futurejake | Squishy cats

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Squishy cats

Another public domain image, discovered via publicdomaintreasures on cohost (check out their personal collection).

Simple line drawing of three squishy cats cuddling in a row.

I'd put my 'joke' into quilt blocks, subtly. Blackwork embroidery of the cats, and circle, but surround it by a pieced out frame (random shapes, then the center cut for joining)... made of calico fabrics.

Half the blocks are reverse Turkey work-- white thread on a brick-red fabric, and the fabrics around it are monochrome jacquards. For longhaired cats, of course.

Black and white cotton prints surround blackwork on white fabric, for tuxedo cats, and use redwork on natural muslin, surrounded by muted batiks for the orange furbabies.

That is such a great idea! <3 calico fabric, and of course cats. That would make an awesome pillow. It's also another great interpretation of such a flexible pattern, because you already have that round background inside a square frame.

Also, if you want to make pillows, you can just make the one or two that you prefer, but me, I'd indulge the joke as far as I could. At least a lapghan of different kinds of cats!

It would make a really great quilt pattern for that reason, the potential variety. I mean, you're starting off with agouti cats (low-contrast types of tabbies) because only the tails are ringed. Remove the rings, you've got a solid cat. Add a few more stripes and you can define a different type of tabby, or blotches for a bicolor.

Or, for complete contrast, I can picture the piece done entirely in white or ecru (both fabric and thread the same choice) candlewicking, where the texture just begs to tell the cats' story.

Whitework was another thing I thought of.

*chuckle* You could even do redwork, which is traditionally crimson on white, in fox-red for orange cats.

Tbat was called Turkey work when I was a kid, but now it seems to mean the Turkey stitch, and the red on white is called redwork.

I feel old when I can't keep up with basic English.

Huh, never heard of Turkey work. I'd only seen blackwork, whitework, and redwork as a set of very old embroidery styles -- they're very popular in central Europe.

Turkey work used to mean using Turkish red thread on ecru or white background, like blackwork, but was a fashion craze when the artificial, colorfast dye first began being imported from Turkey to England. Now, it means the Turkey stitch is used. So, you'd think of it as redwork using the same rules as blackwork, but since I learned the older term first, I have to remind myself to call it redwork, the category, instead.

I think I would call that Turkey redwork, to distinguish from crimson redwork on white or Turkey-stitch embroidery. And I agree it would be perfect for these cats.

Excellent point. The language- and culture-shifting is fascinating, though. "Turkey work" came about because there was a hot new artificial dye that didn't bleed over everything it had ever touched, and now there are so few handwork hobbyists that most people struggle to differentiate between knitting and crocheting, putting the shades of distinction well past their comfort zones.

>> Excellent point. The language- and culture-shifting is fascinating, though. "Turkey work" came about because there was a hot new artificial dye that didn't bleed over everything it had ever touched, <<

And colorfast!

>> and now there are so few handwork hobbyists that most people struggle to differentiate between knitting and crocheting, putting the shades of distinction well past their comfort zones.<<

If I say blackwork, whitework, or redwork then nobody knows what I am talking about unless I am with a fibercraft nerd. I've owned whitework and redwork blouses. I have a blackwork rural scene hanging on my wall. I quite admire the forms. But in an age of computerized embroidery, people don't think about it anymore.

I was at the Lincoln fall fest and there was a lady doing silk-ribbon embroidery. Her favorite motifs were sheep and bees. She was making thumb-sized or bigger sheep entirely out of French knots. O.O Soooo much time.

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