And no, I didn't retire, I'll snatch you up with the needle-nose pliers

The recipient of this quilt actually DID retire so the university commissioned a commemorative quilt for her retirement.  The picture isn't wonderful as we photographed it in a crowded office and the person holding the quilt didn't have much space to stretch out her arms but it will have to do.

The white squares were cut from canvas tote bags. The original bag print was just navy blue so I colored all 8 Gorlocks to provide a bit more visual interest.  Half of the squares are on point and half are not. Webster colors are blue and gold so that was the obvious color choice for the coordinates.  I used an 8-pointed star design for the gold and then a dark blue with little bits of gold for the border.  As I do with all machine-quilted projects, I quilted in the ditch to stabilize the layers and then stippled everything.

Webster University was founded as a  Catholic women's college by the Sisters of Loretto.  Nearly half a century later, they went co-ed and secular.

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. 

I said "Doc, what's the condition? I'm a man that's on a mission."

This quilt was made for my NNMC oncologist who (despite looking like a teenager) recently had her 4th baby!  She and her cardiologist husband are both Georgetown Medical School graduates and I just happened to have an ancient Georgetown toddler tshirt in my stash.  I don't know why it was in my stash but it was there. I think it was bought for my oldest when she was being seen at Walter Reed at age 2. The fact that I still had many moves later it is another story...

Since this was designed to be a juvenile print for a baby boy, I added bright bug fabric as well as planetary object fabric.  These prints also came from my stash. :)

 I machine-quilted this quilt with a bright, variegated thread as seen in the close-up picture below.

 Hoya Saxa!

Kitty Kat Katelyn

My cousin's wife recently had a baby girl on Cinqo de Mayo.  I rarely start baby quilts before the birth as I like making gender-specific baby quilts.  Unfortunately on May 6, I broke my hand which made sewing very difficult. So the baby quilt was late but since the baby was early, she got it around her official due date.

The family has a couple of cats as pets, so I made sure to use a girly feline fabric as the focus.

Poppy Pocketbook for a Marine Mom

From the halls of Montezuma,
To the shores of Tripoli...

This is a new design called the Poppy.  It is a rounded purse with a shorter strap.  This Poppy was commissioned by a very proud mom of a new Marine.  She liked bright peacock colors for the coordinating fabric.  The side with the US Marine tape actually has the marine emblem embroidered on the pocket.   The pockets were sewn on the diagonal on the uniform but straight on the Poppy so the symbol is now tilted.

The other side of course was appliqued with the surname nametape.

 

The Poppy shape was a challenge and it definitely made me think outside of the box.  I like to push the boundaries so I am glad I had the opportunity to do so.

So don't see a doctor or see a nurse. Just listen to the music, first things first. First of all get off the wall. It's time to party so have a ball.

This quilt is for one of my favorite physicians at NNMC.  Dr. Stanley Okoro was my plastic surgeon of choice for several procedures I had over the last 12 months, a DIEP, a LAT flap, and fipples (he insists on calling them real).  It's been a long road to recovery but I am almost fully back to normal. Dr. Okoro recently resigned his Navy commission and has opened up a private practice in Atlanta, GA.  Unlike many surgeons, he was very responsive not just to me, but to my family members as well.

The quilt was designed to reflect Stanley's Navy career as well as the new practice upon which he is about to set forth.  The center block is a commercial large-scale print of the crest of the Department of the Navy.  The middle borders are simple rectangles of patriotic red, white, and blue fabrics.  The exterior border of blocks actually spell DR STANLEY OKORO MD in signal flags. Several of the fabrics have motifs that I considered to be very relevant.  As I mentioned, there is the Navy square.  I also used Atlanta Braves fabric (new home of the Okoros), gold coins ( to wish him a lucrative, successful civilian practice), scissors fabric (they look like hemostats).

I took a couple of motifs from the Georgia Plastic logo to use as quilting designs.

I quilted the 12-petal circular design around the Department of the Navy logo.

Since Atlanta is somewhat landlocked and not every Georgian recognizes the maritime alphabet, I quilted the corresponding letter into the respective signal flag blocks.  Instead of quilting the matching font of the letter O, I used the Georgia Plastic motif of the arched women.

Because my recovery was so wrought with crazy complications and I had to come back to Plastics again and again, Dr.Okoro and I were able to develop a flippant cameraderie beyond the normal patient-doctor paradigm.  He knew I was a quilter as he found me sewing binding or applique while I was waiting in the examining room. We teased each other about whose stitches were more uniform and invisible (uh, that would be me! :) ).  Although I know he will never show this to his colleagues let alone prospective patients, I inked a fairly detailed label that highlights the quilt and its symbolism as well as my complications and radical treatments..

The blurb is just the explanation of fabric and quilting motif choices. The design on the right depicts a vat of leeches; each of whom are holding a flag or pennant of Stanley Okoro's various affiliations.

This is longer than my usual entries so it is time to sign off!

Webster Watercress

This is another Watercress quilt.  The intended recipient was an employee of Webster University and had been recently diagnosed with cancer.  The quilt was originally going to be made for him to take to his chemo treatments (chemo patients get very cold even with the warmed blankets).  Tragically, the Webster employee died before he even underwent his first treatment so I changed the plan a bit by now intending it for his family.  I had his fellow faculty and staff members sign the center block so that the family will know how much these Gorlocks enjoyed working with this individual.

The center block is made from a canvas tote bag.  The Webster mascot in the middle is the Gorlock, a hybrid of a cheetah, St. Bernard, and other creatures.  The shirts are from the most recent Webster Works Worldwide Day.  Webster has many satellite campuses all over the USA, Europe and Asia as well as its flagship school in St. Louis.   Every year, each of the campuses donates a day to a local charity.  The large yellow and blue squares were added so the quilt could be a 3 x 3 grid.

The quilt looks a bit skewed as my niece is holding it.  Usually I hang a quilt on a photographer's backdrop pole as it will be nice and square.