Tuesday Archives - Original Patterns

It's Tuesday so it's time for the Tuesday Archives over at Val's Quilting Studio.  

The topic this week is "original patterns by you".  Before I could pick a quilt to highlight, I had to ask what is an "original pattern"?  Is that a quilt made without following a pattern published by some one else?  For it to count as a pattern does it have to be published some where?   Since Val didn't give more particulars, I'm going to highlight the first quilt I made on my own with out using any type of pattern.  It's another project that I can't find posted elsewhere on the blog.  

When Drama Teen was just a little thing, she developed a liking of stuffed tigers. She has quite the collection.  Her favorite was a white tiger she named Siberian.  

Drama Teen when she was just a kiddo of  7 or 8 with Siberian who was "stealing" breakfast

Siberian pretty much went everywhere with her.  Siberian even flew to Washington State with us on vacation one year.  She was quite happy to reside in the overhead compartment during the flight, much to the delight of several younger flyers seated near us.  

I was fortunate enough to attend the Houston quilt festival in 2005. During the festival, a fat quarter packet with several tiger prints caught my eye.   Those fat quarters just had to come home with me. DT (aka Kiddo) absolutely needed a tiger quilt for Christmas.    I really wanted to let the tigers take center stage so the idea of using simple squares came from that.  One early problem was that one of the fat quarters only had enough tigers in it to make two squares.  So I took pictures of some of her stuffed tigers, including Siberian, and printed those onto fabric.  From that Kiddo's Tigers Quilt came to be.

Tigers designed by Kate

DT loved that the quilt included her tigers on it, especially Siberian.  At the time it was the perfect size for her to cuddle under on the couch.  She has since outgrown it, so it sits in the closet waiting for the next little one.  

It's certainly not a perfect quilt.  I had to piece one of the tigers to have enough to make a full square.  But at age 6 Drama Teen wasn't the quilt critic she is now, the fabric photos were the coolest thing to her.   It was a fun quilt to make.  I really enjoyed figuring out how to use the fabrics to the best advantage.  Credit for the setting fabric choices has to be given to one of the ladies who worked at the local quilt shop.  She suggested the orange fabric for the sashing and the black fabric in the border.  I had my doubts as they just didn't seem like the fabrics to use for a 6 year old.  But they were exactly right.

That's my blast from the past for this week.  You can check out more archival posts over at Val's Quilting Studio.