And Naugels, Isaac Newton, and Scientific E.Z. Ben Franklin with the kite, gettin' over with the key

This family has Monmouth Duo AND Kite&Key links in it.  The grandmother is a Kappa Kappa Gamma ΚΚΓ, the mom and 2 aunts are all members of Pi Beta Phi ΠΒΦ, and the granddaughter is a new member of Kappa Alpha Theta ΚΑΘ.  Apparently the grandmother's sisters are also Thetas so it's just one happy Panhellenic family!

The young woman is a soon-to-be initiate of Kappa Alpha Theta's Iota chapter at Cornell.  Her pillow was made from a tone-on-tone black striped home dec fabric.  Like always, the letters were skewed towards the top so that there is enough room for a monogram.They of course were centered left and right. The gold fabric has little dots of black and white. I used a variegated gold thread for all the applique work to add some visual interest.

Unlike the other pillows that I have designed that incorporate the school's logo, the customer wanted this pillow to be All Theta.  So on the reverse side, I appliqued a somewhat whimsical kite in flight.

The family has a great sense of humor.  Apparently when the youngest of the 2nd generation followed her 2 sisters into Pi Phi, their Kappa mom sent a bouquet of blue irises (the KKG flower).  This time they are giving the new initiate a pillow that has both owls and arrows on it before they give her the "real" pillow.

I love this fabric.  It is such a simple graphic in black and white and looks stunning IRL!

Brownstones, water towers, trees, skyscrapers Writers, prize fighters and Wall Street traders

This quilt was made for the first child of 2 Manhattanites.  The dad is an investment broker (St. Mark's and Hamilton alum) and the mom is a Blue Devil grad and professional actress.  The little girl was born in the winter but I wanted to make something cheerful and bright to counter the grey that permeates NYC in the cold, dark months.

So I found NON-Eastery bunny fabric and matched it with coordinating colors of yellow, blue, pink, and green.  Very girly and fun! I used a strip-piecing method to put it together and then quilted with multiple colors of threads.

The back is interesting enough to post a picture as well. I had a little bit left of the strips and added motifs of butterfly, frog, fruit, and another rabbit. Like all quilts that I make, I added a hanging sleeve in case the recipients want to display it on the wall.

Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Always

This quilt was commissioned for yet another Webster employee who was departing for greener pastures.  Actually she was going to Georgia which was just fine with her as it was closer to her extended family.  Once again, the Webster Gorlock is front and center.  The recipient loves the color purple so I made sure that was incorporated in the border.  She also is a big fan of angels so luckily I just happened to have some angel-motif fabric in my stash and said fabric also had touches of purple.

The quilt was machine-pieced and machine-quilted.  The recipient lives by the quote in the title of this post.  She has it on memo pads, a framed calligraphy, a quilted messenger bag (haha, guess who designed THAT! :) ).

I had a chance to share an office with the recipient (an SC State alumna!) for awhile.   She was a lovely, lovely lady, a true pleasure to work with (yes, I know that is a dangling participle at the end of the sentence).  Her husband was always so polite when he dropped by or called and her little guy was darling as could be. I will always remember that she specifically got a flu shot when my immune system was compromised due to the chemo and radiation.    I didn't ask her to do so.  She just always went above and beyond in caring for others, whether it was a student, a young soldier's wife,  or even her crazy co-worker.

Bim! Bam! Hot damn! We're the girls of Delta Gam!

Fabulous Client, Part Deux*

The twin of the boy who received the UMD/Kappa Alpha pillow this Christmas is also attending a Maryland college. This young lady attends Salisbury University and is a proud sister of Delta Gamma.

The Salisbury University logo incorporates their mascot and the letters S and U in a very skinny font. The mascot is a seagull which is very logical as Salisbury is on the Eastern Shore very close to the Atlantic Ocean. Their colors are maroon and gold.

