Alaska Sew In

Last weekend 16 ladies spent most of three days and evenings sewing for
Quilts of Valor in Wasilla, Alaska. Several others stopped in to find
answers to questions and/or drop off finished quilts. By the end of the
weekend I was pleased to have a stack of 29 finished quilts sitting on the
bed in my guest room.......along with lots of donated fabric. Another 20 or
more tops are now ready to head to longarmers.

One lady brought enough 12" blocks to make about 8 quilts, and got half of
them assembled with nice sashing and borders. She also made backs,
pillowcases and prepared her binding, so now she can load her longarm
machine and quilt away! Another brought 4 completed quilts and finished two
tops in two days.

Some others completed at least one or two tops, and some finished their
third top at home this week. One came with her serger and machine and
whipped together 10 pillowcases and some quilt backs. Then she picked up
three quilts that needed labels and finished those. She'd planned to only
stay for an hour, but time slipped away quickly. <G> We call Patty the
pillowcase queen!

Two ladies finished the binding on two quilts I had just picked up from a
longarmer. Then one proceeded to work up half of a top from a kit I'd taken
to work on myself. Great start to one more QOV, and I sure appreciated
having the binding finished so I can present these two soon.

All in all, I'd say this was a fantastic weekend and made me realize all of
my previous worries were for naught! These ladies of the Mat-Su Valley in
South Central Alaska rock!  We have a special presentation planned for
October and I'm sure our goal will be reached well before that. Then the
remainder of our quilts will be ready for future requests. Thank you
Alaskan quilters!

Linda K., Alaska Regional Coordinator
Quilts of Valor, www.qovf.org