Quilt of Valor's in soldiers Hands

There were smiles all around. And a line forming to get their quilt!
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I have heard back from some of the coordinators in the Company. They still can not believe that people care enough to comfort their soldiers. And that we did not pick and choose which soldier was deserving of a quilt.
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Now you know that it was raining/drizzling that day. And the ground was wet. NONE of them wanted to get their quilts wet. They were very respectful of them!

These two were helping - they were surprised that a few quilts could weigh as much as they did. Made me feel good, I wasn't as wimpy as I thought I was.

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Hope you all have a good day. Mine is quiet - all the boys are at a basketball thing, and I have the house to myself. It is quite strange actually.

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But I am off to sew and watch a girlie movie - one I know that no one else would appreciate watching.

It's Finally Friday

Although it feels like Thursday to me.... ;-)
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These first two quilts were sent to me by Lisa in TX. But... they were made by 7 year old Rebekkah and her Grandma Sara. I have to say that Rebekkah and I share the same taste in Fabrics. These are just cute quilts!! The Pig Fabric is just funny, and the horses are wonderful!
Thanks Sara and Rebekkah!!

















The next two quilts were quilted by Liz D in Broomfield Co - on her Statler Stitcher! The Rail fence was made by Audrey in Co and the other was from Heartstrings. I included a picture of the backing so you can click on it and get a close up - I loved the pattern.

This quilt to the left was quilted by Wavalene W. She did feathers thru the blues and they look awesome on this quilt.

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And the last quilt came from Texas by an anonymous quilter. But is sure is wonderful!

We were supposed to have tornados and rotten weather last night. We even got a call from the weather service to be on the lookout. Needless to say when the first black cloud arrived I got the dog and everyone inside. Nothing happened. Best dissappointment of my life! We got some lightening and Thunder late in the evening, but I could handle that. I assumed that we would be tucked up in our little tornado cubby.... but no. I appreciated the call - and was glad that nothing came of it!

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Today is Thursday

But you all probably knew that. I on the other hand was operating as Tuesday all day yesterday. Imagine my Surprise this morning when I found out I missed a day!!
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These beautiful quilts come from all over! The first on one the right was made by Linda in Loveland, quilted by RoseAnn in South Dakota and is ready to go to a soldier. Thanks ladies!!
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The next quilt comes from Trish K in Monte Vista CO, and was quilted by Peg C ( I think she is from Alamosa but not 100% on that). I have included a picture of the back..Check it out - my boys fell in love! Thanks ladies for the group effort!!

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And the last quilt for this post comes from Sandra D in West Virginia. You can check out what she is up to on her blog - http://sandyquilts.blogspot.com .

This quilt is from The Quilting Bee Forum at QuiltPox. The rail fence part was made by Roslyn A at Http://ros-the-quilter.blogspot.com and was quilted by Sandy on her Nolting.

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I love it when stories come in with the quilts. Not only can I share with you - but I can include the information with the quilt in the journals.

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My boys bought me a bag of Dove Dark Chocolate. I think it is a bribe to continue to use my machine. See I do have another - it is a cheapy from walmart - I use it rarely, and mostly to fix jeans and canvas things... it is a tough machine, but it is also tough to sew on and they don't like it. Anyways my bribe has little fortunes on the packages.

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Todays quote is: "Do a little more each day than you think you possibly can"

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Pretty good huh - and I will have to since I thought I was still going to wake up to Wednesday!

I have been replaced!

It has been raining all day. Swim Practice was cancelled so the boys thought they would work on their quilts for 4-H. They sort of commandeered my sewing machine. You all probably don't know this - but I don't share well. I do share - I just don't always do it well.... but I gave up my machine for the day.
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Little bit watched big bit for awhile. I think he was actually making sure big brother was doing it right - as he has 2 whole quilts under his belt already. He finished 3 blocks.
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Then Middle bit took over. He got 2 of his blocks done.
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After heading to shooting practice ( they do archery) and getting rained out we came back - and Little bit finally got to the machine. He finished one block before bedtime... not bad for a rainy day. Although I did NOT finish anything of my own....
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Maybe tomorrow?? They are kind of on a deadline - these quilts need to be done by July!!


