#bobbin

It’s time for QuiltFest of Jacksonville again, and this year’s theme was “Bobbin’ on the Beach.” Of course, I had to feature my boy, Bobbin, sitting on a beach. My way.

My inspiration for the beach came from the double whammy of returning from my vacation to New Hampshire for the Machine Quilters Expo (MQX), where I spent way too much money, and then doing my taxes. I pretty much figured my next vacation would have to be on the cheap. How would a cat take a cheap vacation? In the sandbox, of course.

One of the biggest challenges was trying to incorporate the box of kitty litter and give it a nautical theme. The shell print fabric was one of the three challenge fabrics we had to incorporate, so I came up with Ocean Breeze. Hindsight being what it is, I wish I’d called it Tidal Cat instead.

I used Apliquick to turn all of my applique and handstitched it. Then came the really fun part, the quilting.

I added some simple textures to give my applique more dimension, with a few bonuses, like etching Vacation State of Mind into the sand, and a little peek-a-boo mouse.

Being me, I ran out of time before I added some of the elements I wanted, but I can always add more later before I send it off to other shows.

It has been such a crazy work week that I’ve barely even thought about quilting. But, it’s time to a) mail off my Bob Ross challenge quilt and b) register my QuiltFest challenge quilt, which still does not have a name.

The theme was Bobbin’ on the Beach, and obviously I have Bobbin on the beach, but naming it has been trickier than that because of the cat litter aspect.

My original concept was “when you can’t afford a real vacation”, and that may yet wind up as the title.

I’ve given myself until tonight to name it, since 8m putting the registration in the mail tomorrow (along with my Cherrywood quilt).