Happy Birthday America

~Land of the Free...
Because of the Brave~

I decided that I would celebrate America's Birthday by quilting these 5 Quilts of Valor.  I have been working on them for the past 10 days.  Things are busy out on the farm this time of year, so often I would have only 15 or 20 minutes at a time to work on them.

Of the next photos, the first two quilts were pieced by Linda L. in Colorado.  I sent them back to her yesterday for her to bind, lable and ship to their destination.  When I find out where she is to ship them, I will post it here.  The last 3 were pieced by 92 year old WWII Veteran Al Lind .  I have previously posted about Al and his quilt tops.  I have now quilted 16 of Al's quilts.

I have copied excerpts from quotable letters from the Quilts of Valor website to accompany each of the next individual photos.

“I was chasing three terrorists down a riverbank...”

"Dear Donna and Judy,
My name is Bob. I am a soldier with twelve years in the Army.

Christmas Eve I was chasing three terrorists down a riverbank when one of them detonated a suicide vest. The blast tore the muscles in my calf away from the bone.   I have had 7 surgeries now to fix my leg and wash the wounds. The doctors think I should keep my leg. I just got out of the hospital a couple of days ago, and will be home on IV antibiotic for the next two months. I hope to be back in the game in about 9 months or so depending on how physical therapy goes. Right now my leg has no feeling below the knee. No one else on my team got hurt; we got lucky. The bomb was made out of ten pounds of C4 and another 10 pounds of ball bearings. I was only 5 foot away when it went off, so I really can't complain about a thing.

When I arrived at the field hospital in Balad, Iraq, I was given a quilt that you and Judy had made. As silly as it might sound for a soldier with over three years in Iraq and Afghanistan to say, that blanket became a true item of comfort and peace for the road ahead. It kept me warm on the multiple C17 flights home and added color and warmth to cold hospital rooms. I curled up in it after each surgery, and now it is wrapped around me as I write this message. I spent many long nights wondering if I would keep my leg and if the infection in my body would win, but I have never once doubted if it was worth it. People like yourself are the reason I leave my wife and home to fight these monsters who want to destroy our way of life. I want you to know that your efforts are noticed and really do make a difference. Your blanket was a piece of home and source of strength when I was down. Thank you so much. I will return to the war as soon as my wounds allow, and I hope that you know that your work is important and appreciated. Take care and I pray that God blesses you and your families.

Your friend,
Bob"

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"I know that the quilt helped calm her down.”

"I just wanted to take another minute to thank you for everything that you and your organization is doing for us. The quilts that I have been receiving are just fantastic! I really wish you could see the patient's faces when they receive their quilts. I wanted to especially thank you after the gruelling night we had tonight. There was an attack on one of the bases yesterday, and tonight we received patients from that explosion. You see...all of the patients that are leaving Iraq come to our hospital, because we are the main hub to get them home. We received several patients from this attack, and all of them were still a little shaken up...understandable so. Anyway, it was very nice to be able to give them a piece of home, as they were on their way home. There was one girl, in particular, that I took care of that kept asking me over and over if she was going to die. She was actually doing very well, but she was still terrified. She was so freaked out, that she was afraid to go to sleep, thinking that she wouldn't wake up. After talking to her, and presenting her with a quilt, she was able to settle herself down. I know that the quilt helped calm her down. It is amazing what reminders of home can do for our patients. She did ask me one last time if she was going to die, before I got her up to the floor. I told her that she wasn't allowed to do die...not on my watch, especially because she had to take her quilt home and show it to her family. That finally got a smile out of her. Absolutely incredible!! Anyway, I just wanted to share that quick story. (I have to get back to work.) Your quilts are always fantastic, but tonight it meant even more to be able to calm all of those fears. THANK YOU AGAIN!!"

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The destination for the next 3 quilts is Afganistan.  They will be shipped to U S Navy doctor CAPT Patricia Hagan, USN at a multinational hospital in Afghanistan. She is giving quilts to those American men and women that have been injured. Some, after care, are being returned to their units to finish their deployment.

 

“I find myself attached to this quilt.”

"I never said thank you for the quilt. I got it in Germany and find myself attached to it like a 1 yr old woobie. I am a Scout Sniper in the Marine Corps so I am not a touchy feely guy, but the blanket is a wonderful gift. Thank you for your compassion."

