We looked! Then we saw him step in on the mat! We looked! And we saw him! The Cat in the Hat!

Have you seen the Dr. Seuss prints from Robert Kauffman? There is a Cat in the Hat and Lorax set. My friend asked me to make a quilt for her little Baby B that arrived earlier this month (Baby B turned out to be Miss Hathaway Jane!) She gave me a fat quarter set of both lines (both colorways for the Lorax!). She wanted me to use the Cat in the Hat fabric for her and the Lorax fabric I get to keep. The Lorax is one of my all time favorite books. I haven't quite decided what I'll make with the fabric, but I am leaning towards another quilt - for me!

This post is supposed to be about the quilt I made her, so I'll stop rambling about the Lorax fabric. (Can you tell I'm excited about it?!?)

There were a couple of difference challenges with this quilt. First, the fabrics are all adorable but a bit busy. Second, my friend wanted something that could be folded and work for a crib but would also work more long term as Baby B grows into a toddler then "big kid." We decided together that something long and narrow would fit both needs - then I discovered the two big panels in the bundle were long and narrow, so it worked out perfectly.

I am not a good pattern follower. I like to make things up as I go and see where it takes me. The Cat in that Hat is zany and a bit crazy, so I decided the quilt needed to be too. As I said before, the fabric is busy so I didn't want that to become overwhelming. So I stuck with larger blocks of the fabric, and just turned everything to a 45 degree angle. I am really happy with the results.

What do you think? Squaring the quilt and appliqueing the center panel on were by far the biggest challenges.

I also wanted to use both big panels that came in the bundle so I did just a little something on the back.

I basically used every scrap of fabric in the entire fat quarter bundle and it worked out perfectly. I quilted my favorite go to "pattern" of meandering bumble bee. It goes nice with the straight lines of the quilt and its so simple to do, you can't mess it up!

Envelope pouch

This past weekend I was feeling inspired to make something for a friend's birthday. I had no real concept of what I wanted to do until I saw an A7 envelope sitting on the filing cabinet in my studio. I thought it would make for a cute clutch/pouch, so I opened it all the way up and used it for a "pattern."

The birthday girl is a big fan of coral and leopard/cheetah prints. Both of these fabrics were in my stash. There is one layer of quilting batting that I fused to the lining with heat n bond. Fusible batting would have been one less step, but I didn't have any on hand.

 I had about 20 minutes before I needed to give the gift, so of course, I decided it was necessary to make another item to go with it. I decided a little zipper pouch that fits perfectly inside would be nice so small things like change wouldn't escape if it was carried alone as a clutch.

I'm really happy with how it turned out. The different textures of the fabrics work well together and I love the little vintage coral button for the envelope closure. The gift was well received and I think I'll have to make more of these babies someday soon.