Christmas Presents

My Middle son - Middle bit - was so excited this year. He got to work with wood, and in his shop class he made a present for Wrangler Man.... the only problem was hiding it.

We thought about the barn - but that's where all the grain, the saddles, the things we use daily are....

We thought about the Other house.... we thought we had it really really hid, and then I asked Little Bit to take something out there. He came is and said - What is that mrmrndmdn ?  I clamped my hand over his mouth as soon as I had realized what I had done.

So we needed another hiding spot. Middle Bit asked if I could sneak it into his room?  Well - it would fit in his room, there was just no way to get it in.... there might have been a tornado hit in there...

At last, we decided that Wrangler Man does not go into my quilting room much, and if I maybe draped some fabric over the present it wouldn't be noticeable....

AND !!! IT!!  WORKED!!

Ta da!!! Middle Bit made Wrangler Man a Sawhorse. Wrangler Man was SO pleased... he is a little afraid to use it- it is so nice! So right now it resides in our house....

The last Design Wall of 2013

That kind of sounds ominous, but it is not supposed to be....

I am still working on Scraps... So far I have 4 13 1/2 ish pink and whit blocks. These are all leftovers from the Carolina Christmas Quilt we did with Bonnie Hunter a little bit ago. ( please do not remind me how many years it has been.... I am trying to have a proud moment lol)

The stuff on the left is scraps from another quilt.... I am just playing with those and using them as leader/enders. Who know what that will turn out like.

Back to the pink and white..... I have a PLAN!

Sort of... I am not 100% sure how many little half square triangles I have left, and if I don't have enough - then the plan will change... if I have too many.... I may have to have a piece of chocolate and contemplate.

For more design walls head over to http://patchworktimes.com

Quilt of Valor Show

There is a LOT of Quilty Eye Candy in today's Quilts of Valor show!

I would suggest a little bit of chocolate

and a nice beverage.....

Our first quilt today comes from Sally T in VA

Those trees are so cool!

But check out the backing

It is a custom dyed backing from VIcki Welsh - don't you just love it? 

Kind of makes it a two sided quilt!

This next quilt comes from Beryl in UT

I think it might have been a mystery quilt?

This is Beryl's second quilt ( that she sent in this time - not in her total quilt life)

It is a pattern from http://patchworktimes.com

(disclaimer - I have one in process.... Beryl totally beat me)

All the rest of the Quilts in today's show come from Jessie in Louisana,

I tell you Jessie is one busy quilter!

I think the one below came from a Fons and Porter magazine - but I can not really remember.....

These Log Cabin Quilts with the Eagles in the Center were big hits with my kids. AND with the guys on post.

One soldier kept telling me to keep one of these for him. He was helping me do other stuff, and knew he qualified for a Quilt of Valor..... he just had to help me first.  It was sweet.

I like how they are all different - yet similar...

Didn't Jessie do a Lovely job?

Again - I thank you for visiting and for seeing the Beautiful quilts that will go to cover our wounded. And I thank you for all your help in accomplishing this goal! 

This will be the last QOV post for 2013 - I hope you have enjoyed them all - you can always go back and see all of the posts using QOV 2013 as the search ... or click this link:

http://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/search/label/QOV%202013

Answering a Question

You know - I forgot I put this picture up and  never really told you what it was...

A lot of you guessed Bus or fence - and a few brave souls emailed stock trailer.... it is our stock trailer. The knuckleheads climbed on top of it - and I thought it looked cool - so there you go!!!

More Quilts of Valor

I know - I usually do this on Wednesday  - but it was Christmas - and so - I hung out with my family! We had a great time being together. I was the first casualty of the packaging.. I cut into a package to get the present out, and sliced two of my fingers. Not bad - but enough I have bandaids and..... I stink at typing lol!

But there was a new Camera Battery inside and I *really really wanted* it !!!

Hope you all enjoyed the day, whether is was noisy or quiet....

The first 4 quilts in Today's Quilt of Valor showw are from the Columbine Quilt Guild in Arvada CO.
Two of them were part of a panel challenge - and I think they turned out pretty cool!

The Next to were Quilted by April W in Iowa.  This one was pieced by Judy L.

And this was was made by Ann A and quilted by April.

The next three quilts are all pieced by Nancy L of WA/AZ - I LOVE them!!!

This one was quilted by Sharee  ( inOR I think)

 Check out the back!!! I Love it!

Nancy sent this one to Montana to be quilted - but Laura....

 As well as this one. Isn't it cool?
Thanks Nancy!!

The next three quilts were pieced by Lori M in Nevada ( did I get it right this time Lori? tee hee)

Sue Smucker in Ohio quilted them for us! She did a fabulous job?

Thank you all for letting our Veterans Touched by War know how much they are appreciated.!!  Have a great day!

