Sunday, August 26, 2012

The Journey of a Quilt of Valor

This is my most recent finished project, a Quilt of Valor, "Log Cabin Star".  It hasn't had an easy journey.

First, it was pieced by me, a confirmed handwork lover.  Machine piecing is not my favorite thing, and many times I have to force myself to do it because I need it for a particular project.  I love the log cabin pattern, had plenty of scraps, and really liked this layout.  I had to make this quilt.

If you aren't familiar with Quilts of Valor (www.qovf.org), you might want to look into their mission and their results.  They have collectively provided almost 70,000 quilts to wounded soldiers and veterans, and there is much more need for them. 

So...I finally got the top finished and requested a longarm quilter from QOV.  They assigned a woman who lives about 50 miles from me but bowls in a league in my community!  Amazing!  I met her in person, and she said she'd try to quilt the top within a week.  Amazing!

Soon I learned that my longarmer had taken a bad fall and had badly injured her elbow.  She couldn't quilt for months.  The quilt was half finished, so it stayed in her frame.  I waited.

She finally finished the quilt but had lost my email address.  I was trying not to nag so I didn't contact her every time I thought about it!  When I finally emailed to inquire about her health and the quilt, I found that it was finished and we soon met up again.  The quilt looked great!  She did a terrific job.

We both wanted the quilt to go to Afghanistan to a recently-wounded soldier.  I requested that destination and mailed it to a nurse in a surgical unit at a forward operating base, sending it off with hope and prayer that it would actually get there.

Well, the USPS can't track the package, and I just found out that the nurse has been transferred.  Log Cabin Star hasn't been able to complete its journey, to my knowledge.  Please say a prayer that it will reach its destination and comfort a warrior.