TV News Spot Aired

So, on Tuesday, 2 Dec, Fox45 News aired the news segment the filmed on "Quilts for Heroes".   Hope you enjoy it...as we enjoyed doing it to share our story of quilting for our heroes.
http://youtu.be/4drJ83fu_0E 

We also received a wonderful card from a WWII two-time Purple Heart recipient.  He received one of our quilts and wanted to thank us.  Can you imagine?  HE wanted to thank us.  HE thinks we are special.  I sit here with tears in my eyes thinking of the pain and suffering he endured for us and shake my head...that HE would thank us for making him a quilt.  HE and all our warriors are HEROES and deserve so much.  A quilt, even with all the stitches of love and gratitude, seem so little to offer.

Last week we had the chance to see "Lone Survivor".  WOW!!!!  If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.  I think we all should see it.  It isn't entertaining, but shows a bit of what our heroes go through.  It shows their fight and honor.  It shows how they don't give up...they keep going even in the face of danger.  They do not shy away, they do not weaken, they do not run.  They keep going.  They keep fighting evil....for us and for our children.  I cried...almost all the way through the film, but I would gladly go again.  It's something we need to see.

We live in a small town that is home to a military installation, a DOD facility.  Hubby and I are retired from working there.  I retired after 37.5 years and Hubby worked for 39 years.  We get to go to the gym almost every morning now, when we aren't watching our delightful grandchildren; and sometimes stop to get a salad for lunch at one of several fast food restaurants in our town on the way home.  There is hardly a day goes by when I don't meet one of our heroes, grabbing a quick lunch before going back to work and I can't let ONE of them walk by me without offering my thanks.  And, you know what, it almost always brings a smile to their faces.  Such a little gesture, but, I've spoken to so many and they all say it means a lot.  Please remember, when you see one of our warriors, say "Thanks for serving our Country!" 

 

 

Quilts for Heroes had the distinct pleasure of hosting FOX 45 reporter Melinda Roeder and cameraman Jed Gamber on Monday, 7 Oct.  Ms. Roeder read about us in our capacity of working for Quilts of Valor and came to hear about our quilters as well as to hear stories from some quilt recipients like SGT Mack from the APG Post Chapel.  We also we honored to have MG(R) Genaro Dellarocco who had become an honored friend and supporter, working to make arrangements for us to provide quilts for Maryland Fisher Houses!  Ms. Yvonne Johnson, APG News Editor, a long time friend of Quilts for Heroes also attended and published a wonderful article about our quilting.  WHAT A GREAT EVENING!

More quilting in our future........

SGT Mack with Melinda Roeder
and Jed Gamber (FOX 45)

MG(R) Dellarocco, Carol Hansen,
Brenda Aleman and SGT Mack

Dottie Kreutzer and Carol Hansen
with Dottie's Quilt

Paulette Jones with
Melinda Roeder (FOX 45)

Dottie Kreutzer and Jed Gamber
(FOX 45 Cameraman)

Merrie Street with Melinda Roeder
and Jed Gamber (FOX 450

Well, we have an extremely busy two weeks coming up...

On Saturday, 28 September, a quilt I posted about earlier - the red/white and blue quilt I made for Gyleen Fitsgerald's new book:  "A Polygon Affair - So Easy You'll Fall in Love" (to be on book store shelves in February 2014) will be auctioned at the Aberdeen Proving Ground: 9th Annual Support Our Heroes Gala to benefit the Maryland Fisher House organization!  What an privilege to be able to help raise money to benefit Fisher House!  And, guess what?  After the Gala, negotions are underway, working details for Quilts for Heroes to make occasional trips to the 5 Fisher Houses in Maryland to deliver quilts for the wounded warrior families staying at Fisher House!  How exciting is that?!??  We all know that behind every hero is a family providing love and support to that hero and we want to offer some comfort and support to them!  They are heroes too! 

On Thursday, October 3, two of our quilters:  Brenda Aleman and Cathy Swisko will be honored guests at the 27th Annual Harford's Most Beautiful People ceremony in recognition of their devoted service to "Quilts for Heroes"!  Both Brenda and Cathy have made huge commitments and investments of time and money to honoring our wounded warriors by making beautiful quilts to comfort and thank them for their service.  I am so looking forward to attending this wonderful event.

Then, on 7 October, Ms. Melinda Roeder from FOX 45 will spend the evening with us to learn more about us and perhaps do a news segment about our volunteer effort.  We are so excited about her visit and are honored to have invited recently retired Maj. Gen. Genaro J. Dellarocco from the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command; SFC, Chaplain Elijah Mack, Senior Chaplain Assistant, Installation MCOIC from Aberdeen Proving Ground; and SFC, Command Chaplain Assistant James E. Morris with the 20th Support Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground to join us.  What a wonderful opportunity to tell people about what we do!    Thanks FOX 45!

With all that said, we need to be quilting 24/7/365 to get all these quilts ready.  I'm BiNdInG this weekend AND I'm working on a quilt to help raise funds for the Martha Lewis (http://www.skipjackmarthalewis.org/ for her restoration.  More on that later!

Wishing you happy and heartfelt quilting till next time.....

