Quilts for Vets in Wayne County, TN - part 1

My friend, Anne, owns a quilt shop - The FABRIK Emporium- in Waynesboro, TN. We are about two hours southwest of Nashville.

She knew that I made QOVs. She made the suggestion instead of giving the quilts to QOV that I might think about giving them to the Vets in our county.   I thought that was a great idea. Last year on Veteran's Day there was a celebration and we were able to give out 18 quilts to Vets who served in WWII, Veterans that were POWs, Veterans who were critically ill. Each Vet was thrilled and grateful to receive a quilt. It was a great feeling to give them locally. 

This year we are making 50 quilts to give to the Korean Veterans and any Vet that becomes ill. Anne opened her shop for our quilting group. We meet twice a month and have between 4-6 women come. Some of these women have never used a sewing machine. Some have made clothes. None were able to sew a 1/4 inch sew when they started. They are getting better. 

We have 16,913 people in our county. We are the second largest county in the state - square miles.

We were given donations after last years celebration and we were able to buy 75 yards of fabric and two rolls of batting! 

Besides our group of quilters I have had Karen help make quilts. Her help has been greatly appreciated.

We have 30 tops made, 15 have been quilted so far. I actually think we are going to make our goal.

Next year we will start making quilts for the Vietnam Veterans. There are a lot of them in our county so we will be spreading their quilts over 3 years, they will be given alphabetically and as needed for the critically ill.

I have been making kits for the group. We started out making string blocks. Then simply pieced blocks. I did have to undo a lot of blocks because of the seams.  After the blocks are made a couple of us sew them into tops and then we quilt and bind them. 

It has been a fun way to met new people and to teach them about quilting. Two have even bought their own sewing machines and quilting tools!