The rest of the story

If you have read my blog for a while - you might remember that  2 1/2 years ago we lost my cousin and her 3 daughters. You can always see the effect of this on your own family... but what you forget is all the other people who knew her from the rest of her life.

One of those other people has reached out and become my friend as well. And it has been wonderful to learn of the other side of my cousins life.  My cousin was a Quilter - and she inspired her friend Jen to make a quilt in their memory.

Jen worked very hard on this quilt, and not only did she do a fabulous job, she stitched symbolism into every part of it... and it was wonderful.

She asked me if I would quilt it - and of course the answer was yes! It was actually a bit therapeutic for me as well. It was fun to see how she viewed the girls, and what things she thought of when she was choosing her fabrics.

Without further ado.... Here is her masterpiece:

And the back:

I will admit that I was a lot nervous. I wanted the quilting to be symbolic as well, and I wanted it to be perfect. I wanted all that Jen loved about the girls to be evident... and that's a lot of pressure. I think that she loved it - and with her input, I think that we got it right.

I think that the girls would be tickled, and would highly approve ;-)

It was an Honor

About a month ago, I received two requests to present Quilts of Valor to some gentlemen. They both happened to live in Denver, and  I needed to go to Denver to pick up my son for Thanksgiving.  ( You can cheer... I did!!!)

So I figured that I would coordinate all of these things on the same day. In the olden days, I lived in a large town. But large town ( okay City) thinking has all but disappeared from my brain, as the town we live outside of now - is about 7 miles square.

It is a good thing people are nice to me, and remind me that Denver is large... it took me 30 minutes to get from one Veteran to the other, and 45 minutes to get to the airport. Who Remembered that Cities could be so LARGE?    BUT they did have a Tokyo Joes, and a Starbucks - so we were good ;-)

The first Veteran I met - Wow - If he was to set the tone for the day - you knew it would be AWESOME!

He was a WWII, Korea and VietNam Veteran. He was a pilot, and although he could not remember what he had for breakfast, he could tell you his wingman's name, rank and serial number. I have to tell you how impressed I was. He and his wife sat down to talk with me, and he started telling stories. If his family would have let me, I would have stayed ALL day. His stories were amazing!!  and By the way - the WHOLE family was there, down to the great grandkids.

 Are they not the most beautiful couple. The one thing I did forget was how many years they were married - in my head it was over 65 years. Beautiful!!   He let me wrap the quilt around him, and his dear wife, she was just amazed at the beauty.  Truly an honor - I tell you!

And then I got to go to the second Veterans house. Oh. My. Gosh. The day just couldn't get any better! His wife and daughter were there. ( by the way my two youngest boys were with me!) This gentleman served... WWII, Korea, VietNam, and was part of the Space Program. You all - the History!!!  But better yet - the love of our country. I wish I knew how to teach this to every student.

 I draped his quilt over him, and he was just So amazed. He wanted to check out every fabric and all the quilting, and he just wanted to see it all.

 There was a letter from the quiltmaker, as well as the little journal that I put together. ( It details the steps it takes to make a quilt) and he just read them over and over. I LOVED the smile on his face.

This is us writing his name on the label. I usually ask if they want their name or their rank on it ... He wanted his Rank! I truly Loved it. Again - I could have stayed all day. But they graciously reminded me I needed to get to the airport to pick up my other son....

And that was the icing on the cake!

Thank you to all the quiltmakers who make this happen. You all touched not only the Veterans but the whole family in both of these cases. You allowed my children to see History, and learn all about Love of Country!

QOV Eye Candy

We are getting to the end of the year - and I want to show you all the lovely QOV's that have been finished lately - so I hope you are ready for some yummy quilts....

Are you ready?

From Adele in LA :

 These were both pieced and quilted by her!! Thanks Adele - I really LOVE your fabrics!

Pieced by Betty M and

Quilted by Ann Reinelt in Colorado

Pieced and quilted by:

Pat MacMillan in Colorado

 Isn't that cool??

I love this design in these colors!!

Pieced by the Alpine Quilt Guild

Quilted by Pat M in Colorado

Pieced by Jan O

Quilted By LTC Tryon

Pieced by Lori M

Quilted by LTC Tryon

Blocks made at QOV Sew in

Put together by Diana

Quilted by Jeanette in Colorado

Blocks made for MQX Show

Put into top by Harriet

Quilted by Jeanette

PS - Check out their website - they are doing another QOV block drive!!

Pieced by Mary M with

Scrappy Blocks Block Drive blocks

Quilted by Mel Partner in Colorado

Top made from QOV sew day blocks

Quilted by Dawna Sanders in Colorado

MQX block drive blocks

Top done by Ethel

Quilted by Dawna Sanders in Colorado

I hope you enjoyed today's Eye candy. I love all of the quilts - and know that they are loved too!!!