Quilt of Valor Labels - Brookings Style

Our labels are silk-screened.  DO NOT IRON!  They finger press very easily.

The first thing I do is to trim the white edges to 1/2”.

Second - finger press a 1/4” inch along the blue edge; pin the folded edge to itself.

You can sew your binding onto the front side of the quilt, as usual.  You are ready to add the label.  

But if you have finished binding the quilt, you can simply fold back all the label sides and hand appliqué it to the quilt corner.

Line up the label on the back of the quilt with a bottom corner.  Pin closely into place (3x the amount of pins in the picture!!)  Keep the pin heads on the outside edge as shown.

Turn the quilt over.  You can see the seam line you sewed the binding on with.  You want to start securing the label by sewing between the seam line and the edge.  Begin and back stitch just above the first pin, Sew to 1/2” from the corner removing the pins as you go, knot.  

Be careful not to sew through the corner, it will catch the folded binding, that’s no good, trust me!   

Start again 1/2” from the corner and sew between stitching and the edge to the last pin.

You’ve added another layer of fabric to the quilt sandwich, so it helps to clamp the binding in place.

You can now sew the binding by hand or machine as if the label is simply part of the quilt.  After the binding is sewn past the label, you can hand sew the blue edge of the label to the quilt.  Keep it as taut as you can.

When the Veteran for the quilt has been announced (usually a month before the presentation) we finish the label.

We label the quilt by hand with a Pigma Pen.  (Found at Wright’s Custom Framing and Art). I use 05 or 08 size.  Any smaller point catches on the fabric.  Do NOT write with a Sharpie, it will bleed.

I also practice my label on paper so I can determine where to start and stop before putting pen to fabric.  I also check my spelling.

Although the quilt is soft, if it's on a hard surface when you add the information to it, it works well. 

With a light touch, we usually write the Veteran’s full name but just the first names of the quilters.  In the bottom triangle in the corner we add the year when the quilt is presented.

Thanks for supporting Quilt of Valor!

March Madness Reigns!!

Whether you love basketball (DH) or are indifferent (me) March madness is everywhere!  Say what you will - it creates alot of time for quilting and other sewing!!  Which is always welcome.

We had our second "Mod Squad" meeting Friday and it was so much fun!  We had 9 members present and 9 15" challenge assignments for "Line" anonymously turned in.  One member couldn't attend and one who did, didn't have the assignment done.  It's all good!

We very carefully and politely critiqued each other.  Starting with what attracted us to that piece.  Then we tried to guess who made what - many surprises there! It was great fun - then we went out for lunch!!

Ignore the Christmas stocking pattern at the top left of the picture!  Now - pick out which one I did!!  (You can see the answer at the bottom of the blog!)  We have one nationally known Hand Quilter in our group.  Everyone one knew who did number eight!!!  It was gorgeous and modern looking; compiled with lines - met all criteria!  Eight of the nine offered to take it home and the ninth one insisted it was hers and she took it home!!  Tee-hee!

Happy National Quilting Day Weekend everyone!  Friday night we had "March Madness" - a 'quilt until you wilt' gathering.  There was loads of pizza and snacks.  But let's just admit, we wilt fast here!!  I was home at 10:30 and I was toward the end of departees! Later reports said two of the 20some quilters lasted until 1:30 am!!

Yesterday I spend much more time than planned on measuring and photographing QOV tops ready to send to the Long-Armers.  I'd gotten 7 tops with backing this last week.  We have made 18 so far and 3 are being finished by the 'toppers'.  Over double what we made last year!  Yay for us!

We are planning a presentation ceremony during the Memorial Day Weekend.  So we have enough to 'cover' the nominations we have been given.  That's a relief!!

Today I was totally hooked on the The Quilt Show episodes offered free this weekend. J, my friend in Nebraska TOLD me it was great - sorry J, you were right, I should have known better than to doubt!   Luckily, I rigged up a system where I could see the laptop playing the episode; hook on ear-phones so I could hear it above my machine sewing and sew the rest of the pillow cases I'm making for the Million Pillowcase Challenge and some for our grandkids :)  ...

