A Day in the Life of a QOV: The Complete Set

Continuing on in the ways A QOV can arrive in Colorado....


As a Complete Set:  A top( 55 x 65 min, 72 x 90 max), and back ( 6 inches bigger than the top) and Binding, and a pillowcase.... This is like hitting the mother lode of unfinished QOV's - all I need to do is add batting to it.


But - before you think that is it.... there is more.


The complete set, with the batting, is then labeled - I put a 3x5 card on the set, with the piecers' name, the size of the top, backing , batting, and a place for the quilter to put their name. 


All of this is then placed in a clear bag ( NO BLACK BAGS HERE!!)
and put into my to be quilted bucket.  


Colorado is just the best state - I have some AMAZING long-arm quilter volunteers that take in a QOV when they can... they are so awesome. I know that in our QOV show posts you can see a close up of the quilting - these ladies and gentlemen add so much to our already lovely tops! And are truly wonderful for working them in to their schedule!!


They take these sets, quilt them up, and hand them back to me.... then the next step begins.  The quilt is layed out and photographed for the blog ( if I don't do this at this step then I forget!!)  


Then the quilts are trimmed and there is NO WASTE:


Batting scraps that are big enough for Quilt as you go, or rag blocks go to quilters who do that. Many of those are used for our Northern Colorado Honor Flight Vets..   Batting scraps that are too small go into a bag that is taken to a group that make pet beds for the Denkai Animal Shelter.... NO WASTE. Fabric is sliced into strips and fed into their appropriate bins for more quilts!!


The Quilts then get a fabric label put with them, and since they came with binding the binding is pinned in a bag on the quilt, and they are put into the *to be bound* bucket.  Once a month this bucket goes to a sew day with me and BAM! They are labeled and bound.


Then they come home with me, get washed, pillow-cased, a journal added and written into my Ready Journal!!


So - Did you learn anything? See anything that could be streamlined?  Made easier, better?  Hope you are enjoying seeing all who get to touch a QOV - many hands made beautiful hugs for our Veterans!!


Link to A day in the Life - the Finished Quilt

Questions Answered

Oh I Love it!! there are a few questions about this post - I am truly happy to answer them - and you know why?  I know the answers LOL


Question 1:


Ok. 2 questions. Do you make up the labels ahead of time or do you purchase them? And is the pillowcase just a standard size pillowcase that you sew to accompany the quilt?

**This (upside down - I have rotated it and it still goes upside down)  Is the Label that I had made up. We can fold it in half and stitch it into the binding - or leave it open and write on the blank if we want.... When we were doing the 700 quilts I was a little worried about labeling them - so I did this at fabricbytheyard.com   . There are also labels available thru the QOV shop at QOVF.org, or you can make your own - 


** Pillowcases - here is a cool pattern at Vicki Welsh's blog

Question 2:
I have a question too. What information goes in the journal that goes with the quilt?


I made a basic journal that tells a little about how a quilt is made, it tells them what a QOV is - and that we want them to feel the hugs and love as the use the quilt. It is 2 pages, and pretty simple - but at least they know that there is a lot of work and love that goes into these quilts, and that MANY people wish to say Thank you!!


Question 3
I'm curious as to what form the journal takes, is it a book?


The one I use is a 2 page print out on 8 x 11 paper, and then it is easy to pin to the quilt. I have found that if they aren't attached to the quilt somehow, as the recipient opens the quilt, they fall to the ground....






Hope that answers the questions so far - come back next Sunday for more - " A day in the Life of a QOV"  there are a lot of different ways that I see them ;-)

A day in the life of a Quilt of Valor

I have to tell you, I get a LOT of questions about our QOV project and how things get done, and who does what, and how you can help, and oh my --- I LOVE LOVE LOVE questions. So I thought I would do a little series on "A day in a life of a QOV" when it comes to Colorado.


Now - this is not an " I work so hard post" or a plea post - simply Informational - and hopefully fun for you to see how I do things.... and how I do things is not always how things are done for others... simply how I do them.


There are a lot of scenarios of how QOV's  arrive on my doorstep, or in my mailbox, or at a guild meeting, or at a quilt show... so today we will start with scenario one.


THE FINISHED QUILT


A finished quilt is handed to me... by Finished I mean, It has been pieced, quilted and bound.


I take it home ( or out of the box)  and spread it on the carpet or couch and photograph it.  I have a notebook and in it I write all the information I know ( as well as the picture number).


Sometimes the only info I know is the return address on the box.  Sometimes there is a label and I write that information down.


If there is NO label - I have QOV labels here, and I fill out all the information I know - The Piecer's name, the Quilter's name and then there is a blank for the recipients name.  I apply the label.  I have been known to pin the label, and put the quilt in a pile. Then when I have a stack of labels to apply I sit down and do them all at once... usually while watching Castle. Cuz NO ONE is allowed to talk when Castle is on!!


Once the quilt has its label it has two options....Option 1 : if it has been washed it is ready to go into the pillowcase pile. If it has a pillowcase, and a journal.... it is totally ready to go, I bag it up and put it in my to go box. 


Option 2: If it has not been washed, then it goes in the to wash pile, and is washed in cold water, with 1 color catcher, and tumble air dried... then it goes in the pillowcase pile. Again if it came with a pillowcase and journal it is Bagged up and put in the to go box.


If a quilt does not have a journal - I have a journal on my computer that is kind of a *stock* journal with how a quilt is made. Then I add the information that I know about this specific quilt... and pin it to the quilt, pillowcase it and it is ready to go.


Pillowcases: Some quilts come with pillowcases, some do not. There is a guild in Pueblo that has been faithful in sending pillowcases this way and those are a LifeSaver. When we run out, the ladies and gentlemen that come to our Greeley Sew days have pitched in.... 


I keep a notebook with the number of quilts I have ready at one time. So when the Chaplain at Ft Carson, in the Wounded Warriors Battalion, calls and says I have a need for 10 quilts - I can look at my list and know that I have 11 ready... we are good to go.


Hope that gives you a little glimpse into the life of a QOV... THE FINISHED QUILT


Stay tuned for the next installment of "A day in the Life of a QOV: The Complete Set".