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Now let me show you some Gorgeous Quilts of Valor!! These Three came from Carolyn J in PA. The fabrics are wonderful.


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I love the Dissappearing 9 Patches. They all turn out so differently... these color combinations are great! Thank you so much Carolyn.

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Is anyone a fan of The Beverly Hillbillies? We found a lunchbox that had 2 DVD's in it at the grocery store of all places, and I picked it up. So far we think they are quite funny!
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Have a great evening!!

Not so Top Secret Project Two Part 1

My 2 1/2 inch scrap bin was overflowing. So I decided that I needed another pattern that used the 2 1/2 inch scraps. This is that pattern. I shall call it the "Not So Top Secret Quilt #2"
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Especially since I can not keep a quilt a secret - this seems to be an appropriate title. And it can be the second in a series, Since the NSTSP 1 used 2 1/2 inch pieces too!
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I am not showing you the finished quilt as of yet, because - well mine is not finished. I am having a border conundrum... so I may have to show it to you with the choice of 2 borders.
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So Step One:
The 16 patch Block.
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I grabbed my 2 1/2 inch bin and pulled some strips out. Now I have a rather Patriotic looking bin. I randomly pulled strips that were approximately the same length. I sewed four strips together, and then cut them into 2 1/2 inch subcuts. ( Picture 2)
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You need 18 ~ 16 patch blocks.
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If you are going to make a 4 color 16 patch you will need approximately 3/8 yard of 4 different fabrics. If you want to use Fat Quarters - you need 288 ~2 1/2 inch squares, and a Fat Quarter will yield approximately 56 ~2 1/2 inch squares each. Which means you need about 6 FQ's... see why I used my bin?
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After I subcut them, I chose 4 pieces and sewed them together to make the block. I did not try to determine a pattern, I just sewed the strips together and came up with some pretty random, and unrandom blocks. I liked them.

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Then... are you sitting down for this? I squared up each 16 patch block to 8 1/2 inches in size. I normally don't do this - but I was avoiding chores - so I did, and I will be glad that I did too!

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Here is a picture of my squared up blocks, and the trimmings. Do NOT put your 2 1/2 inch bin away. You will need it for the next step.

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So .... it doesn't look to hard so far does it? I will post the next step next Monday... so get to sewing!!

Answers to Questions

1. So what's next for you? Something new and different? ( From http://kimzquilts.wordpress.com/ )

~ Finding new ways to encourage everyone to make a Quilt of Valor. Talking at guilds around Colorado, and.... having a booth at the Quilt show in Loveland on the 22nd of August.

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2. Did you take a pic of the pile before you started distributing? Does the chaplain say I need x quilts and you take that many or did you somehow deliver 700 quilts at once? (from http://swooze.blogspot.com/ )

.... You know I did take a picture - but I don't know where I downloaded it to. I will have to look. The second deployment filled an entire van.... and part of a surburban and I forgot to take pics of it. It was raining - I don't look good in the rain, my hair frizzes, it embarrassing....

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We took what was asked of us to take. The first trip took a van and a trailer, the second the van and a surbuban.

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3. Are we doing this again? ( from Sue S in AZ)



yes Ma'am - I am up for it if you all are!!


The Numbers needed are a hard thing to keep up with. I will tell you about this base, as all other bases may be different. But the Wounded Warrior unit houses soldiers from lots of units, not just those deployed out of Ft Carson. But every time a new Battalion deploys the wounded number surges. So they try to keep up. So we will just be communicating and doing our best. They think that there will be approx 200 new soldiers to be coming into the unit by Sept/Oct...... so we are off to a good start at quilts to meet that number.


I tell you -they were Truly blown away that any group would even try to do what we did. And that we want to try to get a quilt to every incoming injured soldier.