 Thirteen inch pile of 27 finished pillowcases!! And that's about half of what I've made and turned in!!!

 On to the next (over-due) projects!

So did you guess which "Line" challenge is mine??  Here I am!

I found this 'modern' block on pinterest and quilted it with my walking foot following Catherine Redford's DVD of machine quilting. I love her technique of straight stitching interspersed with zig zag stitches! (Along the bottom of the block) It's Scary the first time you change it!!  Just remember to punch the button enough times to get back to the straight stitch ... not end up in the alphabet and have to rip that mess out!!!  Listen to the voice of experience!!  I'll only do that once, God willing!!!

It's (almost) summer!! Wahoo!!

This month has been very summer-y.  We're still low on rain; but we're having high beaches and the summer's usual very low tides.  Makes it such fun to walk the beach.  Always something interesting down there.

Look who's back!!  The Starfish!  Pardon moi!!  Sea Stars is now their official name. We haven't seen them for months. I don't know where they go in the winter here - but we don't see them hanging around on the rocks.  I suspect they either go deeper in the sand; or farther out in the surf. For more information about Sea Stars - go here

Then last weekend we found we'd been invaded by the Blue Sailors again.  Here is a close up of what we found - they are such a bright blue.

And here is the L*o*n*g view.  They were everywhere, they were everywhere! "By the wind sailors" are part of the jellyfish family.  They float about the ocean following currents until a wind or current drives them to the beach.  Here is a link to more information about them. Fascinating!  We love living by the ocean - full of surprises everyday.

Besides taking advantage of the Oregon great Outdoors; I've been quilting like a maniac!  The Brookings Quilt Show is this weekend during our Azalea Festival. Our guild is about 40 strong and we have a quilt show every year!  This year there will be at least 190 quilts in it!!  Yes, we are a busy group!

One of the fun things about moving to a new quilting community is that they haven't seen your work!  So every year I bring out an old favorite for the show.  Now - I've got 5 things in the show and only one of them is more than a year old! So I'm not cheating too much.

Button Basket was made while I was working at the University.  I sat in my favorite window seat during lunch and stitched away on the border!  Very relaxing!

In Art Quilts I've entered the R Family Portrait from last fall.  It was J&L's 10th anniversary.  L wanted a family portrait in counted cross stitch, but I thought that was too small for what she had in mind.  So I made this.  I'm happy to say it was a great success!  Artistic license was running rampant, but I think I recognize them!! Do you?

When I lived in Newport, a friend S and I fell in love with the Crabapple Hill pattern named "Over the River and Through the Woods".  I remarked I wouldn't want to do that much embroidery and S said she wouldn't tackle that much piecing ... so we agreed to do double duty on our favorite parts!  S does awesome embroidery.  P a friend here in Brookings was finishing a blue rendition. Another friend here in Brookings, C long-armed them and they are both in this year's show. I love when an  UFO bites the dust!!

The guild challenge this year was "Nautical".  I was convinced that I didn't have time to enter but I love challenges!  Then while clearing out the sewing space I found an old book of cool nautical designs that I had never taken the time to sew.  (I'm sure none of you have ever been in this position!!) I started this and finished it the same week!!  It's small, but I really do like it!! "Rain or Shine, the Weather's Fine!"

I also finished piecing a Quilt of Valor for this year.  I love this pattern.  Basically a Bento Box, but you can use any size half-square-triangle to start and any size strip for the "logs".  It looks very modern when viewed from afar!  An interesting and kind-of masculine look is my favorite quilt for men.  W, a good friend in Newport, has volunteered to quilt donation quilts for me as her contribution.  Win-win! AND it's done for our show and the annual deadline for donating the quilts. 

It's a free tutorial by Jean MaDan, a fellow Stashbusters quilter.  If you are interested you can find it here.

Thanks for joining me for a "monthly" report!  No promises of being more prolific, but I do feel guilty when I stay away this long!!