The American actress Sylvia Sidney sold needlepoint kits featuring her designs and she published two popular instruction books: Sylvia Sidney's Needlepoint Book (1968) and The Sylvia Sidney Question and Answer Book on Needlepoint (1975).
She participated in several Galesburg All-City Championships, while her other hobbies included bowling, contract bridge, knitting, needlepoint and watching sports, especially the National Basketball Association games.
A 1986 Sports Illustrated article stated, "A Lady Techster is likely to be a good student and a devout Christian, probably favors needlepoint over Madonna tapes on airplanes and fears a drug test about as much as she does an airport metal detector." The same article stated that Hogg's insistence that her players act like ladies gave the team an "almost antebellum image" that was well-suited to a conservative town like Ruston.
Her pre-literary résumé includes painting needlepoint patterns, installing neon signage, designing luggage, enlarging photos from weapons tests sites, decorating sets for rap videos, and sewing hats for the Pillsbury Doughboy.
The daughter of writer Robert Coover, and Spanish needlepoint artist Pilar Sans Coover, Sara Caldwell lived in many different locations when growing up, both small towns and large cities in Guatemala, Spain, England, and various parts of the United States.
A 1986 Sports Illustrated article stated, "A Lady Techster is likely to be a good student and a devout Christian, probably favors needlepoint over Madonna tapes on airplanes and fears a drug test about as much as she does an airport metal detector."