Came out rapping when I was born Mom said rock it 'til the break of dawn

This Thyme Tote was made for a woman who just gave birth to her first child last night.   Her colors for the nursery were orange and blue so I tried to coordinate the bag with that color scheme.

The majority of the exterior of the bag is made from the recipient's husband's Air Force ACU shirt. The side panels are a modern print and the handles have a crazy orange motif from Hoffman. I added the rank to the base of the handles.

The fabric is a vintage 70's print so it may be older than the proud parents.  The interior of the bag is very roomy and will be able to hold all the baby accessories that these little ones require.  The large pocket is actually a triple pocket (one big one and 2 ACU ones side by side).  The smaller pocket is a double pocket made from the ACU pen holder from the sleeve of the uniform and can fit a cell phone so it doesn't sink to the bottom.  This bag is definitely not too feminine for Dad to carry. 



No soft sucker with a parrot on her shoulder 'Cause she's bad, gettin' bolder, cold-cold, getting colder

This fullsize Fennel quilt was made for a fairly recent Washington and Lee University graduate.  Besides being a sister of the Zeta Tau chapter of Kappa Delta (ΚΔ), this young woman tutored her peers, raised money for Cystic Fibrosis and other philanthropies, studied abroad in Europe, and graduated with honors. 

Her quilt was a bit different as she wanted to include the front pocket design in a column by themselves.  No problem!

 

There were many, many fun shirts representing all the great times she had at W&L.    





Only at W&L do you have to worry about your mom and dad on Parents Weekend!

Of all the W&L items I have created over the years, I believe she has the record for tridents with 4 different shirts in the quilt.  My personal favorite is below.  The design of this one is actually a collage of several of the programs from different Fancy Dress decades as it was designed for the hundredth anniversary of this event.

WHAT IS THE FANCY DRESS BALL?

Think that other school down the road has a cool librarian? Think again! Fancy Dress is W&L's annual black tie ball that was started over 105 years ago by the campus librarian, Annie. (The library card catalog system is also named after this hip librarian!) Over the years we've seen everything from Colonial balls to 2010′s "Moulin Rouge." And with a budget rumored to total $80,000 it's no wonder party goers forget they're still in Lexington. Regardless of the theme, one thing is for sure, Fancy Dress is W&L's favorite social event!

The other ΚΔ/W&L quilt that I made recently was for a girl who graduated the year after this recipient and thus they overlapped by 3 years.  However they have different fond memories as there was not one shirt that was chosen by both women to be incorporated

The Vinall decision is perfection and precision She's grade A class, number one in her division

This is the third of the trio of quilts that were made for three lucky sisters.

Like her two older sisters, this girl played lacrosse all through high school and now in college.  She ventured out of state and is now studying at Dickinson College.

As she did with the older two, mom saved lots of fun shirts from the girl's childhood from Disney characters to tennis, golf, basketball and of course lacrosse themes. She chose a jelly-bean fabric as the daughter is a huge fan of that candy delight

Dickinson Drama!
Legend has it that if a student treads on the college seal embedded in the middle of Britton Plaza, he or she won't graduate. I am sure this young lady will be too smart to risk that.

She's got the savior faire because she's debonair, Well, M Dub with the Vinall, with the grooves so rare

This is the second of the trio of quilts for the three sisters.  Like the eldest, the middle girl is also an excellent lacrosse player and plays at the NCAA level for the University of Mary Washington.  Additionally she was on field hockey, tennis, soccer, basketball and swim teams.

Mary Washington, or "M Dub" as they apparently call themselves was founded in 1908 and named for the mother of our country’s founding father. The University of Mary Washington has built a rich history of traditions and academic excellence.

How many Mary Washington students does it take to change a light bulb?
The whole student body, there's nothing better to do on weekends.



The needle's in the groove and the Vinall's on the platter. I know that I'm fly, man, there's no need to flatter

This is one of a trio of quilts I made for 3 sisters.

All 3 girls are excellent athletes, participating in lacrosse and swimming throughout their childhoods and  high school.  The oldest sister also played Division 1 lacrosse at the University of Richmond, very time consuming and impressive!

I believe this quilt set a new record for number of shirt emblems in one quilt.  I was able to squeeze  11 NVSL All Star logos into one block. The mom wanted non-Halloweeny arachnid motifs since Richmond's mascot is the spider but she found high heel fabric for the borders and sashing as the recipient is now working in Manhattan and is in pumps and suits.

My favorite block in this quilt is this one below,  I love the smiling shark and apparently this now-sophisticated young lady, former jock laxer, was originally a Barney fan! :)

How many University of Richmond students does it take to change a light bulb?

Two, one to mix the martinis and one to call the electrician.

Like the saying goes, you gotta call and duke it off. Ask Juanito, he'll tell you all about it

This quilt was made for a Duke University Blue Devil.  A neuroscience undergrad at Bowdoin College, she is in graduate studies at Duke's School of Medicine, smart cookie!

I used 4 different Duke symbols in the corners. The 2 D's are commonly used in various university logos.  The U shape in the upper left is the School of Medicine symbol and the lower right design is the university's stylized version of the gorgeous Duke chapel. I went shopping in my stash for the swirly design fabric as well as the tone-on-tone cobalt rose background.  With all that blue, I was afraid of this becoming too masculine.

 

I only had one shirt to incorporate for this project but luckily found some licensed Duke University fabric at a nearby fabric store.  College cottons used to be common but now the shift is to fleece so I was thrilled to find the quilting-weight material. As usual, the hoodie pocket stayed on for some dimensional interest. Unfortunately the print of the hoodie and the pocket were not centered evenly on the shirt.  This wasn't noticeable on the wearer but it did look a bit off as a quilt square.

Duke basketball is so popular that undergraduates form a tent city called Krzyzewskiville or Kville before the big rivalries in order to score tickets.  This started in 1986 and is still going strong.

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.