Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Quilt of Valor Update

Working on this Quilt of Valor quilt top has left an unexpected imprint on me, and the longer I work on it the deeper the impact.  Memories of my fun-loving Uncle Danny - my Mom's little brother and a Vietnam Veteran who passed away a few years ago.  Even more memories of my dear Father-In-Law, a WWII Vet who served at Iwo Jima, and thoughts of ALL those unforgettable Veterans who have served our country so well, many whom have given their lives doing their duty to protect us and those who couldn't protect themselves.  It gives one pause for reflection and contemplation and a renewed awareness of how fortunate I am to live in the greatest country on Earth.

So, after much deliberation and even apprehension, I decided to add embroidery to this QOV quilt top for additional embellishment in the alternate quilt blocks and to honor the as-yet-to-be-named Quilt of Valor recipient.

Here are a few of those blocks:

One of my very favorite blocks - brings tears to my eyes every time I see it...





And here's the completed Quilt of Valor quilt top ready to be quilted.  

There is a personal block for the QOV recipient on the top border for their 'eyes only'.

I'm still making final decisions of how it will be quilted.  I know I will be using Rainbows Patriotic thread in the outer navy blue borders to do the McTavish flourishes, clear monopoly to do all the SID work and around each of the embroidered appliques, and Rainbows Sand Castle in the background of the embroidered blocks.  Still trying to decide which thread and colors to use in the star blocks and the red borders, in addition to what type of quilting to utilize in those same areas to best enhance this quilt.  Any suggestions from those of you in the machine quilting world would be much appreciated.

For now, I'm off to give this top its final press and get it loaded onto the frame.  Lots of SID work to do so, time to get to it...

Later,
~Deb

2 comments:

  1. Oh Deb, so very nice and great embroidery choices.

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  2. Thanks Miss Katie! I really struggled with some of these designs and especially with embroidering them directly onto the quilt top - NO room for error! I've always done my embroidering on the blocks prior to assembling the quilt top but since the decision was made 'after the assembly'...anyway, all that practice of centering a design paid off ;-)

    Thanks again for stopping by and for your kind words,
    ~Deb

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