Seascape - Peaceful Murmurings - Yet Another Quilt Of Valor

This week, I've put the last two quilts into the mail to their recipients. I think the folks who see them presented at the meeting will be surprised. They are more 'art' than the many I have sent up before. You can judge for your self on my Quilt of Valor page, and scroll down.

This one is the sea, at sunrise, looking at the sun through a crashing wave. A Quilt of Valor for a soldier long returned from service. A thanks from a stranger for that service.

Gathering the fabrics together

 

Sorting fabrics into groups for cutting

Building very, very slowly so many pieces!

The first two strips assembled.

Pinning the Sandwich

Quilting, this one has taken FOREVER!!!

Finished! Can you see it??

Finished!

Quilt of Valor ...And Amber Waves of Grain

Here I go again! Actually, I'm about a week in, not at the beginning. With everything that's going on, (and there's a lot going on! Two family members broke arms, a month apart, both needing help, three new puppies, that car crash in December still having reverberations in that my car was not repaired well....) I'm starting on my 40th Quilt of Valor! It's tentatively named '...And Amber Waves of Grain'. 

For a long time, I've felt that 40 might be my last quilt. It always felt like a distant number, but had no meaning beyond that. But I realize now that's wrong, it has to be 55. So far, that's how long Curt has been left behind in Vietnam. One quilt a year for surviving forces, that made it home.

 

Choosing fabric from my stash

First into strips, then into triangles

Enough triangles to start building blocks

How I begin my block builds, then stack to rows

The first two rows laid into blocks

The 3rd row going together

Using the row above to build the 4th

The last two rows set up ready to sew

6 strips set and sewed, laid out into quilt top

Sandwich built for the first 2 strips

Sandwiching the last 2 strips

Quilting, stitching backwards to build the top

Top two thirds quilted, pinning on last

Changed! Bottom added and pinned.

Quilt of Valor - Stars and Thunder

Here begins the next Quilt of Valor for a Vietnam Vet

This is the next block pattern

Why it's hard to get anything done. It's cold outside.

What I have been able to finish, inside, with interruptions.

Not easy with the cats body pressing my back.

Every block must be checked. This is wrong.

This is right, must check and re-check.

Finish one, layout the next

Corners much match the next block

One more strip and then assemble the halves.

Pinning the 2 tops halves to the batting and back

Binding going on

The back

The front of the quilt. Nice scrappy quilt.

Birthday Gift Quilt

My next project, which I actually started earlier in the year. The birthday is still a couple months out, but I need to get it done, so I will get started on that today. I 'started it' because when making the 'postage stamp' type blocks, I needed lots and lots to be sure I wasn't getting the same block and fabrics over and over. I kept making more, adding lots of new fabrics, so that all of them have a great variety of fabrics.

That will get me all caught up, with quilts to all of the Great-Nieces and Nephews. So, it may be the last Birthday Gift Quilt that I make. 

The building blocks

More 'stamps' blocks = diversity

Snowball building

Putting it together

From 2 blocks to strips

I have to match every corner

Just the top, but it's pretty!

And Yet More Quilts of Valor - Here's What I Will Be Working On Next

There's always something next! Always! Maybe not immediately, but still next. The quilts of valor that I make run between 90-125 hours each. That's a lot of time. 4.5-5 yards of fabric in each - the top, the batting and the bottom. That's a lot a fabric. especially in the top, as it's multitudes of smaller pieces built up to that 5 yards of designed top. And thread, and binding, and thinking, designing, changing and re-designing. And driving, shopping, shipping. There's a lot involved in every single quilt. And I can only hope that they each serve their purpose. I get to choose the patterns, and I like most of the patterns I have made, some more than others. Most that I've made this year I really like!

I began this one at the end of June, and finished it sometime in July, with all the regular things that also take up time in our everyday lives.

Matching the triangle sets

Preparing to Trim

Rectangle is the base piece

Hold onto the scraps

This is NOT how they go together

This is correct

Laying out the 2-pieces for colors

Assembing as laid out

Assembling, assembling...

From chaos comes beauty

Pinning the sandwich

Pinning didn't go so well...

The back of the quilt

The top after quilted

Binding is such fun! Ha ha!

Bound with words