If you're a quilter who loves cats, you're going to find the cats in Cats in Quilts irresistible. There are 14 designs for wallhangings, each with a cat in a garden setting. If you wish to make a bed-sized quilt, you could mix and match the designs to create one large enough, or put several panels together. You could also mix 'n match the cats and flowers.
Carol Armstrong has developed a hand appliqué technique that relies on a lightbox, rather than on templates. You draw the appliqué design on lightweight white paper with a black market and paste this onto a lightbox. You then lay your background fabric, right side up, over this and trace around the design using a water-removable marker (or a permanent pen if you're confident you'll cover all the lines when you appliqué). Remove the background fabric from the lightbox, but leave the design stuck to it as you're now going to trace each appliqué piece onto the fabric you want to use. You then cut the appliqué pieces out leaving a seam allowance. Now appliqué these in the order shown on the pattern, turning the seam allowance under with a needle as you sew. Isn't that easier than cutting out templates?
Of course, if you dislike hand appliqué, there's nothing to stop you from doing with designs with a machine. Some of the bits are quite small though, and it may be simpler to embroider these in with satin stitch than appliqué. Or use fabric paints or permanent markers, as the author has with the eyes.
The 14 designs are: Ralph and Simba (two portrait heads), Ezra and Leaves; Meesta and Sunflowers; Fred in the Rudbeckia; Jack Prowling in the Salvia; Niko and Hydrangea; Rosie, Queen of Roses; snowball in the Irises; Molly, Sassy and the Tulips (a mother cat and kitten); Ollie Playing in the Pansies; Sam and the Galdioli; Otis Hangin' in the Wisteria; Mocha in the Periwinkle; and Opie in the Sunshine.
Each comes with a large colour photo of the finished project, a pattern to photocopy (you'll have to enlarge it), and detailed instruction on how to proceed. The pattern pieces are clearly numbered to show you the order in which to work them.
The fabrics used in the designs are a mixture of "solid colours, subtle tone-on-tone prints, and other quiet prints". Cut out all the pieces before you start appliquéing to see if your colour selection works, because if just one doesn't fit in, your cat will look awkward. It's very much a matter of personal preference; for instance, I don't like the colours used in Niko (se page 47), and feel his strong green eyes look like they're bulging out of his head. Conversely, I think the golden browns used in Fred (see page 39) are gorgeous, giving a real feeling of a cat warming itself in the sun, which is shining off its coat.
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