QOV still going strong!

     Our 3 QOV groups are still going strong.  Our normal work days have been producing quilts, many of which have already been sent out to deserving Soldiers.  I believe the Perham group has some exciting news about a new meeting place.  I will fill you in as I get more information. 

 

   The St James girls are always busy.  Some of them even find time to go to some of the other meetings to help out.  Quilters are wonderful people!

 

   The Fergus Falls group is celebrating it’s 3rd Anniversary with a open house - Friday October 8th, from 2-7pm at our worksite at Westridge Mall.  Please consider yourself invited.   This is our small way of saying Thank You for your support. 

Something else for you to think about is our “Recycle Sale”  Nov 12.  If you would like to go through your quilting-craft items and donate anything for this sale, you can get in contact with one of the Chairwomen.  This is a fun time to pass on things that you won’t be using and maybe pick up a couple of things that you need!  I will add more information as time gets closer.

St James quilters meet

The St. James Quilters met on Tues., May 11.  The three of us that made the trip to Fort Knox were anxious to share our experiences and answer questions. We talked a lot, and then opened our box of fabric from Hancock's of Paducah.  That was like Christmas and got our creative juices flowing!  We are very thankful to Hancock's. 

We had a laptop computer available, so we were able to view a slide show of the pictures we brought, and share more details of our trip.

There was some "show and tell" of quilts that were made the week of the trip.  Also, one of our girls that winters in AZ was back, and she brought several completed quilts.  She is our scrap artist, and can make a complete quilt of tiny pieces of fabric.  Nothing goes to waste! 

You may wonder.....but we really did have time to sew!!

Tomorrow, May 18, some of our group will travel to Perham to spend the day sewing with them. There will surely be some Fort Knox stories, good friends, and food. 

We feel so blessed, and know for sure that our cup has been filled to overflowing!

Just a little show and tell.

We are back at it

  The Fergus Falls QOV group met Friday May 14 just one week after returning home.  Stories were shared and hearts touched. 

For those of you that don’t know the process that our quilts go threw I will give you a short run down.  This is the journey of a typical QOV quilt.

Someone will choose a pattern, fabric to make it and then they will cut out the quilt top.  The pieces that she has cut will go into a zip lock bag along with the pattern, a label to be signed by the person that sews the top, fabric to sew a pillow case and the pattern needed.  These kits are placed on a table, people stop in and pick up these kits to take home to sew or they can spend some time with us sewing.  When completed the tops and pillow cases are returned to be packaged once more.  This time the batting and backing fabric will be added and they will be placed into a larger bag.  Our volunteer machine quilters then take the tops to be quilted, they sign the label and return the package.  They are then trimmed, the binding is machine sewn on the front of the quilt along with the label and then the binding is sewn to the back of the quilt by hand.  When the quilt is all done they are folded and placed into the pillowcase that goes with the quilt.  At this point the handwritten card is added.  10 quilts are placed into large clear bags, they are now ready to be sent for distribution.  Lots of hands touch one quilt!

Following are a few pictures of our workday and also just a few of the quilts that were finished on Friday.

 

  

 

Thanks for your interest! 

Saturday-Our return home

It’s amazing, we are a chipper group considering the long days.  It is fun to hear the laughter and to see the friendships grow.  We were once again on the road by 7am.  We drove to Albert Lea where we were once again the guest of an American Legion group.  We enjoyed a wonderful Brunch and shared information about what we do and also showed them a few quilts.

 

Once again we were treated great. 

 

Back on board the bus we went and off to Cannon Falls for a little shopping before the final trip home.  I have to share a picture of our coach drivers.  Kenny and Lonnie were wonderful.  It was a joy to have them with us.  Thanks guys!!  You helped make the trip great!

We were welcomed home by our loved ones, and we did manage to bring the sun with us!

