What she asked of me at the end of the day Caligula would have blushed "Oh, you've been in the house too long" she said And I naturally fled

So like many of us over the last 24 months I have spent a LOT of time at home.  I was so bored that I learned how to crochet.

I had seen the African Flower hexagon technique that was used to make an owl.  I used a J 5.25 mm hook and worsted weight yarn of various colors  Once I learned the stitches, it was amazingly easy.  I knew the hexagons were large but had no idea I would end up with a HUGE stuffed animal.

I then decided to make the same pattern using Kappa colors of dark and light blue since our mascot is an owl.  I did not want such a huge owl so used a much skinnier fiber and smaller hook.  This time I used a 1.5 mm hook and  #10 crochet thread.

What a size difference the hook and fiber make!  I found it much harder to crochet with this thread and tiny hook as opposed to the yarn and larger hook.

Here are the 2 owls together.  They don't match at all but I wanted to show their proportions.

I have decided that I am officially hooked!

Rules in the office they don't need to imply I hate having to wear my shirt and tie

This was a wonderful project to memorialize a family member.  I had 12 ties belonging to a father of 2 women, grandfather to a third.  One of the daughters had saved his ties and wanted small pillows made from them for her sister, her daughter and herself.

Most quilt blocks are square.  The daughter wanted small rectangular pillows so I skewed two of the designs from a 12 x block to a 9 x 15 dimension.  One of the recipient's is named Katie so I immediately thought Katie's Choice would be an ideal pillow for that woman.  The pillow is a modification of  this traditional memory block. 

The next two pillows are exactly the same.  The pattern is called Thousand Pyramids and many quilters showcase their entire stash in a scrap quilt made from this design.  I was easily able to use all 12 ties in each of the pillows

The last pillow is a modification of a Chinese Lantern block.  I have been in the client's house and had a strong sense of her style and color preferences so when I suggested this design, she was delighted right away. You can see from the very first picture that the pillow coordinates with her dining room rug 

quite nicely.

I have created several projects with men's ties over the years.  Although tie fabric tends to be silky, slippery, stretchy and thus needs a good bit of prep work, the sheen just creates such a beautiful finish.

Make you bounce, rock, roll and skate Don't underrate how I operate

This was one of the most challenging projects I have ever designed.  The recipient was a competitive skater in her day. She provided 4 costumes, all of which were sequined, sparkly and very slippery. Although the fabrics weren't stretchy, I fused interfacing to the backs and fray-checked every cut edge to make them behave.

I knew that the patriotic vest and white lacy bodysuit would work well together.  I overlaid the vest on top of the blouse.  A strip of the rainbow outfit was used as a cummerbund. I wanted to include all the fabrics on each side of the pillow, so I created a gold medal out of the neon yellow costume.

The other side was a bit of a challenge.  I created pillows for this person in the past using crazy quilt designs which would have worked nicely.  However I discovered a quilt block called Marcie's Maze and given that the recipient was named Marcy, albeit spelled slightly differently, I knew this would make a great side.

Not only did I reposition sequins for this side, I also appliqued the name tags that had been sewn into the costumes.  I created the piping from the striped fabric as well. I originally wanted the yellow and the white to be reversed but it looked too much like sunny-side up eggs.

Just back from Japan and ooh I'm laggin' Goin' rao rao with the dungeon dragon

This is different than my usual projects.  The recipient had a gorgeous sashiko (Japanese embroidery on indigo) jacket that she bought in Okinawa.  I wish I had thought to take a picture of the jacket as it was quite lovely.

The recipient is redecorating a guest room with a blue and white theme so she thought the sashiko jacket could be repurposed into pillows. We added a blue and blue batik for the contrast fabric which is quite appropriate given that she is a Kappa Kappa Gamma alumana.

The first pillow was from the front of the jacket.  I sewed the opening down so there wouldn't be a gap while leaving the frogs and coordinate in place.

This was a basic 4-patch using 8 inch squares. I really loved how the batik coordinates with the sashiko embroidery.

To provide some visual interest for the bed, I made a bolster pillow with the two main fabrics.  I also added some cream lace to coordinate with the ecru fabric from the first pillow.

This pillow is for a good friend of a Michigan Chi Omega. The recipient is a member of the Alpha Chapter of Delta Zeta at Miami of Ohio,   The ΔZ and  ΧΩ were camp counselors together up in Maine.

