Operation Welcome You Home Illinois

I've written about this organization (see their blog) before. Well, there are three warriors returning this weekend. If you want to attend any of these (and they're pretty awesome, let me tell you) look for information at their webpage: operationwelcomeyouhome.org These warriors will be presented with a Quilt of Valor.

on Friday at 6 PM, they will be welcoming home:

US Navy E-4 Melissa Bavone was born in Winfield, Illinois and graduated from George Nelson Tremper High School in Kenosha, Wisconsin. She attended "A" school at NAS Pensacola, Florida and "C" school in San Diego, California. She has been stationed overseas onboard the Navy's only Forward Deployed Amphibious Ship, USS Essex (LHD-2), out of Sasebo, Japan for the last three years. While she was there she completed many qualifications including air warfare and surface warfare. She also received a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal for her meticulous work and supervision during the ships inspection survey. She also received the Overseas(3) and Sea Service (3) ribbons. Upon completing her duty on Essex and aiding in the Presidents orders of Humanitarian relief for the victims of the tsunami in Japan, she will be reporting to Tinker AFB in May to l! earn the Air Force's E-6B Mercury. When finished in Oklahoma she will report to Travis AFB VQ-3 in September for two years of shore duty.

Melissa has not seen her family in close to three years.

Saturday at 1:45 pm, they will be welcoming home:

TERRENCE KRISTOPHER TOWNSEND WAS BORN JANUARY 2, 1991 AT PROVENA MERCY MEDICAL CENTER HOSPITAL IN AURORA, ILLINOIS. HE GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL (LINCOLNWAY CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL; NEW LENOX, ILLINOIS) IN JUNE, 2009. HE ENLISTED IN THE REGULAR ARMY AS AN EVAC. MEDIC TRAINEE IN SEPTEMBER 2009. HIS MILITARY ORDERS SENT HIM TO FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY FOR BASIC MILITARY TRAINING WHERE HE QUALIFIED MARKSMAN WITH MILITARY WEAPONRY. HE WAS ORDERED TO TEXAS FOR (AIT) ADVANCED INDIVIDUAL TRAINING; THEN TO FORT DRUM, NEW YORK IN PREPARATION FOR DEPLOYMENT TO AFGHANISTAN. AFTER COMPLETING A TOUR OF DUTY IN AFGHANISTAN, HE RETURNED TO FORT DRUM, NEW YORK. ONCE HIS MILITARY SERVICE HAS BEEN COMPLETED, (FOLLOWING COLLEGE) HE PLANS TO CONTINUE IN THE MEDICAL FIELD.

On Saturday, at 3 pm they will be welcoming:
CPL Robert C. Bacigalupo II joined the Marines in 2006. He has received the National Defense Service Medal, NUC Navy Unit Citation for his recruit assistance and received a ribbon from the Army for successfully recruiting a soldier. He was part of the MCSFCO. He received his Global War on Terrorism Metal for his assignment at Kingsway.

He was chosen as a Certified Explosives Detector Dog Handler. Robert and his dog, K.D., were assigned Afghanistan in November 2009-June 2010. Robert and K.D. found several bombs that were disarmed with out incident. We welcomed him home in June 2010 and returned to Hawaii for additional training for his next mission.

After a short one week visiting family he is headed for his second tour of deployment in Afghanistan.


Also, at their site you will find information about a fundraiser in August. Remember that quilt I showed you yesterday that we need to raffle for the purchase of more supplies---well, hope to have our quilt there.

Rita

Another VERY PRODUCTIVE sew-in

WOW, we just seem to out do and out do! ok, the count for today: I came home with 12 quilted tops (includes the one from Nancy for the blind, which by the way, is so much better in person.. Thank you Nancy. 16 more tops that need quilting and backings were turned in as well. Can't forget to mention the 3 that are quilted and need the binding and label! Oh, and all the pillowcases...thank you, thank you!! Came home with some nice fabric donations as well.

I don't know if everyone heard me that I'm working on getting more quilts to Hines Hospital and they do have a hospital at Great Lakes as well. I know that you, as well as I, like giving our quilts to local warriors and will do my best to do that.

MaryJane, salads were great---good idea!

And got to mention how well we "play" together!! What a great group and I'm so proud to be a small part of it.

I did get pictures of our visitors picking up their quilts. Thank you Karen for this month's storage. These are pictures Wanda took of the van being loaded with the 50 quilts.

You all are great!!

Rita

Checking in

Getting ready for another sew-in soon. The quilts haven't been picked up yet from the Great Lakes personnel....maybe they'll just wait until our next sew-in on April 5th??

Can't wait to show you another block using our 2 1/2" strips that I learned while in AZ a couple weeks ago. Was at the "3 Dudes Quilt Shop" and one of them was demonstrating his new pattern. If you're ever in the Phoenix/Mesa area be sure to check out their shop. Here is one of the pictures I took of just one of the layouts.

Rita

A note from Vicki re Beloit sew-in held March 2nd

Rita

We had another successful day at the Beloit meeting of Land of Lincoln Quilts of Valor. There were 8 of us and we had a great day. The day consisted of our normal show and tell and then down to work. Lunch of course was on the agenda and as always it was delicious. I am proud to say that I came home with 8 quilts for Quilts of Valor and 1 quilt that will go the local Veterans Homeless Shelter (Tina's project). Also Tina kept two tops for two other long arm quilters that volunteered to do a quilt. So 10 quilts total for Quilts of Valor. I must admit that these quilts were not all completed at the sew in - these are very dedicated ladies that sew at home and then sew as a group. They are simply THE BEST.