Hubby and I attended a Community Meeting last night and were lucky to speak with our County Sheriff, Sheriff Jesse Banes!  He is a long time friend and has always been active in our community and he has been re-elected several times based on his outstanding record in our County.  I've had an idea milling around in my head for over a year now and took the opportunity to mention it to him last night. 

As a non-profit in a close-knit community, we are frequently offered fabric donations.  Many times these donations are a combination of cotton quilting fabrics as well as other types of fabrics.  Some is suitable for warrior quilts but some has been passed to other non-profits for other uses.  My idea would allow us to make quilts for children or young women in our County (either children being removed from their homes and in need of comfort or young women who have been abused).  I presented my plan to the Sheriff last night and he seemed interested.  We are expecting to hear from him soon giving us contact information and discuss what he envisions. 

Wish us well in reaching out to comfort women and children in our community.

AmericanQuilting: New Kits Available

Love the flag quilt kit!  What a wonderful blog too!

AmericanQuilting: New Kits Available: Liberty 41" x 58" This kit comes with pre-cut and pre-stacked squares to make this scrappy flag come together quickly. You could e...

Quilting in July was pretty busy!

 

Working on a Lonestar!  Such a happy quilt, don't you think?  This is another quilt using

Gyleen Fitzgeralds' Poly2 Ruler. 

Such a quick quilt....with my quilter, Gloria Perkins at Glory Bee's. 

Can't wait to get it back and see Gloria's magic. 

Spent the first weekend in August in Carlisle, PA with

hubby, youngest son and his beautiful children. 

Poppy took first place with his Mercedes Unimog 1300! 

He is very proud and can you think of something more fun for a 7 year old grandson? 

His very own Army truck!  :) 

 Tons of fun and don't, for a minute, think I didn't take quilting with me.

 

 

Gloria finished the amazing quilting on this one and I spent the weekend hemming.  Such a beautiful warrior quilt thanks again to Gyleen for her ruler and for her design work on this one.

Look for it in her new book along with instructions.

 

Found this fun quilt video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNoZXjt_Ay0 - 40 minute scrap quilt with Valerie Nesbitt.  It inspired me to make 6 strip sets and at our 29 Jul meeting

we had a contest to make red, white and blue warrior quilt tops in one evening!

Three tops were finished that evening and three more since then.

Ours are larger than Valerie made...to meet or exceed our 55"X65" minimum size requirement so

they took a little longer than Valerie's 40 minutes, but I think they are beautiful!

 

 

 

 

 



 And, not to make a long story longer, but back in my High School days,

and I definitely don't want to date myself but it was back at the very end of

Vietnam and way back then, you could order a bracelet with the name and info for

a Vietnam POW as a way to remember and honor them.

Well, I ordered one and for years I wore a bracelet with the name

SP4 James Michael Ray (http://www.pownetwork.org/bios/r/r048.htm).

He turned up missing in 1968 and I continued to wear his bracelet and watch for him for years.

But, eventually I lost my bracelet.  I carried him in my heart and never forgot him.

Then, years later, after the Vietnam War Memorial Wall was built in Washington, DC

I visited the wall while chaperoning a group of Boy Scouts.

After going to the Wall and finding SP4 Ray's name; I wondered over to some vendors

along the sidewalk and discovered that the vendors were selling

bracelets of the POWs still listed as missing.

When I approached the table, I reached for a bracelet, and (I get cold chills every time I tell this)

I reached for a bracelet .... and it was for SP4 James Michael Ray!

Needless to say, I bought it to replace my lost bracelet and wore it.  Eventually I also found the original and have them both.  I am convinced that God intended me to remember

SP4 James Michael Ray.

Welllll, this morning I discovered that his father passed-away in 2011 but, at least at that time

his mother is still alive.   So, I want to verify that she is indeed still alive and I

plan to make a quilt for her, to remember her son.

I will fill you in and let you know what happens, but I only wish

they would find him and still - bring him and all the other POWs home!

I pray God will watch over, not only our POWs but all our warriors!

Well, it  has been a busy summer.  I must have about 10 quilts in process...maybe more. 
I've been working on a couple of Gyleen Fitzgerald's challenge quilts, finished a  braid quilt, finished a warrior quilt, working on a hexagon baby quilt, STILL hand quilting the double wedding ring and I'm starting the most delicious kids around the world English  paper piecing project.  Hubby has a few LONG truck shows coming up with his Mercedes  1300 Series Unimog and my paper piecing will be going with me.  Last year he bought me my very own Honda generator so I could take my Featherweight with me so I could sew in our EZ-up tent while he shows the truck but I think this year  (if this 100+ degree weather continues) I may leave the Featherweight home in favor of the portable AC unit he bought since I hate summer weather.  I am a January baby and I'm told that explains why I love cold weather and snow though I love almost all weather....storms, rain, etc....just not hot summer weather.

So, I am now workin on a quilt to be auctioned to help the Chesapeake Heritage Conservancy earn money to replace the mast of the Martha Lewis in Havre de Grace, MD.  This is the Martha Lewis at Tydings Park in Havre de Grace.





And....blocks for her quilt.

And this is the work in progress on the quilt for Paul and Tanya's baby.

 

 

 

And this quilt is at the quilters now and will hopefully be in Gyleen's next book.

 

 

 Anyway, HAPPY QUILTING!