Patriotic Mystery Gets Quilted!

Another Patriotic Mystery gets quilted into a Quilt of Valor:

Circle of Honor Mystery coming off the frame

Quilted with Gold thread in the needle, Silver for the back:

Close-up of quilting

Used Becker's Shooting Star Digital panto to quilt this amazing Mystery aptly named Circle of Honor,

...available through my Quilty friend, Lisa's Online Quilt Shop www.QuiltJubilee.com

Time to bind and label!

Later,
~Deb

A Quilt of Valor is Born! w/Updates

A little more than 36+ hours ago, this Quilt of Valor had not even been conceived!

36+ hours later, a Quilt of Valor is Born!

That was 'until', my latest shipment from my Quilty friend, Lisa - who owns & operates her online quilt shop, www.QuiltJubilee.com, arrived. Lisa decided to surprise me with this beautiful Eagle panel.  Thanks, Lisa!:

Eagle panel auditioning w/Evening Star quilt blocks

Our East Central IL QOV Group had been working on the Evening Star quilt blocks earlier in the week, in preparation for our annual QOV National Sew Day.  Once I opened the shipping box and saw the enclosed eagle panel, I noticed the colors in the panel were virtually identical to those in the star blocks we'd completed - it was obviously meant to be for these two to be matched up.

The seeds of inspiration had been planted, thanks to Lisa and her generous gift, and we were off to the sewing machine to get busy sewing our QOV idea into a Quilt of Valor.

Adding the very last exterior border

We are very pleased with how well this Quilt of Valor turned out.  And even though we didn't use a pattern per se, we will be utilizing this design to create additional QOV panel quilts in our future, since we have three (3) Purple Heart Veterans who are scheduled to be awarded their Quilts of Valor later this year, along with this one.  Still pondering the final quilt design but fairly certain it will include some Gold quilting thread ;-).

For now, time for some shut-eye...

UPDATE 10/23/2018 - Quilted!  Soon to be awarded to an East Central Illinois area Veteran:

Quilt of Valor comes off the quilt frame

Quilting close-up w/Superior's Gold Grain Acres Fantastico thread

Eagle in flight gets quilted with "Windy Night" by Keryn Emmerson

This Eagle Quilt of Valor will soon be awarded to one of our East Central Illinois Veterans during one of our upcoming Veteran's Day Celebrations, and was also chosen to be our East Central IL QOV group's "Honorary" 200,000th Quilt of Valor.

Bound, labeled and all ready to be awarded to a very special Veteran

UPDATE:  11/9/2018 Awarded!

To read about the awarding of this Honorary 200,000th Quilt of Valor, Please visit this media link:
https://www.mywabashvalley.com/news/a-quilt-of-gratitude/1585139529

Thanks goes out to Everyone who helped make this QOV Award and so many others possible for our area Veterans and Service Members for their sacrifice and service for our country.


My Best,
~Deb

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas One and ALL!
~Deb

Clue #4 is already HERE...!

Can you believe it?  Every year it seems like it just sneaks up on me - especially when I usually get a cold/flu right smack in the very beginning of our annual Bonnie Hunter Mystery, which in turn causes me to fall behind just a bit.  Guess that makes it even more FUN when catching up!

At least I stopped sneezing/coughing long enough to get Clue #4 finished up:

Clue #4 of our Mystery - don't you just love the antler kitty peaking out/over ;-)

These fabrics have been such FUN to stitch up, even IF there have been more than just a few:

Getting started...

...halfway through...

Finished - with just a few leftovers...YES!

Even managed to finish up Clue #2 prior to beginning this Clue:

Clue #2

But - need to go back and finish up Clue #3 - at least it's ALL cut out and ready to sew!

Clue #3 ALL cut and ready to start stitchin!  I see a few more Antler kitties, don't you?

To see what ALL the other fellow On Ringo Lake Mystery sewers are up to, just follow this direct web link:

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2017/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-4.html


For now - got some stitchin' to do and a very special Quilt of Valor needs a label prior to getting awarded...

Later,
~Deb

On Ringo Lake - Clue #1
Clue #2
Clue #3
Clue #4

Mardi Gras Pathways - a Very Special Wedding Quilt...

Mardi Gras Pathways is a very special/NON-Traditional Wedding quilt for an even more special/colorful/dynamic wedding couple.   Patterned after the 'traditional' Boston Commons quilt for a 'Boston Couple', this unique quilt was designed and created using Kaffe Fassett fabrics in 'pathways' for my oldest daughter, Jessica and her NEW hubster, Greg.

Each pathway of color was chosen for its distinctive colorway and fabric design:

"Mardi Gras Pathways" wedding quilt

...and quilted w/Superior's Rainbows Mardi Gras quilting thread using the Cheerful digital design by Christy Dillon (while watching/listening to Star Trek episodes...Greg.  The ONLY exception in Kaffe Fassett fabric is the black/gray Star Trek digital fabric):

Cheerful quilt design

ALL happy couples will traverse a multitude of 'Pathways' throughout their married lives - some of those pathways will be brightly lit w/joyful people and life experiences...others, maybe not so much.  Through it ALL, couples can make it through just about anything, IF they can face every pathway together with love, honor, courage, and respect, and always, ALWAYS with JOY in their hearts ;-)

This exclusive quilt represents those powerful Life Pathways:

We hope and pray this Newlywed couple NEVER forgets to enjoy their Pathways together!

Congratulations Jessie & Greg on your recent wedding!

The Happy Couple?

Honorable Mention - The Happy Couple  w/Wedding Party:

Let the Celebrations begin!

Time to bind & label...

Later,
~Deb

The Annual Bonnie Hunter Mystery Begins!

Once again, the annual Bonnie Hunter Mystery - this year On Ringo Lake, has officially begun!  This is one Mystery I treat myself to each and every year, in between the tree trimming, the Holiday festivities and ALL the Christmas shopping and wrapping, I find my solace and a bit of serenity amongst the Holiday chaos within the confines of this Annual Mystery.

Our first Clue includes our turquoise and brown fabrics, combined into 9-patches, aren't these cute?

Clue #1 - 9 patches ALL finished!

Bonnie suggested we 'strip piece' to create our 9-patches, my favorite way to sew these in bulk.  Here's my brown/neutral strips, ready for cutting.

Brown & neutral strip sets complete

Once the brown/neutral and the turquoise/neutral strips were completed, time to cut/sew/press!

Strip units cut to size and ready to assemble into 9-patches

Course, had a little help from our Hershey friends ;-)

Hershey's Pot of Gold - Caramels in Dark & Milk Chocolate...YUMMY!

ALL ready for Clue #2!

Clue #1 tucked away

To see what all the other Mystery participants are up to

Please follow this direct weblink: 

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2017/11/on-ringo-lake-mystery-monday-link-up.html

Hope you ALL had a very Happy Thanksgiving - Enjoy your Holiday Season w/Family & Friends!

Got our Family Christmas Tree up just in time to start this Holiday Mystery - w/help from two of my favorite Tree Trimmers, Jaclyn & Jade ;-)

Family Christmas Tree up and ready for presents!

Later,

~Deb

Quilting for Our Vets

Miss Betty & I have been proudly quilting for our Service Members and Veterans since 2010, right after building the very first Betty Boop RED wooden quilting frame and feeling confident enough in our quilting to apply those skills to a Quilt of Valor.  More than 100+ QOVs later, and we couldn't be more committed - quilting for our Vets is a true privilege and honor.

This week, we finished several quilts - including this very special Quilt of Valor for an even more special Veteran, soon to be awarded his much-deserved QOV to honor his sacrifice and service for our country.

Quilt of Valor coming off the frame

This very special QOV was started over a year ago and languished while this quilter stayed busy quilting 'other' QOVs, trying to decide just 'how' to quilt it.  Finally realizing that finished is good, especially since the intended Quilt of Valor recipient is not getting any younger, it was time to quilt!

A close-up of a couple of the embroidered blocks:

Liberty Bell

Striped Star

This wonderful Quilt of Valor created by one of our East Central IL QOV Volunteers, Doris and finished up by Miss Betty and me:

Quilted in Gold thread to bring some 'Bling' to an already wonderful QOV and original quilt design created by Doris:

Border quilting in Gold Fantastico #5087 thread

Star quilting back

 This unique Quilt of Valor was hand-sewn by the creator and wife of a Veteran, bordered out/quilted/bound/labeled by Miss Betty and me, to be awarded on Veteran's Day:

Hand-sewn QOV coming off the quilt frame - ready to be bound/labeled

A very dedicated fellow East Central IL QOV Group Leader confided they had fallen behind with their Quilts of Valor awarding, since both their volunteer longarmers were temporarily unavailable due to illness/surgery.  We offered to help get them caught up.

One of their first quilt tops this group submitted was created by a NEW topper, and we think she did an amazing job in creating this patriotic quilt top:

Colorful QOV coming off the frame

Aren't these patriotic fabrics great:

Patriotic fabrics create a neat quilt

The second is a stunner!

Patriotic Mystery - coming off the frame...WOWza

Nothing says it better than Red/White/Blue and pieced to perfection - a joy to quilt:

Star Spangled Banner quilting design - quilted out beautifully

Thank YOU, Donna G!

One of two QOV Mysteries recently completed, gets quilted to soon be awarded to a very deserving Veteran:

Quilt of Valor Mystery quilt coming off the frame

And we've been binding and binding and binding in between quilting but...we STILL have more to bind and label...time to get back to it!

Later,
~Deb