As everyone is enjoying their time with family I wanted to share a special thought for our service men and women, many of whom are not celebrating today with their families due to deployment. Words can not express my gratitude for their service and sacrifices for our country and my freedom.
I wanted to share a quilt that I made recently for a customer. It was one of my “secret sewing” projects but since by now, I’m sure he’s opened his gift I can share it!
Jeff served his country for approximately 7 years in the Army. As the story goes he’s not from Texas but was stationed nearby and met his wife Laura and the rest is history! They have been married close to 30 years if I remember correctly, and both are faithful servants at my church.
Laura approached me back in the summer, shortly before Hurricane Harvey actually, and asked if I could make Jeff a quilt from his old uniforms. She brought me two jackets to which I added fabric to make a lap size quilt.
I love military fatigues as they have the coolest pockets! What I like is the button closure so things don’t fall out. It’s always amazing to me how heavy the clothing is – and that’s without the pockets being full!
After cutting out the pockets there’s not a large amount of fabric left to work with. I enjoyed working on this as the process was creative (as in I didn’t have a plan) and very similar to putting together a jigsaw puzzle without a photo to look at.
Block by block it came together- my goal is a rectangular quilt top about lap size. I incorporated all the pockets with a collar thrown in for good measure and even a few buttons.
I hope the family will enjoy this memory quilt. To me, it was an honor to make and a reminder to pray for our troops both veteran and active duty – especially around the holidays for those separated from their loved ones.
Jeff, thank you for your service. It was an honor to make your quilt!
This is Karen Overton, The Quilt Rambler, wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas, especially those serving our country!
