And I've been k-kicking the new k-knowledge An emcee to a degree that you can't get in college

This is yet another Webster University Gorlok quilt.  I really loved making this one as I discovered an extra-fun design from Sew Adorkable.  Back in the day when our calculators could just do simple operations, we used to write words using the number pad and then flipping the calculator upside down.  Basically any word using only the letters B E H I G L O S could be written.  The girls tended to type in 0.7734 (when the fours used to be written with  2 vertical and one horizontal line rather than the modern 1 vertical, one horizontal, and one diagonal)   and the boys would write 58008 and variations thereof.

In any case, the recipient's name is Bobbie and of course her name can be written on a calculator.  She had several Webster World Works shirts with numbers on them and other Webster items as well.  Not all the numbers on the keyboard have an actual number shirt but she did have a mousepad we used for the decimal point key and the bottoms from drink koozies that were used for the dots on the division sign. I was also supplied with a couple of Webster totebags that we incorporated as well. 

 

 

The mousepad was difficult to applique and didn't look great when it was done so I embellished the circumference with a gold lace.  All the quilting was just machine-stippling.

 

 

And then someone snuck into my quilt studio and decided to help....

 

I  rarely take photographs of myself but our Main Campus asked the various departments to depict ourselves doing something fun and/or silly.  As I explained in the statement that was submitted with the pictures, quilting is fun for me and I know the design was silly but I couldn't resist as I am sort of a geek at heart.

Now, all night long Charlie rides through the station crying, "What will become of me? How can I afford to see my sister in Boston or my parents in Cincinnati?"

This Tarragon twinsize quilt was created last year for a future Northwestern Wildcat.  I had made pillows for his siblings and aunts and a quilt and pillow for his dad so now it was his turn!

 Many of the shirts were from his early childhood, not just high school.  I loved the fact that several of the shirts had transferred photographs like the beautiful Basset Hound you see below.  One of the blue mini-designs is from a neckerchief he wore at camp.

Amongst other activities Charlie played baseball.  I have no idea if this was a high school spiritwear shirt or from a Babe Ruth or JCC team but I DO know he was number 26.

The entire family are huge fans of the various Cincinnati professional teams.  The Reds shirt is from Spring Training in Florida.  I quilted heavily around the alligator so that the head would really pop.

I hope that this quilt has kept him warm during those frigid Chicago winters!

Get in the game you gotta scheme All the same I've got the team

This quilt was a Father's Day present for a HUGE all-sports Cincinnati fan.  He follows the professional teams, the NCAA colleges, and even some of the high school sports.

 

 

 His wife asked for NO sashing between the blocks and wanted red borders despite the red t-shirt in the corner.

The tiger shows some microquilting on its nose.  Microquilting is done the same way as stippling but much closer, similar to the comparison of petit point and needlepoint.

 

If I played politics I'd be a House Page, those pages reps like are underage.

This quilt was made for a US House of Representatives Page Program alumna.  This is the ten year anniversary of her attendance there during the 109th Congress.  That semester's Pages were on the House Floor for the State of the Union Address, the address in a joint session given by President Victor Yushchenko of Ukraine, the Terri Schiavo hearings, and the MLB steroid abuse testimony.

 

 

The US House Page Program was a program in existence for over 200 years.  In the recipient's era, House Pages applied through their US Congressman to attend for one of their junior year semesters of high school; Only 60-70 students were selected each year from across the United States and its territories.

The students lived about a block south of the US Capitol which is probably one of the easiest commutes for a greater DC resident.  Academic classes were held in the attic of the Library of Congress.

This quilt was a bit of a challenge mathematically as we only had about 3/5 yard of the DC fabric and 1 yard of the coordinating cherry blossom print, and yet had to make a twin size quilt from these two pieces. Each stone in the grey landscape fabric was quilted individually.

I'm takin' the tours, I'm wreckin' the land I keep it hardcore because it's Coleman!

The dad of the Hanukkah pillow recipients liked their bolsters so much that his wife decided to commission one for him as well.

The love for all things Cincinnati runs in the family. From major leagues to the minors to the college and high school teams....

The wedges on the Indian Acres are from the Bar Mitzvah yarmulkes of the two sons. Not seen but also definitely included is the daughter's Bat Mitzvah covering.

 

The Basset Hound was embroidered on a towel, the Who Dey is the Bengals cheer.  That particular item is a hand-painted tie.  The striped piping is from long johns that were worn while skiing.

 

 

Put on your yarmulke, here comes Hanukkah, Its so much fun-akkah to celebrate Hanukkah,

These bolster pillows were given to siblings on their first night of Hannukah,  The brother followed his sister to the University of Michigan where they are both Wolverines.

As usual, we were able to incorporate not just t shirts and sweatshirts, but also a Bengals fleece scarf, a silk tie and.a satin yarmulke. Both kids were very busy as it was difficult to include all the shirts.

The yarmulke was from the daughter's Bat Mitzvah.  The seams of the curved panels were undone and moved to 2 groups of 3 panels each.  We were then able to incorporate the polo shirt of the overnight camp that both kids attended as campers and later as staff.  The image doesn't show it as the light was too strong but the other white triangle was from the lining of the yarmulke which had been stamped with the Bat Mitzvah girl's name and date of the ceremony.

The son's quilt also used a camp staff shirt as well as the tie from his Bar Mitzvah.  The tie was in an actual tie shape in one end of the bolster and as piping for the entire bolster.

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.

Jack, Luke, Ryan, that's our team. Step inside the party disrupt the whole scene.

