Marianne Fons and Catherine Roberts

northernillinoisquiltfest.com/weekendofvalor.html
Huntley Park District (Rt 47 and Mill St) is the place for a weekend of Quilts of Valor August 19 and 20th. Marianne Fons and Catherine Roberts, the founder of QOV, will be there. The address and directions is: Cosman Center , 12015 Mill Street, Huntley. (From Rt. 47, our entrance to the fest is West, off of Main Street, Huntley IL, proceed South on Lois Lane, to the parking lot on the South Side of the Rec Center/Cosman Cultural Center).

Tickets are on sale for Marianne Fons' speeches on Friday evening at 7 PM and/or Saturday morning at 10:30 AM. You can get these tickets at Quilt n Joy or by calling 847-961-6507.

They are in need of people to come and sew. There are a few spots left for Friday but Saturday is very open from 9 AM - 4 PM. At 1 PM Saturday, they are making QOV presentations to local veterans. There are exhibits and 10 vendors!! Check the website with information.

I will be going on Saturday. They will need some kind of a count by the first of the week of the show as to how many will be there as PBS will be filming that day and they would like to be set up with a fairly accurate count. There will be a concession set up on Saturday and possibly Culver's...or bring your own.

So, join me! Let me know so I can let them know...so far one we have three besides myself.
Rita

WHEWWW

A HUGE QOV weekend that was! First I want to thank Dorothy, Cheryl and Marilyn for helping me man the Quilt Show. I know I met a lot of people who were enthusiastically signing the blocks, taking information about our monthly sew-ins, offering to donate fabric and made it a very worthwhile weekend! I also handed out a couple of our kits.

I also need to thank Accomplish Quilting (www.accomplishquilting.com) for the donation of two quilts. This was the Gammil dealer at the show who came up to me the first day of the show and told me they would have two quilts for us and they did. You got to see this one--- I must bring them for show and tell at our next sew-in.

We have been invited back for next year's quilt show. So, the QOV word is getting out and we keep getting more and more people involved, makes less work for the rest of us, is the way I look at it. With the amount of our men and women expected to be returning, we might have to think about having bimonthly sew-ins...think about it.

Sure would like to see you at the Farmers Market on Wednesday (West Aurora Plaza 2-6)
Rita

Busy Week/Busy Weekend

A lot going on this week/weekend! We had a very good turn out at the Farmer's Market table this past Wednesday. This weekend we have a table at the Batavia Quilt Show. Come by and visit us. We're located near all the patriotic quilts. The show runs Friday (1-6), Saturday and Sunday (10-5), located: Shannon Hall at the Eastside Community Center, 14 N. Van Buren St., Batavia, IL 60510.

Also, Vicki, is representing us at the RWW program in MN this weekend. It'll be a very great experience for her and I hope more of you will be able to do the same at a future RWW weekend.

And of course we will be at the Farmers Market this Saturday at the Aurora Transportation Center from 7:30 am - noon.
Rita

THAT was fun!

Just got back from our monthly sew-in/picnic and haven't made a count yet on what came in. This is the You Tube video that I was telling you about. It is called the "Jelly Roll Race". A few ladies were working on a technique similar to this which will be finished next month. I'm also looking forward to the new technique Wanda showed us today as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EomX7t7to_o

ok, here are pictures of our first Signature quilts made from blocks that we are getting donations for the purchase of supplies. We have a table on two days at the Farmers Market in Aurora: the Aurora Transportation Center (Saturday mornings from 7:30 AM - noon; and Wednesday afternoons starting tomorrow, July 6 at West Aurora Plaza (2 pm - 6 pm). For any donation, donors are asked to sign a block that we will be making into quilts to be presented to local returning service men and women.

A couple of our ladies took some blocks and had family members and friends sign them and are making a quilt of their own. The completed quilt above was made by Donna. That's one beautiful quilt!

Thank you, ladies. I appreciate all you do to make my job a lot easier--- and believe me, our war veterans appreciate it even more. Even the Viet Nam and Korean War Vets I've met at Farmer's Market give us kudos!! See ya next month...
Rita
PS The pattern for our Signature Squares was designed by Bonnie Hunter, named Fourth of July

Happy 4th of July!

Hope you are all having an enjoyable holiday. Hope to see a lot of you at our sew-in on Tuesday.

Our Saturday Farmer's Market Day experience has been great and I am happy to say the Beloit ladies are experiencing the same results!! If you haven't heard, we are making signature quilts and the donations from the signed blocks are great. We have enough signed blocks to make our 2nd quilt top! We also have a quilt we are raffling--it was a hard sell yesterday in the heat, but I've seen "regulars" come back each week to got their ticket for a chance to win the quilt in October. This month we will also be at the West Aurora Plaza on Tuesdays.
Rita

Winfield Sew-in--SUCCESS

Yesterday's sew-in was great. We had more ladies sewing yesterday than the year before---what more can we ask for. I can only estimate how many tops will come in from the number of kits I came in with and I'm guessing 20 tops. Some tops went home for finishing. We also received some much needed fabric from a couple of shops.

