Honoring Veterans

Just a quick review of some of the quilts I've made to honor and give to the Veterans in my community.

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday I was able to honor and salute the Veterans in my community. They got to choose a quilt or wall-hanging. They were surprised and very happy that someone thought of them.

 

I am so thankful and happy so honor them & I want to salute all Veterans who fought for our country. I also want to salute all who are serving in the Armed Forces today.

 

Ok, Maybe One or Two More?

I've enlarged each design 150% on my printed. It takes several repositions to get all the parts and then loads of cutting and taping things back together.

There are at least two Veterans at our Seniors Center who served in the Army and Air Force so I decided to make those two seals especially for them. I can easily quilt these on my Janome because they aren't going to be any bigger than 25 inches each.

After this I'm really finished.....no.....REALLY!!!

Below are some of the stages to making the seals. I'll show the finished quilts in a lager post.

 

 

 

I use dinner plates, pizza pans, skillets and anything else that will lend me a perfect circle. Mr. Cowboy just shakes his head but wisely says nothing.

I will stitch all the pieces down before quilting everything.
In a couple of previous posts, someone asked about the types of fabric adhesives I use. I love Steam-a-Seam Lite but it's sometimes hard to find so I'm using Heat-N-Bond Lite at the moment. When quilting everything together I use either the 505 Spray or Loctite Spray Adhesive (the Loctite is found at JoAnn's).

Mini Wednesday

👀👀👀👀With two blocks under my belt, I decided on the US Army emblem to focus on next.

There were several emblems/seals for the Army. I chose the one below because it had the least amount of parts.

This is the clipart image that I chose to work with. I enlarged it 135% then traced on the back with a Sharpie. Remember if you're planning to do something like this, you will be working/tracing off the images from the reverse side.

Here's a bit of trivia about the Army. The Army was the last in the Armed Forces to adopt an official song. Can you guess what it is? 

"The Army Goes Rolling Along" of course!!!

Here are all the fabrics I've pulled so far to use in this block. Most are small scraps from the previous blocks but I did dig up some larger pieces from my stash.

Another tidbit about the Army, some are noted as "Rangers." These are considered the elite light infantry soldiers.  Their motto is "Rangers lead the way!"

As I work my way thru the design, I like to make as many of the smaller pieces before adding them to the larger component.

Did you know that the Army is the oldest branch of the Armed Forces? The Army was officially formed June 1775 by the Second Continental Congress.

Now the eagle is nearly completed. All I need to do is add the items held in its claws.

I will need to make an olive branch and 13 arrows. These two symbols mean that America has a strong desire for peace but will always be ready for war. 

If you're wondering why there's a hole in my blue fabric, not to worry!! I like to keep the heaviness of the adhesive down to a minimum. By cutting away the center of each circle then pressing each into place, the allows for that outcome.

In the eagle's beak is a ribbon which has written on it "E pluribus Unum" which means "Out of Many."

Finally managed the olive branch and arrows. Next step the outer circle and then I'll mount the whole thing onto my background fabric.

It took several auditions before I was happy with this background which a pale, mottled taupe. 

Here are the three completed blocks. Only two more to go before I choose a proper setting!!