Quilt of Valor Foundation

 I longarmed a Quilt of Valor for the National Foundation last January and they sent a photo of the ceremony. It was awarded to Army Veteran Specialist Allan Gentry who served from 1974 to 1977. His duty stations were in Ft. Eustis VA and Schauenburg Germany as a truck driver. His quilt was awarded at the Delta Area Senior Center in Delta PA where he is a member. His wife was present along with many other Senior Center members to thank him for his service to our country.

2 QOV tops to longarm

 I'm longarming, and on my frame will be 2 Quilt of Valor tops.  Both are for the national Quilt of Valor Foundation.  This was the first one...

I love QOV quilts.  I attended our group's last awards ceremony where we awarded over 25 quilts to deserving veterans.  The man I gave my quilt to gave me 3 hugs because he was so grateful.

If you would like to serve veterans in this way you can visit the QOV Foundation website to find a quilt sewing group in your area. There are groups all across the country! 
https://www.qovf.org/about-qovf/whos-in-my-area/

 The search function on their site doesn't work very well if you enter a zip code.  You have better results if you zoom in on your location using their map.

Here's the 2nd one...

Yesterday, I cut out the pieces for a small wall hanging I plan to hang in my foyer/hallway.  It's a Jolly Bar quilt, from the Fat Quarter Shop. When you buy a Jolly Bar a free pattern comes with the package.  A Jolly Bar contains 40 5"x10" strips of a fabric collection.

Back to work after a long delay

 My longarm machine is finally back from being serviced, being gone 6 weeks!  Far too long, I'll take it somewhere else next time.  In the meantime I spent time working on UFOs.  Here's one... the Sugar & Spice quilt from Studio 180 Design. The fabric collection I used is called Promenade by Moda Fabrics.

I feels so good to be back to work!  Here's the quilt on my frame this afternoon.  It's the second of 4 QOV quilts I need to finish this week.  2 are for the National Foundation and 2 are for the local QOV group.

Update 3/24/2024:  I have made the star blocks and laid out the pieces for the center 

of the Sugar & Spice quilt.  I still have 2 borders to add, then I can assembled the quilt top!

Latest QOV is on the frame

 Here's the latest Quilt of Valor I'm working on today!  National Sewing Day is this Saturday and I have 4 QOV tops to longarm so I can turn them in on Saturday.

Quilt of Valor

 I made this quilt a few months ago, longarmed it and finally finished the binding this afternoon. It’s being donated to the QOV sewing group I’m in. 

Starting a new QOV

I bought a new pattern for a QOV top that I couldn't resist.  It uses one charm pack and yardage.    Here's a photo of the center of the quilt.  I'll add more photos to this post as I progress making the quilt top.

Update March 11:  All I have left are 5 borders and the top is finished.

Quilt of Valor tops

 I'm working on more Quilt of Valor tops this week.  It is a privilege to do a small part in making these comforting and healing quilts for Veterans who gave so much of their lives serving our nation.  

If you sew, please consider becoming a volunteer to make quilt tops for these men and women.  You can find a local QOV sewing group by contacting the National foundation.  Their web site  is https://www.qovf.org/

   

QOV awarded to a veteran

 I have the honor and privilege of longarming Quilts of Valor for both our local sewing group and for the national foundation.  I was happy to receive photos from the award ceremony of one recent quilt.  This quilt was awarded to Army Veteran Master Sergeant Christopher Pfahl.  His military service began in 1997.  He went into the Army reserves after two enlistments and has been deployed twice to the Middle East, once as recently as last year.  

Thank you for your service Master Sergeant Pfahl!

 

Quilt of Valor

 I haven't posted a quilt top in awhile so I thought I'd show the Quilt of Valor top I'm longarming today.  I love QOV quilts.  I attended our group's last awards ceremony where we awarded over 25 quilts to deserving veterans.  The man I gave my quilt to gave me 3 hugs because he was so grateful.

If you would like to serve veterans in this way you can visit the QOV Foundation website to find a quilt sewing group in your area. 
There are groups all across the country!  https://www.qovf.org/about-qovf/whos-in-my-area/
 The search function on their site doesn't work very well if you enter a zip code.  You have better results if you zoom in on your location using their map.

5 QOV tops to finish by Wednesday evening

 I thought I'd update my blog with the task for this week.  I have 5 Quilt of Valor tops to work on before our QOV group meets on Thursday morning.  Here's a photo of the one on my frame this afternoon.  I'm using a pantograph called Star Streamers on each of the tops.

Sewing for the Quilt of Valor group

 I'm stitching quilt tops for my Quilt of Valor group this week.  There are about 20 women in our group and we sew quite a few tops each year.  3 of us are longarm quilters that finish the tops into quilts.  Here's the one I'm working on today!

Quilt of Valor finished!

Before...

... and after

I finished a quilt of valor, and have one more to go.