To all the party people who are happy and free, Tsouras and Foley rewriting history

This was a very special commission to create.  An elderly gentleman wanted a quilt made from his AND his wife's Army uniforms and patches.  His wife had started to cut pieces from their uniforms but unfortunately had died before this was completed. All the fabrics had been cut into squares or rectangles, but he wanted circles in the design.

The recipient had met his future wife when they were both serving as 2LTs,  Foley was the wife's maiden name and then they both were Tsouras after marriage. During this era, she was in the Women's Army Corps otherwise known as WACs.

There were so many patches that needed to be incorporated.  Rank patches are easy to position directionally.  Some of the unit and branch patches had to be identified as they were embroidered in subdued black for fatigues and were not easily discernable.  I headed off to the museum at the nearest Army base and talked to a curator who provided information about the unknown patches.  I did not want to place one sideways or upside down.

I only fastened the shoulder boards at their bases and then buttoned them to the quilt.  The recipient had not provided buttons but I was able to find replacements at the PX.  He had 12 shoulder boards but only 8 of the button flaps.  Being short 4 flaps, I sourced 2 Class A shirts from my son's old BSA troop's uniform stash. The BSA shirts were a slightly paler, more oatmeal shade than the Army's khaki shirts but it wasn't noticeable.

The recipient had mentioned liking circular designs but had given me rectangular small cuts of fabric.  I designed a double Dresden Plate out of a flight scarf for the inner circle, fatigue pants for the first plate and shirts for the outer plate.  I also arranged the branch patches in 4 grids that looked somewhat circular.

I wanted a simple but interesting border.  Originally, I was going to use the same licensed US Army fabric that I was using as the backing, but it was too busy as the border.  I was lucky to find a burlap home decorating trim that was not only in Army green but also printed in a Greek Key design.  The recipient had mentioned that he was first-generation Greek-American when we met so I knew this would be appropriate.

We've got our own hospital, the U of the G. It's no question, life's been good to me.

This Hyssop/Handwork project was different than my usual commission as it took me back to my first love of hand-embroidery.  Back in the days of the dinosaurs, my kindergarten teacher taught all of us (girls AND boys (traditional roles were just beginning to be blurred) how to do basic embroidery stitches, I am guessing to improve our fine  motor skills. We used burlap and acrylic knitting wool.  Somewhere in my parents' attic, there may be even be an ancient remnant of my first stitching endeavor.

In any case, I moved onto needlepoint and crewelwork at age 9 and actually won an EGA award at the local level when I was in elementary school. In junior high, I put down the needle and focused on academics until I was out of college.  Once I was an Army officer's wife with a little one in tow, I started to stitch again.  Cross-stitch and quilting were very popular pasttimes at Ft Knox but needlepoint? not so much.  So my neighbor Melissa taught me how to cross-stitch and my other neighbor Laurel taught me traditional hand -piecing and quilting.  I was a handquilter as opposed to using my machine for quilting as my machine couldn't handle it.  Once I bought the Bernina, that changed. I still love handwork but just don't have as much time so I do a lot more by machine.

So when this commission arose, I jumped at it.  Apparently there is a formal group of retired doctors who had privileges at Georgetown University Hospital.  Now that they are retired and their wives want them out of the house (kidding!), they regularly meet for lunch.  They call themselves the Georgetown Romeos which stands for Retired Old Men Eating Out.

Oscar Mann (the intended recipient) has been spearheading the group for years but is now stepping down.  In appreciation for his work as coordinator, the Romeos all signed a tablecloth that is apparently an actual linen from the restaurant where they have met for decades.   They started signing the tablecloth before I saw the project, otherwise I would have suggested methods to improve the symmetry.

I think this is such a nice gift for someone who has everything! I have only met one of the members but if they are even half as delightful as he is, then this is definitely a fun-loving group.  The contact was a Notre Dame alumnus who graduated in the same class with Regis Philbin

I said "Doc, what's the condition? I'm a man that's on a mission."

This quilt was made for my NNMC oncologist who (despite looking like a teenager) recently had her 4th baby!  She and her cardiologist husband are both Georgetown Medical School graduates and I just happened to have an ancient Georgetown toddler tshirt in my stash.  I don't know why it was in my stash but it was there. I think it was bought for my oldest when she was being seen at Walter Reed at age 2. The fact that I still had many moves later it is another story...

Since this was designed to be a juvenile print for a baby boy, I added bright bug fabric as well as planetary object fabric.  These prints also came from my stash. :)

 I machine-quilted this quilt with a bright, variegated thread as seen in the close-up picture below.

 Hoya Saxa!