A Starry Finish and Finished!!! (or not ) Friday!!

Happy Friday to you all!! the Last Friday of 2023!! Who knew?  

I hope you all had a great Holiday!! I did! I am refreshed, rejuvenated, and retired?? NO not retired, just re-tired from thinking of all the things we did over the little break... I'll be sharing!!

I did get This Starry Quilt of Valor Quilted!!!

This one was designed by Karen K. She then cut up Block kits and brought them to our QOV Sew day. All the amazing quilters made the blocks and we threw them at Karen as we raced home....  ( just kidding)

But she put them together into another amazing top!!!

I was lucky to quilt it!

Off it will go , back to our sew days and someone will add the amazing binding to it - and Bam!! It will be ready for a Veteran Touched by War!!

Speaking of Quilts of Valor!!! ( yes, I do that a lot!) 

My next mystery is coming up soon!!!

Doesn't this sound fun??? Come back on January 3rd for the FABRIC REQUIREMENTS - but if you need a hint head over to: this post for some hints  and if you don't have a LOT of Reds and Blues - you can do this in TWO contrasting Darks.... it will work!!

Alright !! Now it is your turn to brag!!

If you had a FONF for the week of the 22nd and one for this week - feel free to link them both up!!!  The linky party only takes 50 links tho... so steal a spot!! Quick!!!

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Linking to:

Oh SCrap at Quilting is moreFun than Housework

Awarding Quilts of Valor

 I was invited to a few places to present Quilts of Valor on Veterans Day. it was quite fun, but I forgot photos - so was at the mercy of someone else to get them to me..... and now!!

I have one!  

This is a Group from the DAR that I went to .. the members nominated family  to receive a Quilt.  

This was a super fun group - and they were quite funny.... The guy on the far left doesn't live that far from me... although we didn't know it until we had this presentation.  I was asking him about where he was - and he started laughing... he said he couldn't tell me, it was top secret... unless I brought dinner for him and his family! He reminded me of Me!! I always tell people to come but don't come empty handed!!

Of course, many think that means to bring their scraps.... oh boy!!

Veterans Day, QOV and !!! Finished!! or not! Friday!!

And I should Also Say Happy Birthday to the Marines!!!

Veterans Day, and those days leading up to it, sort of turn into a Christmas if you will. We have many groups that like to have presentations on that day...or before.... because there are only so many hours on the 11th!!

The group above was amazing!! Well truthfully they all are, but each time I bring random people together - the way they interact and the way the Dynamic shift amaze me!

The two standing on the ends were both Air Force, and were both a little shy - Once they found out they were both AF - the talking began!! and it was so cool, and so very healing for both of them.

The Three in the middle are also Law Enforcement - and Some of the coolest folks you will meet - but!!

The little lady up front!! She is 96 years old and I love her.

She was barely 5 foot tall, and she walked in and wanted a tour of our sewing room. She ohhed and Awwwed over every quilt, and she held my arm the whole time. Lawsy Mercy was she a doll. Oh - She was in the Navy during WWII, as was her husband. and her stories - LOVE them!!

I got to Visit my Favorite Breakfast Veterans - and award another 10 Quilts. We had a WWII Vet again - you all - if you have not had a chance to sit with one... I highly recommend it.

Their perspective on life is much more realistic ( in my opinion). Very few of them have had an easy life, but they have shown that Hard Work, and Duty is VERY important!!

We had a Long May She Wave quilt, and TWO Dakota Inspired quilts, and a Stop Tossing

Made my heart happy!!

The book below was gifted to me by one of my Veterans

I have not had a chance to dig in yet, but I have to tell you Sunday Evening... that is my plan

 ( along with a glass of wine!! )

I have a few more presentations set up, so my big finish for the week is getting all of these prepped and labeled, and my speech practiced . Not so much my speech, but the names and branches of service, as well as the stories I get to tell about each Vet!!

Now---- What's Happening in your world??? Spill Sister!! and Brother!!!

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Jelly Roll Race Day Update

If you remember ( as I know you have my blog memorized 😂😂

In September my Quilt of Valor group had a Jelly Roll Race day - and we had a blast!! 

At our last day a lot of us brought back those Jelly Roll quilts. Most were tops - but I think Three were completely quilted, and one of our other quilters too some home to quilt - so YAY!!

I think this is 15 of the 22 that were made? I know a few were on quilting machines - but isn't this so cool!!!

We sued Orphan Star blocks, and Deb used some of her own orphan blocks - and Karen made some cool ones to intersperse in her quilt.. and Vickie added an eagle - they are soo SO cool!!!

Linking to:

midweek makers at quilt fabrications

Sew Day Quilt of Valor Presentaitons

 We have sew days here in Kersey - and quite a few times it works out that we can invite out Veterans to come to the sew day and we can award their quilts!!

