Quilt of Valor.....Birthday Celebration

As you can tell recently.....not so good with the blog thing!  Part of my problem is to just start....I sit at my laptop and look at the screen and wait for the words to flow or stumble out or whatever.....I need to be more disciplined about this really!

My other excuse.....this will be lame for sure!  Since the first of the year I have been working on several gift pieces for some very special people and I could not write about the work I was doing or post photos either.....they were of a surprising nature, you see!  :)

So if you don't mind, I am going to back up a bit and get you and me, both caught up!

We are going back to February, after my dad's 80th birthday party in January. We have a trip to the SW looming.  And I have another project in my head to get started & finished....how is that for planning ahead....not so much!

Our friend, Bud, turned 90 in November and is a WWII veteran.....served in the Army and the Air Force.  He was involved in the Battle of Remagen bridge in Germany.  He has many stories to tell and we always enjoy hearing some of them when we are together.  They have been able to go back and visit that bridge several times.....I can't imagine, what that is like!

 I had this idea to make him a Quilt of Valor for his 90th birthday and to honor his service in WWII.  

It was so fun to attend a quilt day at the Grout Museum.....see the block pattern in the background.  I had my patches all cut & was ready to sew on Bud's quilt.  I got a very good start on it right until.....

My little sweetie of a machine, went out of time in the afternoon and I didn't have any tools with me to fix it.  I got a good start on this project, glad for that.  It was a good day out with my quilt friends and my Singer 221 got repaired by the Silver Fox  when I got it back home. 

I got the top finished several days later and then machine quilted it with a pantograph that had flags and stars......very nice!  Stars & Stripes Forever  Oh and added a label too.  It was already to be packed in my luggage and fly away to AZ.

The moment of reveal....reading the label.

I think we blew them away with this gift.  I really wasn't sure if this would be something he would like.  But I could tell right away this was so meaningful to him and I was so glad I had gone with my instinct and done this for him.  I mean, really what do you give to someone who is 90? A new tennis racket.....OBTW, did I mention he plays tennis like 3 days a week?  I am lucky to walk to the end of the drive and back once a day.....but let's not go there.

 For you quilters out there, can you find the block?  You might need to go back and look at the drawing by my sewing machine above.  The blocks look like NOTHING by themselves!  Pinwheels Plus is the name of the pattern and it is found in the May/June 2012 issue of  Fons & Porter Love of Quilting.  

Thanks, Bud for your service to our country, for your love, friendship, hospitality, and spiritual mentoring over many years.  We love you & Nj dearly!!!

And for you quilters out there.....I will show you where the block is......that is the best I can do since this is copyrighted material.