Remembering George Part 2 and 3

I have decided to name my Quilt of Valor designed by Judy - "Remembering George" for my Great Uncle. I have been reading some blogs that say they wish that people would post progress of their quilts rather than just the finished product. If they read my blog - they may be sad. They may realize that I may just possibly be the SLOWEST quilt putter together-er in the world!
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Anyways - I have finally finished step 2 - it is over on the right.
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And here is my picture when I thought I was done with step 3, then I turned the page - and realized I was NOT done yet!!!
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Today was our Quilt of Valor Sew Day. I assumed that since it was Memorial Day weekend maybe no one would want to come, but apparently we all needed some sewing time!. So while Ethel put the binding and label on this quilt. ( right)
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And Joan put the bindings on these two quilts - that were made from Bonnie Hunters Crayon Box pattern, - http://quiltville.com/crayonbox.shtml
(left)









And Jeri worked on these String blocks for a pattern from here:
http://www.maryquilts.com/strings/patriotic-string-star/

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I worked on Step 3 of
http://www.patchworktimes.com/2010/05/23/memorial-day-quilt-along/

And we all marveled at how the internet can bring quilters together. And how much more fun it is to quilt than to do chores - especially ones that involve tractors and shovels.... which is totally why I had children!

Remembering

This is my Great Uncle George. He was a Marine that served in WWII. He enlisted when he was 16, and was at Pearl Harbor the day it was attacked. Normally he worked in the engine rooms as he was a mechanic type man, but for some reason that morning he was up on deck. He told my Dad that he saw the planes coming in, and decided he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. So he jumped off the ship. Crazy thing to do for a guy that could not swim. However as he paddled away a kamikaze plane hit the ship in the exact place that he was previously standing. Pretty good instrincts.
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George started out in Michigan, and when he was about 13 left home for Montana. He worked on a cattle ranch and discovered that no heat was a tough way to live in the winter there. At 16 he enlisted. I don't know much about his life before I was born, as he wasn't a real talkative guy. But he could fix anything.
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He and my Great Aunt lived not to far from us, and my brother and I could ride our bikes to their house. It is a good thing they liked us as we went over often. We decided they liked us *grin*
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He had a nose that could match no other. The second my mom or I started baking I swear the mans antennae went up, and he arrived at our house when the first batch of cookies was coming out of the oven.
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Uncle George also loved dogs. He had a big airedale named Pete. My brother and I got to go along with him to work the dog in the desert. The Mojave was his favorite.
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My uncle passed away when I was 10 or 11, and I think he was relatively young. However in my mind at the time anyone over 16 was old. I guess I will have to ask my dad his true age. I have very fond memories of this man, and was so excited when they moved to near us. He was a very patient man, always quick to smile, to help, or to just listen.
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I think that this next quilt of valor will be finished in his honor with his name on the label. Who do you remember this weekend?
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Baby its Hot outside...

We seriously have the strangest weather - from sweatshirts to sweating in the course of 24 hours.... Oh well, its always good to be prepared!
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I have some great Quilts of Valor to show you. The first two come from Beryl R in UT. I know the first one is a mystery quilt from the QOVMystery yahoo group - and I know this because I wanted to make it...
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Thanks Beryl for these awesome quilts!
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The next two quilt come from Linda O in IN. Her first one is a pattern we did on this blog called stars and bars.
http://quiltygirl.com/QuiltPatterns/stars%20and%20bars.pdf
is the link to it.
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and the next one is a rail fence! Linda you did an outstanding job! Thank you very much.





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We sort of had a crazy yesterday and it reminded me that I am really kind of a homebody - so tonite I will be at home! And catching up on my quilt a long from Judy L
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I will not admit what step I am on. Officially I don't have to report until next Wednesday - right (grin)

Quilters Accountability Week 20

Have I ever told anyone that I love summer? I do - and this week has been great. We have had ample time to goof off, and lots of time to do the chore lists. This does NOT mean that the house is clean though - don't want to get anyone's expectations TOO high!!

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Here were my goals for 5/20 Week :

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1. Finish Step 6 of Carolina Christmas. DONE All the blocks have been finished and layed out. The rows have been sewn together, now I just need to get the rows need to be sewn into the top!

2. Start a set of 24 String blocks with Yellow Centers.

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24 blocks have been started, sewn, ironed and squared up to 9 1/2 inches. So I have half a quilt put together and seriously NO DENT in my blue string box.... I even re-ironed and organized them into the same box.

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And then -because I am SOOOO Ambitious ( Giggle) I saw over on Judy L's Blog - http://www.patchworktimes.com a Quilt of Valor pattern that she has written and is offering the Steps to make. I thought - I can DO that! And even if I get behind, it will be okay - I'll just work double time on the weekends.... She is even offering to quilters that if you want to donate it to QOV - she will quilt it up! Amazing. Of course I will quilt my own - since I have that machine in my sewing room - and I should be responsible that way..... right????

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Step 1 is finished

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And the jumbled pile is almost step 2 being finished. Although she has step 3 up - I don't feel to far behind!

