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

Book Shelf Quilt of Valor

 Quilt Name: Leave the Past Behind. This one is a special request from a friend for a friend. Took a long time to create, as I 'built it' on the backing fabric. The recipient of this quilt has just retired from the Army, after 30 years. The quilt is named 'Leave The Past Behind'. The books with titles included are all books that look forward, suggesting research, learning, hobbies, and fun. The yellow is representative of the area of the Army that he served, and also the a wall covering with Bee's buzzing, bee's are all about pollinating new ideas in places where they didn't perhaps exist before. 

The globe with the blue jay is a reminder of his college, as are some of the books in the bookcase. There are plenty of books available without titles that could have titles embroidered on, should someone decide to do so. It's slightly smaller than many of the Quilts of Valor I have made, which are the largest size allowed. This is the mid-size or 'recommended size' of QOV's. 

I made the books as blocks, and then added the shelves. I spent a lot of time ripping out ad starting over. Building out from the actual book shelf, I finished it with an Army fabric. Of course, his name, the quilt name and all the information I include on the quilt is on the binding. The back is not as smooth as I like, because of the way the quilt was built on it.

Making Book Strips to create Quilt Blocks

Why The Viking Was Important

With instructions for quilt care (Never Pull String, Wash in a Bag on Gentle, Lay Flat to Dry) the what's and why's and who's, all the important information about the quilt, even an apology (Sorry for the Klingon) because sometimes, the machine decides to write gobbledy gook, there is no controlling it! This is why I needed my machine back and the Viking folks were such a bane to my existence with constant dishonesty and wasting hours and hours of my time with their stupidity. I don't think I will ever buy anything from that company again!

 

Quilt of Valor - Splashes of Blue and Red

Is this seven of seven, seven of nine or seven of eleven this year? It's seven of eleven Quilts of Valor made this year. Anyway, it's nearing it's finish, and then on to the next one. I made two at the same time, in this pattern and these colors. They were to be gifted to two cousins, and so I needed them to be similar. Of the cousins, one is still serving, the other has served and moved on to other things. 

The color was changed, by that I mean, on the second quilt, where you see red here, you would see blue there. These use the traditional log cabin block, set it on point and using just two color palettes, create an intriguing design, don't you think?

..

Six of Seven Quilts Bound, One More To Go!

All caught up in the continuing saga of my Viking Sewing machine, I finally got it back after nine weeks, (originally told two, then they called me into their location three weeks later to pick it up, but it wasn't to be found, and wasn't actually there. The least honest folks I've found in a while, so very, very disappointing!!) These are finally ready to go into the mail! Hooray!!!!

Most of these are log cabin quilts, set on point, for a different effect. I started with 'Reflections on Water' and it's twin, but as I was making it, grabbed a more aqua colored fabric, and conceived 'Aurora Borealis' and could hardly wait to finish the first to make it, just to see if it would match my expectations once made. Thankfully, it did.

I had a handful of blocks left, so I created a few more, and came up with more sky-themed quilts with 'Patriotic Sunset' and 'Dawn's Early Light'. The other's here, I actually created first. I had seen somewhere (usually how my quilts are born) the (what I call) hiccough design, with the one set of set of blocks continuing into the border fabric, and loved it! So, I figured out what size I needed to start cutting out triangles and eh, voila!

Aurora Borealis

Dawn's Early Light

Almost all my quilts have information

A Turn in the Path

Reflections on Water

Square Ripples in the Pond

Examples of the text

Patriotic Sunset

 

Blue Lightning Quilt

This is the 'Blue Lightning' quilt, that I made on (what I call) the 'Shadows' pattern, but with descending blues of various shades rather than a single color, as the earlier 'Shadows' quilt displays. I think you will agree that it's stunning now that I've finished. I had to wait until I got all the earlier quilts in the mail before moving on with this one!

This started as a quilt for a family member, who I thought that I had missed while making quilts for all the others. When it was nearly finished, I reached out, just to be sure that I had missed making this person a quilt in the last round, and found that I had, in fact, not missed him! Though it would have been easy just to send it to him anyway, that would mean that I would need to get working on another for all the others, to keep them all equal and even. Instead, I turned this into a Quilt of Valor, and got it on it's way! 

In a couple of years, when each of my family members are approaching another watershed point in their lives, I will create and send them each a quilt.

