Girl Next Door - Month 6 - Cat Block November 01 2020

IT IS A PREREQUISITE OF MAKING THIS BLOCK THAT YOU HAVE A COPY OF THE PATTERN GIRL NEXT DOOR BY LOUISE PAPAS FOR THE JEN KINGWELL DESIGN COLLECTIVE.

Charlotte (@Kirkenoll) here.  With a few watch outs (listed below), this month's block is the cat's meow and relatively easy to make!  I can just imagine our feline friends perched at the windows of the lovely houses we will make next month or perhaps outside the shops scheduled for month 8.

Each month, I will share the fabric we used at Red Thread Studio and then layout the cutting checklist.  I have also provided cutting tabs that you can download and print out.  These are useful to keep track of the various pieces used in this scrappy quilt.  At the end, I will also give some useful tips that I encountered when piecing the sample.

Feel free to comment here, on Instagram or in the Girl Next Door Quilt-Along Facebook group with any questions.  Don't forget to share your photos of your work in progress either on Instagram or Facebook each week!!  Just use the hashtag #GirlNextDoorQAL.

Choose Your Fabric

We chose horizontal stripes for these kitties along with floral collars, but plaids, dots or other geometric shapes would work nicely as well.

Cutting Checklist - make two 9” x 9” blocks

Cat Fabric - cut for each cat block  

• 1 x T70 - use template - might want to fussy cut - 4  x 4 - body
• 1 x T71 - 1  x 4 - tail
• 1 x T72 - 1  x 1 ¼ - tail top
• 2 x T73 - use template - might want to fussy cut - 1 ½   x 1 ½ - ears
• 1 x T74 - 1 ½ x 2 ¼ - head

Collar Fabric - cut for each cat block

• 1 x T75 - 1  x 2 ¼

Background Fabric - white main background fabric - cut for each cat block

• 1 x T75 - 1  x 2 ¼
• 1 x T76 - use template* - 3  x 2 ½
• 1 x T77 - 1 ½   x 1 ¼
• 1 x T78 - 2 x 2
• 1 x T79 - use template* - 2 ½  x 1

Cut 4 corners (T80, T81, 2xT82) bigger to make the block larger then trim down to exact size - 9” x 9”.

• 1 x T80 - use template* - 5 x 5 - make block edge longer to cut down
• 1 x T81 - use template* - 5 x 5 - make block edge longer to cut down - same template as T80
• 2 x T82 - 8  x 8 - cut on the diagonal to make two triangles 

* trace these pieces using a light box or up against sunny window if you wish

Cat Cutting Tabs 

If you wish you can cut up tabs and place with your cut fabric pieces.  See attached Cutting Tabs. 

Follow Pattern Assembly instructions to piece two cat blocks

• So cute with the stripe fabric and flower collars.
• If using stripe fabric careful how you cut for piecing. The ears need to be reversed so can’t do a triangle diagonal cut.
• When sewing background T76 to T70 body make sure the shorter end (2 ½) of the background triangle is at the top of the cat body. Ask me how I know the other way isn’t correct?  Sometimes I pin the ¼” seam to test the final result before sewing. Not this time of course so I had to do a bit of unsewing :-)
• Match collar seam to body and then head.
• I made the 4 corners (T80, T81, 2xT82) bigger to piece block larger then cut down to exact size.
• When sewing the corners try to keep those cat ears pointy if you wish - no stress :-)
• When blocks are completely pieced give it a final press on a fluffy towel using just a little Magic Sizing to flatten all the seams nicely.
• Each cat block should measure 9” square so trim to get that final perfect size to fit in corners.