Quilts of Valor

While I am on Grandma duty, I thought I would share a little bit about the Quilts of Valor group that meets at our shop on the second Monday evening of each month. I think you will be impressed with the amazing things they have accomplished in the last six months. Bonnie, our coordinator and mother of an active duty Marine, does a fantastic job. She also has a wonderful team of volunteers that work with her to make quilt tops that are then professionally quilted and returned for binding. Some members of the group cut, some piece, some quilt and some bind and a few of them do it all. They selflessly give their time to make these gifts of love for wounded soldiers that have given of themselves for out country. If you are looking for a way to give a little something back and share your quilting skills, they would love to have you join them!

Quilts of Valor is a national organization and it is my personal feeling that if every chapter had a coordinator like Bonnie and the volunteers that help her, every wounded vet would be wrapped in a quilt of love as a thank you that cannot begin to express our appreciation for their sacrifice. If you don't live near our store, I encourage you to seek out a Quilts of Valor chapter in your area. Even if you have never made a quilt, there is a team of volunteers that would love to help you learn.


Here is an excerpt from Bonnie's last newsletter:

Hi Everyone,

I have given General Jones 4 more quilts that he has presented to soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital on our behalf. I also had the pleasure of delivering one of our quilts to the USMC Reserve Unit in North Versailles. Brian asked that we make a quilt for the entire unit to hang in their headquarters. He told me that this unit returned from Iraq in 2005 with 90% of the men injured and they wanted a quilt that they could hang for everyone to enjoy. They loved the quilt!

I received an email from the Region Nine coordinator regarding the men and women that work at Dover Air force Base in England. These are the men and women that have the honor, but unfortunate duty of taking care of the bodies of our fallen heroes and preparing them for transport. Missy gave me 5 finished quilts this weekend and I have two of them boxed and ready to go to Dover.

I also have two quilt tops to ship to volunteer longarmers in New Jersey and two more to ship to longarmers in Vermont and another going to Maryland. Those tops are in addition to those being quilted by Maryjane and Mary right here in our area. The CCAC Child Development Center raised $60 on our behalf and I am using that money to cover the cost of postage to ship the quilt tops to the quilters. A co-worker also donated a check for $100 and I am sure that we will put that to good use as well.

We have made and donated 41 quilts since January 2011 and 30 of them have been distributed. Thank you all for your hard work and dedication, this program could not be successful without all of you.

Our next meeting will be Monday evening June 13th at The Quilt Company and we will be using the AccuQuilt to cut 10" charm squares to put kits together. I hope to see everyone there!

Bonnie