May 31 - two halves of the top only

 

Working and Working and Working

Finished 'Blue Lightning' QOV

Finished Red, White & 'Blue Lightning' QOV

Quilt of Valor - Shadows

When only half done. I ran out of the gray strip fabric, and Hobby Lobby (close to me) didn't have anything close to the same color, so I had to wait until I needed to go back to JoAnn's (to pick up my viking machine - a whole saga in and of itself!!) to get the matching fabric. 

I saw this pattern as I was looking around for the next pattern to try to create. I really liked it, but it was done in all gray scale blocks and a dark gray shadow line. I wanted mine to be bright and cheerful, and not overwhelmingly gray, but when all is said and done, I should have used a darker gray to make the shadow lines. It looks great they way it is, but that might have added a little more to it.

June 1, Building the second half into Strips

From strips into halves - top only

Facebook, Denise Made It

 You will find a lot more content, how I'm doing that, and recent updates by visiting Denise Made It! It's easier to point my phone and update there than to run upstairs, turn on the computer, upload images... I will do it, eventually, and when possible, quickly, but the day to day can be found on the facebook page, as long as facebook hasn't caused issues again, putting their nose it and hurting others on their way...

Shadows - Quilt of Valor

May 12th, just beginning! It's always messy in the beginning, as I am choosing fabrics to include. I always make more than I need, to be sure that I have options to select as I am building the quilt.

Cutting out 6" blocks, 1.5 and 2" strips

I try to have as few 'duplicates' of fabric as I can, that means having a lot of fabric available and cut out ready to go. It makes it more fun for everyone, I think, maker, user and folks who happen to see the finished product. 

Half way !

The borders, if there are any (and there usually are) are as important to the design of the quilt as any other fabric included (and they are all important), but they border can really pull the whole quilt together! I call this one 'Disappearing Shadows'.

Finished!

 

Sunrise - Quilt of Valor

Red sky in morning, Sailors take warning. But red sky's in the morning are beautiful to see, as I tried to display in this quilt, from the sun in the lower left, to the pink around the sun and the red of the clouds leading up to the blues of the changing night sky, sunrise is a beautiful time of day.

This, like several of the other quilts I made in the spring of 2024 (and indeed several before that) is a log cabin quilt block, set on point. This quilt, as many of the over 100 quilts I have made and gifted, is a Quilt of Valor, sent to a veteran of Vietnam.

Only half quilted, diagonally from the left.

To build the sandwich and stitch this

it has to be in pieces. I'll post again with finished photos!

 

Raised Garden

Doesn't look like much but is it heavy!

Tomato plants, melon and strawberries

Hopefully to keep the critters out

 

Rebuilding Pages

 Looks like changes to blogger is causing pages and photos to mis-align. I will have to carve out time to rebuild several pages, soon!

Sunset - Quilt of Valor

 This was the next quilt I put together, for another veteran who served in Vietnam. I really like this one, myself. As night falls, the red sunset on the horizon, the darkening sky above it. Lots going on. It's a log cabin quilt block on point. Thankfully, I don't have enough to make another. I kept telling myself, just make a few more blocks, similar to these left over and you can make another quilt like this. It's not that I couldn't keep coming up with ideas, it's just that I was running out of all these colors or fabrics!

1/2 quilted, this is Sunset. Awaiting the return of my sewing machine to finish!

Until Viking returns my machine I am stuck!

Aurora Borealis Log Cabin Quilt of Valor

I've been working on this one for a little while now, and should have it all the way to binding tomorrow. Of course, it will then sit until I get my good sewing machine back from the Viking repair at Joann's, going on 6 weeks now...

Before all was said and done, the viking folks took 9 weeks to get my machine back to me after promising two weeks, then advised me to pick it up at five weeks, when they couldn't find my sewing machine, because it wasn't there! Pretty irresponsible group of folks. I wouldn't buy from them again!

When I started on Reflections on Water, and found an aqua fabric that wouldn't work there, I conceived this quilt. It's beautiful, and went out to a Vietnam Vet.

Just to be sure you understand, I purchase all my own fabrics, threads, battings, supplies and equipment to create these quilts that take approximately 100 hours to make (some are closer to 85 hours, many are more like 120 hours.) It's all me, beginning to end!

The binding is stitched on but can't be finished

I usually add fun fabrics, they are in the binding