Thursday 2 October 2014

Nine Lives

This is not a new quilt. I made it before starting my blog, but I got such a positive response to it's appearance on the blog hop, I decided to give it a post of its own.

Quilts wall hanging of cats, hand-dyed fabric, procion MX dyes, free motion quilting Hilary Florence Quilting Workshop

Nine Lives started out as Nine Green Bottles (OK, a bit of artistic licence on the bottle colour, but the overall effect is green). It was a nice study on curved piecing. The more I looked at these bottles, the more I saw cats. In the end, I gave in and appliqued heads and tails on each bottle and Nine Lives was born.

Quilts wall hanging of cats, hand-dyed fabric, procion MX dyes, free motion quilting Hilary Florence Quilting Workshop

Life 1

Quilts wall hanging of cats, hand-dyed fabric, procion MX dyes, free motion quilting Hilary Florence Quilting Workshop

Life 2

Quilts wall hanging of cats, hand-dyed fabric, procion MX dyes, free motion quilting Hilary Florence Quilting Workshop

Life 3

Quilts wall hanging of cats, hand-dyed fabric, procion MX dyes, free motion quilting Hilary Florence Quilting Workshop

Life 4

Quilts wall hanging of cats, hand-dyed fabric, procion MX dyes, free motion quilting Hilary Florence Quilting Workshop

Life 5

Quilts wall hanging of cats, hand-dyed fabric, procion MX dyes, free motion quilting Hilary Florence Quilting Workshop

Life 6

Quilts wall hanging of cats, hand-dyed fabric, procion MX dyes, free motion quilting Hilary Florence Quilting Workshop

Life 7

Quilts wall hanging of cats, hand-dyed fabric, procion MX dyes, free motion quilting Hilary Florence Quilting Workshop

Life 8

Quilts wall hanging of cats, hand-dyed fabric, procion MX dyes, free motion quilting Hilary Florence Quilting Workshop

Life 9

I hadn't quite developed the range of FMQ patterns that I have now, but the  background mix was intended to look like a wall...

Quilts wall hanging of cats, hand-dyed fabric, procion MX dyes, free motion quilting Hilary Florence Quilting Workshop

with the odd mouse...

Quilts wall hanging of cats, hand-dyed fabric, procion MX dyes, free motion quilting Hilary Florence Quilting Workshop

hiding...

Quilts wall hanging of cats, hand-dyed fabric, procion MX dyes, free motion quilting Hilary Florence Quilting Workshop
Add caption

from the cats.

Quilts wall hanging of cats, hand-dyed fabric, procion MX dyes, free motion quilting Hilary Florence Quilting Workshop

And this is Cara, who decided not to be left out. She is a cat I am fostering for the Cats' Protection League until she can find a permanent home. She has already used 2 of her lives, one costing her a tail and the second an eye ... but neither seem to bother her much. That look says, 'Never mind about quilts, photos and blogs, where is my food?'

I'm off to feed a cat. Thanks for visiting.

Hilary Florence


Please find below a list of linky parties. I may not link with all of the every week, but with some of them most weeks. Please go and have a look at some of the other wonderful quilts and quilters there.

Linky Tuesday at Free motion by  the river­­­­ @ http://www.conniekresin.com/
WIP Wednesday at freshly pieced   @   http://www.freshlypieced.com/
WIP Wednesday at TN + TN  @  http://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.ca/
I Quilt Thursdays @ http://prettybobbins.com/
Off the wall Fridays @ http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.co.uk/

21 comments:

  1. Wonderful! Definitely cats better than bottles and your visitor gives an interesting idea of scale...Either she is really huge or it's actually a smaller quilt than I supposed! Totally great in any size n thanks for showing it. : )

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  2. I think this must be one of my all time favourite quilts wonderful. Would have loved to pin it to my pictorial quilt board and also my cat board but no pin such a shame, will have to keep coming back here for a peek

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  3. panic over P button has now appeared and have pinned!

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  4. The quilting is pretty neat. It appears random. I don't know if I have the nerve to do that.

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  5. You are welcome to live next door to me. I love this quilt and the cats. What a beautiful colors and the quilting in stunning! Gorgeous quilt!
    I love doodling but graffitty too. I love doodling, quiltpatterns and graffitty. I will use all 'techniques'. I think it depends of my moods and the yarn and the fabrics.

    By the way more than a year ago in early spring we were in the South of Engeland (Sidmouth) and it was so cold!!!! We walked on ice on the coastal path!

    Love from still Sunny Amsterdam.


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  6. Hilary, this quilt is such a one off! Cara is priceless too. Aren't you tempted to do a Cara tribute wall hanging? It would end up looking like a Manx cat winking at you.

    Thank you for linking up to Free Motion Mavericks.

    Love, Muv

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  7. the quilt and its back story is wonderful as is your... one eye cat peeping in the seafood store...ops that is song line your tabby inspired my long term memory to pull up. i love you wall free motion random background quilting,my kind of thread ramble, and had to chuckle when the mice began to appear! came by way of Nina's Off the wall and happy i did!

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  8. I love it! And of course it needs it's own post. The design is simple and effective, the best ones are simple which is hard to do. And of course your quilting makes it shine. The post could not do without a real 9 life kitty so your foster is a perfect fit. She is beautiful - one eye and all

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  9. There's so much learning just by looking at your quilting! Plus the colour blend is beautiful. I liked all 10 lives!!!

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  10. It took a second, but then I saw the bottles. I love the transition into cats! And, of course, the quilting.

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  11. Another lovely piece. l like the colours in your background and as always the machining (it is simpler than what you do now, but still has the same character). I think bottles to cats was a good move.

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  12. Such a charming quilt and your quilting, as always, puts it over the top. I like cats, too, but have been catless for quite some time now, so I enjoy looking at yours.

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  13. I just love this quilt! And it seems that I'm not the only one. I would hang it in my home anytime (it looks like the perfect quilt to hang at the end of a hallway).
    I love how you made such an artistic piece with rectangles, stripes and a few curving appliqués. Of course, your choice of fabric enhance beautifully the subject, even though it was firstly chosen to represent bottles. Your subconscious must have played a part in this choice. ;-) And your quilting motifs are just what this piece of art needed.
    Those bottles look like street cats waiting patiently for their dinner to pass by, in some ancient city, a few centuries ago (maybe Rome?).
    I pinned it in my Pinterest Art Board.

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  14. Too cool! Love the concept and the execution! It's just a great, great piece....Congratulations!

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  15. Beautiful! I know you have lots of comments, but I just had to chime in my 2 cents that the cats are wonderful (and more whimsical than bottles). Love everything about it...truly a piece of art!

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  16. I love it! The cats are super adorable!!

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  17. How wonderful that your bottles turned into cats! The quilt is so beautiful, with the subtle colors combined with the rich textures from the FMQ. Congratulations on a superb finish!

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  18. Hilary - I love your background quilting. It so evokes the wall. And the colours are just lovely too. You are a real find in Blog Land.

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  19. Hilary, everything is perfect here: idea, colours, quilting and the whole quilt !!! It,s really beautiful.

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