker on the opposite... but I did this my own way.  I've never been particularly traditional.
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The quilt is great for a kitty, but would work beautifully as a table topper, or even a wall-hanging. Quoting my Mum: "That's way too nice for a cat--hang it up on the wall!"
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The colors are a bit off in this shot, but it gives a general idea of the piece--I machine quilted it by doing a 'stitch-in-the-ditch' at the seams between the strips. Overall, I think it turned out really well!
I didn't have any particular order in mind, I just prepared the strips and started it, making it up as I went along.  I really love how it turned out--the colors and patterns are so different when they're placed in strips as opposed to a whole larger piece, and the overall look is happy and colorful in an understated way. 

The pale blue border is repurposed fabric from one of my husband's old shirts--he was done with it and I loved the fabric, so of course I claimed it!  It had embroidery on the back, so I worked that into the overall look of the quilt and it is visible at two opposite corners.

Sophie absolutely loves it, and is always cuddled up on it, or burrowed under it for a snooze.* 

*Forgive the blurry cell phone shots--my blackberry sucks... I really need to modernize and go for a Galaxy :-)
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Sophie loves her quilt--she burrows under it all on her own and gets comfy!
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Sophie lounging with her quilt.
I made the little quilt at the beginning of November, and you guessed it--I had scraps left over. 

Scraps of scraps....

So when it came time to make a Christmas stocking for the newest member of the household, out came said scraps (of scraps) and I whipped up something pretty for my girl.
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Sophie's Christmas stocking--using left-over scraps from her little Log Cabin quilt!
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Christmas Sophie!
Totally off topic, but overall it was a great Christmas--and one of the best gifts of all is that, after a long road to recovery for little Soph, she is doing so well!  She just had her second set of vaccinations on Sunday, and is going in for her spaying on the 20th.  She's come a long way from the sick, starving, emaciated little ball of fur that I found in mid-October, and I am so thankful to have her with us!

As I type this post she is laying in my lap asleep, paws and tail twitching as she dreams of chasing mice and cackling at birdies...  such a sweet little scrap of life--I will always wonder where she came from, but regardless, I am so glad that she found me!   

Black kitties never photograph very well, but isn't she the cutest little thing?  The vet estimates her to be around 5 months old... and with so much personality and love already!  She's going to be a beautiful girl!

One of my resolutions for the new year is that I plan to do a lot more sewing--in fact, I have my eye on some left-over fabric (of course) that I plan to make into some modified Log Cabin pattern pillow covers.  Our beautiful modern sectional sofa came with the most hideous throw pillows I've ever seen, and I've been meaning to get rid of them for almost two years now (there's the procrastination I mentioned yesterday... ugh), so this is the year! 

Update to follow :-)

Happy crafting, y'all! 



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