Quilts of Valor Award Ceremony

 Last year I made two quilts of valor for special Marines I know. One is my husband, Major Charles "Will" Wilkins, USMC Retired, and one is a long-time friend of his, Major David Aday, USMC Retired.

I had hoped to have the quilts awarded to these men at the 2020 Veterans Day celebration but that event was canceled due to COVID. 

Quilts of Valor are awarded to the recipients, not just given to them, as they are not charity quilts but are a gift meant to wrap the veteran in a warm hug. As the Quilt of Valor website says: 

"A Quilt of Valor unequivocally says thank you for your service,  sacrifice., and valor in serving our nation."

Last month I learned the program for July for my guild was to be about Quilts of Valor. I asked the person doing the program if we could award the two Veterans their quilts as part of the program--without making this known in advance. She was happy to have this addition to her program and I was thrilled to finally have an official way to award the quilts. Time was passing quickly and if this hadn't happened I was just going to have to give the men their quilts privately. 

April Goss giving her presentation to the Heritage Quilters of Huntsville

I contacted David's wife and arranged for her to get him to the meeting as well as giving me dates and information I needed about his 25 years of service. When he started asking questions, she told him it was a secret, he was going to a quilt guild meeting at my request and it was a secret so NO more questions. 

My husband knew something was up when he was also told his appearance at the meeting was required.

April read the story of two ordinary men who have lived extraordinary lives. Both came from  humble beginnings and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps right out of high school in the mid-1960's. They quickly found themselves in Vietnam after boot camp. Each served several tours of combat duty there. After returning to the States, they re-enlisted. They were both selected for a program that would send them to college for four years while remaining on active duty. It was at Auburn University in the early 1970's they first met each other. Upon earning their undergraduate degrees, they were commissioned 2nd Lieutenants and served many more years as commissioned officers. Eventually they both retired and had successful civilian careers. 

Perhaps their most important accomplishment is they are both still married to their first wives. David and Sharon recently celebrated 52 years of marriage and Will and I celebrated 45 years in April. Both have raised good and decent sons and now enjoy life with wonderful grandchildren.

Will's Quilt, first on display for all to see:

Will being wrapped in his quilt as the award commendation was read to him:

David's Quilt:

David being awarded his quilt:

Lest we forget, families of military veterans also serve, whether through multiple moves or time away from their spouse or parent.  Here are April Goss along with David and Sharon Aday:

And my husband and I with April:

April has established an organization called the Liberty Piecemakers of Huntsville. The purpose is to make and award Quilts of Valor to local veterans. Several sew-ins are planned in the coming months to get quilts made so this can become a reality. April is a veteran herself, the daughter, wife and mother of veterans. She will do a great job with this wonderful effort. You can tell from her smile, she was excited to have these first two awards accomplished. 

I have written about these quilts before. For pattern information see this blog post: First Quilt of Valor

For more information on the Quilts of Valor Foundation, see their official website: Quilts of Valor. If you are local to Huntsville, AL consider joining April in her project to award as many local veterans as possible. Her organization would love to have your help. 

Let's quilt.

Barbara

RED, WHITE AND BLUE QUILTS

 Happy 4th of July! This date is meaningful to me because 46 years ago I met my future husband. Six weeks later we had our first date and he asked me to marry him. Three weeks later, we were engaged. Best decision ever, for both of us.

But today is mostly known as Independence Day here in the US. Many of us fly US Flags outside our homes, there are parades, and cookouts, baseball and fireworks. A really big celebration day here.

I thought I would show you some of the Red, White and Blue quilts I have made over the years:

Patriotic Pineapples

A variation of Sail On I call Broad Stripes and Bright Stars

A small variation of Sail On

Cobblestones

Circle Stars

Flip and Sew Throw

Kwik Star 

While this isn't the color palette I am most known for, I have made more red, white and blue quilts than I thought. And here's the first, made in 1989, when I was a baby quilter. I think the pattern came out of a magazine, with the script as a page pull-out so you could trace and color it. If that is correct, there are probably lots of these around:

Happy Independence Day! 

Let's quilt.

