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She bought the pattern so her Northwest Quilters Quilts of Valor volunteer group could make it.  

Actually, 91 year old Joy Nichols pieced the quilt, and Jane Ratcliff longarm quilted the quilt.

I adore their red, white and blue version and I am so, so honored they chose my Plantation Stars pattern to give to a ...

When you give a quilt, you’re giving so much more than a simple present. A quilt is a gift of time, a gift of patience, a gift straight from the heart with love in every stitch! There are so many wonderful charitable organizations that welcome handmade quilts with open arms. If you’re looking for an opportunity to give love, we’re here to help you find a place to send your beautiful quilts, fabric, supplies, and donations. Thank you so much for everything you do! Together we can change the world one stitch at a time.

How We ...

This Quilt of Valor was brought to me for quilting, and it is a wonderful study in design.  Often, our local chapter of Quilts of Valor receives boxes of fabric scraps and orphan blocks.  The supplies moved from one storage space to another, and the group had just found a nice space for monthly quilting time at Beginnings when lockdown happened.  Our leader, Didi Salvatierra, was going through some of the bounty, and found a wonderful patriotic embroidered block.  She decided to use it in a quilt, along with some pinwheels she found.  Note that the pinwheels are two different ...

We are not yet back to doing Quilt of Valor presentations, but the construction of quilts goes on.  At some point, we’ll need a closet full to cover the backlog of veterans in line for a Quilt of Valor.  So, we continue to sew, piece and quilt, in i-sew-lation.  This one was pieced by Didi Salvatierra.

Joyful news, the borders are straight.

So, I began with stitching the edge down.

I used white Signature thread on top and bobbin this time, all cotton with a matte finish.

The pantograph is Pipeline by Urban Elementz, a medium density.

The white ...

This quilt came off the longarm about a week ago.  It is a Quilt of Valor, and was a bit more of a challenge at the beginning, as the backing had several problems.

This is what I call Frankenbacking.  There are four vertical seams and two horizontal ones.  The friend that gave it to me to quilt was so proud of herself, telling me she left the selvedge edges on for me to load it, and that she was able to use a pretty piece of floral fabric.  I was not expecting this though.  First, the print is directional.  Normally ...

On our recent retreat at Febuary Hill, one of the days was spent working on another Quilt of Valor.  I had enough stars left from you, dear readers, to do another To The Nines pattern.  All I needed to do was to make some nine-patches.  I had cut squares and brought them with me, this time using the same light print in the center.  I used the web method to speed piece the blocks.

I put the stars on the design wall and began filling in the nine-patches, when one of my friends said something didn’t look quite right ...

Our sewing day for Quilts of Valor was a fun day of hard work by a small group of very motivated sewing enthusiasts.  We set up the night before, with the door prizes displayed, refreshment table set with nice decorations, patriotic quilts on the walls, wool batting sample gifts for participants set out, and information on our local Quilts of Valor group in case new friends wished to join.  I want to thank my wonderful husband for all his help.  He carried the heavy stuff, helped volunteers with their things, kept us on track with the hourly door prizes, took ...

Checking the mail this week has been fun, with wonderful blocks arriving for the National Sew Day.  Tomorrow, From My Carolina Home is hosting a Quilts of Valor Sew-In at Beginnings Quilt Shop in Hendersonville, NC, an all day event to make blocks and tops for Quilts of Valor.  We’ll have refreshments, and hourly door prizes!  Plus Beginnings will open early at 9 am, and have a special sale that day too.  If you are local, come in to see!!

So far, 42 blocks arrived from our star block drive, thank you so much!!  If yours isn’t shown ...

The Quilts of Valor Live Blog Event is in just over a week!! I hope that there are some blocks going in the mail today!  But if you are almost done and need to mail Monday, that is fine.  If you do not sew, you can still participate, just make a donation to your local QOV group to help them buy batting and backing fabrics.

As long as I have the blocks by next Friday, I can use them for the event.   I am hoping to have several dozen star blocks to pair with the nine-patch blocks we will make ...

Whether you are a quilter, sewist, home cook or amateur gardener, do you like taking classes?  I certainly do!  I always learn something new, and I get to have a whole day of sewing with friends, and meeting new friends.  Even better when it is taught by friends!  This quilting class was actually a bit extraordinary as I came away with a good tip I want to share, and three tools I know I can no longer do without.  Links are provided if you cannot find these at your local quilt shop.

Here is the first tip, and somewhat of ...

Save the date, Saturday February 1, for a first time LIVE blog event, with lots of ways for you to participate whether you are local to Western NC or live elsewhere.  From My Carolina Home is hosting a Quilts of Valor Sew-In at Beginnings Quilt Shop in Hendersonville, NC, an all day event to make blocks and tops for Quilts of Valor.  We’ll have refreshments, and hourly door prizes!  Plus Beginnings will open early at 9 am, and have a special sale that day too.  You have to come in to see!!

For locals, and those within driving distance ...

When we left this Quilt of Valor, it had the sashing finished and border added to bring it up to the right size.  If you missed the first post showing the block and how it was made, click on Quilt of Valor.

It was loaded on the longarm, and I chose a navy blue thread for quilting.  This time I used a cotton Masterpiece thread on top and Bottom Line in the bobbin.

I have a Stars and Stripes pantograph, and I just don’t like it.  It is so linear that it is not only difficult to get the ...

It is Veteran’s Day weekend, time to honor our living veterans and thank them for their service.  One of the ways I do this is by participating in the Quilts of Valor organization.  In October, I went to a retreat and got a little farther on my Quilt of Valor that I started last February.  I had to set it aside while I was covered up in the hurricane project quilts.  With Veteran’s Day tomorrow, it is a good time to pull it back out and get a little farther on it.  Plus, I have some QOV news ...