Quilts of Valour

This year I have been involved in making a number of quilts to donate to various areas of need.  In June,  I wrote about Charity Quilts and  two quilts I made early in 2013. http://www.alwaysquilting.wordpress.com/2013/06/15/charity-quilts/

Recently, one of the friendship groups of which I am a member, decided to make a quilt to donate to the Quilts of Valour (Australia) programme. We chose the Carpenter’s Wheel design, with individual blocks measuring 18 inches.  Each member of the group would make a block and we would then join them together.  Each member would use her own fabrics, but choose a warm beige as the main background colour.

Gathering supplies for my block.

I decided to hand piece my block.  For this task, Aurufil Cotton Mako’ 40 was ideal.

Using a template to mark sewing lines on each piece.

My completed Carpenter’s Wheel block.

When my friendship group met this week, several of the blocks were finished.

Six of the nine required blocks are finished.

The Quilts of Valour Foundation http://www.qovf.org was originally started by in the USA in 2003 by a mother, who, on her son’s return from deployment in Iraq, saw the need to support soldiers effected by war.  In 2012, Victorian resident, Helen, decided to establish an Australian organisation based on this foundation.  At present, Quilts of Valour operates in Victoria and Queensland, but the intention is for this to be a nation-wide activity, with committee representatives in every state.

Quilts of Valour Australia’s mission is to present quilts to wounded service members of the Australian Defence Force in recognition of their sacrifice for Australia whilst deployed on combat operations.  The recognition will also be extended to the families of soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice. Since Australian deployment in Afghanistan in 2002, 260 soldiers have been injured and 40 have lost their lives. To read more about the Australian QOV organisation go to http://www.quiltsofvalour.com.au/

Perhaps you too would like to become involved in this very worthy project.

Charity Quilts

Most of us who are quilters have been involved in creating quilts for charity.  We do this for many reasons, but primarily our gift quilts show that we care about the people who receive them, and they offer a very tangible way of receiving comfort and warmth.

As a member of Lutheran Women of Australia, I recently attended its convention in Adelaide.  In the year prior to convention, our president issued a request for quilts to be made and presented at convention.  Quilts could be sewn, knitted or crocheted. Organisers hoped for around 400 quilts to be distributed around the country wherever need is found. Many will go to African migrants, most of whom are refugees who have been through appalling experiences before coming to Australia.

I decided to hand sew my quilt, slow I know, but it had the advantage of being portable and would use scraps of fabric in the stash.  My thread of choice was Aurifil Cotton Mako (of course!!), this time in 40 weight. I made quilt-as-you-go hexagons and figured that if I made just a few every month I would have enough when the time came to take my quilt to Adelaide.  In all I made 67 hexagons.

Making individual hexagons.

The completed hexagon quilt.

I invited my mum to help me make a second quilt, this time a knitted one since Mum does not sew, but she is a great knitter and between us we have lots of scrap wool.

This time we required 64 squares, making roughly half each.  I sewed them together and crocheted a border around the edge.

The knitted squares made into a quilt.

When we arrived at convention, the venue was decorated with many quilts hung around the walls.  A number of trestle tables and clothes airers held many more. Many styles and levels of difficulty and ability were represented, but all were colourful and the generosity of the makers really shone out.

Lots of quilts.

Before very long it became apparent that there was insufficient space to display all the quilts and so organisers simply had to pile the quilts wherever they could.  Soon not only were more tables brought in, but all the space under the tables was used too!!  A preliminary count at morning tea on the first day indicated more than 1200 quilts and still they kept coming!

Many quilts did not go to Adelaide but will be distributed in their state of origin and so at the time of convention it was difficult to estimate exactly how many had been donated.

Too many quilts to display.

But in case you are wondering what the latest count is……. (drum roll). ….over 4000!  What a great effort!