The link up organised by Snoodles of Lily Pad Quilting has got to be the most fun of my quilting year. Many of you will be familiar with this link up but for those for whom it’s new, it is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate, unashamedly, our quilting pet companions and share them with like minded quilters. For those with a more quilty purist approach this post will probably not be your cup of tea.

You get two bites of the link up cherry, one entry based on a picture of a pet on a quilt and the other an entry of a quilt of a pet.  This is my entry for the former. Sadly I’ve not done another cat portrait since this one which I entered last year.

My entry’s a bitter sweet one as Minty, the grey cat, sadly came off worse in a collision with a car earlier this year and we lost him.  So sad but letting him go outside was a risk we had to take as he was deeply frustrated and unhappy if kept in and would take out his irritation in the most obvious of ways  which was not good for my carpets!

Now the normal approach to these type of entries of pets on quilts is like that of last year’s cat winner Rocky.  Aside from some lovely photos of this very beautiful and characterful cat on quilts and generally helping in the sewing room there was a heart warming back story of how Rocky came into his owner Teresa’s life as a cold, bedraggled young cat in Coyote country. Clearly a cat and owner who thoroughly deserve each other. So you get the idea, sweet pictures of pet on quilt, lovely warm loving account of said pet and you have a potential winner…

Well I’m afraid against those criteria  I have no winning entry. What follows is an all too familiar exchange between my two cats, who whilst individually were/ are lovely and together mostly enjoyed a friendly companionship but at times, well they had their moments …. on this occasion they chose to have these moments in a small wicker basket, really a one cat basket, with one of my earliest quilts made for Skye the lilac cat, when she joined us as a kitten.  Note loose binding. It’s been well used, well washed and loved. As you can see the jeopardy for what unfolds is increased by the basket being precariously balanced on a bar stool…..

 

 

 

 

Minty was not blessed with brains. Beauty yes, brains no. Each and every time this would happen. He would position himself in the basket by the fire or in a patch of sunshine and then along would  come Skye. She would tentatively climb in and  licking him round his ears which he loved.  He would reciprocate and briefly there would be harmony then she would stiffen and a cold glint would appear in her eye. ‘He’s still here’ she seemed to say and then she would lash out….poor Minty would give a mixed look of surprise and hurt. Minty was bigger than Skye and he could quite easily have retaliated and held his ground but he never did and she always got her wicked way.

What has been rather entertaining is to watch how our new grey  kitten Felix and Skye interact as these roles have completely  reversed. Before it was Skye who would be the agitator, pouncing on a placid Minty as he strolled by, muscling in if she felt he was getting too much attention but now the tables have well and truly turned. She now has had to put up and deal with the youthful boisterousness of Felix. Skye’s the one being pounced on as she goes about her day, now it’s her that gets pushed out if she is getting too much attention particularly if she is curled up on someone’s lap. Skye retaliates more but senses she’s on a losing wicket and gives up in disgust. Suddenly she’s the mature one and Felix has the exuberance of youth.  There’s a moral here – what goes around comes around!!

Linking up with Lily Pad Quilts.