I hope we've recruited a few more quilters for the cause of letting our troops know we care! Thank you to the Ladies Auxiliary for all that they did to see this happen. I hear we're already talking about next year!
Rita

GREAT job, kids!

This past year, Marilyn went to her grandson's 5th grade class and helped them make a quilt of valor. The recipient was Shane Brady (Army), the 3rd grade teacher's son who had returned from several tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Shane was overwhelmed by the kid's gift.

How proud do you think THEY are! Great job, Marilyn.
Rita

Pillowcase alert

I know every time I ask for pillow cases, I get them. Well, I didn't realize how low (4 left) we were getting until the other day I had a few completed quilts come in. Now, I've got fabric if you need some fabric to do these. Do remember that these as well as we do for the quilts should be done in quality fabric...no child prints, etc.

Thanks for all you do! Hope some of you are planning on joining us at the sew-in on Saturday in Winfield. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to call or email me.

Rita

Sew-In Reminder for Saturday, June 25

Don't forget the Quilt of Valor sew-in that is scheduled for Saturday, June 25th at St. John the Baptist Parish, Sebahar Hall, located at: 0s233 Church St., Winfield, IL. We'll begin at 9:00 a.m. and sew and sew until 3 p.m. Bring your filled bobbins along with your sewing machines. Kits will be provided. They're asking for irons and iron cloths as well. Lunch will be provided.

Hope to see you there for the day or for however long you can stay to make quilt tops for our returning servicemen and women.

Rita

Market Day Report

Yesterday, we made our debut at Aurora's Farmers Market. On our way there it started to sprinkle and I thought, OH GREAT! But no, we had no rain---no sun, but no rain, and that is a good thing. I might have been able to sell a handwarmer or two.

They had a tent already up for us which was also a step in the right direction. I have nothing to compare it to, but I was pleased. The raffle quilt was a hit with both men and women and didn't have to twist any arms to sign the blocks that will be put into a quilt. I've lived in Aurora all my life and it was so nice to see a lot of familiar faces that I haven't seen in awhile.

So, thank you Aurora for the opportunity to make an awareness that we are making these quilts for our troops! To be among people who see what we are doing and saying it was their "honor" to be signing these blocks is good for the soul! Take an opportunity to work the table on either a Saturday morning or Wednesday afternoon this summer and get your own warm fuzzies.

I also have a report from Vicki on how the Rockford/Beloit area did at their sew in:

The Beloit Ladies of the Land of Lincoln Quilts of Valor met as usual on June 1 (first Wednesday of the month). We had a great group. I think there were 10 ladies and we gained another new member. Welcome Suzie Wendel. I came home with 7 more quilts. As you can see these ladies produce the quilts. We had a great lunch and then back to work. I (the longarm quilter) am working very hard to get caught up. We had a reporter come to visit from the local newspaper and he is going to run a story about our group and Quilts of Valor, maybe we will get some more interest and some donations.
Well done!
Rita

Pictures of quilts from yestesrday's take-in

Here are a few pictures of quilt tops finished yesterday and one top quilted (pattern from Three Dudes QS, AZ. Thank you to the person who donated those 2 1/2" stripped batiks--didn't leave their name. Love the patriotic Square in a Square and don't we ever use up the scraps with the chisels!
Rita

Yesterday's Sew-In

Weather outside was VERY hot but we managed to get a lot accomplished yesterday. ok, you wanted to know how many quilts, etc. I came home with 6 completed tops (quilted, labeled, bound and in the pillowcases); 10 tops (now these included ones that were dropped off completed at home as well; and 6 needing labels! Not bad, huh!

Oh, and we had a QOV presentation as well. Chris and her mother stopped in to pick up quilts for her nephews who are returning home for a family reunion at the end of the month. Sgt. Zachary Knud Klingberg was with the First Marine Division, Fox Company 2/5; and was involved the the initial invasion in Iraq in 2003. He is now with the Army - 314MP Company out of Irvine, Calif.

His brother, PO Drew Leif Klingberg is with the Coast Guard, PSU 311 (Port Security Unit) out of Long Beach, Calif.

BIG thank you for the donations brought in with the signature squares. Headed out this weekend to pick up some much needed fabric for backings. Thank you to those who volunteered to help man the tables at the Farmers Market. And thank you to all who took quilts that needed binding...whewwww

Thank you for your dedication in this mission. If you're in the area of the Aurora Depot on Rt 25 Saturday, the first of this year Farmers Market...stop by and say hello! It would be nice for the people to see the faces of our quilters.
Rita
PS... don't forget the sew-in in Winfield on June 25th. Also, let me know if you're headed to the Northern Illinois Quilt Fest. Stop in to meet Catherine Roberts, the founder of Quilts of Valor.