These 3 bolster pillows were made for 3 recent grads of Worcester Prep.  The 3 recipients have been great friends all through the upper school grades.  All 3 are avid athletes on the field, whether it be lacrosse or soccer.

 

The school tie was used in each of the pillows.  From back to front, you can see it as piping, as vertical sashing, and finally as the focus on an actual shirt and tie block.  The right square on the back bolster was to designed to commemorate the uncle of the recipient.

 

In this block, you can see that I have now added yet another textile to my repetoire.  The left square on the front bolster incorporates a W&L Trident gym sock.  I love this recipient's mom.  She always comes up with amazing ideas and items.  The red sashing (vertical in the back bolster and horizontal in the middle and front ones) is actually from a Virgin Airlines blanket.  The senior class all traveled to Great Britain during a Spring Break and one of the boys brought home the airplane blanket as a souvenir.

 

The grey sashing is from the uniform pants worn by the male students.  Grey plaid and dark green plaid uniforms were also incorporated but they were from female student skirts .  The right block on the front bolster was to designed to commemorate the life of the recipient's uncle.

 

These fine young men will be attending Washington and Lee University, UNC-Wilmington, and Michigan State.

Well, I'm Lilly-Lill most of the time But I make a lot of noise when I bust a fresh rhyme

This bolster pillow was made for a newly-minted graduate of Worcester Prep in Maryland.  Like other Mallards, she is a very busy young lady, involved in many different activities.  She is an outstanding lacrosse player as well as an excellent equestrienne.

 

These bolster pillows are quite large.  The length of the pillow is the width of a twin bed and the diameter of the circle is nearly 9 inches across.

Here is a link to other Bay Leaf Bolsters.

It's time to turn the Paige to a brand new chapter Settin' my sights and you know what I'm after

This quilt was made for the sibling of a W&L KD.  The recipient is a University of Virginia Cavalier and a member of Zeta Tau Alpha.  I loved, loved, loved working with these shirts as so many had awesome slogans and great designs.

The recipient asked for polarfleece for the backing as it would make it extra-warm for her cold winters where she was relocating.  Polarfleece provided more loft which really profiled the quilting.

This recipient is not only a ΖΤΑ, but also a member of the UVa equestrian team and a graduate of the McIntire School of Business.

 

The pics for this quilt were taken by my crazy kid who thought these angles would bring a unique perspective. 

Haha, I think his photographer days are numbered.

Tight bodies, I'm rousting. Karate chops and roundhouses

This quilt was made for a Denison University alumna to celebrate her baccalaureate status.   Like so many other recipients of my quilts, she was very involved during college.  She is a member of Delta Delta Delta, a Resident Advisor, an intercollegiate soccer player for the Big Red, and in her free time, a marathon runner. She continues to give back to the community by serving in the Teach for America program,

 

As usual, I kept the collar and buttons of the polo shirt to add some dimension.  I love the black and red print that was used for the sashing and borders. The recipient's style is both urban and sophisticated  so this contemporary fabric fit the bill.

I couched the Tri-Delta graduation cord to the upper left corner and appliqued her karate belt to the lower right.  I tied the belt in the specific knot that is used by martial arts students.

She studies real hard, all night she'll cram In school she majors in advanced Delta Gam

This was probably the most fun albeit most challenging quilt I have made to date.  It is for a Salisbury University Delta Gamma who just happened to have graduated summa cum laude. It was just a couple of years ago that she received a Delta Gamma/Salisbury pillow for Christmas.

I included tons of different textiles to include 3 satin graduation stoles representing the recipient's study abroad experience Down Under, her membership in Delta Gamma, and her membership in the honor society Phi Kappa Phi ΦΚΦ.

 

We also couched two honor cords on the top border.  Obviously the blue and gold one was for Phi Kappa Phi. I'm not sure what the 2 shades of blue cord represents since Delta Gamma colors are pink and blue.

The recipient had six sets of stitched letters to incorporate into the design.  You can see she  combined her two loves of DG and the Baltimore Ravens in the bottom set.  The OC Parasail design was originally black and white but I hand-tinted it so it wouldn't be as bland.

SU trivia:  Originally the school was called Salisbury State University which of course people nicknamed Salisbury Steak University.  The name was changed to Salisbury University around the beginning of the millenium.

The back of the quilt was made from a college sweatshirt blanket and two Vera Bradley throws.  The quilt label was inked on a pair of SU shorts.  The front sashing/border print was made from two Vera Bradley sarongs.

Now push the pause button then start DUCKing. Shhhhh you heard me like I'm E.F. Hutton.

These three Bay Leaf Bolsters are a new design.  Each pillow used elements of 8 shirts, two uniform skirts, and 1 school tie. Rather than making 2 4-square pillow faces for a front and back pillow, we thought it would be fun to make bolsters for the new graduates' dorm room beds.

The three graduates all attended Worcester Prep.  Two are off to Furman and the third is matriculating at Lynchburg College. 

The first set of pictures show both sides of the bolster.  The student was a lacrosse player both for his school and for a travel team.  The Cropper Concrete shirt is from the family business.

The next pair are the sides of a fellow lacrosse player.  He also was heavily involved in Appalachian Service Project.  The last pair of images is from the bolster for the girl who graduated.  She also was a lacrosse player at the travel and school level.

The circles at either end were primarily made from the front pocket designs of the t shirts.  However in the second of the two pictures, the leftmost pillow used the girl's uniform blouse and the middle pillow incorporated a pair of shorts.

The  piping was made from the upper school girls' Black Watch skirt and the horizontal sashing in the body of the bolster was made from the middle school grey plaid uniform.  The vertical sashing was created from the school regimental tie.