And the soldiers -they try to be tough, they are tough. They are really shocked that someone wants to thank them, of give them this gift of a quilt - but I know that they are so touched that someone cared enough!


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Hope I did okay?
Come back tonite for the start of Not So Top Secret Project Two!!

Quilts for a Sunday

These first three quilts on the right were all Made by Kathy in WI. They are gorgeous!!! And the two of them are string quilts, but the top on doesn't look like it at first. Took me a moment!
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Kathy - Thank you SO much for your hard work. I sure appreciate it!!!
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This Not So Top Secret project quilt on the left was made by Cindy P in ME. I gotta tell you, it just tickles me to see the way they can all be so different. Cindy - Thank You!!

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Next is a Friendship Star type quilt from Kathryn in MA. I like the way she used the color and the white - it is quite striking! Thank you Kathi for contributing this quilt!!

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And last - a string quilt from Sue, quilted by Janet - both in Heartstrings. Sue has her own blog over at http://susan-my2cents.blogspot.com/ if you feel like checking it out. She is up to a new project.

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Today has been a long but lazy day. We taught in the 4th grade at church, and I think all the kids came sugared up. They were great - but the don't stop.... The 4th graders move up to the 5th grade class next week, so we got to go check it out, and they had JUST AS MUCH ENERGY..... need more caffiene if we make that a regular thing!

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Hope you all have a great rest of the weekend. Ladies - Thank you for your Quilts of Valor!!

A Belated Thank you!

Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night with something on your mind? I do this quite often... and it happened last night!
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The Journals... The journals that went with all of the Quilts of Valor. They were put together by two wonderful students and their Teacher. They collected letters from students, they added pictures, they did a bang up job!! Kayla and Jordan and Mrs W. Thank you SO much for your work!!. They made up approximately 550 journals.
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Ms D - She made the journals that went with the quilts that the 5th graders made. Thanks to you too Mrs D - they were wonderful!
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And Mr. and Mrs. R made up the rest of the journals for the quilts. They collected letters and pictures and quotes as well.
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So Thank you! you hard workers!! I sure appreciate it!!

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Now back to sewing ;-)

More Soldiers with their Quilts

I wonder is a soldier gets used to the paparazzi? This soldier and his wife recieved his quilt, and we all got a little camera happy. At least they didn't mind. I think they were a little shocked at how many flashes could go off at the same time though!

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The pic at the right is a picture of the paparazzi!! Can anyone guess who made this quilt? I was asked by Kim if it felt like I was saying goodbye to friends when the quilts get given out. And , um, Yes. Even thought I did not make every single one, I still feel like they are my babies and I am sending them out into the world.

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Anyways that one was made by Carole in CO.

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The quilt at the right came from the Deaf Class here in CO. Pure co-incidence

that we got pictures of those quilts and their soldiers.

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Anyone have any great weekend plans? Ours is to get hay, and hopefully sneak into town to the pool. Oh and to work on the Not So Top Secret 2....

Have a great one~

Geneseo Quilters Strike Again

These folks from Illinois are awesome and prolific quilters!! They surely keep their long armers busy. Look at these beauties!

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I think the first two on the left are Turning Twenty Again patterns by Tricia Cribbs. If they are not, they are sure close. And beautiful!!

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Today was my first real day at swim practice. Wrangler Man took the oldest yesterday and the other two and I were a little busy! None of my boys are in the same age group - so we have 3 different practice times.
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I think I used my time wisely though. I worked on a quilt pattern planning, I signed a bunch of letters that I had typed up. I worked on a quilt journal and I wrote a real handwritten letter!

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Now I will have to figure out what wise things I can get done tomorrow. I have thought about taking my cutting board at times - but that might be a little dangerous.

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Geneseo Quilters - Thank you very much!!!

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Stay tuned...... Many of you wanted a hint for NSTSP2...

I pulled out my 2 1/2 inch strip Scrap Bin and was hoping to decimate it..... does that help?

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No Soldier Forgotten!