Fabric Ode to the Beautiful Cat

Beloved Bastet
mistress of happiness and bounty,
twin of the sun god,
slay the evil that afflicts our minds
as you slay the serpent Apep.
With your graceful stealth
anticipate the moves of all who perpetrate cruelties
and stay their hands against the children of light.
Grant us the joy of song and dance,
and ever watch over us
in the lonely places in which we must walk.

Ode to Bastet

Six months ago I drove for an hour through torrential rains to take a class in collage quilting. The last hand stitches completed the binding today and both Cat and I are quite pleased with ourselves.

My starting point was a pattern by Laura Heine. While Laura’s examples of the Purrfect Cat are whimsically colourful, my quilt was to be an homage to Cat (a.k.a. Hobs) so I brought only black and white fabrics to class. From one, instructor Nancy cut out the large medallion and set it on Cat’s shoulder. Immediately, the unassuming outline captured Cat’s mystical character and I was hooked on this painterly form of quilting. Later the powerful, shielded eyes and notched ear distinguished this feline from all others.

While the cat image came together in a few days, the background took me a long time to work out. I wanted my Egyptian cat in context. Her divine nature made it clear that she should be placed on a pedestal – in this case, a Pharaonic column capital. Taking inspiration from Australian quilter Jenny Bowker, I placed Cat and her pedestal inside the columned hall of an imaginary Egyptian temple dedicated to the goddess Bastet. Finding the right fabrics to shade the columns resulted in my fabric stash growing exponentially. I loved the colour palette of the “Solstice” line of Stonehenge fabrics that came out this year. The hieroglyphs read “Beautiful Cat”.

Once the image was complete, the Caledonia quilter took over with her long arm machine. Helen’s quilting work is an art piece in itself. We discussed some designs and then she made it her own. Mom had the great idea to set regal cats upon nebet baskets, replacing the usual cobra. Thus, appropriately, Cat is the mistress of abundant offerings. The serekh hieroglyph that represented the niched façade of Pharaonic palaces encircles the quilt’s border to signify that Cat is in her realm. Helen's work is amazing!

I couldn’t be happier with the result. Now my fabric ode to beloved Cat has pride of place in the entry of my wee abode. My beautiful cat.