The recipient enjoys outdoor activities. Not only did she love camping, she was an avid soccer player and excellent equestrienne as evidenced by the blue ribbon..We used a pine tree print for the piping to represent the camp experience.

There are also pines that were from a hand-painted camp shirt.  Although a New Yorker at heart, she and her family love Boston Terriers so we made sure to include the flannel print as well.

'Cause I don't need a magic potion Let me talk about back field in motion

This quilt and these pillows were made for field hockey girls who recently graduated from high school. two of the players are going to matriculate at the University of Delaware, one at the University of Maryland, and one at Lafayette. 

 

 

The M and UD pillows used the uniform skirt from the middle school at Worcester Prep and all but the last pillow on the right used the upper school skirt for the piping.  All 3 WP pillows used Mallard W logo shirts on the reverse. 

The 4th pillow was for the girl who attended Cape Henlopen High School and is matriculating at the Lafayette. The shirt that has a flag shaped into the state of Delaware was designed by her for a major field hockey tournament. The printed colors are actually field hockey sticks set together horizontally.

The quilt is for a Worcester Prep grad who is becoming a Blue Hen this fall.  Like her friends, she is a talented field hockey player.  As usual, I retained the collar and buttons from the polo shirt to add a bit of interest.

I was suspended in animation just the other day Well I was in the night kitchen on the Milky Way

 

These 3 crazy quilt pillows were made from hostess and utilitarian aprons as well as kitchen and decorative towels. They were given to 3 female relatives of a woman who loved to entertain in the day.

 

 The 3 scarecrows were pockets on one particular apron.  The fruit arrangement on the middle pillow was a pocket as was the yellow ruffled piece.

The dusty pink sections and the blue swirled pieces were from beautiful hand-embroidered aprons.  Entertaining is so different in this era as compared to past decades.

With a harmony and a pair of vowels, heed the word of the owl- HOOT

This pillow was made for a Chi Omega who initiated at Washington and Lee.  W&L upperclassmen sponsor incoming freshman and she was paired with a student who had attended the same prep school.

 

The Worcester Prep Mallard logo was from a hoodie sweatshirt.  It was backed with interfacing as it would be for a quilt block to minimize stretch.

 

The W&L Trident side was made with uniform skirts from Worcester Prep.  The green plaid is worn by the upper school girls and the middle school girls wear the grey.

Blue ribbon gardens grow the fleur-de-lis!

This floral chintz pillow was made for a young woman who recently initiated into Kappa Kappa Gamma at Colgate University.  The recipient being a much bigger fan of pink and green as opposed to 2 shades of blue or the Colgate colors of maroon and white, we opted for a muted flower print with hot pink as the accent color and a green fabric with pink fleur-de-lis.

Unlike some of the other Greek pillows that I have made, we opted for the letters to be arranged diagonally instead of horizontally to include a monogram.

Colgate's logo isn't just a capital C, it always has the apostrophe gate written across the letter.

Here is a closeup of the fabulous pink and green fleur-de-lis fabric, perfect for any preppy Kappa.

I found a bit of interesting Colgate trivia.

No triskaidekaphobiacs at this upstate school, all good Raiders apparently are triskaidekaphiliacs instead.  Colgate was originally founded as The Baptist Education Society of the State of New York by 13 men who each offered $13 and 13 prayers.

The society's original constitution contained 13 articles. The address is 13 Oak Drive which happens to be located in the zip code 13346 (the first two digits are 13, and the last three digits add up to 13!).

So, that is why Friday the 13th is a day of celebration of Colgate. Every Colgate Day students, faculty, staff, alumni, and families around the world don their Colgate regalia and celebrate the university and its community.

Now we're your friend, and you're her brother, But your sister's so def we might scheme on your mother

Brotherhood (and motherhood) at its finest! This Paprika Pillow was made to support the Delta Tau Delta (ΔΤΔ) Parents' Auction for the Westminster College chapter, Delta Omicron.

The official colors of ΔΤΔ, otherwise known as Delt, are  purple, gold, and white . Their flower is a purple iris.  I was fairly certain that no self-respecting Delt would want a pillow with flowers on it so I went with a plaid that was purple with touches of gold.