Goals for the Next week:

1. Get Carolina Christmas into a top and add one border. I know I am doing a solid border, but I need to audition which fabric I want first - Bright Green or Hot Pink. If you have an opinion you are welcome to help me out ;-)

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2. Keep up with Judy's QOV quilt a long.

If you want to see what others are up to go check out Bari's blog: http://crossroadsquilts.wordpress.com/

Have a great evening - we are under tornado watch's and warnings till 9pm. And Thunderstorm warnings... We watched one Tornado go south of us - except we didn't know it was a tornado - just looked like a big rain cloud - till the weatherman told us it was an embedded tornado.

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Welcome to spring!

Mountain View Elementary

Last School year I met the sweetest lady - Judy V - when her grandson was in 5th grade, and participating in making Quilts of Valor. She asked one of the teachers if she could talk to us about what we were doing. She then decided that she would like to do this at the school she volunteers at.
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She is a very accomplished quilter, so we encouraged her and told her it would be great. She then reminded us that she works at a school for the deaf and hard of hearing. And I thought - whoa - you have to be quick to teach kids that can't hear you talk. And she is!, and the kids do a Spectacular job of working on these quilts and working on the journals. I am really impressed.
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The journals are so sweet. They show pictures of the kids sewing, and the explain all the "signs" in the top quilt, and why they chose the fabrics in the second.
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They also make pillowcases, and a few extra!

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So join me in letting the kids and Mrs. V at Mountain View Elementary know what a great job they did!!
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Thank you!!!

Wind

I despise the wind! It blew yesterday and was annoying, today it is gusting between 30 and 70 mph, it is AWFUL!!
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We are all inside as the blowing sand just hurts. And we are not 100% inside people - we need our outside!! All the dogs are in their kennels and refusing to come out.
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But on the good side of being inside - I am sewing!! Whoo Hoo. I needed to sew - as I am sewing I can just feel the crabbies, and stresses, and all that cranky stuff go away!!

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Over on Judy L's Blog ( http://www.patchworktimes.com ) she started a sew along with a great quilt that would make an awesome Quilt of Valor. So of course, I pulled fabrics for it - because I might possibly have a few patriotic fabrics laying around the house. I already have the pieced cut for todays sewing step. As soon as I get dinner on the stove I am going to sit and sew.
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All three of these Quilts of Valor were quilted by Loretta in LA. The top quilt was made by Jo D of the Livermore Quilters. This was her first or second quilt she ever made. And of course she has now made them for all the grandkids!!
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The second quilt was made by Gerrie D. Her Brother in Law is a Vietnam Vet and a recipient of one of the first Quilts of Valor I ever made. I might have already told you, but every time I see the man I get the biggest bear hug, and am automatically considered family.
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The last Quilt of Valor was made by Loretta's neighbor Doyleen . I love it!
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Thanks Quilters!!

Warrior Games

Many of you are asking about the Warrior Games. I didn't get to take any pictures of the quilts being handed out, as they had their own photographer. But he said that he will get pictures to me, and to QOVF to show you all. QOVF probably has more pull than I do - so maybe they will show up there soon!!!

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A thank you came in a comment today:

I want to say a very "heart felt" THANK YOU for my quilt. I was one of the participants and received a beautiful pink quilt. I will be sending a thank you note to the creator of my quilt. It has been laying over me comfortably since I came home from the games. Thanks Again, MSgt Kim, Ret USAF

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How Cool is that? I have NO idea how they found the blog - but that is awesome!

I also recieved another Thank you in and email from a Mom who found the blog by accident:

Just had to send you an email to let you know how much Randi LOVED the quilt she received! I didn’t get to see it, but she said it was just beautiful – and it meant so much to her that people cared enough to give such loving gifts. She had a great week – 2 golds in swimming (freestyle and backstroke) and a silver in seated volleyball! Again – thank you to you and all your quilters!
Hugs-
Ricki

These 8 quilts were Warrior Game Quilts of Valor too. They came from Linda in Olympia WA. Thanks Linda!!

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Everything came so fast that I haven't gotten each and every quilt up on the blog - but thats alright... right? It gives me lots of good stuff to post - and you won't be bored of my boring life!

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Which life at the moment is quite funny. My parents left on a vacation and brought me their two dogs. They are hunting dogs, and big dogs!! So I have a purse puppy, a Ranch dog , and these two. The Hunting dogs and the puppy need to be walked seperately for the moment and the Ranch dog goes with each walk. He may be skinny soon!!

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Aprils Quilt Pattern

For those of you who fell in love with April's Quilt the pattern is called Log Cabin Loco and can be found here:

http://www.marlousdesigns.com/LogCabinLoco.html

So now I want to see you all make one and post it on your blog for me to ohh and ahhh over!!! Cuz that's how I roll.....

