Quilts of Valour

A special thanks to Lezley for picking up my quilts for the Canadian Quilts of Valour Society. The quilts are distributed to injured Canadian Forces member, both active and retired.  If you have a quilt to donate, Lezley will work with you to find the best way to get it picked up.  In my case, she picks them up when she travels through Kamloops on holidays.  What a gal!

Here the quilts are, all washed up and ready to go.

A wonderful friend Carol, hosted a quilting weekend last year at her ranch.  The plan was to use Carol's plentiful stash to make a few quilts for charity.  Jane pieced this beauty, then decided it reminded her of her Dad, who had served in the military.  She gave it to me to quilt, she bound it, then gave it back to me to give to QOV.  Thanks Jane and Carol.

Next up is this Snowflake quilt.  Neila had pieced it years ago for Katja's Quilt Shoppe.  For whatever reason, the quilt was never quilted.  Katja gave it to me to finish up and donate. Thanks to Neila and Katja.

Wow, Deanna donated this quilt.  I had challenged Deanna to work with a bundle of fabric that was way outside her comfort range, when she pieced this quilt as a sample for a workshop I was giving.  After I quilted it, the quilt was Deanna's to keep.  After a bit of consideration, she decided that even though she loved the quilt, she wanted it to go to QOV.  Thanks!

Last winter there was this lonely little panel that no one was buying, because they didn't know what to do with it.  I love to play with panels, so I just had to take it home and create this quilt. The panels sold immediately, and I have this lovely quilt to donate.  It is the perfect size for a wheelchair quilt, as a lot of the QOV quilts go to veterans in care.

This is the last of the quilts for this year.  This was pieced from some fabric donated by Noeline.  It is from one of the Nickel Quilt books and was pieced on the weekend at Carols Ranch.

As you can see, I have a lot of wonderful friend who helped a lot in making the donation to QOV possible.  Thanks to all of them, I couldn't of done it without you!

If you are asking why Quilts of Valour, I would like to share a little story with you.  My son Harvey is an active member of the Canadian Forces, stationed in Edmonton.  When he was stationed in Afghanistan, he received a couple of quilts.  The woman who sent them to him, had met Harvey sixteen years previously, when he was a ring bearer at Preston's wedding. This woman (sorry I don't know her name) had heard from Preston that Harvey was overseas. She made him two quilts and shipped them to him during the Christmas season.  One for Harvey, and one to give to a friend.  The weather in Afghanistan was extremely hot, but this kind woman knew that the men would use them for privacy curtains in their cramped quarters. Such kindness still brings tears to my eyes.  She though of my son during a difficult time in his life, even though she had only met him once many years ago.

This prompted me to think that I should do something for the military men and women who do so much for all of us.  I googled and found Quilts of Valour.  Lezley explained that luckily not that many of our soldiers are injured, so a lot of the quilts go to veterans.  I said that was wonderful, and how do I help.  The rest is history.