Tiger in My Tank

I bought the tiger panel by Collin Bogle the day it was released. My high school mascot was a tiger, and once a tiger, always a tiger, no matter what university you attend, no matter which professional sports teams you follow. There was the teenage emotional attachment to the animal, yes, but man, those eyes!!! (I'd buy the snow leopard in a heartbeat, too, if the artist would license it for fabric...)

I bought this panel for me. I don't often do that. But this was a tiger. With those eyes!!!

Of my huge family, only one brother remains in the one-high-school town we all know as home. His daughters both were proud members of the Tiger Band, and one of his daughters is raising her kids, Tiger Band and Tiger Football team members, there. The other daughter, and her Tiger Band husband, are far from home and raising a new little family of their own, including my grand nephew Colin, who made his debut last month.


I knew my entire family would adore Colin's quilt if I made it from the tiger panel. Besides, it's almost as if this panel was made for Colin. Collin Bogle/Colin Thomas... Making a quilt from a panel would be quick and easy, and the quilt would be treasured for life.

I looked online to see if I could obtain another tiger panel. Because I still wanted one for me! One of my favorite shops had two panels left. I started Colin's quilt - on January 1!!! - determined to buy another panel for me the following pay day.

Colin's "easy" quilt finally was finished Monday night, February 17. With all the medical stuff swirling in our home right now, there just wasn't time to sew or quilt. Even an easy quilt. I also was discouraged I couldn't begin the new Moda Blockheads year on time because everything was just too busy. The biggest disappointment, however, was the glaring red "out of stock" screaming from near the top of the page when I next went online fabric shopping.


I was so tempted to make a different quilt for Colin!!!

The very next time I found myself waiting on one of Lizard's medical appointments, I took the opportunity to perform an exhaustive online search via my phone for the panel. I set a price limit in my head because I knew it would be expensive... popular quilt panels in limited distribution have this way of expanding in monetary value faster than gold or diamonds or oil. This purchase would be for me, so it would be okay to pay a little more for it. I kept trying to convince myself...

There are a number of different tiger panels available. But after seeing the eyes on this one, I just couldn't fall in love with any of the rest. I finally found THE PANEL at a small shop with which I wasn't familiar. The panel was indeed a few dollars more, but paying a little extra was better than not having my very own Tiger quilt, right? Because... you know... those eyes!


It was a three-day weekend, and I didn't immediately hear back from this new-to-me shop. I began wondering if perhaps they, too, had sold out. When I received a standard weekly email from the shop I'd intended to buy the panel announcing they had restocked, I jumped on it and bought another one. There are other Tiger Band members in my family, and the panel would not go to waste. A couple of days later, I received a tiger panel in the mail, and about 48 hours later I received yet another tiger panel.

So I actually had three tigers in my tank until Tuesday morning, when Colin's quilt finally went into the mail, five weeks after he was born.






I also got a new grand niece two weeks ago, and then another yesterday. I knew better than trying to start two new quilts or even finish two existing WIPs. I had two finished WIPs leftover from previous years that seemed to be just perfect for my nieces' nearly twin births. Both quilts have butterfly themes. These two babies are sure to be as close as twins as they grow, and one of their mamas actually is a twin!

Baby Cordelia gets "Butterfly Collage", which was finished a year before the day of her birth, almost to the day.






Baby Ryleigh gets "Butterfly Sampler," which is one of my favorite layer cake quilts. I cut the ten-inch blocks myself, and the sashing fabric ignited my love for butterfly fabrics. "Butterfly Sampler" was finished nearly two years ago on the day of my granddaughter Kathy's fourth birthday, just a week before Ryleigh's mama's and mama's twin sister's birthdays, and not quite two weeks before my adopted daughter's birthday. My adopted daughter, who is the mother of Kathy and just a few days younger than my twin nieces, is expecting again in August, and I don't think I need to finish another baby quilt until then! Wowie! A break from deadlines!!! And birthday trivia! YIPPEE!!!






All three quilts should be arriving at their new homes today or tomorrow, and by golly, I get to make something for ME this weekend!!!


Linking up with Alycia Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

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