Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Quilts of Valor 2014 - end of April

Can you believe that today is the last day in April?

I am shocked...of course, our temps have been cold, and we have had a lot of wind - so maybe that is just confusing me. Nothing compared to those to the east of us. Wow...

Today's Quilt of Valor show is FULL of inspiration and Eye Candy - so sit back and Enjoy!


We get to spend a lot of time on post - this is the Warrior Transition Battalion. They are our injured soldiers - getting treatment and learning new skills. It is such an honor to spend time with these brave folks!



Made by Linda M Quilted By Liz

Made by Kathy and Connie
Quilted by Kathy F of CO


Pieced and Quilted by Else A in Arvada



Quilted and Pieced by Else in Arvada


Quilted and Pieced by Connie H


Pieced and QUilted by Connie

Big Blowout Block Drive quilt
Quilted by Stephanie C ( and her neighbor bound it!!)


Pieced by Kay L in OH
Quilted by Stephanie Cin CO




The quilt below was made by Judy V in Thornton
( did I get it Right this time Judy? - hope you are healing well!)

I tried to use the captioning button this time to label the quilts - let me know what you think - or if you can tell a difference.  We met Sunday and sewed like crazy - I think we had 4 finished tops, and 12 quilts bound. my little guy sorted all the scraps. I now have 3 huge bags of small scraps...

Enjoy your week!!

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Pink.... squirrel!!

In the process in working on my Purple scraps - my little guy says "Hey Mom - what happened to your pink blocks.?"  and I went .... Squirrel......   ( Go see the Movie UP - you'll get it ... me and Doug are friends)

And...
Little Bit drew up some plans and this is what we came up with:

and yes - those are lozenges in the corner... another squirrel.... *sigh* some days it is really rough to be me...

Oh Look!!   another Nature photo:


aren't you glad my boys and I hike all over the place?

Monday, April 28, 2014

Slogging along... slowly but surely...

I really thought that I would take a new picture of my design wall - and you would all say - Wow - she really gets a lot done... but alas... no so on the piecing front this week....   On the good side - I quilted two KING SIZE quilts... I get points ;-)

Here is an honest to true look at my piles... not even re-arranged for you - just what it is :



I have 12 Churn Dash Blocks in Purple and Yellow, and I thought I was done... but Wrangler Man came in and said = Make it bigger. I really like that one....  and I was shocked ( there are flowers in it!)

So I have three more blocks almost made, and a few more cut out.

Don't ask about the other ones. I don't know what they will be.....

Go see the other design walls over at
http://www.patchworktimes.com

Have a great one!


Oh yes - your Nature Shot of the day:


Saturday, April 26, 2014

Finally Purple Scraps!!

Finally!!
I got a chance to make some Purple Scraps... and SEW them!
April is just filled with so much to do - I keep wishing the days were longer.





Ta - Da !
My Purple Scrap Heart Block

None of my scraps were all that small - so I just made squares instead...


And then of course - I had scraps... 
That kind of worked backwards - but - well - I am pretty good at backwards!


Your wildlife photo for the day - this sweet little doe, who followed me everywhere. Little freaky!

Scrappy Saturday can be found here:

Friday, April 25, 2014

Half Rectangle Quilt

My Client brought me this beautiful blue and cream half rectangle quilt to quilt.  I had such a great time with it!  I do believe that it grew overnight though. I don't think I realized it was as big as it was, until I could never reach the bottom border... it became quite comical to roll it again... and STILL not see the last border!




The variety of blues was just wonderful. She did such a great job of laying them out!



And of course - you always want to see the back!!  Well - okay - I always do. I love texture on quilts and I think this is the best way to see it!


It was so fun to deliver this quilt as well. Both my client and her husband were just so tickled. That REALLY makes a persons' day!

Linking up with:
http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/
http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/
http://quiltingreadersgarden.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!!!

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Quilts of Valor 2014

Around Christmas, or before , Quilts of Valor was featured on the news. There was an impressive young soldier saluting while in his hospital bed. The follow-up created quite a lot of requests for Quilts of Valor.  However in some states we don't have coordinators, or the contacts needed to fulfill those requests.

