Lincoln NE Quilters Guild QOV's

The Lincoln (NE) Quilters Guild biennial quilt show was held May 18-20 at
the Weary Center on the campus of Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln,
NE.  In addition to the nearly 350 quilts submitted to the show, the event
featured a special exhibit of Quilts of Valor.  We challenged the Guild
members to make 100 QOVs for the show, and by the end of the show, we had
102 QOVs!  The Guild's youth outreach program teamed up with QOV and
provided pre-cut strips of fabric for young visitors to the show to sew
into quilt blocks that will eventually make more QOVs.  Guests, young and
young-at-heart, were invited to sign more blocks that will also find their
way into future QOVs.  At the end of the show, we had hundreds and hundreds
of blocks!!

The QOVs and the youth program were housed on the second floor of the Weary
Center, providing a stunning upper view for visitors to the quilt show on
the ground floor. Visitors to the second floor commented that the setting
was cozy and inviting as well as impressive.  One visitor commented that
she had never seen so much red, white and blue in one place before!

Included in the display were  4 quilts made by 4-H members from Nebraska as
part of the Nebraska 4-H QOV Challenge.  4-H members in Nebraska are hard
at work on more QOVs that will displayed at local county fairs and the
Nebraska State Fair later this summer.

Though many of the QOVs were made by QOV "regulars," we also received quite
a number from quilters who had never before made a Quilt of Valor.
Receiving the quilts and hearing the quilters' stories about them was one
of the "best" parts of putting together the exhibit.  For example, one QOV
was made by a 93-year old mom and her daughter, and the daughter talked
about what a joy it was to sew with her mom.  Another QOV was made by a
prayer group at a local church, and one of the male members who did much of
the cutting of fabric recently passed away so the QOV represents a lasting
legacy to that prayer group.

The machine quilting on the QOVs was also noteworthy.  Julia S, the
co-coordinator for QOVF in Nebraska quilted a zillion of the QOVs, and she
was joined by long-armers from cities and towns all over Nebraska (check
out your maps for Lincoln, Omaha, Hickman, Syracuse, Elmwood, Ravenna,
etc......) and as far away as Minnesota, Virginia and Florida.

Visitors were invited to vote on "viewer's choice" among the QOVs on
display.  First place went to Cheryl K (with Kristin H as quilter) for
American Valor; second place was Ginny H (Joan O as quilter) for 9-Patch
Variation and third place was Ginny H (Julia S as quilter) for Stars and
Bars.

At the end of the show, 18 of the quilts traveled to Cozad, Nebraska where
they will be displayed as part of the 100th Meridian Museum's  Memorial Day
events.  Forty more of the QOVs are traveling to Texas where they will be
awarded to a group of Navy veterans from the Vietnam War.  About a dozen of
the quilts are being awarded as per individual requests received on the
QOVF website, and the remainder are set aside for the Nebraska National
Guard and the Warrior Transition Battalion at Ft Campbell, KY.

Submitted by:
Sara and Julia