All Twisted Up...

You'll have to be patient with this blog, as I'm trying to be patient with Blogger.  I tried to do a facelift on my blog and all is goofed up. Layout problems abound.  *sigh*

-Donna

Round 4 Quilts of Valor

It might be tacky to post more than once a day, but I'm catching up on my QOV show...

Once I got my garden to bed a couple of weeks ago, I started quilting. I can't seem to start on any project for myself without making a QOV first. I leafed through a few ideas and this one struck me. I loved this RailRoad Crossing quilt. Vivid and manly, hopefully a soldier will enjoy it.

I've been cutting a 1 1/2" strip x width of most fabrics I've used for years. I lay them neatly in a drawer. With all the red, white and blue fabrics I've used in the last couple of years, this was a snap to sew together. I cut only about 10 strips to add to what I already had.

Six strips are sewn together, then cut into 3 1/2" units. They are paired with 6 1/2" blocks and 3 1/2" squares. Lickety split. The tan fabric is printed with tiny American flags. I've used this fabric over and over. It's one of the few I use from JoAnn's - most are too stiff or thin. I buy yards and yards whenever I see it.

Again, its scrappy-ness tugs at my heartstrings. Bits used again look so lovely together, even when thrown together. Fabric is like some dishes I cook. Beef burgundy tastes even better two days later. ;-)

This RR Crossing quilt is currently with a longarmer in Ohio. I'll post a photo when it's returned to me.

Cheers,

Donna

Round 3 of Quilts of Valor

Hello today...

Continuing with my QOV show, here are numbers 5 and 6, made last winter. This snowball variation entitiled "Shooting Stars" is one of my favorites. It's a scrap quilt, which always pulls at my heartstrings to begin with.
The narrow half square triangle borders are made from the lopped off leftovers from piecing the snowball blocks from a large square and two small squares. I still have hundreds of them left!

It was longarm quilted by Larry Gore, a retired US Army Master Sergeant. He did a fabulous job, using large pantographs of American historical symbols like the US Capitol, Statue of Liberty, George Washington's face and the Lincoln Memorial.

Here is a typical label of mine. I like to use Pigma brand pens. I hand stitch the label onto the bag before the quilt is washed. I generally run a row of light hand quilting (not through the front) in the ditch of the label border.

Half the blocks of this sampler quilt were given to me from my Lally Quilter friends. I made the other blocks. Larry quilted this quilt, also. Again, gorgeous quilting. Each block is uniquely quilted with patriotic themes.

The sampler, its label and bag...

Both quilts ready to be delivered. These were sent to the Naval Academy for two prior service Marines.

Have a good day,

Cheers,

Donna

Round 2 of Quilts of Valor

More QOV's with a little help from my friends. A couple of years ago, Daisy in Louisiana made these Log Cabin blocks that I turned into a quilt for a wounded warrior.

And Tooki in New Zealand made these Nine Patch blocks. It was a lot of fun turning these well pieced blocks from both of these friends into QOV's. Love ya, girls.

Here are their presentation cases.

Cheers,

Donna

First Quilts of Valor

Some of you may not be aware that I garden all spring and summer and sew all fall and winter. Mostly I quilt, but I also make costumes for our French & Indian War living history hobby and misc. curtains and such.

My main quilt focus for the last few years has been Quilts of Valor. I make quilts for our wounded warriors. I've been an Army wife for 22 years and have a soft spot for soldiers. :-) I can't not make them.

A few years ago, Hunky Man came home with an Army magazine and showed me an article about Quilts of Valor. I immediately went to my computer and checked out the web site. http://www.qovf.org/ I signed up and have been quilting for them as much as I can since. Warning: don't read the comments from the recipients without a tissue handy. (They are currently having some technical problems, but will be up and running soon, I hope.)

These are the first quilts I made. I'm a "quilt topper", I make the top and backing. Then I'm hooked up with a long arm quilter somewhere in the country. I mail the top and back to her, she/he returns to me a quilted quilt. I bind it, make a presentation case, label it and write a personal letter.

I made these quilts first. I tend to make them in pairs. This simple Nine Patch came first.

Then I made this scrappy Texas Two Step. This one is very special to me. I rec'd a phone call one Saturday morning, right around Veteran's Day from the recipient. A very sweet young Marine called me to thank me from his hospital bed in the burn unit of Brook Army Medical Center in San Antonio. I will never forget his voice. God Bless you Sam, wherever you are.

This is the type of presentation case I started making. Handy for transporting the quilts and keeping them clean.

More quilts to follow...

Cheers,

Donna

Back in the Saddle Again...

I know, I know, it's been far too long since I've posted. And I've missed it terribly. Between some very busy family time, then a long stretch with a defunct camera, blogging has fallen away from me. But it's been in my mind the whole time. So enough talk of all that, I'm jumping back in, even though my camera is still broken and I'm making the point n' shoot span the gap. Good pictures may not be with me for a while, but the words still work.

I've put my garden to bed for the winter. Come October, I'm gardened out. Or could it be that I just really hate cutting down plants and doing that necessary drudge work? I think so. Although, once I'm doing it, I love it. I love the clean slate and feeling of preparation that comes from having tidy garden beds ready for foul weather.

Some late summer garden bits:

**Late blight hit my gorgeous tomatoes. I had to cut down all my big luscious heirlooms. Tears rolled silently down my face. My husband was very supportive and held the trash bag for me while I dumped my sorely afflicted beauties in. I diligently worked for days to save the others. All went well for weeks. Then I went on vacation, and the vile thing crept in while I was away. All was lost within a week or two.

**I was fortunate that my zucchini were never adversely affected by the squash vine borer this year. In fact, I still have two humongous mutants sitting on my kitchen counter. I just couldn't take them anymore, so there they sit, staring at me.

**No more traveling in August for me. Everything is ready for harvest in August and I was away for two out of three weeks, right during prime time. I missed too much of the good action.

**Somebody smack me upside the head before I plant so many banana peppers next year, okay? There are only so many stuffed peppers and pickled hot pepper rings a family can eat. And I've also decided that we only need a half of a jalapeno plant, too. Maybe those hybrid geneticists can work on that for me. The trials and tribulations of good dirt! :-)

**My heirloom bed around the vegetable garden was a raucous success. A jumble of interesting heirlooms, mostly annuals, but all huge. Beware mushroom/topsoil mix, you may get much bigger plants than you bargained for! I'm expecting an onslaught of nicotiana and amaranthus next year. Millions of seeds scattered themselves.

"My garden is never as good as it will be next year." Don't know who said it, but it sure applies to me!

Cheers,
Donna