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! 

 

Well, I haven't written in awhile but that doesn't mean we haven't been busy.  We've added three new quilters lately:  Sue, Patrice and Paulette.  Sue and Patrice have quilted before and are working on some beautiful quilts.  I will try to get photos of their projects tomorrow night.  Paulette is new to quilting so she is making practice blocks to build her skills so she is good at sewing straight seams.  We'll have her quilting in no time!  She's very excited about learning to quilt. 

I spent part of Thursday with Gyleen Fitzgerald, of Colourful Stitches (www.colourfulstitches.com) and we are working on a new pattern using her Poly and Poly2 rulers.  I'm stitching blocks this morning and can hardly wait to show them to you.  I know you'll love them as much as I do.  Sending a big thanks to Gyleen! 

Anyway, hope you have a beautiful day!  Looks like Spring is finally here.

Hope you had a wonderful Easter!  We did!  Grandkids came for an egg hunt but also entertained us with a magic show. 

 

 

Not sure which magic trick this was but she kept trying to  pull a rabbit our of her hat.  Such fun!

 

 

We were blessed with a fabric donation last week and had fun sorting through fabric.  We ended up passing some on to another charity as it wasn't all quilting fabric but we did add to our stash.  Should make for some happy quilters.  :)

 

 

And, even though it is Spring...it's still cool here in Maryland so I spent the day quilting....

 

 

 

 

Anyway, that's all for now.  Happy quilting!  Hope you'll visit again soon.



So, we had a WONDERFUL Easter: Church, Easter Egg Hunt, a delightful magic show by a 4 and 7 year old and lots of food!   Love being with our sons and grands!  Clean-up is all done and back to my quilting.  And, tomorrow.....plans to meet a very generous fabric donor to pick-up a big addition to our fabric stash.  I think our quilters will love it!  Can't wait to share it with them. 

 

Wishing you a blessed Easter and a warm and happy Spring.  Bring on the sunshine!

So, hope everybody is having a wonderful day!  This sun is shining and most of our snow from yesterday is gone, though neighbors built what appears to be Snowhenge for lack of a better description but that's melting too now. 

Anyway, it is warmer but definitely not warm enough to spend much time outside so guess what...I'm quilting again.  Working on Gyleen's Garden...

Making progress and hope to make a lot of progress this evening. 

Working on a project with Gyleen Fitzgerald and www.ColourfulStitches.com and her "Garden of Eden" project.  Such fun and see for yourself....as I'm starting....it's going to be beautiful! 

Gyleen is author of several books: 
The Dream
Poetry & Patchwork
In This House
Quilts: Unfinished Stories with New Endings
The Queen's Court
Trash to Treasure Pineapple QuiltsThe Polygon Affair

as well as inventor of the "Trash to Treasure", Polygon and Polygon 2 rulers. 

On another note, "Quilts for Heroes" has several new projects going....making quilts for Fisher House and most recently....making and presenting quilts to Perry Point Veterans Hospital.  That means we will be needing lots of new quilts.  If anyone has an out-of-control stash.....please consider a tax deductible donation....either fabric or monetary to help us reach our goals.  Please contact me for details.

Happy Quilting!

So, we had a wonderful time at the Harford County Volunteer Expo 2013!  Talked to a lot of potential new quilters and several people Cathy and Brenda did a great job of telling people about our endeavors and we even spoke with a next door neighbor at the show, Michael Carey, a Voluntary Service Specialist at the Perry Point VA Medical Center at Perry Point, MD.  We are making plans to meet with Mr. Carey for a tour of his facilities and to meet some of his "hero" veterans and possibly make arrangements to deliver and present our quilts on a regular basis.  This is an exciting prospect as we would have the rare and wonderful opportunity to meet our heroes and thank them in person!  How exciting for us!

So, it's 5:24 AM and I'm thinking of taking a nap. I went to sleep at about 11:30 and was back up at 1:30 to work on this.

I have a few more blocks to make before putting it together and I'm toying with the idea of adding a few trees.  Thoughts? 

So many ideas and not enough hours in a day.......

Getting ready to go to the Harford County hosted Volunteer Expo - 2013 on Saturday, 23 March from 9 AM till noon at the Patterson Mill Middle-High School at 85 Patterson Mill Road in Bel Air, MD.  The Harford County Department of Community Services will be holding its 5th Annual Volunteer Expo.  Stop by and discover how you can make a difference in our community. The Expo provides the perfect chance to hear from numerous organizations and agencies about volunteer opportunities custom made for you!

 Sign up to volunteer on the spot or just learn about hundreds of possible rewarding exciting and rewarding volunteer opportunities in Harford County including Quilts for Heroes. 

 

We meet MOST Monday evenings (except the third Monday of each month or Holidays) from 4:30 till 8:00PM at the Aberdeen Proving Ground - Edgewood Area Post Chapel, Building E4620.  Feel free to email me at cshansen@comcast.net or quiltsforheroes@yahoo.com. 

Working on a new Warrior quilt today and looking forward to another coming back from the quilter after she works her magic to make my work look good.  This is the one at the quilter's:

Gloria, from Glory Bee Quilting, does all my quilting and she does such a nice job!  Check our her website:  http://www.glorybeesquilting.com/contactus.html and her photos on her Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/glorybees.  She does some wonderful quilting and has a beautiful studio for classes. 

Here's one I finished recently:

 Don't you just love batiks?  They just look good no matter how you sew them together. 

Well, sewing later today...after a trip to the gym.  Hope you have a day filled with sunshine on the second day of Spring!

Quilts for Heroes is a 501c3 organization

comprising of quilters dedicated to making quilts to honor and comfort our American heroes.

Throughout history, even back to the Civil War,

quilts have been presented to soldiers

as a way to comfort and thank them for their service.

Our quilters make and present quilts our military,

both active, wounded, service and retired.

Many of our quilters either come from military families or

spent years working for the Civil Service, helping our Troops behind the scenes.

I invite you to check back often to see progress we are making on various quilts

and to suggest heroes in your neighborhoods who may be

eligible to receive one of our quilts

AND

if you are a quilter too,

we happily accept either fabrics, supplies or quilt donations

which are tax deductible.