Posts Tagged ‘Family Fun’

Grandpa’s Quilt of Valor

Tuesday, November 11th, 2014

The mission of the Quilt of Valor Foundation is ” to cover service members and veterans touched by war with comforting and healing Quilts of Valor.”  To date the QOV Foundation has awarded over 108,000 quilts to veterans of American wars.   I have been quilting for QOV for about two years, and it is so very rewarding to do some small thing for our service men and women who give so much for our safety and freedom.  To learn more about QOV  go to  their website here.

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Last month I was privileged to award a Quilt of Valor to my father-in-law, Gene Wade, who served in the Army’s 11th Airborne Division as a paratrooper.  He was stationed in Japan at the end of WWII.  At the time we gave him the quilt he had just had a stroke, and was in a skilled nursing facility at the time.  They were gracious enough to let us use one of the public rooms for the ceremony.

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The quilt we gave him was one that I had done the longarm quilting on.  The quilt top was made by Ruth Dassen, who is a tireless worker when it comes to making Quilts of Valor here in Arizona.  The quilt was beautifully sewn and the quilting added the final touch.

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Here is my husband, David, wrapping Gene up in all the warmth and appreciation that is stitched into every Quilt of Valor. Gene and Joy were happy to receive the quilt and appreciation that came along with it.  All the family members wanted to share in the excitement of the day, especially the great-grandchildren!  Thank you, Gene, for your service to our country!

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Quilt Show & Love Lessons

Wednesday, September 3rd, 2014

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Labor day weekend is always a fun time for our family. Our anniversary usually falls in that weekend and so we celebrate our “family’s birthday” together. This year we were fortunate to get to go up north to cooler weather. While we were up there we had lots of fun without the Internet and it’s accompanying worries. One morning while driving to a couple of places Harley and I saw a sign that said “Quilt Show; Labor Day Weekend”. How is it that there happened to be a quilt show just down the road from where we were staying on the one weekend in a year that I would be there? A coincidence? A blessing? Maybe both? Well whatever it was I was more than happy when I saw the sign.PNQS1 PNQS2
It is an interesting thing to be married because your spouse sometimes has very different likes and dislikes and there are moments when we have no desire to do things but we do them because we love our spouse. This quilt show was one of those times. I know that Israel is sometimes frustrated with my hobby and the amount of time and effort that sometimes goes into it. And I talk incessantly about stitches, fabric choice, patterns, etc. All of this renders him bored out of his mind, but he listens and tries to be engaged and when all else fails he feigns interest. I love him for that. So when I told Israel about the quilt show he, the best husband EVER, knowing that he would be bored and most likely just act as babysitter, said we should all go. And so we did.PNQS5
Marriages are like quilts and the same way that the contrasting, similar and complimentary fabrics play together to create beautiful patterns and art so does the contrasting, similar and complimentary personalities and likes and the conscious and planned way that we put them together can create a beautiful marriage. Cheesy I know. But true.PNQS6PNQS7
It was a fun little quilt show. There are SO many talented quilters all over. I took photos of some of my favorite quilts and exhibits. There were some of the local guild members encouraging membership and a few other local organizations with booths and raffles. We walked around and looked at the pretty quilts and spoke to some of the designers/quilters about techniques and other things. Some of them would stop me just so they could get a look at my pretty baby girl. She was a treat. Even though she was teething she still gave out smiles to all the nice people. PNQS4
The whole quilt show was super fun for me! My husband is SO kind. He took Harley around and they found stuff that was fun for him and then they went and played at the playground outside the school where the show took place. What a fun quilt show, we enjoyed it so much. I have such a fun family!PNQS8Happy Wednesday!Stephanie