Be Prepared

Be Prepared,
That's the Boy Scout's Fighting Song
Be Prepared
As through life you march along....

This quilt was made for a Scoutmaster who was passing on the torch after 4 years of leadership.  I incorporated 3 Scout Class A shirts, a Class B shirt, a pair of the old twill pants, and two pairs of twill shorts, as well as neckerchiefs, patches, etc.

The design is an elongated Moon over the Mountain design. I appliqued the patches on the Mountains (or  Scout tents :) ).  The borders are made from the shorts and pants. I kept the pockets/buttons on all the clothes to add visual interest to the quilt.

University of Notre Dame

Cheer, cheer for Old Notre Dame

Wake up the echoes cheering her name

This Fighting Irish Tarragon Twin incorporated 20 shirts that an avid alumnus had given to his niece's children throughout the years. Because the generous uncle had outfitted the kids at a very young age, several of the shirts were too small for a 15" by 15" block so I framed them with coordinating backs from other shirts. We were short two Notre Dame shirts for a 4 x 5 quilt so 2 generic Ireland shirts were added to the bottom.  I kept two of the hoodies intact with the pockets which made them very long blocks. That was not an issue as two shirts lent themselves to be shorter blocks.

One of the short blocks was a baseball henley shirt which had the buttons at the neckline. Like the other Tarragon depicted in this blog, I retained the buttons to add some visual interest. The client even supplied a child-sized sweater with the ND monogram.

I incorporated a great flannel that was navy blue, bright yellow and kelly green for the sashing. The binding was made from a blue Moda cotton with little yellow hearts. The client wanted a scrappy back so I used various shamrock prints as well as a football motif.


There are so many great trivia stories about Notre Dame, I would not know where to begin.  One thing that impressed me about this institution is that not only are all the dorms still single-sex, there are still parietal hours in place!

And yes, the trivia is...in 1926, my alma mater Carnegie Mellon, then-named Carnegie Tech, had a football team that beat Knute Rockne's Notre Dame Fighting Irish 19-0.  Apparently this game was ranked the fourth-greatest upset in college football history.

Sampler Quilt

This beauty was made by my fellow members of the Worker Bees and Playing Outside the Block Quilt Bees.  It was given to me when I was recovering from surgery.  Some blocks that are particularly symbolic are the appliqued turtle that signifies longevity, the Chinese character that means health (although to my mathematical mind it looks like a Pi), the Medical Issue ribbon.  I was so touched when I received this. It came with me during chemo treatments.  The nurses give you blankets straight from a warmer but a quilt made by friends is even better.

Monmouth Duo!

Here is a link to the Schlep Bag by Sentimental Stitches.  It was one of the first bags I ever attempted and I was very pleased with the results. A quilt guild member displayed her Schlep bag during show-and-tell and then by the next meeting at least 5 other members had obviously been inspired as they showed their versions.

I made 2 versions, one for my favorite Pi Phi and a Kappa version for me.  Yes, we have the Monmouth Duo in our family as my sister and I are both Kappa Kappa Gamma ( ΚΚΓ) alumnae and my oldest is a Pi Beta Phi (ΠΒΦ)active.

The Pi Beta Phi-themed bag had a deep red print with pearls strewn across it (very appropriate for a school where the coeds wear pearls to the gym!), specific Pi Phi fabric with letters and arrows, a Marcus Brothers 30's reproduction fabric with little winged hearts and arrows, and finally, a light blue South Seas Imports fabric with carnations.  The lining of the bag used fabrics with angel motifs.

The Kappa Kappa Gamma-themed bag used a tone-on-tone navy print, a Timeless Treasures print that depicted owls against a deep blue sky. specific Kappa fabric with letters and keys, and then a tone-on-tone print with little fleur-de-lis.  The lining fabrics were random blues. 

Kappa Kappa Gamma and Pi Beta Phi were both founded at Monmouth College in the 1800s, hence the name Monmouth Duo.

Wake Forest Watercress

This Watercress Wallhanging was made for a Demon Deacon alumna. The client (the recipient's spouse who also is an alum) provided 4 shirts but there were 9 motifs all together so we were able to create a 3 x 3 grid quilt.

Wake Forest's colors are Black and Old Gold. I used a gold paisley to size up the tiny motif blocks, a fabulous black/dark gold floral (Alexander Henry) for the sashing, and a classic gold and white toile (Windham Fabrics) for the backing. The client also wanted a hanging sleeve and a personalized label on the back.

Interesting Factoid:

Wake Forest has an unusual tradition of tp'ing themselves when they win a basketball game...the bigger the win, the more festooned the campus will be.   http://www.wfu.edu/athletics/traditions/

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.  

Summer Row By Row

A row-by-row quilt is a group project where each member makes rows for each other. We came up with a theme for the entire quilt and then for each individual row. Row 1 is done by the original owner which sets the tone for the rows she will be receiving.  The width of the row was set at 40" (40.5 unfinished) and there was no limit on height.  Although I have done row-by-rows with other themes, I'm sharing the Summer one as I would much rather think of warmer, sunnier days while looking at the snow outside.

Our overall theme was Summer.  Each row had a theme as follows: Owner's Choice, Recreation, Food, Water, Garden, Activity, Home.  We each provided a list of key words and memories for the others to draw from when planning the rows. We had a month to complete each row and we kept the results secret from each original owner until the end.

Beach baby, beach baby, Give me your hand,Give me somethin' that I can remember
Owner's Choice: I developed a scene at the beach that I based off a child's coloring page. Techniques used were hand-applique, raw-edge applique by machine, embroidery and macine-piecing. I have a lot of fabric that depicts natural elements so it wasn't too hard to find a tan that worked for the sand and I had lots of sky fabric.

Shadows on the wall, I can see them fall Here and there and ev'rywhere.
Silhouettes in blue, Dancing in the dew; Here am I, Where are you?
Recreation:  We are all quilters so the woman who did my row thought that a lady quilting would be appropriate. She used a shadow-applique and embroidery technique along with machine-piecing.

We sail on yachts and we ride on horses, Every meal we eat comes in multiple courses
Water:  The woman who designed this row knew that I sailed on the Charles River in high school.  That was a long time ago and I only did it during the academic year but seeing boats on the water is a wonderful sight in the summer as well as other times of the year.  Each of the sailboats has a college name on the sail.  The one with the plaid hull is obviously for the Home of the Tartans, This row was paper-pieced.

Last night I had the strangest dream I sailed away to China
In a little row boat to find ya And you said you had to get your laundry cleaned
Activity:  This quilter made an outdoor scene with Sunbonnet Sues hanging quilts on a clothesline. It was machine-appliqued and embellished by hand.