Miracle Cat Learning

Continuing in the Patchwork Beasts class, I made this miracle cat yesterday - it has a heart shaped nose and question mark whiskers which it follows to fun and adventure. I am quite thrilled with this because I designed the block piece by piece without drawing a pattern and I still managed to sew it together, albeit in a very hodge podge fashion. (The legs, ears and tail were all one piece found at a garage sale long ago.) I was starting to explore this method of construction in April/May after taking the strip piecing class with Nancy Crow, but I was using strip pieced fabric then, not selecting individual fabrics and putting the pieces together as I went. The majority of my work is improvisationally appliqued or collaged and the pieced quilts have largely been either random bits sewn together, or a beggining exploration of curved piecing. I can't quite grasp yet what the significance is of this for me - perhaps a native way for me to work that I am connecting with - this time with piecing. Perhaps when I create more designs using strip pieced fabric I will get a feel for the difference and understand more. Maybe I just like the cat :) I drew a pattern for a 4 inch horse block that was far too complicated for my skill level - and the pieces were just too tiny to work with. I simplified it and came out with this - same size but about half the pieces. And, it turned into a unicorn.

And here is an experiment with having the lion be at a distance - the head and tail are turned applique and the rest is pieced.

Now on to other beasts...