Cats and Quilts

Every cat I've ever had thought that sewing was a lot of fun.  When I was in high school, I had an orange tabby named OJ who would sneak up on me and then dive across my patterns.  Tissue paper and cat talons aren't a good mix.

Casey, our grey tabby who died at the age of 19 last summer, just thought the quilts I was making were a new place for her to take a nap.

But Pax tops them all.  Yesterday, while I was working on a denim quilt for my stepson Jesse's birthday, Pax thought it was a good idea to take out the pins holding the layers together. As fast as I could put them in, he was grabbing the yellow plastic tops with his teeth, pulling them out, and tossing them in the air.

Pax is really cute, and he kind of knows how adorable he is sitting in this trash basket, which I set down in the kitchen until my next trip upstairs:

But he's also really ornery, as you can tell from his expression in this picture:

Here he's watching me work on the quilt and waiting for me to turn my back so he can grab another pin:

I got rid of him by giving him his dinner.  I could just envision an emergency visit to the vet with a pin in my 10-month-old cat's stomach.....

Anyway, I did get the quilt done with no cat emergencies:

The sashing and back are made from an L.L. Bean buffalo plaid flannel sheet.  I bought a king size flat sheet because that gives the most fabric for the money.  I cut it in half right up the middle and was able to get the whole thing done with just half, so I have enough left for another quilt similar in size and design to this one.

Jesse will be 29 in April, and he lives in a condo in a converted mill in Manyunk, a funky neighborhood in Philadelphia. I was going for a manly look with this quilt--to fit a young single guy.

Now I just have to stop using the word "cute" to describe it.