Quilted Duvet Covers

 A while back, we visited Ian's family in California.  It was the first time I'd ever seen a duvet in person and I'll tell you what, I was converted! 

I bought a duvet and made a simple cover using two sheets.  While I LOVED the duvet for the winter time, two things happened.  The obvious thing is that I missed the look of having quilts on the bed.  The unexpected thing is that our cat (Extra, who has since passed), would no longer walk on the bed.  

In our house, having an unhappy cat is completely unacceptable!  She liked walking on regular quilts just fine, so I thought perhaps she'd prefer a quilted duvet cover.

The quilted portion of the cover is a pieced top quilted to a plain piece of fabric (so there are no exposed seams).  The back of the cover is a wide-back piece of quilting fabric.  I bound the edges so that it really looked like a quilt.

I made two duvet covers, because I wanted to use my most special fabrics and couldn't decide which was more special (my collection of Denyse Schmidt fabrics or my Sandi Henderson fabrics).  

And if you're wondering if Extra liked these duvet covers any better...kind of!  She would walk on the bed while somehow managing to convey her dislike for the puffy duvet inside the cover.  But, that was still an improvement and I also enjoyed having a bright, cheerful quilt on the bed in the winter.  

Current cats don't mind the duvet at all (this is Night Fury, demonstrating that she does, in fact, like the duvet).  They enjoy sleeping on it and walking on it and burrowing under it.  And I'm happy that they're happy.