Quilt Qwazy Queens Making Us Laugh

Today is my day to share what I made for the Quilt Qwazy Queens Making Us Laugh blog hop, hosted by the marvelous Joan of MooseStash Quilting!!  Thank you for the invitation, Joan!!  I had a blast!!

Have you seen those cool quilts made by using the collage technique?  You know, where pieces of fabric are cut up and put back together to create a recognizable animal or scene?  Most of what I have seen has been animals, sometimes very realistic and other times quite fanciful.  I thought they looked so cool and I wanted to give it a try...this blog hop gave me the push to give it a go!!

I started with this piece of gorgeous fabric

I just love this!!  The colors are stunning and there is metallic gold shining through!!!  YUM!!!

Now, what to make with this???  My "grand pets" are weighted heavily towards dogs (I have 11 grandpups), 3 rabbits, a hamster, random chickens and 1 cat.  I have spent a bit of time with this cat as he belongs to my daughter who is in the Army.  I got to house/pet sit this stunning male specimen (along with his dog sister) for 8 months in Florida way back in 2011.  Guinness, the cat, welcomed me to the home by urinating on my bed the very first night.  Thank goodness for a thick down comforter and thick down mattress pad, my mattress didn't get wet, but my daughter got to take my comforter and mattress pad to the dry cleaners!!  With that kind of welcome, who wouldn't love this guy!!

 After his mom left for her tour of duty, we did become friends and he loved to help me with my piecing.  During the months I was in Florida, I pieced about 50 quilts and wall hangings, met some wonderful quilting buddies (SewWhat!?!? bee group), and found out that I quite enjoyed Florida in August, with the high temperatures, high humidity and rain that pours down most afternoons!  Totally qwazy, right???  For a girl who was raised in the high mountain desert where we get 4-7 inches of precipitation a year, that is certifiable qwazy!!

I made Celebrating Guinness in honor of my one and only grandkitty.

Yes, he does do what he wants, especially when it comes to expressing his displeasure or bringing his ball for you to throw so he can fetch it!

All fused and I tried to quilt over every piece because I know that fusible isn't forever.

We got 4 inches of snow a few weeks ago, so I ran out to take a glam shot in the snow!!

After carefully cutting out all the gorgeous pieces from my strip of fabric and placing them in such a way to look like a cat, I used the extra cut-out stuff as a pretty on the side, which, of course, Guinness had to tear a piece off of...he's a cat and that's what cats do...what they want!!

This shows the heart at the center of Guinness...he does love his mama!!  I know I missed some of the smaller pieces fused on, but since this is a wall hanging, I hope it will never be washed.  I made the corner triangles so my daughter can slip a small dowel in them for hanging on the wall.  

Sharing my day on the blog hop are these fabulous blogs:

One Quilting Circle

Quilt Schmilt

Devoted Quilter

Turning My Heart Quilts

Home Sewn By Us

Farm Quilting

If you have the urge to try making a collage quilt, give it a shot.  I had so much fun creating Guinness in fabric that looks nothing like the coal-black cat he is!!  You don't have to make it as whimsical as I made Guinness, you can create a totally realistic collage quilt.  They are gorgeous too!  I love fusible applique, but I do know that if a piece with fusible is going to be washed and loved to death, it does need to have every piece nailed down with thread, either by hand or machine.  Hand sewing through the fusible is difficult - I did that on the first applique quilt I made.

This is a public service tutorial for making your own reusable toilet wipes.  If your supply closet doesn't look like this:

You can take a fat quarter (or fat quarter-sized rag) and make your own, but it is reusable!!  Fold your fat quarter in half 3 times until you end up with a rectangle that measures about 8.5" by 5".  This is thick enough yet still flexible.

Then all you need to do is sew the 3 open sides

Use a different color for every member of the family, keep a "diaper pail" with a lid by each toilet and have bleach water in the "pail"...that pail does require a lid!!  Flannel is a good choice, old t-shirts, and even micro-fiber cloths.  But if you don't have any of those available, you can dig in your stash of fabric and keep your families nether regions clean!!  

Or you can sew those charm squares together using a basting stitch and create this reusable TP:

I hope you have as much fun hopping amid the qwazy blogs for these five days as I did creating my Celebrating Guinness!!  Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the world!