 

The other side of the pillow has an extremely simplified image of the column from the Westminster College logo.  Columns are very significant to Westminster as they are the only remains of Westminster Hall, the original administration building, which burned in a fire in 1909. 

This means huge compared to very small You look a little chilly, can I get you a shawl?

I don't crochet or knit but I had to share this.  My mother's friend has been recently diagnosed with breast cancer after 10 years of remission.  My church has a prayer shawl ministry where the chicks with sticks parishioners make hand-crafted afghans and shawls while saying prayers for the sick. I received a shawl back in my chemo days and found it very comforting.  The shawl pictured below was given by my mother to her coworker. The fiber that was used was very soft and lightweight.

One thing I personally found to be very helpful after the surgeries was a mastectomy pillow.  This is just a small pillow that the patient puts between her arm and her torso.  It does make the patient feel much better.  Apparently cardiac patients also find this to be helpful in removing the achiness.

The patchwork is all cotton and the other is flannel so she can flip it to the smooth side if she is feeling hot and to the fuzzy side if she has chills.

T with an H with a ETA

An updated picture of the Theta pillow now beautifully monogrammed with the new member's initials:

I think she'll love it!

And Naugels, Isaac Newton, and Scientific E.Z. Ben Franklin with the kite, gettin' over with the key

This family has Monmouth Duo AND Kite&Key links in it.  The grandmother is a Kappa Kappa Gamma ΚΚΓ, the mom and 2 aunts are all members of Pi Beta Phi ΠΒΦ, and the granddaughter is a new member of Kappa Alpha Theta ΚΑΘ.  Apparently the grandmother's sisters are also Thetas so it's just one happy Panhellenic family!

The young woman is a soon-to-be initiate of Kappa Alpha Theta's Iota chapter at Cornell.  Her pillow was made from a tone-on-tone black striped home dec fabric.  Like always, the letters were skewed towards the top so that there is enough room for a monogram.They of course were centered left and right. The gold fabric has little dots of black and white. I used a variegated gold thread for all the applique work to add some visual interest.

Unlike the other pillows that I have designed that incorporate the school's logo, the customer wanted this pillow to be All Theta.  So on the reverse side, I appliqued a somewhat whimsical kite in flight.

The family has a great sense of humor.  Apparently when the youngest of the 2nd generation followed her 2 sisters into Pi Phi, their Kappa mom sent a bouquet of blue irises (the KKG flower).  This time they are giving the new initiate a pillow that has both owls and arrows on it before they give her the "real" pillow.

I love this fabric.  It is such a simple graphic in black and white and looks stunning IRL!

Bim! Bam! Hot damn! We're the girls of Delta Gam!

Fabulous Client, Part Deux*

The twin of the boy who received the UMD/Kappa Alpha pillow this Christmas is also attending a Maryland college. This young lady attends Salisbury University and is a proud sister of Delta Gamma.

The Salisbury University logo incorporates their mascot and the letters S and U in a very skinny font. The mascot is a seagull which is very logical as Salisbury is on the Eastern Shore very close to the Atlantic Ocean. Their colors are maroon and gold.

Delta Gamma (ΔΓ) is a woman's fraternity founded in 1873. They have a mascot called the Hannah Doll which looks somewhat like Raggedy Ann. Their badge is an anchor and their colors are bronze and pale pink and blue.
I was able to find some blue fabric that had anchor motifs in the right size for the letters so I was thrilled. The recipient apparently is a big fan of hot pink so I kicked it up a notch for the background. Surprisingly the maroon of the SU didn't clash too badly with the hot pink.

* Thank you very much for arranging to meet me at Talbot's Outlet. For any MidAtlantic ladies reading this, the Talbot's Outlet in Fairfax County, VA is well worth the drive: Fabulous deals for the high-quality merchandise for which Talbot's is known.

Sweating like sardines in a flophouse fraternity

Gotta love a repeat client! :) Back in 2009, the wonderful customer ordered 4 custom-made pillows for her 3 sons and the girlfriend of the oldest boy. This year she wanted them for her college-aged niece and nephew who happen to be twins. They were made for Christmas 2010. I'm just slow on the uptick regarding this blogging stuff.

