Quilt of Valor 2013

Here is another Quilt of Valor I made this year.  Some of my quilting buddies and I found a Mystery Quilt pattern in a quilting magazine, and we all decided we'd make the quilt in reds, whites, and blues to be valor quilts.  I don't make pieced quilts from patterns very often, and this was interesting for me to do.  Especially interesting because I had no idea what the final quilt would look like!

And when I did finish it, I was really surprised at the secondary designs which appeared.  In the photo above, try to look at it as a series of independent rows.  For example, the striped blocks were simply large blocks with corners added to them.  But when the other rows are added to it, a more star-like pattern emerges.  

Then the quilting started.  I chose to do different free motion designs in different areas of the quilt.  In the blue borders I did really big spirals, all down the row.

And each of the small squares received a leaf design,with a curving "vine" connecting all of them.

In the large striped blocks I did a large starburst(?).  Not quite sure what to call it.  It was actually quite easy and fun to do.  I marked the center of the square.  Then I started at the outside edge and made a curvy line into that center spot.  After that I simply swirled back out to the edge, more or less following the same curve as the first line, travelled a little bit in the seam, and made another curvy line back to the center.

I really like how it looks.  This was a design I found in one of Leah Day's books.

And when I got to the very end of the quilting, I had exactly this much thread left on the bobbin!  Good timing, don't you think?

I found a nice piece of patriotic fabric on sale (whoopee!!) and pieced it with some red pieces for the back.

As part of the piecing process, I was left with a lot of half-square triangles, which had been trimmed off one of the blocks.  We quilters do like to save things, don't we!  And after all, these were perfectly good HST's, all cut and sewn and ready to be used.

So I sewed twelve of them together into a strip like this.

And I used them to embellish the pillow case which goes along with each quilt as a presentation bag.  

Now, I still have quite a few of those pieces left, and no, I haven't thrown them away yet!

Quilts of Valor

A couple of weeks ago I went with three other women from my quilt guild to a Veterans Hospital near us. This is a trip that our guild members make every year, but this is the first time I have gone along. We took with us 30 Quilts of Valor to give away to wounded servicemen and servicewomen. In the room where they were going to have a special pizza dinner with their families, we unpacked the quilts and displayed them on sofas and chairs. Soon some of the men and families came into the room. Marilyn explained who we were and why we were there. Then she told them that the quilts were gifts for them, and they could choose which one they wanted. The men seemed very happy to be given a quilt, and to get to make their own choice. They were very appreciative. Some of them let us take their photo holding the quilt they had chosen. 

Not all of the patients on the ward came to the pizza dinner that night.  They have a very long day of grueling physical therapy, and some of them felt like staying in their rooms that evening.  Our contact at the hospital said that she would distribute the remaining quilts to the rest of the patients at a later time.

I'm showing two of the quilts of valor I've made in the past.  We usually make them out of red, white and blue fabrics, as it seems that's what the patients like the most.

Nine-Patch Variation

We had an all-day comfort quilt workshop for our June guild meeting. We all worked on comfort quilts or Quilts of Valor. Someone in our guild said, and I quote, "Comfort quilts are the best thing we do."

We give away many, many comfort quilts and Quilts of Valor every year. Seems there is a never-ending need for these quilts.

I had a new (to me) pattern to try this time, a pattern sent to me by SisterStitches. To tell you the truth, I couldn't quite figure out how the block was formed from looking at the pattern, so I had to try it for myself!

It is a variation on a nine-patch, and it goes together really easy--very slick! I love this block, and it is deceptive; the block looks like a lot of cutting and piecing of different sizes of fabrics, but it's not at all! I simply cut blocks all the same size for this quilt.

Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me at the "sew-a-thon," so I can't show you the quilt in progress. But the photo below may help a little.

Above you see a finished block. The block started out with nine squares (all the same size) of fabric. I sewed it into a nine-patch, then cut the whole block into four pieces. The first cut was in half horizontally, and the second cut was in half vertically. If I tell you that the block started out with a red center and gold print in the four corners, does that help any?

There are many different ways you can put these squares together.

The next photo shows the quilt layers being sandwiched together on the floor. It's not a huge quilt, sort of a lap quilt size.

And I love the fabrics. They've been in my quilt stash for quite a while. I bought them as a collection. Wouldn't you know--I had just exactly the right amount of fabric! The maroon-ish fabric has a texture to it, which I like. There is also a matching gold textured fabric, so I used it for the borders.

Now it is all basted and ready to quilt. I think I will do some straight-line quilting, and then put some kind of motif in the larger, gold print squares. I'll keep you updated!

Of course, MisterStitches fell in love with this quilt pattern and colors, so I'll probably have to make another one for him!