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.

On brave old Army team, on to the fray. Fight onto victory, for that's the fearless Army way

This is a project from nearly 2 decades ago.  We were stationed at the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY.  The colonel was retiring so the officers' wives got together and made his spouse a memory quilt of different cross-stitch West Point scenes.This quilt was entirely hand-pieced and hand-quilted.

The majority of the designs were from a cross-stitch sampler sold by the Association of Graduates.  Trophy Point, the 3 chapels, a full-dress cadet, the Army mule, the parade hat (otherwise known as a tar bucket), Washington Hall and the cannon were all designed by the sampler artist. We also supplemented the quilt squares with the USMA crest and designs specific to the family.  The crest was from a book entitled Needlepoint Insignia of the Armed Forces, t and the DMI and Rho Chi graphs I believe were found on the internet.

The department that this colonel ran for 6 years was the Department of Military Instruction.  DMI faculty taught tactics, leadership, ran the summer training and much more. Their offices and classrooms were in Washington Hall.. If you haven't guessed, the West Point colors are black grey, and gold.  These colors represent the 3 components of gunpowder: charcoal, saltpeter, and sulfur. We used an attic windows block to keep each design separate and distinct.  The sashing for the attic windows came from the black shirts cadets wear to class and the grey pants.  The braided border incorporated the same fabrics plus the white full-dress pants worn for parades and balls.  I think the DMI lettering, the NY quilt block, and the Rho Chi designs came from internet searches.  The remaining images were designed by yours truly.

The colonel's family was a lovely group.  The oldest child babysat for my kids. She was quite an athlete (still is) so she was depicted in a soccer uniform. Her brothers were also athletes so they are shown wearing football and basketball uniforms.  The oldest boy ended up at USAFA and is now a fighter pilot flying F-16s. Ironically, the baby of the family is the tallest of all and played on the University of Virginia National Championship Mens Lacrosse team. Dad is in his dress blues and Mom is in a Valkyrie dress complete with a Viking helmet as DMI was well known for the annual Viking fest tailgate.  Black Lab Bud lived to a ripe old age but he is now gone.

Like many of the officers' wives on base, both Mrs. DMI and I were West Point tour guides.  We provided historical information and interesting trivia to many USMA visitors. I was going to dress her in the tour guide uniform but thought the Viking outfit was more fitting.

They lived in a beautiful set of Old English South quarters that overlooked the Hudson River.  This was a complicated image to design and complete but I managed.  Here is a much more realistic image from the USMA Housing Office.

I run the DC race in a potato sack I put a whole potato salad right down your back

This quilt is for the wife of a dentist.  She is a runner extraordinaire competing in races from 10Ks to full marathons.  This is especially admirable considering she has 3 kids and is a physical therapist.

All of the shirts are from races in or just outside the District.  Consequently many of the racing designs incorporate images of gorgeous cherry blossoms or the stately monuments.  I found a fabric that evoked a feel of cherry blossom pink along with her favorite shade of University of Tennessee orange.

My "guest photographer" took the pictures for this quilt, hence the unusual angle of the above photograph.

Instead of putting a label on the back, we used some fun dental-themed fabric in one of the blocks that was signed by the husband and kids. 

Lex Vegas Love

This quilt was made for a Washington and Lee General who married a Keydet from the Virginia Military Institute.  VMI and W&L are both located in Lexington and happen to share a wall between the two campuses.  VMI graduated 2 weeks before Washington and Lee so they were married during the in-between week.

For the fabric selection, I was very excited to find some leftover Christmas Angel fabric in my stash as well as a dark carnation print with maroon background and the allover big pinkish carnation motif. Because the girl is a W&L Pi Phi, the wine fabric with the strands of pearls is very apropos. Some of those female Generals wear pearls even when they are working out. The print with the tiny hearts worked for a wedding quilt without making it cloyingly sweet.

The design is an arrow design that I found at Quilters's Cache. Pi Beta Phi's colors are wine and silver blue so I used 16 different dark reds and 16 different greys and blues. For the fabric selection, I was very excited to find some leftover Christmas Angel fabric as well as a dark carnation print with maroon background and the allover big pinkish carnation motif. Because the girl is a W&L Pi Phi, the wine fabric with the strands of pearls is very apropos. Some of those female Generals wear pearls even when they are working out. The print with the tiny hearts worked for a wedding quilt without making it cloyingly sweet.

In the big silver blue open spaces I quilted the W&L trident

and the VMI Spider.  Every other area was heavily stippled.

How many Virginia college students does it take to change a light bulb?

VMI students: One Rat to actually change the bulb, one upperclassman toy yell at him for not doing it fast enough, one to yell at him for not using the proper wattage, and one to send him up to the Rat DisciplinaryCommittee for letting the bulb burn out in the first place.

Washington and Lee students: Four, one to change the bulb, and three to write up a complaint to the board of directors stating that they couldhave gone to a better school if they had wanted to.

I've got billions and billions of rhymes to flex 'Cause I've got more rhymes than Carl Richards got turtlenecks

This quilt was made for the retiring Regional Director of Webster University-National Capital Region.  Dr. Richards worked for Webster for nearly 20 years, expanding the one campus at then-Bolling AFB to four locations in the National Capital Region.  Webster-NCR is composed of 4 campuses to include the regional hub at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, Fort Belvoir, the Bureau of Naval Medicine and Surgery, and Joint Base Andrews.  

