Cat Panel top finished

When last we spoke of the cat panel project, it was an EQ file only ... I was still musing over what exactly I wanted to do.

Funny thing happened on the way to completion.  :-)


The project spoke to me.  Honest.

No, I am not smoking anything. :-)


The two actual printed cat panels weren't a problem; they remained diagonally positioned to each other.  The alternate blocks were appliqued cats in ovals, as I had planned.

But the sashings turned out differently.  Originally I had planned to use a ribbon stripe for the 4 sashings, but realized that the ribbon stripe that came with the cat panels weren't going to be enough.  So, I used the ribbon stripes for just the vertical sashings and made a dogtooth sashing for the horizontal sashing.

I also need something on the top & bottom to make it a more useable length.  I have always liked 'ice cream cone' borders (essentially a dogtooth strip with a scallop on top) but the one time I attempted it (in 2004 ... Aurora Pinwheels quilt) I failed miserably.  :-)  But for THIS quilt, I actually figured it out properly!  I made myself a template of an equilateral triangle with a scalloped top and used that to make my borders.

In the picture to the right, the quilt top is completed but you'll notice that the scallops aren't cut.  I did indicate on the top border how the scallops will look but at this point, *both* top & bottom borders look like the bottom border, ie. with a straight edge.

For scallops, you do NOT want to cut that curve until all the quilting has been done, the curved edge stabilized and you are just about to bind it.

Oh, do you see the dogtooth sashing in the middle?  Do you notice that the one on the left has the white triangles on top and the one on the right has the gray triangles on top?  I'd sure like to claim that this was a Design Feature and let you guys think that I'm Very Very Clever.  :-)

But, alas, no.  I messed up when I sewed one of them on.  I didn't realize it until I pinned the top to my design wall.  Yep, I was certainly annoyed and even considered ripping it out to correct it.

And then ... the quilt spoke to me.  :-)

It said to *leave* it like that.  It looked kinda cool.  In this orientation, the white triangles were snuggled up against the white border of the cat panels and the gray triangles were against the block with the gray oval.  The more I looked at it, the more it looked like a very interesting juxtaposition.  So, it remains that way.

And I like it.  :-)