Expression of Gratitude

It's been a little quiet around the blog lately.  Has it really been 10 days?  I seriously don't know where the time goes.  I guess it just means there has been a lot going on.  At least I feel like there has.  I do have a couple of finishes to show you.  I finished up the two Quilts of Valor I have been working on.

Here's the star one.  I worked on it several days in October, sandwiched it on Halloween, and quilted and bound it this week.

I chose a star and circle/double circle motif for the quilting.  Can you see the stars?  Then I did echo quilting inside each of the star points.

I quilted a star in the center of the center square and then echo quilted in the corners of the main square around the star.

It made for some pretty dense quilting and such lovely texture.  Not perfect by any means, but it was fun, and I think the finished quilt turned out pretty well.

I did a really scrappy binding to mimic the scrappy border around the star, which you'll just have to imagine, I guess, since the only photo I took of the binding and the label were blurry.

The second quilt is more a mix of traditional and modern, I think.  The flag is  the central image, surrounded by a border with cornerstones, a narrow border, squares with 9-patch cornerstones, another narrow border, then asymmetrical wide borders and scrappy binding.

The quilting is just swirls, but I like it.  It reminded me of the flag, blowing in the wind.

And I did remember to label them - unusual for me.

I hope that these quilts warm and comfort those warriors who receive them  I am grateful for their service and their courage and their sacrifice.  I know a little of what it means. And I know a little of the sacrifice of their loved ones too - the wait and the worry and the loneliness.  Where would we be without them?

Thank you to all those who serve and have served.  God bless.