The 3 branches of service are memorialized by the nautical signal flags that spell out CARL RICHARDS, the airplane fabric used in two flag blocks, and the Army BDU fabric used as sashing.  The BDU fabric is part of a uniform from an employee’s spouse.  The digital ACUs are from a former coordinator  who also serves in the National Guard. Carl is an avid skier, so snowflake motifs are utilized as well. The R fabric was chosen as it is the first letter of his surname. These can be seen in the H block at the bottom of the complete quilt.

 

The yellow with the light blue scrolls is the same fabric as used in the window treatments at the Fort Belvoir office.  Dr. Richards is a known coffee aficionado and an oenophile, so 2 coffee designs and a wine print were incorporated as well.   

Webster’s main campus is in St. Louis, so Cardinals fabric was incorporated. Additionally, Baltimore Oriole fabric was used to represent Maryland, Dr. Richards’ home. The cherry blossoms represent the District of Columbia, and the gold coin motif was chosen as a symbol of the financial success of Webster-NCR under Dr. Richard's reign. The bright blue fabric with large lettering is repurposed from Webster tote bags as is the central square.The center of the quilt depicts the Webster Gorlock, mascot of the University. I hand-tinted the image before quilting it.

   

 

We will miss Carl greatly as he steps away from Webster World and embarks on his new ventures.  Best of luck to him.

Summer Row by Row part II

Because love grows where my Rosemary goes And nobody knows like me
Garden: The Bee Buddy who did this row pieced a profusion of brightly colored flowers embellished with fun buttons. 

But there's booze in the blender, And soon it will render
That frozen concoction that helps me hang on
Food:  This lady (who also is a delightful neighbor) appliqued a beautiful bowl of fruit in her row.  She also added margarita glasses with wedges of citrus and umbrellas to complete the scene.  Oh so thirst-wuenching! :)

Our house, was our castle and our keep. Our house, in the middle of our street
Home:  In all the row-by-rows that I have done, the final row is always called home and hearth.  Obviously not much hearth time is needed in the summer but the cottage is too cute for words.  The 4 heart flowers represent what our family was doing at the time.  We were active-duty Army, sewing away at kids' sporting events...

Straight out of Cape Cod, We're keeping it real
Finally the rows all put together.  I had done several row quilts and wanted to come up with a different layout.  The Pentagon shape is an obvious homage to what brought us to the District in the first place.  The background is a hot pink background with many,many appliqued alligators.  I was trying to go with a somewhat preppy theme as summer and the pink& green combo go hand in hand for me.  I embroidered white diagonal lines and then hand-quilted it with kelly green thread to allude to an argyle theme.  

Basil Backpack III

This Basil Backpack was made for the client’s son. Her little guy loves sneakers and sports so the coordinating fabric choice was easy. The Basil is made from bottom of the uniform leg.
BDUs had a drawstring built right into the hem of the pants so that the leg would remain bloused when tucked in the boot. A Basil is an upside down section of the leg so that the cuff of the pants is now the top of the backpack. The ACU pants that the client gave me does not have that drawstring . So sticking with the military theme, I used 550 cord instead.

The girl who is modeling the backpack is an average-sized 5 1/2 year old. Hopefully that gives a good idea of how this would fit on your little one.

Wasabi III,IV

The Wasabis were made for a mother and teenage daughter. Mom is active-duty and wanted her wallet to match her muted-tone Parsley. The wallet was able to include the pleat work that is located on the side of the uniform. Daughter is a teenager and likes vibrant purples and pinks.

Parsley III

This Parsley was not made for a military spouse but rather for a female servicemember. Because she wanted to use her Parsley Purse and matching Wasabi Wallet while in uniform, the coordinating fabrics had to be the color of the ACUs. After much auditioning of grey-green, taupes, and tan fabric against the ACUs, a selection of these muted colors was finalized.

Parsleys are made from the uniform shirt. Most Parsleys have exterior pockets since those were the breast pockets on the shirt. This Parsley was made from a maternity ACU which does not have pockets on the top. It does have patch pockets on the bottom of the shirt which I used in the interior of the bag. A mini-pocket was added to hold a cellphone or IPod.

Chive I and II

The Chive is a fully-lined zippered change purse that is made from the uniform cuff and sleeve end. It can easily hold coins, lip gloss, and calling cards. These two Chives match the Parsleys and Wasabis posted on Rosmarinus Designs in July. I had lost these Chive pictures in the depths of my computer but my friendly resident computer expert was able to unearth them. Thanks kiddo! :)

Wasabi I and II

The Wasabi is a wallet. It has 6 pockets for credit cards and IDs and it has 2 long pockets for cash and a checkbook. It is made from little pieces of BDUs and coordinating fabric. You will notice that these two Wasabis coordinate with the Parsleys from a couple of posts ago.

Parsley I and II

Parsleys are soft-sided quilted purses made from uniforms and other fabric.

The two wide sides (front and back) are from the left and right upper front of the uniform. One side is the NAMETAG half with pocket, the other is the U.S. SERVICE. These particular uniforms belonged to Navy and Army Servicemembers. The inside of each bag incorporates a double pocket made from coordinating fabric plus another uniform pocket complete with patch. The usual closure is made from the button-cuff from the sleeve. An alternative option is to substitute a zipper closure for the button-cuff closure. There is an extra charge to substitute the closure.

One Parsley was coordinated with pink and green fabrics. It would be great for a military AKA or DZ or simply any uber-prep like the client for which it was designed. This Parsley has the default button-cuff closure.

The other Parsley incorporated palm tree fabric and various purple based coordinates, one of the client's favorite colors. Palm trees are special for this client as she and her family were stationed in Hawaii (lucky!) and are from a state with a palm(etto) tree in the flag. Her Parsley has a zipper as a closure. This client customized her bag even further by having the patches from the sleeves added to the sides of the bag.