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.

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.