Thank you so much for visiting me last week and for your lovely comments on my paper piecing.  I have been working on a few different quilting projects simultaneously.  Sometimes I start on one and then get carried away by something else.  I am sure you know the feeling.  I drafted this striped tabby cat quilt pattern months ago.  I was really hoping to finish quilting the mini before showing it here, but alas, that didn’t happen.

As I mentioned earlier, most of my quilt patterns are derived from different aspects of my life.  This is my orange Maine Coon boy who is my shadow.  He became the model for my mini.

For this special mini I cut into the swirly orange fat quarter that I had saved forever.  I had just enough scraps of the black fabric left from another quilt to use as the background for this one.  The faint gold in that fabric makes me think of magic dust.  I had to add the night sky fabric in the window.  So now my cat and I can sit by the window and cherish each other’s company and the night sky together.

Susie made this pillow from my pattern way before I could finish mine.  I love the vintage look of her kitty.  Her kitty’s name is Tessie!  You can read all about Tessie in Susie’s Post.

Hopefully I get to quilt mine soon!  The quilting design is already traced on it and it is basted, but I may have to wait a few more days before I can sit at the machine.

Last week I suddenly got sick with the flu.  When I started feeling a little better, I pulled out the acrylic set that I got during the holidays.  Painting has always been my pastime when I’m sick.  Whenever I can’t go outside, I bring the outside to me with paint.  I love to paint trees.  Last time when we were in the Sierras, we saw a lot of trees dying due to the draught we are facing in California.  They look like fall colours, but sadly they are dried leaves on dying trees.  The orange in the painting depicts those leaves.

Although I hadn’t used acrylic before, I learned a lot about acrylic painting just from this small sketch.  The Liquitex Basics set I got has 48 tubes.  It is perfect for trying out colours before purchasing better quality versions of the colours that I really like.  I highly recommend the set for anyone who is interested in trying out acrylic painting.  I can’t wait to play more with mine.

-Soma