"I have three contractor bags in the car, and my fancy camera," said Kathy, storming through my door with treats for my cats, my birthday gift, her constantly pinging phone, and laptop. As usual, it was time to work and use Saturday to brainstorm how to keep up with the never-ending requests from our friends who need vouchers for free spay/neuter at People for Animals (if you don't know about it, the program is explained here).
While I did purchase one of these quilts years ago, and totally love its gorgeous (and washable!) beauty, having over 30 of these quilts in my hands and photographing them for the eBay store with Kathy yesterday made me take a fresh look at their uniqueness and beauty. What a reminder of how much work our friend Carol has contributed to our impressive eBay store inventory. You may also view our current selection of quilts here.
For over 12 years, 81 -year-old Carol has been making one-of-a-kind lap quilts like the the one pictured above for our rescue. With no staff, extra hands or automation, she procures stylish, high quality designer fabrics and donates these usable works of art to the tune of over 1300 quilts to date.
Every quilt takes Carol over 8 hours to assemble and stitch. She has done this over 1300 times for us for twelve years!
As a seamstress myself, I was intrigued and looked into what goes into creating a quilt, especially on a regular sewing machine upon which hundreds of her quilts were created before upgrading. I took mine out and had a good look--vibrant Kaufman patterns that had not faded after washing, and while not the size for a bed, generous enough to drape on my sofa, hang on a wall, or more often, enjoy a cocktail while shielding my lap from cat hair. I could not imagine making one of these myself, and I am fairly handy with a sewing machine.
Tinky, a Whiskers Rescue graduate, enjoying my gorgeous Kaufman quilt. The fabrics mesmerized me when I saw this quilt years ago at one of our outdoor sales.
Sadly, we often get very low offers on these beautiful handmade items. Our starting bids don't even begin to cover what Carol spends in money and time to make these, making these a very generous and vital contribution to our store. Once you see one of these quilts in person, you see the quality and skill involved and for this reason, they make perfect holiday gifts. They are the perfect mix of "stylish" and "I like cats" without crossing into crazy cat lady territory. Even her holiday designs are subtle yet festive, using green backgrounds and winter prints with the same cute cat shapes.
Kathy just updated the eBay inventory and there are so many of these quilts available--they ship quickly and make excellent gifts for any cat lover or crafter on your list. Every quilt sold covers a TNR package for a voucher recipient in need, while you get to knock gifts off of your list and give someone a usable work of art. Help us quilt and spay our way to a world with no cats born to suffer outside.