Well, I am Ms. Peri, I'm very On, rock the microphone, and then I'm gone

This was a blast from the past recipient!  Many years ago, I created quilts for two brothers,  My son and the recipient's sons had been in the same Boy Scout troop but of course all the boys are now well into adulthood pursuing careers and raising families.  

The recipient had an aunt who handpieced and hand appliqued this cheerful springy quilt top many years ago.     The quilt top had never been put together as a quilt. It was in fairly good shape despite the passing decades.  Unfortunately it was cost-prohibitive to quilt this beauty by hand so the recipient opted for machine quilting.

We appliqued a simple label to the back reading as follows

: 

Hand-pieced and hand-appliqued by Pauline "Aunt Polly " Miller in 1960.

Hear the beat of dancing feet, It's the song I love, the melody of Forty-Second Street.

Many of the recipients of my quilts have seen my work elsewhere and then want something created to reflect his or her life.  This quilt was no exception..The person who received this quilt was a classmate of a fellow LB Bruin.

We decided to veer away from the typical sashing grid design by making the quilt look like a Broadway Playbill. while sticking to a twin/tarragon size.  Both fonts were sized up to scale. The letters for the larger word were appliqued onto the yellow background.  The smaller word was drawn with permanent fabric markers.

Most playbills usually have white borders but since this quilt was headed off to college, we went with grey as it would be easier to keep clean.

This shirt was designed as a plain white shirt with the black lettering.  The kids involved in this show had wanted to tie-dye the shirts but never got around to it.   I drew a rainbow on both the big design and mini design using permanent fabric markers.

We're giving you soul power I like it sweet and sour When it comes to lights and set designs I'm at the control tower

This t shirt quilt is one of the few that doesn't involve athletics.  Most of the recipients are either lovers of sport teams or athletes themselves.

 

This recipient is a Theatre Design & Production and Stage Management major at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.  I don't know if they have a specific name for the drama-related majors but if he was at my alma mater Carnegie Mellon, he would be known as a dramat (emphasis on second syllable).  He was the set designer and overall technician for many shows at his high school and received quite a few Cappie Awards for his work.

The shows with which he was involved ranged from Orwellian serious drama and Japanese plays

to Broadway musicals and children's favorites.

This young man is a formidable talent and it wouldn't surprise me to see him awarded a Tony in the next decade or so.

Praying mantis on the court and I can't be beat But, yo, Tip, what's up with the boots on your feet?

This quilt was made for a recent graduate of Lake Braddock Secondary School.  She was very involved in many different activities and her mom had a hard time winnowing the shirts.  I think she made great choices of what to include!

The recipient was an avid cheerleader, lacrosse player, camp counselor, and more.  She is matriculating to Longwood University so we included a shirt from her new school.

Several of the squares are made from her own designs. A vibrant pink and green floral was chosen for the sashing and binding.  The backing was made from a soft purple flannel to keep her warm in college.

And next in my long-running series of Virginia college jokes:

How many Longwood students does it take to change a light bulb? None, GE hasn't located this place yet.

Hurricane, you got clout Other DJs, he'll put your head out

In between our epic week of two not-so-disastrous natural disasters, I completed a quilt for a young man who is bound for George Mason University.  This Tarragon consists of 20 tshirts in a 4 x 5 grid. A blue batik was chosen for the sashing and borders.

Like his older brother, this newly-graduated senior was very involved in high school. He was in DECA and is an excellent athlete.  He is also an avid sports fan. One of his uniforms that was provided was a mesh vest worn over a black tshirt. Both layers were imprinted with the team name on the right breast and if you look closely you can see the team name through the little airholes.

We went a bit different for the backing this time.  3 Robert Kaufman coordinates were pieced together to make a very unique design.

I love these prints, especially the referee print with the little grey dots that look like the breathing holes in real ref shirts.

Go Patriots!

So kick off your shoes and put on your swim fins Cause when it comes to quarries I'm known to swim

This totebag was made for a coach of the Cottontail Cobias, one of the many teams in the Northern Virginia Swim League. Like I do with all my bags, I appliqued pockets on the inside for a cell phone and other accoutrements.

I used a Cobia t-shirt and a fish-themed batik print for the exterior. Yellow and blue fabrics were coordinated for the interior.  The Cobia shirt was reverse-appliqued into the batik.  The entire bag was machine-quilted.

Factoid of the day:  The Cobia is also known as Rachycentron canadum. 

Tarragon II

Tarragons are twin-sized quilts ranging from 20-24 shirts that would result in a grid of 4×5 or 4×6 shirts.

This Tarragon was commissioned for a recent high school graduate who is off to college this fall. This young man is a talented athlete playing baseball, lacrosse, and football. He also was in marching band, DECA and….I'm saving the best for last…he is an Eagle Scout! Some of his baseball shirts had either patches from the Little League/Babe Ruth organizations or the two-button neckline. I was able to include the buttons and the patches on several blocks. The recipient is very into military history hence BDU fabric was used for the sashing and binding. He also is fascinated by frogs so a vibrant amphibian fabric was chosen for the backing fabric.