Vicki

RECORD BREAKING!!! 21

21 at the sew-in today!! WOW. I just got home but when I get pictures from Connie, I'll share. Sorry our sailors weren't able to join us..want me to let you know when they come to pick them up at my house?

Thank you, Thank you for all your help.....OH...and the food!! MaryJane, the soups, desserts, salad ALL very good!! So, send me recipes so we can share.

Rita

More behind the scenes ...

I know I don't post every day and truthfully, just can't seem to get to it. Well, not a sew-in, nor a cut-in, but a "kit making" day today! Yes, someone's got to do it and today I'm getting some great help to make up some kits from all the cuttings we've been doing...anyone is welcome to join us.... I'll start the coffee soon. Thank you, Karen and Dorothy---what a great idea you had at guild yesterday.

We're also packing Karen's car with 50 quilts that are going to be picked up on Tuesday, our next sew-in. We're expecting company---- 6 personnel from Great Lakes Naval Base will be with us on Tuesday.

We also now have a volunteer to take over our meal planning...or at least drop some ideas. May as well make our sew-ins as much fun as possible. Thank you, Mary Jane. More later in the reminder notice.

Rita

I meet the neatest people!

Saturday, Jayne dropped off a couple quilts. She left these notes to be attached to her quilts and said I could share her story:

"Sometime in November, 2010 I mentioned to a friend of mine, Rita, that I would like to sew for a cause. So she sent me the Quilts of Valor website. After viewing it, I knew that's what I want to do. I asked Rita if she could help me with the quilt toppers, since she was herself a quilter, and I wasn't, but I am a seamstress. We discussed it further, and decided to give up a tradition of going out to dinner around Christmas time, and instead do something for someone else, Sew for a Cause. It was especially meaningful to me because I have a son in the Marines, Special Forces, serving in Afghanistan for his second tour. I've done the usual things, send packages, give money, etc., but I wanted to do more.

The quilt tops were made by 4 High School friends. We have been friends for over 30 years. Two of the ladies don't sew, and 2 of us do. They were very willing to give up dinner, and instead sew, cut fabric, or iron. Two of us went to purchase the fabric because we knew 4 ladies together would be impossible. We spent a Saturday afternoon in December, 2010 completing one Quilt top, and beginning a second one. It was pretty comical sometimes. We did a lot of reminiscing while we worked. We formed an assembly line of sorts between the dining room and kitchen. My smallest dog Moose, loved jumping on the quilt every time we put it on the floor to check something. We also spent a lot of time laughing. Even though we have been friends for a long time, we learned some new things about each other. Who would have thought?

The Quilts of Valor has inspired four High School friends to reach out to others. We will continue this new tradition of helping others at Christmas time instead of going out to dinner. We are already looking ahead to what we can do next. Now that I know a little more about the foundation, I can quilt on my own too.

Hope you enjoy the quilt and it brings comfort.

Sent with warm thoughts.
Thank you for all you have done for our USA."

Our "Cut in"

Got a whole lot of cutting done yesterday!! Two AccuquiltGo cutters and a Studio were worked for almost 5 hours!! Thank you so much ladies..a couple more of these and the porch just might be in healthy looking order! Welcome and thank you Pam--Pam was a "walk-in" from the shop hop. Had a lot of inquiries on what we were doing...maybe we'll see new faces at our next sew-in (which by the way, we're having our Great Lakes visitors).
Rita

Join us

Today we're gathering at Prairie Shop Quilts for a "cut-in". With so many "smaller-than-a-yard" pieces, we're cutting them down into some usable shapes for our interesting scrappy quilts. Join us, we'd love to have you. A lot of this fabric has been folded for ?? long and we could use pressers as well as sorters. You know---always a job for everyone!
We start at 10 AM
Rita
OH, and if you have an AccuquiltGo cutter--don't leave it at home!

Beloit Sew-in on Wed Feb 9th

The Beloit group of Land of Lincoln Quilts of Valor rescheduled their sewing time due to the Blizzard of 2011. We met on February 9 and we had 7 regulars and 1 new sewer - welcome Mary. It was a bright and sunny day although it was very cold outside. The sun was a pleasant site. On a side note when I crossed the river on the Shirland bridge I was amazed to see at least 7 bald Eagles either flying or roosting. What a motivating site. We worked very hard and we had a great time and lunch was fantastic. Our new member is quite a good cook. I being the longarm quilter of the group came home with 8 more tops to quilt. We have been very productive - we all work well together and are very supportive of each other. Alberta announced that she had received a thank you note from a member of the 485th Engineering Co (December quilt delivery). So another successful sew-in and we will be back together on March 2. Hopefully the weather will continue to improve.
Vixanna "Vicki" Robbel

A really nice thank you

Remember the presentation of quilts we were a part of in December? (refer to the December 6th post). I received this thank you today and wanted to share with you....Rita

Hello
I am Jennifer White, my husband is in the 485th Eng Co. Your group brought quilts to our welcome home ceremony back in December. I have been wanting to drop you an email thanking you but it has been a very busy year so far. That being said I just wanted to thank you for donating your time and energy to the 485th it means so much to us to have the community support. You guys have a great program and it means so much to our soldiers and their families. I know how much time and energy goes into making a quilt and it means so much to all of us. I was also wondering if you all had a mailing address and if so could you please send that to me.
Thanks again for all your support
Jennifer White

Pics from Nashville RWW

I didn't forget I promised to post pictures. It's going to be hard to pick just a few of these pictures. I think I'll pick the ones with the most quilts! Note: I'll have these and more in the QOV album I usually carry with me.
Rita