Quilts of Valor

I have been making squares from leftover triangles for the Quilts of Valor group I participate in, and that reminded me that I neglected to report on our meeting on March 2^nd.  We made lots and lots of kits during that meeting.  These kits include either sixteen squares to make (4) 4-patch units, or (4) large squares and enough small squares to make 4 half-snowball blocks.  You can easily see each of these units in the finished quilts shown below.  That way, kits are available to be picked up at the quilt shop that sponsors our meeting room so that members of the group and the public can sign them out and return them at their convenience and the group always has some to work with to make more tops.  Pretty cool system, huh?

The half-snowball blocks result in extra triangles after the corners are cut off and we have collected many of them.  Those are what I have been sewing together – either to make pinwheels or zig-zag borders or some other use.  Here are some of them:

This is one member cutting squares for the kits:

And these are lots of pillowcases that were finished at the meeting or finished and brought to the meeting.  Each of the Quilts of Valor are presented to the recipient in a nice pillowcase presentation case like one of these:

 And two more quilts were finished and bound:

A Bonnie Hunter Design - Fourth of July

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2005/07/fourth-of-july.html

 Nice job on both, ladies!

And speaking of patriotic, did you see this on the internet?  The town of Craig, Colorado had to cut down many of the cottonwoods in a park due to age and disease.  Some very creative person thought to have a chainsaw contest and the City Council approved it and offered a prize.  These are some of the amazing results.  See the caption under the second photo for the patriotic part – there were other eagle sculptures that were just as remarkable but this one was particularly moving when you see all sides of it.

This is the backside of the
eagle sculpture shown in the first photo.
 Note the rifle, helmet and boots of a fallen soldier.

And on a more light hearted side

This was one of my favorites - I love bears!

To see many more of the sculptures, use this link:

http://www.zuzafun.com/chainsaw-art-competition