Its pretty fun! we have a great sized room so they can invite Friends and Family, and the Quilters are there - so we can see our Quilts awarded... LOVE it!!

Sew Day Number one!!! This was cool!! The Two guys on the right are from the Sheriffs Department! And the gal on the left is from Cheyenne. They were SO awesome!!  

The quilt on the left was made by the recipients family member - she had been nominated, but the family was too far away. So the quilt was sent to me, ( kind of anonymously - so there was so mystery at first.... )   

The Quilt in the Middle was made by my whole quilting group - and I did the quilting. Then Kim did the binding - but the cool thing... I ride horses with this guy and his family!!!  His wife is AMAZING!! but... the kids... his kids steal the show!! They have the most adorable children and they make my day every time I get to see them!

The one on the right - that was made by Becky - she has a special heart for our Sheriffs Department and has been working on making sure each quilt is just perfect for the Awardee

Sew Day #2

Oh man - Another Group of Amazing Veterans... They literally made me laugh the whole time. 

Karen and Connie made the Quilt on the left. And this Veteran was Navy. He was so sweet, and so honored to be there. He told us stories, and had us Grinning.

The Center  ...  Daddy Dave is what his whole group called him!! He is part of a motorcycle riding group and they all were able to come. They were a perfect addition to our presentation.  Dave was in Vietnam at 18 and was a coder... talk about some high responsibility.... 

And the Right - This guy - oh man  - this guy - what a heart.  We had been trying to get him to a presentation for quite a while but none of our schedules jived. I think it was because he was supposed to be here for this one!!

When I pulled out his quilt he looked at the Quilter who had nominated him ( Charlene) and he said - I told you I wanted this one! So he was so tickled. 

Hope you enjoyed these presentations!!!

I love to see the happy faces and hear the responses. Daddy Dave said he has never been recognized for his service and that this quilt was amazing. He might have had a little sweat running from his eyes... but we all know - that love that we can give through a quilt... makes everything totally worth it to us.

Another Quilt of Valor Presentaiton

 It's kind of like Christmas around here - I have had a lot of presentations set up...

This one!!

Just love it!!!

This awesome group of Veterans had Army, Navy and Marines. We had one that was almost 100 - and we had a Husband and Wife Navy Team - it was just awesome!!!

We had quilts from

Ila, Ethel. Lorna, Our Colorado Group, Verna, Jeri and myself. 

If you look closely you will see two people wrapped in the same quilt. They are the Husband Wife team. We had discussed that maybe they would love a quilt they could use together - Little Bit and I recalled the Kevin the Quilter Sapphire Stars Mystery and we decided that would be a great Quilt to make for this team !! So Little Bit  and I made it for them!!! 

It was exciting to be able to award these Quilts of Valor to these amazing Veterans

100 Year Birthday celebration for our WWII Veteran

I was invited to a WWII Veterans 100th birthday celebration - and lawsy mercy was I impressed!!

Roger joined the Army Air Corps in July of 1942 and he became a glider pilot. On August 15, 1944 he piloted his glider during the Invasion of Southern France behind enemy lines.

He received a medal for his efforts - in a mission that they were told only had a 50% success and survival rate.

He then flew C45's carrying equipment and wounded soldiers. he returned home in 1945, only to reenlist in the Air Force and serve until 1970.

He had a book in his house ( shown) and told me he was interviewed for it - so you know I ordered it and its on its way.

My part in the Celebration? I got to award Roger a Quilt of Valor for his service in front of his many neighbors, children, grandchildren and great children.

What an honor for me to meet this amazing Veteran - and what an honor to hear his stories!!

( PS - I want to be like Roger when I am 100!!!)

 

Vietnam Veterans

Got to hang out with one of my favorite groups of Vietnam Veterans !!!

We honored 15 veterans today ( 3 not shown )

They were all so wonderful ! We did have a discussion as to which military branch was the real military. I love the comraderie and the sense of humor !!!

I have worked with this chapter for a few years now and they brought it to my attention that we have awarded 91 of their members with Quilts of Valor

Pretty cool !!!

Quilts made by so many wonderful quilters including:

Nancy H, Sandi, Verna, Jeri , Karen Lorna, Crystal, and Debbie and Myself ( mine is 4th from the left)

Day 2 of the Crazy weekend

 The next day - I headed south for another presentation. The weather alerts were pinging, the skies were dark - and I thought - I picked a good day to be inside!!!

This group was a VFW group - I have been there 3 other times to award quilts, so when I walked in - I got recognized!!! Too much fun!

When I do presentations I usually ask for a little bio about the Veteran - some provide it, some don't. And its okay - but I knew most of these guys - so I might have taken a little creative liberty... and those Vets that did not give me a bio... I MADE IT UP!!!

And I had them in stitches.... it was hilarious - the gentlemen 3rd from the right? I told the story of him being out on his Navy Ship and he snored so bad they made him sleep on the deck.... so while he was out on the deck he started trying to learn the constellations - and that's why were are stars in his quilt.

