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Buy the book "Cats Who Quilt." Buy your cat the "Certificate of Membership in the League of Cat Quilters." Make your cat very happy. Buy other stuff too, like some of the other cat quilt pattern books featured on this Web site. 
Read stories about special cats who quilt, submitted by visitors to this Web site. Submit your own story about your quilting cat. 
Please read these all-important sewing room safety tips for pets! 
Free Cat Quilt Patterns to Download 
World's Biggest Cat Quilt Pattern Database. Find cat quilting patterns in this "shareware" directory of cat patterns around the world. 
Read excerpts from the book 'Cats Who Quilt'
Read more excerpts from the book 'Cats Who Quilt' 
Read the Table of Contents of 'Cats Who Quilt' 
Read about the Certificate which comes in the book, or can be purchased separately. 
History of the Web site, and the book's rocky road into print. 
You can read about me and find out why I do these crazy things. 
Proof that all our needlework projects come from a higher source. 
Is there a special guy in your life who helps run your quilting Web site, who drives you to fabric stores, who humors you with "Honey, but that quilt looks lovely!" when you're too embarrassed to pull it out of the closet? Honor your special guy here in our special feature Quilt Guy of the Month! 
Looking for information on how to use a sewing machine with a blow stick or help for quilting if your eyesight is failing? Here's some help. 
Is your cat from outer space or has she simply been abducted by aliens? Find out here. |
"How to Draw a Lazy Daisy Embroidery Pattern Like Grandma Stitched on Pillowcases"
This little tutorial will introduce you to the most mystifying concepts of drawing programs. Let's say you want to draw an embroidery design consisting of lazy daisies, knot and stem stitches, the kind of design you'd find on a pillowcase at grandma's. Here's how you'd do it: Of Stems and Lines
In drawing programs you have two basic tools with which to draw lines: the freehand pencil and the bezier curve. The pencil will give you jaggedy lines--or else bone straight ones. The bezier will give you nice curves, so use that whenever you can tolerate it.
If you can't select an individual object in a drawing it may be because it is "grouped" with other elements. Experiment by finding out what you can select. Delete the selected object or group--only temporarily, you can always undo the command--to find out what's grouped. If a collection of objects has been grouped you'll need to select it, then apply the ungroup command in order to delete one portion or line of it.
Voila! You have a pattern just like the kind grandma would iron on to muslin to stitch!
 Cats Who Quilt is a trademark of Fruitful Plains. Text on this Web site Copyright 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 Judy Heim. May not be reproduced in any form--in either e-mail messages or on Web sites without written permission. All illustrations are copyright 2000, 2001, and 2002 Irina Borisova. They may not be reproduced without permission. Photos and quilts are copyrighted by their respective artists, and may not be reproduced without their permission. |
Drawing programs also offer "pen settings" that let you adjust the thickness of lines. Draw dotted lines. Or draw lines in different colors. To change a line's thickness--or color, select the line then apply a new pen setting.
To delete something in your drawing use the select tool (the thin arrow) to select the object so that handles appear around it. Then hit the delete key. (Note: You can't delete things this way in a bitmapped image like a .JPG because the picture is like a continual field of bits.)
To resize a line, an object, or group of objects, select it then pull it to enlarge it--push it to shrink it. Hold down the Shift key to keep the resizing proportional.
To move an object, select it, then position the cursor on a line and, holding the mouse button down, drag it into place.
To turn an object, double-click on it so that handles with arrows frame it, then pull on one of the arrows in the direction you want.
To turn a group of disparate objects--like petals, leaves and stems--into a single object that you can duplicate, move or transform as one--first select the whole mess by drawing a box around it with the selection tool. Then apply the group command.
Add a few ribbons to your daisy design by drawing a few curly lines with the bezier tool. Use node edit tool (the fat arrow) to pull on the bumps and handles of the curve to shape it.
Select the curve and turn it into a thick, gray dashed line (to simulate a ribbon) with the pen tool.