Working on Quilts of Valor

Today is the last day of March!  Wow, this month flew by in a hurry.  Today, in middle Tennessee it is a beautiful sunny day with bright blue skies.  I've been working on Quilts of Valor.  I've made (2) Country Crossroads quilt tops and Laurie from my Quilt Guild made (1) Stripy quilt top with Flying Geese.  Laurie's is now ready for mailing to a LAQ in Tennessee.  Hopefully, I can ship it to Paula on Monday, along with the backing fabric I chose.  After I get Laurie's QOV in the mail, I will request LAQ's for my (2) Country Crossroads quilts.  Obviously, I love the piecing part but struggle on the mailing part.

Scrappy Quilt Top

Scrappy Quilt Top for Sewing Group

Last Tuesday at Sewing, we all dug into the piles of fabric squares we had been cutting over the last few weeks.  I chose the 4" squares.  It would have been too busy for me with just the 4-patch blocks, so I added some fabric to calm it down some.  Although, looking at it from a short distance, it still looks very busy.  It measures 45" x 58".  Hopefully, our leaders will not say that it's too big.

Country Boy Quilt Top

In late October 2017, I discovered (2) kits that were donated to our Sewing Group.  One was called  "Country Boy Pattern #403" and the other was "Country Girl Pattern #402".  These were pre-cut quilts from Creekside Quilts.  The fabric was quite light weight and it dates from the early 1980's.
Lolita from our Quilt Guild donated some plaid fabric several years ago and I thought her fabric would be great for the boy's shirts instead of the floral fabric that came with the kits.

Country Boy Quilt Top

Fabric Journal is complete

I began the Fabric Journal in Nov. 2015 and made the covers.  I began again in May 2016 through Dec. 2017.  My husband provided his expertise by placing the grommets today, so I was able to finish the Journal this afternoon.  I need to focus on planning prior to beginning a project since not all my journal pages were the same size.  Oh, well--it's O.K. because I'm thrilled to have finished it and can show it tomorrow at our Quilt Guild meeting.  We are beginning another UFO Challenge for 2018 and the first UFO is due tomorrow.  Here's a picture or two.....

Front Cover of my Fabric Journal

 

Inside Front Cover of Journal

Country Boy Pattern #403

The last couple of days I have been working on the Country Boy blocks.  I started them in late October 2017.  In looking at the top on the Design Wall, I know the sides need borders too.  Those will need to wait for another day.

This afternoon, I need to get going on the Quilt of Valor kit that I began on Saturday, Feb. 3rd.  I still need to sew the sashing and the cornerstones around each block and add the borders before I can turn it back in to our Group Leader.  After re-reading the instructions at home, I realized that I had sewn each and every block (40 to be exact) wrong.  So, I spent all day Monday, un-sewing every block and sewing each one back with the matching fabric.

UFO #1 has been chosen for February 2018

Yes, I am taking the Patchwork Times Challenge in hopes of finishing up at least (12) UFO projects.
UFO#1 was chosen by Judy for February 2018.  Several months ago, I tried to begin quilting one of 365 Day Quilts from 2016.  I added batting and began to quilt.  Quickly, I discovered that was not going to work.  First, I will need to take out the quilting I started and remove the batting.  Since the quilt top is quite heavy with all the embellishments, I think it will be best to skip the batting and just back the top and hopefully it will work.  Obviously, I will still need to machine tie it in many places.  I loved making these quilt tops, so just cannot leave them as is.....  

This Challenge actually consists of two quilts.  One Quilt covers January through June.  The Second Quilt covers July through December 2016.  Each square finishes at 4 inches and consists of two triangles with a circle and a few words of what happened that day.

QOV Presentation Cases completed

Yesterday, I focused on completing (4) QOV Presentation Cases for the (4) QOV I plan to complete in the next month.  I used the sizes of fabric that I had in patriotic colors, so not one of them is the same size.  Here's a picture.....

First, I need to determine what is needed for each Quilt of Valor.  I believe that all (4) need to be sent to a Long Arm Quilter with a wide backing.  The packaging and mailing seems to always be my hang-up.  This last week, my husband ordered some mylar plastic bags (24" square) for mailing the QOV tops and backing fabrics to the LAQ, along with some address labels.  This should be so much easier.  We were having to find boxes for mailing.