VA Hospital quilts

A few months ago a chaplain at the local Veterans Administration Hospital approached the quilting guild I belong to and asked if we could make quilts for the long term care wards.

82 of the quilts on display at a local church...

Many of these vets are elderly and no longer have family that visit.  Making the institutional setting even bleaker.

Here in front are two of the quilts I made...Bonnie H. fans will recognize one!

So first our goal was 50..then 75...and come Tuesday when they are presented I believe we will be close to 90 quilts!  I'm really proud to be part of this guild...

I am madly putting the binding on the last one in my stack...a fitting project for the 4th of July I think!

Another one bites the dust...

Finished two more quilt tops for the local VA...have two more almost finished but my sewing machine died!  Duh!

Blocks made by various guild members and assembled by me

Not to worry...I have multiple backups.  I just have to wait until my husband comes home to help with the lifting!

Orphan block with 6 inch blocks

This makes me wonder if I shouldn't find a corner of the room to keep an backup machine...or a machine that I just leave the walking foot on!  I hate putting those on and off the machine but they do make sewing on binding so much easier!  It's a thought!

Daylilly from the front Garden...

Watson has finally adjusted to the room.  We had been strict about his going in the room when the workmen where here.  Seems it made an impact and for the past week or so he just could not get comfortable...I tried everything.

the view from my sewing machine...

Gave him treats...set up a bed...at the end it just took time.

He has reason to be a bit anxious today...there are workmen in the yard trying to fix drainage in our back yard and putting down pine-straw...a bit late but we had to wait until the construction was finished.

The squirrels or the moving water rearranged some of my perennials...I never planted a yellow Asiatic lilly (but I have one now!) and this daylilly above was labeled blue...hummmm.  I hope to see a blue one somewhere in the garden this summer!

Homes for Troops

Yesterday I spent some time with the folks from Homes for Troops. They are building a specially adapted house for an injured U.S. Army veteran. Since it was a major construction day there wasn't too much I could do to help but I plan on going back for the landscaping day...then at least I'd qualify as semi-skilled labor!

There were several of my quilt friends there so of course we decided we needed to make the family a quilt for their new home...finally something I can do!

Homes for Troops is a great organization. www.homesfortroops.org They have build over 100 adapted homes at no cost to the injured vet. Having an accessible home makes caring for the injured veteran easier for the family and returns dignity to the injured vet by allowing him or her to do more activities for themselves.

It was also wonderful to see all the volunteers out there for the construction days. Everyone from professional builders (the guys doing the tough work on the roof) to members of a local sorority that maned the sign-in and information booths to the vets that provided the BBQ lunch. Lots of soldiers from the local fort were on hand. It was interesting to hear their reflections on the project. Several of them commented they had traveled the same stretch of highway in Iraq where SFC Giddens had been injured by an IED.

Homes for Troops builds all across the country. (I think they have upcoming projects in Massachusetts and Utah.)