Sheila Rauen quilt in TCQC 11-21-10

Fund raising online auctions are a good way to help an organization you support and add some quilts to your collection. The Alliance for American Quilts leans toward the traditional, but there are some great 'contemporary' traditional quilts in their auction and a few 'art' quilts also. This one appealed to me because it is a great cat and has very nice quilting.

"Taking a Break" Sheila H. Rauen 2010 Knoxville, TN 16" x 16"

Commercial cotton, polished cotton, machine applique and machine quilting

Sheila had this to say about her quilt, part of the "New from Old" challenge: "The background is made from the first blocks I ever pieced about 25 years ago. I was happy to find a good use for them as the "old" part of my design. They make a perfect "rug" or "tile floor" for the new cat and his toy mouse - a colorful place to relax or play. The [1/2"] border and binding fabric came from a skirt I used to wear in the 80's."

Sheila has done fine stitching around the cat and the mousie. And very even machine quilting on the background - it shows beautifully on the dark blue polished cotton.

She has added straight machine stitching to further define the face of the cat.

Another view of the quilting and her machine stitched signature.

The plain back shows up the quilting very well.

Showing the label Sheila applied and the label from The Alliance for American Quilts.
Sheila doesn't have a website, but is part of the Southern Highland Guild. http://www.southernhighlandguild.org/sheilarauen/