Well it is back to reality for us.  Cloths to wash and things to put away jobs to go to, but I believe we are all different people because of this trip.  We knew what we were doing was important, but now we have seen for ourselves the difference a quilt and a note can make to a hurting Soldier.  Their faces and stories will stay with us, to inspire us in our day to day lives.  The following was posted at the Legion in Albert Lea,  it is true for our Quilts of Valor groups too.  You are welcome to join us any time. 

  

 

We will continue to use this blog to inform you about our groups.  We will be posting pictures of quilts that we have done and information about meeting dates ect.  I am sorry we didn’t have more pictures of the quilts but we were outside and opening the quilts was a little difficult.  I hope you have enjoyed reading about our mission and that you will keep our Soldiers in your prayers.  There is much healing to be done both of the body and spirit.  We will continue to make quilts to wrap them in our love. 

Saturday and still going

I would like to fill in a few things from yesterday, the eyelids just wouldn’t stay up last night and the brain wasn’t working so well either!

 

Everywhere we go there are opportunities to talk about QOV.  While wondering around at the Amana Colonies we ran into a gal from South Dakota that was involved in QOV at home!!   The coach has had tons of pictures taken of it all by it self!  The gals setting by the windows when we are going down the road are having great fun watching peoples reactions as they read the side.  We have gotten thumbs up and seen people clap their hands after seeing the writing on the side.   

We were asked to stand at the play, we talked to people at the intermission.  If you didn’t know, you didn’t send out a shy bunch especially when we get to talk about what we are doing!  It will be great fun to see what opportunities present themselves today!!!

 

I want to take a minute to THANK the people of Otter Tail County.  We have had wonderful support from you. I think the Perham group has been going for 5 years, the Fergus group almost 3 years and St James for 2 years, the quilts that took to Ft Knox were not the first or only quilts that we have made.  You have supported us and helped to fund our project for quite some time.  This mission that we have taken on was started long before the trip came about and it will continue until there is no need for them. 

 

Our mission is to cover each and every Soldier that has been physically and emotionally wounded in the war on terror!  This is the Quilts of Valor mission and this is our mission.  We will continue to meet and make quilts.  In fact within two weeks all of the groups will have met and the quilts will be being produced again. As they are finished they will be bagged and mailed out to hospitals and forts to be distributed.   Thank you for enabling us to do what our hearts call us too.

 

The day starts new – what will happen today?    We look forward to seeing. 

Have a good day wherever you are!

Friday is almost over

It’s a late night post, well I guess it only feels late if you have been up and running on high for this many days. 

We headed out this morning at 7am and drove until lunch.  We ate and were back on the road.  Our destination was the Amana Colonies In Amana Iowa.  I had never been here and didn’t really know anything about the Colonies.  It was very interesting.  It was a German religious group that settled in Iowa.  They were a closed group, kind of like the Amish, but they believed that technology was a gift to be used.  The Microwave was actually invented in the Amana Colonies.  In the 1930’s the group became a corporation and the members each received shares.  They had quite a bit of industry.  Today the Colonies let people that aren’t members live in the area but they do not receive shares.  It was very interesting and we wished we would have had more time to learn about this area of our countries history. 

 

We spent a couple of hours on our own and then enjoyed a delicious family style meal.  After eating we headed to The Old Creamery Theatre and enjoyed a play called Everybody Loves Opal.  We have just checked into our rooms and plan on being on the road by 7:00 am tomorrow. 

 

By the way, we were hoping to bring the warm weather back with us, it doesn’t look like it will happen.  We have dug out our sweatshirts once again.

It has been a really good trip.  We have made friends and memories that will last a life time. 

We are stopping at the American Legion in Albert Lee, MN tomorrow morning where they will serve us brunch and we will share with them about Quilts of Valor and our trip.  We are then doing a little shopping before heading home.  We are planning on being in Underwood, MN at 6pm tomorrow night.

Sorry no pictures today. 

Is it Thursday Already

The days are blending. We had to convince someone tonight that it was Friday tomorrow.  It took some talking to convince her.  Time is going very fast, even though we are using a lot of the day.  The mornings have been early and we tend to talk until we can’t any more.  Who would have thought?!

