Quilting Cat

 Checkers, a large black and white cat with soft, fluffy fur, loved to be in the center of things in my mom's sewing room.  Mom and I would spend hours in this bright room working together on our quilts.  A favorite style was the "quilt as you go" pattern.  This involved working in long rows  where you would sew the front, batting and backing all together from one long, wide strip to the next.  When finished with all of the rows, you simply squared the quilt and added the binding.  

This method required a lot of pins.  Mom and I would work from one end and pin the pieces to each other until we reached the far end.  It was then that we noticed there were no pins at the beginning...or the middle.  All the pins were sticking out of the mouth of the black and white cat like miniature swords.  The more we pinned, the faster the cat removed them.  This earned him the nickname "Quilting Cat" but not because he was helpful.  We had to ban him from the quilting room but he was a clever quilting cat.  Checkers would go outside and jump onto the window sill, watching and howling his displeasure with his exile.

I still make quilts and sometimes, when I am pinning my pieces, I turn my head to check that all the pins are still in place.  You just can't tell when another quilting cat will enter your life.