Years ago I purchased some Cat in the Hat Fabric to make a quilt for my cousin’s son’s birthday.  I loved how it turned out!  At the time, I also got a Cat in the Hat panel, that I was saving for just the right time, now!

My two-year-old needs a twin-size quilt for his bed and he loves the Cat in the Hat on PBS Kids.  Last night, I cut apart the panels and planned the quilt.

Quilting from panels is a challenge to make everything the right size.  The height of all the panels are 11.5″, but the widths vary from 8.5, 7, to 6 inches.  Not a lot of variance, but enough.  Plus, there was a strip that ran along the selvage with The Cat in the Hat title.  That is definitely being integrated in the quilt, too!

Here is what I came up with.  Each 14 x 19.5 square will be one of the larger panels with just basic piecing around it.  The larger 28 x 19.5 squares will be two of the smaller panels somehow grouped together.  Honestly, I’m not sure how those are much different than the 14″ high panels, but I wanted to allow a little more flexibility.

I have quite a bit of the accent fabric left over, but I’m not 100% sure if I have enough.  For now, I’m just piecing things together and may need to supplement with some solids toward the end.

My goal is to finish this quilt by my son’s third birthday, which is in April. He knows all about it since it’s up on my wall and already knows it’s his.  No secret there!  It will be fun for him to see the process and me working on it.

Since it’s been so long since I’ve quilted anything, it’s a new experience finding the time to quilt with two kiddos around who like to push buttons and are curious about what you’re doing.  We’ll see how long it actually takes to finish it all!