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  “I received a quilt of valor when I arrived at the ICU.”

"I just wanted to say thank you. I received a "quilt of valor" when I arrived from ICU in Iraq to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. The reason it meant so much to me is because when I arrived here I came with nothing at all. I was in fear for my health and what would become of me. To me the quilt symbolizes all of the support and prayers that we soldiers are getting from back home, personally for myself as well as all the troops who cant make it to the computer to email you, I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. Just by looking at this quilt I can tell that there were many hours spent on the craftsmanship as well as all of the money spent on the high quality materials needed to make such an awesome gift. Honestly I plan on keeping this quilt and passing it on to my children some day, just to symbolize that people out there support their troops, and this country, and its freedom although sometimes taken for granted, isnt free, I am proud to be An American, and although I might not ever make it back down range, I at least know I did my part. Thank you your quilt means so much more then I can ever say to me and the rest of the soldiers here, again thank you. Because of the circumstances that took place I am going to be shipped form Germany ICU to an ICU stateside where they can evaluate my current medical condition and see if I am still fit for duty. From what I gather I am not, so I think that my military career will end very soon. It scares me because right now my fellow soldiers "my family..brothers sisters so to say" are still over there and I want to go back and be with them too. We have all became so close through the time we spent over there it's like we are all that each other has. We live, eat, sleep, shower, and spend almost every minute of everyday together ...and now for me thats over! It's hard to come to that realization but somehow I fell I am to blame, and that I did not complete my mission. When I think about it it saddens me. but your kind words mean alot to me right now..they bring tears to my eyes and warmth to my heart. Your support is priceless. your intentions are derived from pure unconditional love each strand of the quilt means something.

Thank you."

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“As a POC, I am regularly receiving quilts from all over the country.”

"From CDR Jones - Doctor at the Joint Hospital in Afghanistan

I am regularly receiving quilts from all over the country. Please express our thanks to your team of dedicated folks. This has been wonderful. CDR Russell has been involved in the delivery of the quilts to our wounded soldiers. I spoke with her last week and she said that it is going very well and that the troops are very affected by the receipt of such a thoughtful gift. I’ll let CDR Russell chime in with any other thoughts she might have. I think we are getting just the right amount of quilts. So from our end, things seem to be working very well. I think it would be great if we can continue this effort past our time and turn it over to the folks who will follow us in March.
CDR Jones"

“I have seen your quilts and know they are a treasured gift.”

"I couldn’t agree more with CDR Jones. It has truly been my great pleasure to present your beautiful quilts to our soldiers and Marines wounded in combat. I have seen your quilts at Landstuhl and Bethesda, and know that they are a treasured gift. By sending your quilts here, you are getting them to some men who would not have received them otherwise because they are returned to duty. I have given them to our guys with wounds ranging from concussion and blast injuries to amputations. Your quilts have been covering soldiers while they were presented their Purple Hearts here in Afghanistan.  Please pass along my most sincere gratitude to everyone in your organization for the opportunity to share some love from home at a time when the wounded can use it most!

Warmest Regards, CDR Mary Russell"

~God Bless America~

QOVs......the details.....

Here are some of the details from the quilts in my previous post. 

All of the fabrics in this quilt were patriotic either by color or print.

What a great idea for a backing.  She took a width of the zigzag stripe and made it big enough by adding contrasting fabric on either side.  I really like this treatment.

Sometimes, we forget that there are needs for quilts that are more feminine.  There are a lots of females serving and in harm's way also.

The back....where on earth was my lint roller??

All three of Al's quilts were done with this freehand spiral.

Al's quilts, in their Presentation Cases all ready to ship.

So bright and cheery!

Hauling Hay

...my other car is a Pontiac....

This was taken today.  It was 90 degrees with a hot south wind blowing.  I drive the Peterbilt and my hubby loads the hay with the Telehandler.  The mountain behind the truck is called Black Pine.  It is 7 miles away.  If you look really close, you can still see some streaks of snow.  Where we live, here in Southern Idaho, we only get 3 crops of alfalfa hay a year.   This is our first cutting of hay for 2010.