In comes Barb.. She is our impressive Requests Coordinator. She takes care of us and helps us coordinate these.

There so happened to be a request in Kentucky that there was not a Quilt for... and so we stepped in ;-)

Remember the block drive that we did with the Scrappy Trips Blocks?


We mailed it off to Chris to present it to a wonderful VietNam Veteran.


Mr. John was just tickled. He has a Silver Star and a Distinguished Service Medal.

I am going to bet that He and his Wife will cherish this quilt!


Don't you just love it - inspecting the back ;-)
 Here they are reading the journal that goes with it. I bet he was surprised to know how many people had a hand in making this quilt for him!  Can't you just imagine how impressive that sounds - to know that so many wanted to Thank him in the form of this quilt?


So! Thank you all for pitching in and helping us to meet these needs. And if you are interested Quilts of Valor is looking for some coordinators, and some groups to step up to meet these needs... just go to QOVF.org and you can click on the COntact Us in the upper Right corner - ask what you can do... they will help ;-)

Next show.... Quilty Eye Candy - hope to see you back!
Alycia

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

How a presentation came to be:

I am sure you know by now that we meet Veterans in all sorts of locations, and find out their needs from friends, family etc.

One of our Quilt of Valor quilters Arlene, told me of such a person. She felt this person needed a quilt based on an experience that her Son in Law shared.  So I said - Let's do it!  

Liz - my wonderful side kick - who is also a Veteran, and is an amazing presentation coordinator took over! She got in contact with our recipient, and arranged a presentation.

From Liz: "Presenting this QOV to Bonnie was an amazing experience. I do believe that she was the most appreciative of all of the QOV we have presented. Reading the letter from Brad U was an exercise in composure -- so heart-warming and sincere! It is so obvious that Bonnie is loved and respected by all of the Staff at the VA Hospital."


I just love the look of happiness and really - surprise on her face. I am sure she knew what a Quilt was - but I am not sure she really *knew* about the Quilt of Valor...


This is Bonnie and her sister.


A little about Bonnie:

On October 23, 1983, 241 soldiers were killed in their sleep during the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. For almost 30 days, Lieutenant Bonnie T. was the Mass Casualty Officer at Rhein Main Air Base in Frankfurt, Germany, assigned to help identify and process the body parts. Day after day, she did her duty, while trying to detach from the horror of it all.


I really love how our system works. I love that people know people who need a little extra love, and a big tight hug. I can tell you - This quilt totally made her day!

Go forth and Quilt ;-)

Monday, April 14, 2014

Monday!

What a difference a day makes - Saturday... 70 degrees, outside all day, loving it....

Sunday morning ..Snow, wind and rain ( yep all of them)
Monday morning - 5 inches of snow on the ground....  can we say Spring?  ;-)

At least Sunday I got to work on my projects a little - and I didn't feel bad about staying indoors.

Here is my design wall. I finished the last three purple Churn Dash blocks. I am still undecided if it should go bigger or not. I kinda think yes. That way it would be easier to arrange the dark and the floral purples into a nice plan.


I also finished a few more of the framed 9 patch blocks (maryquilts.com)

And... are you ready?  are you sitting down?

I bound.... yep! I bound a Whole quilt!



Oh yes - and this weekend was shop hop. I arrived there bright and early friday morning - ready to peruse the aisles. What fun all that new fabric is!  I purchase some superhero cartoon fabrics. I must still be a kid at heart!


And.... Your nature photo of the day:  Snow on the mountains!!

I am linking up with
Patchworktimes  and Anything Goes Monday

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Purple

This months Scrappy Saturday's  Color is Purple....

I have searched all of my scrap bags and I can not find any scraps of purple. I have yardage... so NO Worries there.... but I was trying to use my bits and scraps up first...

And then I remembered why  - I put all of my purple scraps into this quilt:



It is the Pineapple Blossom pattern at Quiltville.com





Not to worry -
I am making new purple scraps with this one:


Maybe next month will be yellow and I will be a step ahead?


Your complimentary Nature photo for the day:  ( surprise - a Tree!)