Barbara

MY JOURNEY: QUILT # 14

  Another quilt from the Special Exhibit My Joyful Journey, part of the Virtual Quilt Festival, December 3-5, 2020.

QUILT # 14: Red, White and Blue Circle Stars, 57" x 73", machine pieced, longarm quilted, Quilted by Lisa Marshall. 2008

The Story: This old block, Carpenter's Wheel, looks fresh and contemporary in bright primary colors. The custom designed quilting really sets it off as does the pieced border. A more traditional design that started me back to my roots.

Let's quilt.

Barbara

AFTERNOON DELIGHT--Fabric Requirements

So many people have told me and The Quilt Show how excited they are that Afternoon Delight, a pattern by the late Sue Garman, is the 2020 Block of the Month Quilt for The Quilt Show. So, I am not the only quilter who had this great pattern on their bucket list!

The patterns will start January 1, 2020, the same day the show that introduces the Block of the Month is released. If you are not a Star Member, join now so you will be ready to jump in.  Join Now   

If you join in December 2019 you have the added bonus of access to ALL 12 months of the 2019 Block of the Month quilt, Sizzle by Becky Goldsmith--just be sure you download and print all of those instructions you want because after December 31, 2019 they will no longer be available from The Quilt Show--you will have to buy the pattern from Becky when she has it available for sale. 

Here is my version, made from the Kit fabrics available at The Quilt Show Store.

The Kits have been very popular, if you want one, you should order right away. You can add on 3 different border choices, or decide on your own border a year from now when you'll be ready to assemble your quilt.

If you would rather use your own fabric, this pattern is a great stash buster!

Sue's quilt from the cover of her pattern features a red border:

Here is what Sue had to say about Fabric Considerations for this quilt:

1. Her quilt was made with an assortment of civil war reproduction prints, small prints, and tone-on-tones, combined with shirtings. You will need LOTS of them. Fat quarters are convenient but long quarter yards are just as easy to use. Except for the border finishing triangles and borders, none of the fabric needs to be wider than 9 inches. Scraps from previous projects are also great in this quilt.

2. You could just as easily use a different set of fabrics: assorted red or blue prints with white-on-white or cream/tan background prints--or batik prints with a tan or white background. Use what you love!

3. You could also choose to use a single background fabric for the entire quilt. Sue said "I have not calculated how much background fabric would be required for the entire quilt; you will have to use your own math skills for that task!"

4. Sue also said "I have intentionally not included exact fabric color choices for any specific blocks in this quilt. If you, too, want a scrappy quilt, use whatever fabrics you wish!"

Oh, Sue! How often I thought of you and knew you were laughing at me as I used my math skills to calculate all the yardage. I spent many hours going through all 12 months to be sure the Kit would have enough fabric. No wonder you didn't do that...

Here is what you will need and it is the amount of fabric in the Kit:

Background: 10 yards    The Kit has 10 one-yard pieces of light prints. If you prefer fewer, you can use one or a few. If you want a variety, the beauty of this quilt is you don't  have to have it all when you begin. You can add to your stash over the year.

Prints for Piecing and Applique':  13.5 yards  The Kit has 27 half-yard pieces. Again, use fewer or more. If using quarter yards, you would need 54. Start with the color families you want to use and add a variety of light/medium/dark prints of each family. If you have fat quarter bundles you've been saving, this might be the perfect time to use them.

Yes, that's a lot. There is almost as much seam allowance in the pieced blocks as there is visible fabric. All I can say for sure is, with this much fabric, you will not run out. If working scrappy, you can easily add more--one red or green is as good as any other when working with this many pieces.

How about a Red, White and Blue quilt? I quickly pulled from my stash--I call it "shopping in my closet". A few whites that total 10 yards and a bunch of reds and blues. Many of the reds are leftover from Red and White--By the Numbers that I made in 2012-2013:

Border Fabrics: 4 yards, this is enough for the inner and outer borders AND binding. There is a narrow black border between the inner and outer borders—the pattern calls for 1 yard but 1/2 yard will do, it’s a very narrow border.

Sue recommends pre-washing and these fabrics would be great candidates for that. While I am not making a second complete Afternoon Delight, I will be making samples each month that will create a small version so pre-washing might be in my future...