 

Here is a picture of the Coin of Excellence that we each received looks like.

We were also presented with the Commander’s Award For Excellence.

Our conversations keep circling back to yesterday and the wonderful Soldiers that we met.  Remembering brings both joy and tears.  Some of the stories were so hard to imagine.  Being mom’s and grandma’s we want to comfort and support each and every one we met.  We can only imagine how challenging it is for the Soldiers and their families not only to be separated but also to be worrying about their safety.  Please if you know a Soldiers wife give her a hug!  Yesterday a gal came up and was looking at the quilts, she had a little boy with her and a husband close by. The husband, the Soldier, stood back with a baby that didn’t stay in his arms for long with so many grandmas around.  As I chatted with his wife about the quilts, I asker her how she was doing.  A simple question.  She looked at me and the tears started.  She said her husband had been in the service for 8 years and she thought that this was the first time in 8 years that she had been asked.  A hug was in order!  We need to take care of our Soldiers families so they can take care of themselves while they are go.

One of the officers told us that both he and his brother came home before their unit from Afghanistan and so his father picked them up at the Airport.  There was no welcome home ceremony to great them.  He said that the quilts given was a lasting sign of Welcome and Thanks.  He also felt that as a lasting cymbal, that they would help with the closure of returning to a different life.  Let’s pray that that is the case.

 

The stories are many, the respect for these men and women grows every time we tell the stories.  Please ask the gals that went about their experiences.  It is so hard to express the things we experienced.  Thank you to all that have served in the Armed Forces, you are our HEROS!

 

This morning was the first time the wheels didn’t turn on time.  I was posting and you can’t rush a computer.  They graciously waited for me.  As it turned out things are meant to be.   A few gals thought they would make a quick trip to Hancock fabrics (a very large, well known store, kind of like Cabalas)  which is about 2 blocks away, making it back in time to take the bus downtown.  Wearing the QOV shirts that were made for the Underwood Legion/Lions benefit (by the way they have been the best conversation starters ever!  We have even washed them out so we can wear them more!)  Anyway – The conversation started with the clerk about our trip and our day at Ft Knox yesterday.  The clerk asked if the girls had business cards.  Being good girls they pulled out their cards.  The clerk said that management was in a meeting but she would give them the cards.  Next thing they knew Justin Hancock came out and introduced himself.  The girls said they excitedly told him about our mission and our adventure.  What amazed them was that he listened so attentively (we can get a little excited when we get to talking about our week,  just a little!) making them feel like he really cared.  He asked how he could help.  They said they looked at each other and each one said “Fabric”.  He in turn gave us 4 box’s of fabric to be used for QOV.  Thank You Justin, Thank You Hancock family!!

 

We then went to the National Quilt Museum here in Paducah.  We were once again interview and entertained by Quilt Man.  As quilters we enjoyed ourselves.

Do you think we took lots of pictures! 

We toured the museum, sorry we couldn’t take pictures, you will have to take our word that they were works of art.  We went exploring and met back at the Museum for a picture at 12:40.  When we got there the gentleman in the picture happened to choose today to bring a quilt top his mother had made but was unable to finish to the Museum to see if they would help him find someone that would finish it and give it a good home.  We were honored to accept the quilt to be finished and given to a deserving Soldier for them. 

Read the words on the wall.  This picture was taken by the Museum director for us.

This is what happens when you are late for the bus!

We couldn’t stand it, we had to open 1 box of fabric!  Thank You again!!!

I just realized that some of you might not know what the labels on our quilts look like.  Please enlarge it and read the poem, it often brings tears.  Following is the card that goes with each quilt.

These are all hand written and signed by as many of our workers as we can get on the day the quilts are packed. 

 

We are off early tomorrow so I wish you a good day.  By the way we have been blessed with beautiful sunny days.  Someone said 80’s yesterday and it felt like it today! 

We are hoping to bring nice weather home with us.