Um, how much sound from the brass to the air Will it take, to put your cheers in the air? (Pardon me there)

The recipient was not only a trumpeter for the marching bands both at Thomas Jeffersosn High School of Science and Technology and at the University of Virginia, he majored in music. TJHSST, referred interchangeably as either TJ or Jefferson, is a public magnet school that is currently ranked 14th in the nation.  In his spare time during his US Presidential terms, Thomas Jefferson founded the University of Virginia.

When the recipient graduated from UVA back in 2016, he had cut up his shirts in different sized squares and  hemmed them with gigantic stitches. He then glued them on a fleece blanket that had the Cavalier Marching Band logo machine-embroidered in the lower-right corner.  

He was never pleased with the results so his mom contacted me to see if we could "fix it" for his birthday. She wanted to incorporate the blanket in its entirety.  Neither mom or son had any idea what kind of glue had been used back then.  I was really nervous that him being a TJ grad AND a guy that he had used Gorilla Glue or something even stronger. I did a test and discovered that it was a water-soluble adhesive.  I soaked the blanket in a bathtub and found all the squares had become free and were floating independently.  I then washed all the squares and the now plain blanket to get rid of any remaining stickiness.

He wanted a masculine sashing so he opted for a blue and white plaid with rust accents.  Upon initial layout of the squares against the plaid, I could tell the design really needed a solid to both separate the busy plaid from some of the busier designs and to unify the square sizes.  This Kona grey set off squares nicely.

The original blanket had curved corners so I machine-appliqued the entire blanket on top of the flannel.  Usually you would add sashing by sewing the strips to the outer edge of the fleece.  This is a great quilt for the winter as it has 4 layers, top, batting, fleece, and flannel.

 Happy Birthday!

Nick Norton, Sigma Nu, and Mr U-V

This quilt's recipient is an undergrad alumnus of the University of Virginia  and earned his Master's of Architecture at California Polytechnic State University—San Luis Obispo.  The older sibling's graduation from Duke had been commemorated here.   

 

The recipient and his brother are members of Sigma Nu, albeit at different universities. 

When choosing the backing, I used UVa fabric and a fabric depicting commercial buildings.  Although this was a home decorating weight material, I really thought it was appropriate for an architect's quilt.

 

A nickname Wahoo , well, my faith is not Majus. Girlies on the tippy because my homie is Tejas

 This quilt was made for a 2023 graduate whose dad had originally commissioned a quilt commemorating the mom's athletic accomplishments nearly a decade prior to now.

The recipient is a graduate of Oakton High School and is now a first-year at the University of Virginia aspiring to get admitted to the McIntire School of Commerce.   Unlike other universities that admit students into a specific college as incoming freshmen, Cavaliers have to apply during their sophomore year to be accepted to the program.

He is an avid fan of all the professional Washington sports teams denoted by the fact that the parents insisted on all 4 polar fleeces being used for the back.  This made it a cozy quilt which was perfect for the miserable winter the Commonwealth has been having this year.

    As depicted by all his team shirts, he was on various sports teams as well as being a fan.

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.

On location, touring around the nation Fitz Family always on vacation

These two quilts are memorial quilts dedicated to a special husband and dad.   The father's favorite souvenir was a shirt from wherever they traveled.  As the father was an USAF officer, I incorporated many patches from various military units and uniforms on both of the quilts.

The first quilt was made for the daughter.  Both dad and daughter are UVa Cavaliers which is commemorated in the patch in the left column. This patch was actually the front section of a baseball hat.  Both dad and daughter were big Redskin fans.

 The second quilt was made for the son.  Since he still has the same surname, his quilt has the family coat of arms in the top row as well as 2 blocks celebrating the family's Hibernian heritage. I also added the various patches from a Falls Church High School hat.

The son's quilt had a fabulous backing made from a cotton with large scale motorcycles in various colors.  It would have been great to have them driving around the front of the quilt but they were too large so to the back they went.  Unfortunately the photograph was very blurry so it couldn't be included.   An all-purpose patriotic star design was used for the sashing/borders and binding.

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

This quillow was made for the granddaughter of a sweet woman. The young lady spent her entire academic career at  Collegiate from K-12 until graduating this past spring.  Like her grandmother, she had a finger in many pots ranging from sports to camps to community service.  I was specifically requested to keep the pocket in the hoodie block.  Unfortunately, the silk screener didn't line up the word with the pocket.

She was always an excellent athlete.  I think I first met her at the ripe old age of.  She and her sister were already waterskiing experts! She is also a big sailor.  She and her dad competed in the race that is shown in the picture below.  This square is actually on the back of the quillow as it makes a pocket. This block also became the label for the gift.

  When the pocket is turned inside out and the quilt is stuffed inside, you can then see the other side:

 We were amazingly quick in the search for the sashing/backing/binding fabric.  Usually it takes a couple of tries of placing multiple bolts against tshirts to see the best results but this time, this was our first pick.  Collegiate's colos are green and gold and this print had multiple greens and shots of yellow.

The recipient has now started her college career at UVa where I know she will excel as she did for the first 18 years.



So if you're feeling strong, then reach for yours, My book is my shield and my mic is my sword, sword, sword...

This quilt was made for a lovely young woman who works in the same office as the other law quilt recipient from last month.

The recipient is a Cavalier from the University of Virginia. Like other southern schools, Pearl Girls are a major fixture on campus so I used a pearl motif fabric for the background of the UVa logo as well as the ΑΧΩ greek letter block. UVa colors are orange and blue which I was able to address with the blue and orange butterfly border fabric.

While at UVa, she pledged Alpha Chi Omega.  AChiO's colors are green and red so it was a bit challenging to find fabrics in those colors that didn't scream Christmas. Alpha Chi Omega doesn't have a mascot at the national level but several individual chapters use the butterfly. The lyre in the upper left corner of the quilt is their symbol, similar to the Kappa Key.

Most people know that Thomas Jefferson designed the campus from nearby Monticello.  And if you step on the Grounds unaware of that factoid, you certainly will know it by the time you leave.

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

One - he just holds the bulb and lets the world revolve around him.