So first things first, the boy is a member of the Kappa Alpha Order at the University of Maryland. I looked around but couldn't find Terrapin fabric (but did spot plenty of UVA and Hokie motifs) on my side of the Potomac. So the client chose the pattern fabric to be a plaid that incorporated the black, red, white , and yellow of the University of Maryland logo.
 


Kappa Alpha Order's colors are crimson and old gold. For once the college colors and the fraternity colors were the same!

The same plaid was used for piping, the outline of the Maryland M and the main fabric of the greek letters. I did both regular and reverse-applique for the M and regular applique for the KA.



This pillow cover was made with a zipper and pillow insert so it could be cleaned easily. My client has a wonderful monogrammer in her town who took care of the machine embroidery.

Factoid of the day: There is a statue of Jim Henson (Class of 1960) chatting with Kermit the Frog on the College Park campus. As a former Sesame Street fan back in the day, I think that's great!

You got your sundress on for game day

The final Paprika of my 4 part series is pictured below. This Paprika was made for a female student at W&L. She is a sister of the Zeta Tau chapter of Kappa Delta (ΚΔ). We used the pink version of the Trident pajama pants to create sleep shorts. The remaining yardage was saved for the piping, the Trident and Greek Letters. The background fabric is a decorator-weight Waverly print.

ΚΔ’s colors are olive green and pearl white. The client wanted pink as the 3rd color as the intended recipient has her entire room decorated in pink and green. That is one of my favorite color combinations as well. Not only would the pink and green be great for a ΚΔ but it would be great for a ΔZ, AKA, or anyone who my kids say “rocks the croc”.

As requested by the client for the 3 other Paprikas, a zipper was installed in the bottom seam and the designs on the back of the pillow are skewed towards the top so the monogram can be added.

I'm A Funky Skull And I'm A Scorpio And When I Get My Flow I'm Doctor On The Go

This Paprika is the third of the four-pillow order that a client requested for her 3 boys and one lucky girlfriend of the oldest son.  The recipient of this pillow is a student at Washington and Lee University.  This symbol depicted on the pillow is the W&L Trident.  I altered the Vineyard Vines pajama pants sold at the bookstore into boxer shorts.  That way I had enough material for the Trident, the piping, and the fraternity letters. The blue and white fabrics in the pillow are twills.

The Trident was designed by W&L student Thomas Greene (Tubby) Stone back in 1904. It is a monogram of the 2 letters superimposed on each other.

The Greek Side of the pillow has this General's fraternity letters of Phi Kappa Sigma (ΘΚΣ). Phi Kaps are also known as the Skulls hence the title of this post. Like all the Paprikas for this client, the letters are closer to the top of the pillow to allow room for monogramming.

Like all the pillows in this series, a zipper was placed in the bottom edge seam so the casing could be removed for easy cleaning.

Paprika II

This Paprika is the second in a set of four for a client. The intended recipient is a student at Denison University. He is a member of the Ohio Iota chapter of Phi Delta Theta (ΦΔΘ). Denison’s logo is a bicolor capital D. The client wanted solids for the majority of fabrics and a touch of coordinating plaid for the outline of the Denison D, the Greek letters, and the piping.

The flip side of the pillow has his fraternity written in 4″ block letters centered left and right but positioned towards the top so the client can have the pillow monogrammed. These are the same size letters that the Greeks wear on their shirts. I used the same plaid for the letters.

Both the Denison D and the ΦΔΘ are appliqued with a satin stitch to provide a finished appearance. This pillow has a hidden zipper in the seam so the exterior can be removed for easy washing.

Paprika I

The Paprika is a pillow that has been appliqued, quilted, or in this case: both!  This Paprika was made from a middle-school student's t-shirt.  One side of the Paprika is a large rendition of the school mascot from the back of the shirt.

The other side of the Paprika incorporated the miniaturized mascot from the front of the shirt as well as award patches from 2 different sports that the boy plays for his school.  The client wanted the little designs to skew towards the top of the pillow so she could have it monogrammed. So there is a nice big space at the bottom for his name or initials.

This Paprika incorporated piping and a hidden zipper in the bottom seam so that the insert can be removed so that the actual pillow cover can be easily washed.  Both sides of the Paprika were free-motion quilted using a meandering stipple design. Like a t-shirt quilt, this is a necessary step for a t-shirt pillow so that t-shirts remain stabilized.