I’m super excited to be a part of Fat Quarter Shop & Lori Holt’s Spelling Bee sew along!  Her new alphabet inspired quilt book is so fun and amazing!!  

I choose to sew an “a” and a “t” for my contribution to the sew along.

As much as the word “at” is nice and all…..the word “cat” is way better!!!

Mufasa loved helping with the photo shoot!!

The letters are super fun to put together and her instructions are always easy to follow!!

I wanted to make a little mini quilt with “cat” letters

So I sewed a cat block from my I Love Cats Quilt and put it all together!

If you would like to make one here’s what you do:

Make the cat block from my quilt pattern, finishes 10″.

Make the “cat” letters from the Spelling Bee book.

Cut background measurements according to the chart below:

Sew the quilt center together in rows, pressing toward the background pieces.  The inside finished measurements are 18″ square.

For the border, you need (88) 2 1/2″ squares – make it real scrappy!!  I used all sorts of vintage inspired prints!

Sew (2) sets of 9 squares together, pressing in one direction.  Sew them to each side of the cat center.  Press toward the center.

Sew (2) sets of 11 squares together, pressing in one direction.  Sew them to the top and bottom.  Press toward the center.

Repeat the process with the next border, sewing (2) sets of 11 squares for the sides and (2) sets of 13 squares for the top and bottom.  Press toward the last border.

Baste, Quilt, Bind!

I quilted it with loops and daisies!!

A while back I wrote a little tutorial called Almost A Log Cabin.  Its a fast and fun pattern to whip up.  I finally have it quilted and bound and I am super in love with it!!!!

The fabrics are Heather Ross’ The Sleeping Porch and they are lawn fabrics which means light and soft and breezy!

It was a bit of a challenge to find something to go on the back that fit the feel of the fabric.  I went through my stash of vintages sheets and found the most perfect quilt back ever!  I love that is vintage and matches the quilt top!  I love how my quilter quilted it!!!  Super whimsical!

The pink in the fabrics is the exact pink I have in my front yard geraniums!  Bright pink!!

This is such a fun quilt and a fast finish!  You can totally adjust the size to make it what ever you want!

Mufasa really loves it too!

OK – one more Mufasa picture because he is so handsome!

A

Here is a little update on my Moonlight Path quilt tutorial!

I have always loved this pattern – it looks so much more difficult than it really is!

I just got it back from the quilter and I love love love how it turned out!

It’s perfect with the soft aqua minky on the back!

You can scroll down to find the full tutorial.

As a little bonus I’ve included a Christmas design which alternates red block and green block.  You can use all your scraps of low volume for the background – super fun!

I omitted the “cat” blocks in the Christmas version – it’s the same block repeating.

OK – I got totally carried away with the quilt design software and I have a bunch of different Christmas versions!  I can’t wait to make one!!!

Let’s get started!!

all seams 1/4″

We will only be using 2 1/2″ strips for the blocks.

Each dark print 2 1/2″ strip will be enough for one block.  You need 50 dark strips for the 50 blocks.

Each light print 2 1/2″ strip will be enough for (2) blocks.  You need 25 light print strips.

Each medium print 2 1/2″ strip will be enough for (2) blocks.  You need 25 medium print strips.

Once the strips are cut, sew the light and medium strips together lengthwise.  Press toward the dark.  Sub-cut into 2 1/2″ increments.  Cut the dark strips in 4 1/2″ increments.  The above picture shows everything you need for one block.

Sew the strip set to the dark rectangle as pictured above.  You will have (4) of these units per block.

Continue sewing in this manner until all the strips are sewn into these units.

The pieced units will be sewn as pictured above, like a 4-patch.  I pressed the seams alternately as much as I could for easy matching.

Now you have a finished block!  Continue sewing all the units together to form 50 blocks.

I love how they each turned out!!!

Cat Blocks

You will need to make 6 additional fussy-cut cat blocks to mix in.

Fussy cut the cat fabric in 4 1/2″ squares.  Cut 6.

Cut (24) light 2 1/2″ squares.

Cut (24) medium 2 1/2″ squares.

Cut (24) dark 2 1/2″ squares.

Lay them out according to the photo below:

Sew the top and bottom rows together.  Sew the sides together, press, then sew to the sides of the cat square.  Finally sew the top and bottom rows to the center cat unit, matching seams.  Press. 

I love the cat block!  It wouldn’t be a quilt unless there was a little theme print in it!!!  Of course you could omit the cat blocks and just make 56 of the original blocks.

Lay the quilt out 7 blocks across and 8 rows down.  I had to play around with my blocks so they didn’t create an unwanted pattern.  It’s tricky to look random 🙂  Sew the blocks together pressing seams alternately with each row.  Sew the rows together pinning at every seam intersection.  Quilt, bind, love!

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