We would love to see your fabrics--post a photo in the 2020 Afternoon Delight Forum under Fabric Show and Tell:

Fabric Selection Show and Tell--Afternoon Delight

One more important NOTE about the Kit: the fabrics are not labeled or numbered--you will decide which fabrics to use in each block--your choice.  This means each quilt will be as unique as its' maker.

Enjoy the journey!

Let's quilt.

Barbara

Moving Along

After being gone almost two weeks, I had 6 Splendid Sampler blocks to make, to catch up.  Here is row 71-80, with one exception:

Block 75 is an embroidery block  I printed on the computer and will hand-stitch as time allows.  Hopefully, it will be done by this weekend so I can join this row to the previous 7 rows.

Saturday I'll be teaching Southern Super Star at Patches & Stitches, the local quilt shop where I have taught for 28 years:

I'll get a better photo this weekend--it's quilted now and looks great.  The pattern is Southern Stars from Calico Carriage Quilt Designs.  It is my go-to giveaway quilt for high school or college graduation.  I can make the top in a weekend and edge-to-edge quilting on this approximately 75" square quilt is not too expensive.  It looks great custom quilted but that ups the price more than I want to pay for a giveaway.  Students have fun in this class and get at least half the quilt done in the all-day time frame.  This one is mine--every time I  wanted to teach it I had to be sure I had one available as the sample so now there will always be one ready.

Here are a few more Houston International Quilt Festival photos:

Jodi Barrows gave a lecture featuring a lot of her family quilts and told their stories.  Here is what NOT to do if you don't want a hole in the center of your quilt:

DO NOT fold your quilts in half, and in half again, and leave them this way forever.  Fold them "burrito style" or in thirds, or rotate the folds every six months.  If you would like to see more of Jodi's quilts from the lecture, go to my friend, Lori D's blog:  Humble Quilts.  She took lots of photos of many of the Education Department classes, forums, and samplers so you can get a good look at all the many things you can do and learn at Festival when you venture up to the third floor.

If you have a spare bed that is rarely used, as I do, lay out the quilts flat--I put the top one back side up because of light from the window. There are works in progress, some tops, some waiting to be quilted, and some are rolled up across the pillows:

I call this bed the "Archaeological Dig" because you will go back in time digging down through the many quilts on this bed.  When I do need to clear it for guests, it takes a bit of time and I just dump them on the studio floor until the guests leave.  We do keep another guest room ready at all times so you are always welcome!

Here is the one pattern I bought at Festival and am eager to get started on:

It's called Star-A-Day Quilt from Somerset Patchwork from Australia.  These are 3" hand pieced Lemoyne Stars--the pattern suggests piecing one a day for 365 days to have all you need for this large bed quilt.  As I plan to teach this Summer 2017, I think that will be my plan starting January 1, 2017--I'll have half done by then.  They are quick and easy to piece--I'll just cut out the pieces as I am working on other projects that use reproduction fabrics.

I also fell in love with this one but they sold out of this pattern long before I stopped at the booth 15 minutes before the show closed:

Hexagon Star-A-Day. also hand pieced.  Both patterns include the adorable little window templates for easy marking of both the sewing and cutting lines:

I always have a handwork project ready so I can make use of the time I have to get things done, don't you?

Tonight is our monthly guild meeting and in honor of Veteran's Day the panel will be made up of several guild members who are military veterans.  We've been asked to tell how our military service has impacted our quilting.  I've been thinking hard on this for the past month and I'm not sure I can make a link between the two, other than that being in charge is something I'm accustomed to which might explain why I've been so active in this guild for 28 years.  And when there is a hard job that needs to be done, you send in the Marines, right?

All members are encouraged to bring red, white and blue quilts for Show and Tell.  Here are the two I have packed to take:

Strippy Stars

Red, White and Blue Circle Star

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday.  It will just be my husband and I this year, he is pushing to go to a restaurant so we don't have dishes and pots and pans to clean up.  I love turkey leftovers so I'm not convinced that is what I want to do.  Better make up my mind soon...

Let's quilt!

Barbara