Tiger Stripes Finished

In the Just in Time inventory management system, products are made as demand requires. Usually my quilts finish shortly before the event... sometimes very shortly. My quilting style mimics modern business management! Who knew?

Tiger Stripes quilt for an LSU grad

I sewed the binding the evening before we left and buried threads on the way. And so it goes.

My son is quite accustomed to my odd sense of humor. He mentioned two college chants, "Hold that tiger" and "Geaux Tigers", that are now quilted into the rails.

Tiger Stripes, detail showing
"Hold that tiger" quilted in cursive.

After pin basting, I used my walking foot to quilt close to the seam lines on both the purple and gold sides with 50-wt Gutermann thread. Two more lines were quilted in each purple rail. I alternated rows of a phrase with simple lines on the gold rails. His name, university and date were quilted with a small free-motion zigzag at the end of one of the rows. My name is on another rail.

Tiger Stripes, detail showing
"Geaux Tigers" quilted in cursive.

I bound it by machine using a double-fold binding cut 2.25". The binding was sewed on the back with a 3/8" seam then pressed, folded over the front, and topstitched close to the fold. This method works well for quilts that will get lots of wear.

Here's the previous post about Tiger Stripes.

We saw a new exhibit at the airport: Life and Style in the Age of Art Deco. Fortunately we had time to study everything, including these colorful paper fans.

Fans from Europe and USA

Look at the heels on these shoes by Beauty Co.

Black and gold shoes from Shanghai by Beauty Co.

Geometrically patterned electric appliances by Royal Rochester were my favorite display. Pluggable pieces include a coffee percolator, samovar, and waffle iron. Wouldn't they look lovely at the breakfast table? And the food would stay hot. Beauty and usefulness perfectly combined.

Royal Rochester electric appliances
in porcelain and chrome.

Speaking of breakfast, we enjoyed one at Brennan's. I had a cup of seafood gumbo to start. It might not be breakfast for most of you, but oh, how I've missed it.

Brennan's bar, New Orleans

You can find quilt patterns everywhere. This is the tile in the women's room.

Tile at Brennan's

Then we walked around the French Quarter. Off the main thoroughfares, the streets were empty and clean. I guess we were up too early for most people.

Painted facades in New Orleans French Quarter

This was one of the small fountains in the area.

Lion fountain in New Orleans French Quarter

In the afternoon we drove to Baton Rouge for graduation... and quilt presentations.

Enjoy the day, Ann

Tiger Stripes

My youngest graduates from LSU in Baton Rouge soon. Hooray! Their colors are purple and gold and their mascot is the tiger. So you'll never guess: he wants a tiger striped quilt in purple and gold.
Here's the top. This idea came from Sujata Shah's Cultural Fusion Quilts. I've certainly enjoyed her book; she has a great sense of design and color. It's a wonderful way to "tiptoe" into improvisation.

Tiger Stripes quilt (68"x85")

This zigzag layout looks like tiger stripes to me.

Barb at Fun with Barb made this same design in a delightful combination of red, black, and cream. Take a look.

I've been consciously purchasing yellow fabrics when I find them so there was quite a bit in my stash. I also chose to push into dark gold (almost orange.) But there was a dearth of purple. More shopping required. Two of the new purples have fish on them (one of my son's hobbies.)

Purple and gold fabrics.
You can see one light purple with fish.

Here are two other layouts I considered. In the lefthand layout all the rail fences march up to the right. The light blocks are in a slightly different arrangement in the righthand layout.

Two possible layouts for Tiger Stripes

This has me thinking about tigers, a frequent topic in high school literature classes. Who could forget William Blake's poem (or at least the first stanza?)

Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

Or the limerick by Edward Lear, William Monkhouse or Anonymous (your choice.)

There was a young lady of Niger
Who smiled as she rode on a tiger;
They returned from the ride
With the lady inside,
And the smile on the face of the tiger.

Did you read The Lady or the Tiger by Frank Stockton? I did and I still think she pointed to the tiger's door. What's your opinion?

Shere Khan in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book was always scary. A man-eater. Last week I watched Earth, A New Wild - Episode 1: Home on PBS which advances the theory that we need to coexist with wild animals for the good of the planet. Part of the episode discussed Bangladeshi tigers that kill one person every day on average. Because people rightly fear these animals, they limit trips into the forests. So the tigers are protecting the mangroves that protect this nation of millions from typhoons.

The grizzly bear was the top of the food chain in western North America until people arrived with rifles. How would this continent differ if they were still around?

If you're not yet tired of tigers, check out these recordings of Tiger Rag (also known as Hold That Tiger) on YouTube.
When Art Tatum first performed this fabulous jazz standard people thought he had a second person helping on the piano.
The Mills Brothers sang in close harmony. I love the way this quartet created so many sounds a cappella.

Enjoy the day, Ann