He snarkily told me its called a carrier - to which I responded - not if its my story - you were on a boat - a 19 foot sail boat.. and he got the giggles!!

Now - please know - they all agreed to let me make up the stories - I would never want to dishonor or embarrass a one of them. A few of them piped up with their own stories to share and it was a wonderful night.

Two of them were grandfathers of two people there  - and they asked if they could do the wrapping of the quilts - and OF COURSE... but the tears... you all - it was just SO sweet!!!

 The quilt on the far Right was one I made

Pat P, Charlene , Ethel, Josephine, Crystal JoDee, Connie, Nancy H, Karen, Sue, Mary, Kim and Laura all had a hand in making up the rest of them!!! What a SUPER great team of awesome quilters - pieces, , machine quilters - and!! Binders!!!!!

Now I need to go make more quilts!!!

A Crazy fun QOV weekend

 I always try to plan, be organized, and make sure that I have things spread out, until I don't!!

And this weekend was on of those weekends - but!! It was also so awesome!!

Saturday morning found me up early and heading to one of my Veteran Breakfasts.... and!!

We got to award TEN Quilts of Valor.... 

I love doing this - and you know - I always have a quilt that I worked on in the presentation - but this time!

I had 5!!! I was so tickled that it was those Veterans turn to get the quilts I had made for them - and I might have gotten tongue tied... I might have told them that one of the quilt was a churn dash design, and that It might also be called Hole in the Barn Door - and I might be the reason why it is called that.... and now you can guess why they limit my tractor time.... 

See the Hole in the Barn door?  Anyway.. the Veteran that received this quilt came up to me after breakfast and told me this was the perfect quilt for him - he loved to farm and saw the significance. and he might have told me I could take tractor driving lessons 🤣😂

*Linking to:

• Monday Musings at Songbird designs
• Sew and Tell at Melva Loves Scraps
• Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
• Patchwork and QUilts at Quilting Patch
  

Quilt of Valor Presentation and some changes....

Sometimes you have to get up super early to catch these amazing Veterans.... But man are the smiles worth it!!

I think all of the groups are fun, but this one.... Man were we on a roll - there was a lot of joking, laughter, and many many giggles!  They even picked on me!! of all people haha!

Sometimes being the MC is easy, other times you slip up on your words, and as you know names are hard to pronounce... and  did they give me grief!! it was hilarious!!

Then When I explained that if I can't say the names I give nicknames... they all wanted a nickname - oh boy!! 

This gentleman - he was a Navy Pilot - so we presented him with this quilt - and I told him that since I knew he was a pilot I thought he might need a quilt that gave him accurate directions... so he didn't fly into enemy territory - oh man... did the whole place pick on him ;-)

As you may know I have been a Part of Quilts of Valor since the very beginning. I credit the whole success to me ( snark snark!!)   just kidding... But I have loved every part of it... I have been the coordinator of Colorado for forever ( with maybe a 1  year break)... but... in February I made the hard decision to resign as Coordinator of Colorado and Assistant of Wyoming... to  be just a Group leader.

I was hoping a Praying someone amazing would step up, as I would hate to leave our success in our state to flounder... and this amazing Woman Sandy L stepped into the role - and took off with blazing success... I am excited to see how our state grows under her leadership!!

I remain as a group leader out of Kersey, and we have such a great group -that *leading* it is not as hard as it sounds. My fellow Quilters are amazing and work so hard, and probably don't need me... but you know - its good to feel needed !

Hugging our Veterans!

 We are Spreading the Love....

I have a large group of Veterans and we are covering them a group at a time... it is just SO fun!! the Buildup, the wondering who is next - the smiles on their faces... its so awesome!!

Isn't this an Awesome group!!!  WWII, Korean and Vietnam!!! ( One was Vietnam and Desert Storm)

Do you remember that little cartoon that went around of two little kids in overalls discussing farming like adults?   I don't know why but this photo reminds me of it.

They were just so cute - talking about their quilts - and laughing ( which you can't see by his expression) My youngest son who is 6'7" helped award the quilts, and all of the gentlemen were awed by his height!!

Have a Happy Day!!

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QOV awards

 At our last Quilt of Valor Sew Day - we were honored to have these amazing Veterans come and let us Present Quilts to them

So the gentleman on the far Left is a Vietnam Veteran - and he was awesome!!!  He was so excited to be here, and so encouraged everyone!!

The 4 on the right - are Two couples!! All four of them served together!! isn't that cool!!

I love every group that we award Quilts to, but I also love to see the way the Veterans in each presentation react. Everyone is just a little different, and has a little bit of a different feeling. We had a lot of Attendees at this one, so it was even better - a lot of clapping, and a lot of happiness!

For more info about Quilts of Valor head over to: Quilts of Valor Foundation