This next photo was actually taken a few years ago.  My daughter, Mandy, was driving the truck in this photo.  She is a pharmacist in Minnesota, but when she was in college she and her husband used to like to come home and spend a week in the summer and help.  

Each truckload goes on the scale and is weighed before the hay is put in the stack. Today, the bales weighed 2200 pounds each.

 

Stacking the bales until they are sold to dairies.

...a different view looking North

This is the south-west view we have from our deck in the summer.

 Looking back into the yard, here is our deck and back yard where we sit in the evenings and look out on the mountain...after a long hot day in the field.

Time to turn on the irrigation pivots and water the next crop.

Snowman Quilt

It's the middle of June--and here in the mountains of Idaho, snow is predicted in the next 2 days....I think this Snowman Quilt is fitting for the weather report!~

I had oodles of fun quilting this quilt.

Lots of textures!  I used 3 colors of thread on the top: royal blue, putty, and khaki green.  Cream color on the back.

This was my first time to try McTavishing on a quilt.

Each block is quilted differently.

.

This is my favorite block.  I think these pebbles look just like a marshmallow explosion!

Cold, swirly, windy, wintry.....

 

Fractured ice or a frosty window?  This was my inspiration for this block.

More McTavishing.  This time in blue thread.

I decided not to compete with the tangled fishing line and did a simple cross hatch in the background.  (The rough spots on the black fishing line are simply an artifact of the light in the photo.)

There are a few traditional sections that give a nice contrast to quilt.

Each of these snow people are holding a cup of cocoa.  None of them spilled a drop!

The borders.

Finally, here is the back: a sparkly, frosty blue snowflake print.

Memory Boards

I have been working on some Memory Boards for my Ohio daughter-in-law, Robyn.  She is having a surprise party for her parents for their 40th Wedding Anniversary and will use them to display photos and other memorabilia.  But first, I have to give a little background before I get to her project:

This is a large memory board I made for our dining room several years ago.  I really love having this in our home because I can stick in new photos as I receive them.  It's a great place for candid photos and you can really get a lot of photos on there.  Well, it's huge too!  The photo area is 42" x 28".

The wooden piece at the top was from an old dresser.  I found it in an old log cabin on the ranch where I was raised, so it would have belonged to my grandparents or great grandparents.  It was all that was left of whatever piece of furniture it once graced.

I covered a piece of 1/4 in plywood with batting, flannel fabric, criss-crossed it with grosgrain ribbon and tacked it down with black thumb tacks.  Then I screwed the whole thing to the back of this wooden decoration.  The thumb tacks holding the ribbon have been a challenge to keep in the wood and I decided I would not do that again.

Here is one of three 30" x 24" memory boards that I made for Robyn.

I went to a Mill End fabric store and found a nice light-weight linen looking upholstery fabric--60 inches wide for $2 a yard and 1/2" grosgrain ribbon for 20 cents a yard.  I found some black faceted plastic jewels Michael's.  (Do the words 'plastic' and 'jewel' even belong in the same sentence?)  Instead of thumb tacks (I knew they didn't work!) I used my nail gun to staple the ribbon junctions and then splayed out the ends of the staple on the back of the board.  Decorative upholstery tacks would be nice and I have tried them, but they are too long and stick out the back of the 1/4 board.  They are also too heavy-duty to secure by hammering over the end that sticks out the back.  You would have to use a 1/2 inch board and that would make your project very, very heavy.   Then on the front, I just hot-glued a jewel at each junction to cover up the staple.  The cost of all the materials was under $20 and I used up scrap lumber and scrap batting that I already had on hand.   

Each of these three memory boards have slightly different spacing of the ribbon. That way, they will be useful for different kinds of displays in the future.

The back is covered with felt.  This makes a nice finish to cover up all those splayed out staples you would see on the back.  I cut the felt to fit and sprayed it with my quilting spray basting glue to secure it to the back of the board.  The pine wood frame is also glued on and then secured by stapling from the front (again covering the staples with my glue-on jewels).  This frame is to strengthen the whole project and keep it from warping.  It also makes a secure place to screw in a wall hanger if they ever want to hang them on the walls.  They are nice and sturdy and should last for many years.  When I shipped them out, as a bonus, I included 3 aluminum easels that have telescoping legs so they can stand alone or collapse and be used on a table.

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Happy Anniversary!