In my first quilt show- by accident!
 

I made a quilt for my mom, or really for her cats. It is a little one she can put on the bed or couch so the cats sit on it instead of getting their fur and dust on the bedspread or upholstery. I wanted to try out free motion machine quilting, and I never had done it before, and really hadn't seen it done either, just looked at pictures in books and blogs. So you can guess it was anything but expert. I tried a stippling pattern, just putting the pedal to the floor and going for it. It ended up kind of stiff for a quilt, but totally fine for a cat mat.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7011/6...5ec2e483_q.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7198/6...8f5ab13f_s.jpg
charm square cat quilt

So it happens that her club (extension homemakers) puts on a quilt show as a fundraiser, and she took my quilt to the show. She didn't know she was entering it to be judged, but that is what ended up happening. She thought she was just "showing" it. When I heard, I laughed about it, but was a little horrified to think of that quilt being judged. It was entered under her name in a category called fall colors.

She sent me the judges's sheets today and they are pretty funny. Each judge made such an effort to state everything positively. One of them said the quilting made the texture "nubbly" and one wondered how it would have looked with black or grey thread. They all told me in kind words that I messed up on the binding because my mitered corners either weren't 45 degrees or not "closed" (so I think I was supposed to stitch the mitered corners down on the front and back.) One said the binding should be the same size on the front and the back. I never seem to manage that. One judge said the back was clever. The back is scrap pieced.

Anyway, I have to tease my mom for trying to pass my work off as her own. Not that she was. She doesn't quilt at all. :-)

I love your kitty quilt. The story is too funny! If I were you Mom, I would put a red throw on my sofa. LOL!!!

that is so sweet, i hope the cat likes it. nice story of 'showing' the quilt and the judges' comments. also that is a lovely quilt in the background.

What a great story, love your quilt!!!!!!

I love your cat mat, what pattern is that? My friends are cat people and that would be perfect for them.

thanks for sharing your amusing story.

Thanks. KwiltyKahy, I didn't follow a pattern, but I studied all the pictures of tessellating cat quilts that I could find. I wanted to use up some tiger stripe and animal print charm squares. There are 5 whole charm squares in each cat. The ears of each cat are made a 6th charm square, cut and "snowballed" onto the back of the next cat.

I put all the squares down in "cat sets" and arranged/ rotated them until I liked the layout.

Love your story! Reminds me of the happy memories I made when I judged the baked goods of 8-year-old 4H members. And I love that you made these cats just from looking at others. Good job!

Did you have to taste what they baked for judging purposes? Sounds like dangerous work ;)nbut you said happy memories, so the kids must have done a fine job.

Loved your story. Sounds as if your mom was very proud of your work. I think it is adorable. Hope the cats love it.