Quilts of Valor

A sub-group of us from the local guild formed a Quilts of Valor group  (Prairie Winds Quilters) last winter, and we've been working on quilts made from blocks donated by members of the whole guild.  We've done a couple of quilts already made from the Garlic Knot blocks but knew we had enough to make at least one more.  A couple of weeks ago we tried to have a "sew day" in the morning before our guild meeting. But no one was able to come.  Last Friday was another attempt to sew during an open classroom day at The Pin Cushion.  But I was the only person able to come.  So I worked on putting together this top myself, and got this much done (top photo).  

To finish this I needed 5 sections with 2 red and 1 blue block.  But I was short a few red blocks - until this morning.  I dug out all of the blocks we had left, and finally decided I needed to make just 4 more red blocks.  I actually made 5, and used 4 of them.  Those right side rows aren't sewn together yet, but maybe later this week it will happen.  In making a bigger effort to NOT leave half finished things lying around, I just felt that I needed to get this top done even though it isn't my "personal" project.  But it was sitting in my house waiting to be done, so I'll keep plugging away at it. 

Our guild members have made lots and lots of blocks for Quilts of Valor so far.  They are a generous and giving group of ladies, but not all of the blocks made the grade.  For example, here are the first 3 blocks I made this morning.  See that bottom one?  It reads PINK when you step away, even though it's a red/white dot.  I discarded it into my orphan blocks where it may get used in something else some day. 

And this is an example of another discarded block.  Not thrown away - just set aside for now.  There were 3 red blocks that had seams so poorly aligned that the blocks were crooked.  These 3 might be salvaged if taken apart and remade.  

We have another dozen blocks that are too small by at least half an inch.  I think those could become some nice patriotic table runners or something.  The blocks are too nice to not use somewhere. 

I'm really hoping that as we go along we'll be able to get more people together to sew these Quilts of Valor, because I know the ladies want to do that.  We have a large bag full of patriotic Ritzy Cracker blocks to start on next.      

A new guild project

 

Our guild had a sewing day on Saturday morning before our meeting. This Quilt of Valor top is the result, and we accomplished it in less than 3 hours.  The blocks were already made, but we added a narrow border on a few to make them all 12.5" square.

 

 

Ruby and Pam sewed like crazy, while Carmen pressed. I cut sashing and cornerstones, and the block borders.  We had enough Garlic Knot blocks to finish another QOV, and start one more. Carmen pressed a lot of Garlic Knot blocks too.  But with such a small group working we just focused on the other quilt.  It's graduation season - and youth baseball season - so we had a lot of people with bigger family priorities last weekend. We'll do another sewing day and finish up the other quilts too.

 

Quilts of Valor building blocks

One of our long time members is downsizing and she gave more than 20 gorgeous patriotic blocks to the guild to use in a future Quilt of Valor.  There are some really amazing blocks in this collection.  I was told that they were from a block exchange.  All I can say is "Wow - and thank you Mary!"

 And I've made 4 blocks (so far) to add to that mix.  While I'm digging in those red, white, and blue scraps and stash I may make a few more.



We are having a Quilt of Valor work session the morning of our May meeting. I counted out Garlic Knot blocks, and we had enough to finish one quilt and 26 more to start another. Those are now organized and ready to go. I also pulled 2 really pretty Garlic Knot blocks out of the stack because I feel that they fit much better with the blocks that Mary gave us.  They are on the right side of the picture above.  These Garlic Knots are so pretty.  Besides, I know that folks will come that morning with more blocks.  It's really looking like we could get 3 more QOV tops made in the next month to add to the 3 we have ready to present.

Design Wall Monday - Patriotic blocks

Quilts of Valor have been on my mind lately, with lots of time checking them out on Pinterest and on blogs that I read. 



At our guild meeting this weekend, one of our members donated several beautiful patriotic blocks to use for future Quilts of Valor.  The blocks were not all the exact same size or shape and were from a block exchange she had been involved in.  We are having a QOV sewing session the morning of our May guild meeting. So we'll figure out a layout to use those blocks that day. I'm thinking a nice gold sashing to separate them should work well.

That made me start thinking about a possible future guild challenge of making 12" blocks that we can put into Quilts of Valor.  Everyone could just choose to make their favorite block, keeping the patriotic color scheme and the size.  This could be a way to make multiple quilt tops quickly.



So with these ideas racing around my head, I had some fun on Sunday playing with some patriotic blocks. The star block at the top is actually leftover star units from the QOV that I just had quilted.  I had 8 extras, so I can make another block like this too.  And the block at the bottom used the Diamond Tile block from the new Quiltmaker magazine. This was the block in Bonnie Hunter's Addicted to Scraps column, and I added the blue corner triangles and the red border to make it 12" finished.

Check out what other quilters have on their Design Wall Monday posts:  http://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

A Quilt of Valor flimsy

I have the flimsy done for this Quilt of Valor, way more quickly than I expected.  This is an adaptation of the Spotlight pattern by Mountainpeek Creations, which I've used before on a different panel.  I love the borders made up of a combination of pieced blocks and plain strips.  The original pattern used 9-patch blocks. But I felt that the stars would be more appropriate for this one.  I ended up only using 12 of the stars, so there are stars left to use somewhere else.

My husband left at noon on a business trip, and I went right down to my sewing room.  By 4:30 in the afternoon I had the flimsy done. And the bonus - I didn't spend the afternoon snacking. 

Working on a New UFO

I was looking at my UFO list yesterday, and decided that I just wasn't "feeling it" for the next item on my list for this month. It's an autumn themed churn dash quilt and it's just the wrong time of year to feel excited about autumn fabrics. So I decided to simply pull another UFO out instead.

This week I had bought some red and blue yardage to finish this patriotic panel. So it was the ideal next project.

I've added a red inner border around the panel so far, and have 7 red/cream/blue stars made for a second border. There are 13 more stars cut out and ready to sew.  And there is plenty of the red and blue to add a third border.  I think this will become a Quilt of Valor.