Delta Gamma (ΔΓ) is a woman's fraternity founded in 1873. They have a mascot called the Hannah Doll which looks somewhat like Raggedy Ann. Their badge is an anchor and their colors are bronze and pale pink and blue.
I was able to find some blue fabric that had anchor motifs in the right size for the letters so I was thrilled. The recipient apparently is a big fan of hot pink so I kicked it up a notch for the background. Surprisingly the maroon of the SU didn't clash too badly with the hot pink.

* Thank you very much for arranging to meet me at Talbot's Outlet. For any MidAtlantic ladies reading this, the Talbot's Outlet in Fairfax County, VA is well worth the drive: Fabulous deals for the high-quality merchandise for which Talbot's is known.

Sweating like sardines in a flophouse fraternity

Gotta love a repeat client! :) Back in 2009, the wonderful customer ordered 4 custom-made pillows for her 3 sons and the girlfriend of the oldest boy. This year she wanted them for her college-aged niece and nephew who happen to be twins. They were made for Christmas 2010. I'm just slow on the uptick regarding this blogging stuff.

So first things first, the boy is a member of the Kappa Alpha Order at the University of Maryland. I looked around but couldn't find Terrapin fabric (but did spot plenty of UVA and Hokie motifs) on my side of the Potomac. So the client chose the pattern fabric to be a plaid that incorporated the black, red, white , and yellow of the University of Maryland logo.
 


Kappa Alpha Order's colors are crimson and old gold. For once the college colors and the fraternity colors were the same!

The same plaid was used for piping, the outline of the Maryland M and the main fabric of the greek letters. I did both regular and reverse-applique for the M and regular applique for the KA.



This pillow cover was made with a zipper and pillow insert so it could be cleaned easily. My client has a wonderful monogrammer in her town who took care of the machine embroidery.

Factoid of the day: There is a statue of Jim Henson (Class of 1960) chatting with Kermit the Frog on the College Park campus. As a former Sesame Street fan back in the day, I think that's great!

Pi Phi! Oh my! 'Cause them angels look so fly!

This queen-sized quilt was made for an alumna of Wake Forest who is now a law student at William and Mary.  As you can see, she also is a member of the Pi Beta Phi woman's fraternity.  Yay, Monmouth Duo!! 

This quilt incorporated some unusual fabrics. The Wake Forest fans wave around a Rally Rag (lowest row, center) at the games.  This is a small terrycloth towel. Apparently by joining the Screamin' Demons. students can pay $30 per season to sit in the student section of the athletic arenas.  They are given the black and gold tie-dye shirt (top right-hand corner) to wear at the games.

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I cut the greek letters from the extra fabric of the Screamin' Demon shirt. These letters are the same size as the letters that you would see a sorority girl wear on a sweatshirt or jersey. I satin-stitched both the white outline fabric and the Screamin Demon fabric with a stabilizer. The grey was from the back of one of the grey shirts used in the quilt

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
As usual, I kept anything 3-D on the blocks if possible.  I was able to retain the pocket on the hoodie block and the drawstring and buttons on the lounge pants.. I used surplus fabric from the lounge pants to make the large WF block.

The neckerchief  (center) had a very large design so it needed to be cut no smaller than 18" x 18".  T-shirt quilt blocks are usually 15" x 15" so I had to find 4 shirts that would lend themselves to be longer than normal and four that could be wider.  The fabric I chose for the sashing, borders, and binding was mostly black and gold but with touches of mauve and grayish-blue which are close to the Wine and Silver Blue of Pi Beta Phi.  I quilted this fabric with a light yellow thread which gave it a cloisonné look.



To All The Mothers And The Sisters And The Wives And Friends I Want To Offer My Love And Respect To The End

I posted about my dear Kappa Needleworkers over a year ago.  Our group recently finished yet another one of our fabulous Raffle Quilts. This queen-sized quilt with its bold plaid thistles not only speaks to me as a sister of KKG, but as a Carnegie Mellon Tartan as well.

The quilt took 3.5 years to complete.  Our group only meets once a month so much of the handwork is done at home.  The thistles are all hand-appliqued  and embroidered with a buttonhole stitch.  It is machine-pieced and machine-quilted.

The proceeds from the yearlong raffle will go towards the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation.