Block for Wounded Warrior project 06-23-14

I'm working on the Surfside QGuild newsletter this week, it needs to be posted Friday.   I have been working at it off and on for the last few weeks.  My eyes bother me if I commute all day, so I have to do it in segments of two hours or less. 

 

Bargello Block

 

This is the June block members can make if they wish and it will be combined with similar blocks to make the quilts.  The block size is 18" wide by 24" long, so it doesn't take many blocks to make a quilt.

The pattern came to me with a typo in the title; it said Bordello rather than Bargello!  I thought that was a pretty funny typo.  Glad I caught it before I sent the newsletter to the proofreaders.

Wounded Warrior Quilts 10-10-13

Same blog, but Blogger tells me it cannot show these pictures.
 I am leaving it up to see what happens to it by morning!  Read the next post, please.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wounded Warrior Quilts at SQG 10-10-13

The usual problem, Blogger says there is something wrong and my pictures disappear.  Surely someone else has had this problem.  What did you do?

 

Surfside Quilters Guild is such an active, fun, happy quilt guild.  It meets in San Clemente and is a morning guild.  Too many of us are hesitant to drive on the freeway after dark.  It is scary out there!   One of the philanthropic projects is making quilts for wounded warriors to cover them while they are being transported from the field to aid stations, hospitals and home to the USA.  They need to be a certain size to fit the gurneys - 48"Wx78"L.  There is a group that meets every month other than guild meeting day to work on the quilts.  The chair puts a pattern in the newsletter asking for blocks and the members come through every month with stacks of quilts.  Most are red/white/blue, but they don't have to be.   

 

This is the stack of quilts turned in at the October meeting.  Amazing, isn't it? 

And here are five of those quilts held up for Show & Tell.  I feel guilty because I have only made two Wounded Warrior quilts and the second is still not finished.  I have started sewing again, but when I will get back to WWarrior is unknown. 

 

 I have no idea why the photos are arranged like this, but I am afraid to change them.

                                                              

                                                                               

Wounded Warrior quilt in progress 09-04-12

I did not sew today, just too much going on.  But I did figure out a way to hang the strips full length without getting on a ladder.  I just put a sheet on one of my free standing quilt display stands, pinned on the strips and raised it right to the ceiling.  Of course, I have to lower it to make any changes and there are certainly changes to be made.  When I was pinning I mixed things up and pinned two reds together and two whites together.  This is only 15 strips and I need 20.  I will make some that are not quite so random to insert here and there.  Some of the fabrics are directional and my picky brain can't tolerate them upside down - TOO random.
I may sew most of tomorrow because I would much like to take this finished to the SQG meeting on Tuesday.  Then I can sort out some UFOs to work on.  I'm enjoying this.  

Wounded Warrior Quilt in progress 08-30-12

I'm still sewing an hour a day, but that includes finding MORE red/white/blue fabric, pressing, cutting and, finally, actually sewing.  Once I discovered that the quilt needs to be 48-50" wide and 78-80" long I went back to the strips I had already sewn to add another 20" to each strip.  You are only seeing the bottom two-thirds of the strips - I don't have a way to hang all 80" unless I use a ladder - not something I can do anymore.  When I have all 25 strips constructed I'll have to get someone to stand on the ladder and hang things fulll length.  I decided to make the bottom of the quilt alternating red and white which will limit how much rearranging I will be able to do.  This isn't the Mona Lisa!

Still sewing 08-21-12

It doesn't seem like much, does it?  Unfortunately, I don't have a designated cutter person, so I have to cut my own fabric strips, after I have dug through my "fabric room" to find appropriate red/white/blue fabric.  One of the golds came in the Baggie I picked up at the meeting, but there wasn't nearly enough, so I had to find a gold of my own.  And the plain white in the Baggie didn't seem to work very well, so I had to find the white with gold stars and the white Statue of Liberty fabric (1986) and I need to find another print w/white background that will work.  I seem to have lots of stripes, but there can be too many, I think.  Actually, I'm not very good at doing random.  I suppose that is the influence of sixty-five, or so years, of quiltmaking and most of it traditional.  But also the exacting piecing techniques of Ruth McDowell which makes so much sense to me - it is anything but random.   I would be happier with figuring out how much yardage I need, selecting enough fabrics, do all the cutting, pin the pieces up on the wall and move them around until it looks okay and then start sewing. I'm signed up for Rayna Gillman's class at Empty Spools/Asilomar next March and expect to learn something about this way of working.  Meanwhile I'm just feeling my way - one hour at a time.

 
These vertical strips are just pinned up side by side.  They are only 50" long when they need to be 78" to 80".  Hence the need to find, press, cut more red/white/blue fabric.  AND I need to make 24 more strips.  At the rate I am going I may not have this ready to turn in at the next SQG meeting on September 11th.   

More sewing time. 08-16-12

A week or so ago I vowed I would start sewing again with a committment to at least one hour a day.  But after a few days I figured out that I need to do some practice sewing, because I have lost all accuracy from not sewing for so long and could spend the entire hour sewing and unsewing the same block.  So, on Tuesday at the Surfside Quilters Guild meeting I picked up a bag of red/white/blue fabric strips to sew together for the Wounded Warrior Quilt Project in which the guild participates.   It is like sewing jelly roll strips together end to end and then joining the very long strips in pairs and then quads and then....   until one has a quilt top.  Only instead of the full 2.5" x 40" strips one finds in a jelly roll these are scrap strips of many different lengths.  Never one to do anything the easy way, I am joining the strips on the diagonal.  And I am adding some pieces from my own scrap bags.     


I haven't measured the length and won't until I have all the strips end to end.  Then I will cut into 50" strips and sew those together.   I hope that this project will be adequate to improve my accuracy.  If not, I guess I'll have to sew another!

Quilts for Wounded Warriors 01-12-12

I admire the efforts of the quilters in Surfside Quilters Guild to support the project of providing a quilt to cover each serviceman or woman who is wounded and transported to a hospital anywhere. 
Good work, ladies.

Wounded Warrior Project 12-13-11

Today was the December meeting of Surfside Quilters Guild in San Clemente.  It is a very active group with lots of activities involving the members.  Member Susie Russell chairs a committee in support of the Wounded Warriors quilt project, providing quilts sized to fit the gurneys/stretchers of troops injured and being transferred to hospitals in Europe and the US.  As a gesture of thanks some of the medical people in Afghanistan made this quilt from uniform fabric and sent it to the guild.  q

I didn't think to measure when the quilt was shown at the meeting, but I estimate 60"W x 36"L. Susie measured the quilt - it is 51" X 34" -  The fabric is not new, picked out seams and darns are visible. 

One of my Blog readers might let me know what this symbol represents. Thanks, Patty.
The Eagle, Globe and Anchor emblem has been part of the uniform since 1868 and became the official emblem of the Marine Corps in 1955.
The eagle with spread wings represents our proud nation. The globe points to worldwide presence. The anchor stands for naval tradition. Together, they represent a dedication to service in the air, on land and at sea.
The Eagle, Globe and Anchor emblem is presented to recruits at the end of Recruit Training, symbolizing that they have earned the title "United States Marine."

And this one, too.  It is located in the middle of the "star" field at the upper left of the quilt.

Someone pointed out that camouflage fabric is now printed with a digital design, more effective than the prints previously used. 

The website for Wounded Warrior Project is  http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/  although I don't see any reference there to the quilt project there are quite a few websites if you Google 'wounded warrior project quilts'.  Susie advises that the quilt project is independent of the site I mentioned above.  If you would like more info about the quilts contact Susie Russell at
susanrussell2665@gmail.com
 

Red, White, Blue at SQG 09-13-11

Surfside Quilters Guild - San Clemente held their September meeting today and there were quite a few quilts donated by members for the Wounded Warriors Project.  These quilts go to cover wounded service personnel when they are shipped out of a combat area to hospitals.

A really scrappy quilt with both printed and pieced blocks.   Shown by Sue Butsko, but I'm not sure she is the maker.  Members at the meeting were just picking up the quilts and walking around the room so that everyone could see the quilts better.

This is a panel simply bordered with a blue print and machine quilted.

Simple blocks - four-patch and one-patch combined with five stars set with one-patch - nice quilt.

Two quilts with some of the same fabrics.  On the left quilt the "arches" on a yellow ground are red,white.blue bunting, but to my eye they give a sort of Egyptian note - I like the blue on white grid print in some of the half-square triangle patches.

This idea is from a workshop called "It Doesn't Matter" given by Rachel Maus in December 2009.  It is a great way to use up scrap strips and the quiltmaker can coordinate her colors or not - it doesn't matter.

Simple, simple simple - just using red,white, blue fabric strips.  The more the "merrier".

 

Here is one that took a lot of time and effort.  The shape will not fit nicely onto a stretcher or gurney, but I'm sure the wounded warrior won't mind!  It is a lovely quilt. 

It seems to me to be a great philanthropic effort.  What better way to warm someone who is suffering than to cover them with a soft quilt?   Say "Thank You" by making a quilt for Wounded Warriors.