the tiger

I know I promised the tiger last week.  And then I disappeared.

I apologize.

There wasn't much else to share and I hadn't gotten a photo yet and I was being lazy.

(Okay, I was probably sewing cat hammocks and making unicorn poop cookies, but lazy about getting that photo.)

Today I still didn't have that photo, but the weather is cooperating (sunny, cooler, calm), so out I went with the finished product so I can tell the whole story.

It all started back in April of last year (I swear it was September, but when I looked back at the blog (because getting a new computer and transferring all my photos means they're all re-dated to the date I did that, not when I uploaded or took them - thanks technology - you'd think this would be an easy one, right?) there it was) when I went to a quilt show with my hubby.

He spotted this tiger quilt (it was made up and on display with the pattern in a vendor booth) and decided he needed it.

(The dinosaur is still waiting.  For what I'm not sure.  But it's going to take a major event to make this one.)

I sat on it for a while, but he decided he wanted it to take on his annual trip way north to fish for a week.  We usually strip the beds of blankets and comforters and take our own, using only their sheets.  He decided the tiger needed to be the fishing quilt.

So in September I finally stopped procrastinating and got some fabric.

I spent a lot of time going back and forth with fabrics, trying to get three greens for the leaves that played well together but also were distinct enough from each other.  Green has a lot of options, but that can make it harder!

Soon after, I started working on the pattern.  It has 155 sections and each section has at least two pieces.  Some had over 20.  I shared photos as I went, progress each week, but in general it was slow and annoying.  (I do not like paper piecing in any of its iterations.)

Eventually I got all the sections together and could begin putting those together into a top.

...ears...

And then the excitement started to mount as I began to see an actual thing appearing!

It was still tedious and annoying and slow going, but at least putting sections together seemed to amount to more than just sewing the sections themselves.

Eventually I had a top.

This was pretty exciting.  The hubby was pretty excited.  He was even willing to hold it for me without grumbling!

The photo made the rounds to some of his friends, one who commented something about this would be worth a lot of money.  Yep, about a billion and four dollars.  I'm not making another one!

I wanted it a bit bigger, but didn't have enough of any fabric left over to do borders so I had to go shopping again.  I was hoping for more of the lighter green background, but that did not happen...  I debated not doing any borders (it's bigger than I expected), but with all the raw, somewhat uneven, often not straight-grain edges, I thought a border to contain it all would be a good idea.

(Of course there is no photo of the quilt with the border, right?)

Then it was off to find a back.  I wanted something jungle-ish, but the shop did not provide what I had hoped for.  This will have to do.

There is a dime there for scale - quite a large print.  And some of the leaves echo what is on the front.  Also, the print will hide any quilting wonkiness, right?

Time to suck it up and get this quilted.

You can see the borders maybe a little here, but this looks pretty cool, right?  This was right before the deep breaths and self-encouragement to get started!

I took no in-process photos.  I was focused and the machine was behaving tolerably, but I focus harder when it's not being quite right.

I got it all done in one LONG day and then attached the binding.  It sat a bit before I got to the hand side of binding (remember that month where I quilted like five quilts and then had to bind them all?  This was among them and had a later deadline, so it got put off.)

The binding has been finished and finally today I got outside to take some photos.

First a few close-ups of the quilting.

The background got this leafy motif:

And I had fun in the eyes!

You can somewhat see the face quilting here, too.  Nothing fancy, just up and down.  I wanted to do a more shaggy fur type motif, but the longarm was being sketchy and this was better tolerated.

Finally, the moment you've been waiting for - the whole, finished quilt! (In not the best lighting.)

Quilt stats:

Pattern: Tiger Abstractions

Designer: Violet Craft

Size: 66x79" or so (I can't remember how much border exactly I added)

Pieced and quilted by me!

This pattern is by the same designer as the horse I made for my niece and it went much better than that adventure.  (Not having a dozen different backgrounds made it easier just from a basic place.)  I keep saying I don't like paper piecing, but I keep getting myself into these big projects.  Let's hope I don't find another one.

The quilt has already been put to use.

Toby and the hubby both approve.  Though it hasn't been washed yet, so it's still a little stiff.  (I do prewash all my fabric, but you know quilts get snugglier as you use and wash them!)

This quilt was completed prior to this week and I can safely say that no quilting has occurred in the last few weeks.  Cat hammocks have been the focus.  I'm trying to get that shelf of donated fabrics down to a reasonable amount.  And I'm doing pretty well, though I have another full box of hammocks to turn in, so it's a good stopping point.

I'm going to take a hammock break because I've settled on a quilt pattern for my nephew's upcoming child.  It's going to be a doozy, but I know he will appreciate it.  The sooner I start, the longer I can procrastinate quilting it!

The background fabric has been purchased (a light teal, as white is probably a bad idea) as well as the back (construction vehicles - I promise a photo soon)!  I was super excited to find the fabric for the back, as it is perfect, and it will help me choose colors for the front.

I also may make some toys for the rescue group, but we'll see if they need them.

Oh yes, I found some cat-themed fabrics on an amazing clearance, so I made a few pillowcases for the group as well.

I paired them with some fabrics from my stash for the cuffs and they're ready to be turned in as well.

In non-quilty news, my FitBit thought I was swimming the other day at work:

I was actually taking individual shirts out of plastic packaging and hanging them on the handle of a shopping cart.  I guess the reaching in the cart counted as a breast stroke?

I also took a quiz to find out what kind of a sewing machine I would be.

This seems about right except I'm usually sewing for cats.  Kittens are children, right?!

And last, a few more cat photos.

Toby really got into the snoozervising.  Tounge out and all.

Gabby would like you to know that this is HER bed and she is nice enough to share it with me each night.  (Finn is there in the bottom right corner, too.  She shares with him, too, but sometimes he has to rowdy with her to earn it.)

And last is Toby showing you what a goodest boy he is.  Every time I strip the my hubby's bed, he sleeps there, crashed out dead to the world, as long as there are no sheets.  (He was mad the one day I also washed the mattress pad, but it must be done from time to time.)  He is obviously awake here, but he wasn't for long.

Finn and Freddie are also around, but less photogenic lately.  Finn helped a lot with cat hammocks - the recent fabrics have been large pieces, so it can take multiple days to complete all those cut from one fabric (largest in this batch was 13!), so he makes sure to put extra love into them when they're waiting.  (Meaning he sleeps on the pile of fabric.  Which means I have to be careful where I stop and how I set them down because his body heat and pressure will iron in some unwanted creases if I'm not!)

Freddie just runs around like an idiot.  Night before last he snagged a sock I took off and set next to the bed and threw it around the room, yelled at it, and generally acted like he was insane.  Apparently dirty socks are equivalent to the dastardly pink glove, his usual nemesis.

With that, I'm off to get some chores done.  And piece a back for the Positivity quilt and bonus quilt, which I also purchased but have not yet taken a photo of.  (If it wasn't such a hassle to get them into the computer, I'd probably just do it, but it's a pain.  Stupid computers communicate "easier" but everything takes 200 steps now.)

Happy quilting!

Katie