Quilters Accountability Week 19

Whoopee!!! I finally accomplished something!! I finished the blocks in Step #5!!! Every last one of them, and there were like 400, thousand batrillion pieces!!!
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So now it is on to Step 6!!!
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I also finished quilting a Quilt of Valor. This beautiful String quilt was made by none other than the most famous QOV string piecer - Al Lind!

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Goals for Next Week

1. Finish Step 6 of Carolina Christmas.

2. Start a set of 24 String blocks with Yellow Centers.

This is for the Heartstrings challenge. Our April May challenge was to use Yellow and blue in string blocks - and I am such a procrastinator( okay not really) that I am just now getting to it!

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If you want to see what others have done for Quilters Accountanility head over to

Bari's You are welcome to join in too. Any time .....

A New Addition

My baby has wanted a puppy for forever. To prove he could take care of a dog he has been taking care of Smokey since Thanksgiving, all by himself. Smokey is the ranch dog - and you could not ever ever ever get a better dog than him.
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Little bit Really Really wanted a puppy though. So we told him that when school was out he could get one - probably a dog from the pound.




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Little Turkey that he is - he kept asking to go to the pound, before school was out, just so we could look. I should know better. My inability to say no to an animal is legendary!
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Of course we found this little darling and he HAD to be ours. I think he is a small dog though, and that he won't be getting much bigger.
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His name is Sundae and he is a darling. We have had him since Saturday and he is fitting in quite nicely. He is so small you can carry him in your arms.
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And the best news - School was out today!!! So he can have his puppy full time. We have been under a tornado watch/warning for a while, and we have learned that Thunder is not his favorite thing!

More great Quilts

Although the last few weeks have been consumed by deliveries and the Warrior Games - I have not forgotten our No Soldier Forgotten Project.
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The First Two quilt on the Right side were made by Barb W, and then Jude in Laramie volunteered to quilt them. I really really like them. The boxes appeal to me. They kind of remind me of 2 different quilts I have seen recently.And since I get a lot or requests for patterns of quilts posted.... here you go!!


Framed Rectangles/
Peaches and Dreams/



This next one is a Disappearing Nine patch and it was made by Lori/ in South Dakota. I really loved these colors. The purple framed the top so nicely.








Next comes a Quilt from Mary in Washington. Wow is all I can say!! And she sent in some pillowcases! Which I appreciate, my stash was getting low.






These wonderful pillowcases - 32 of them!!! - came from
http://peacebypiecequilters.blogspot.com/ Thanks Nancy and Crew!!!






And the last quilt for todays post of Quilts of Valor comes from April W. She sent in this quilt and one for the WWII project. Thanks so much April!




Hope you liked todays quilts!

The Rest of the Story

So probably, you are wondering what the rest of the story is to my Visit from some wonderful soldiers? They are part of the Warriors in Transition Battalion on post at Ft Carson.
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They came to have Quilts of Valor presented to them!
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The kids designed a presentation along with the teachers to explain how quilts were made, and how they participated in the process.

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I believe that the teachers were able to have each child say something about this program. It was really nice to see the kids come up to the mike a say something to the soldiers.





The soldiers listened intently, and totally focused on the children. They were a very polite audience.









After their presentation, each group got to get their quilt and take it out of the pillowcase. They brought it up to the front and told about their quilt, and what they had named it. Then one child presented the quilt to the soldier, another presented the pillowcase, and a third presented the Photo journal. All of the children from each group shook hands and said thank you.















We had 6 Soldiers from Ft Carson, and 3 from Cheyenne. Our Cheyenne service members included a Guard, a SeaBee and a Marine. It was AWESOME!





After our entire presentation, we had cookies and punch put together by the two head room Moms ( Thanks!!! Mrs N, and Mrs S!!!) And the servicepeople mingled with the kids.

All in All it was a great afternoon, and I think we all learned a little more about giving, and honoring others that have done so much.

Quilters Accountability wk 18

I think am I am ready to get back to setting some goals. (I think)
So for this week:

Finish Step 5 on the Mystery Quilt from Bonnie Hunter.

One goal - One thing - do you have faith in me???

Visitors

Some visitors stopped by. At first I thought it might be because of my charm.

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I think if you look at the pictures you will see it really wasn't about me at all!
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I was very impressed by my horses. Usually they get a little hyper when people come out. They seem to think that everyone wants to hug on them, and end up fighting between themselves to get to the human. This would really not be so bad - except that I have more than one horse. And more than one can be intimidating!

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The mares in the Top picture are Barbie and Broccoli. They have real registered names that are all proper and formal and all that - but I don't call them by those names. Kind of like my kids - I made up their names as well. And sometimes they can change based on their attitudes that day....

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This one here - snuggling up to the tall soldier is Romeo. Usually he gets so close he knocks you over, but he was quite the gentleman on this day. This soldier fell in love with Romeo and offered to buy him.... he probably doesn't know that I can't break up a collection right? And his CO wanted to know where he thought to keep the horse when he got back on post!

This is Romeo again - he saw the camera come out and thought he would make the most of the opportunity.

Anyone want to guess how many horses I have? I can tell you I have more horses than soldiers that arrived......

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