Another Quilt of Valor Presentation

My Uncle James Adams was my most recent Quilt of Valor presentation.  He is my last surviving uncle on my dad's side of the family.  He is 82 years old so I wanted to get this done as quickly as possible for him.  

I started by sending signature blocks out to states with family members and having them sign and their friends and families sign the blocks for Uncle Jim.  Once I received all of the blocks back I put the quilt together and quilted it.  

Below is the quilt as I loaded it into my longarm.  I quilted the words honor, courage, valor, service, thank you for your service, as the quilting for the quilt.  It should also remind him that his service is appreciated.

 This is one of the borders where I also quilted words like courage, service etc.

 Below is the QOV label for his quilt.

 Now a close up of some of the signature blocks in the quilt.  The quilt was 80 x 80 and contained 256 signature blocks and every block was signed!!

 We presented the quilt to Jim at our family Christmas dinner on December 13, 2014 at my aunt Elane's house (his sister).  Everyone in the family was aware of the quilt as they had participated in making it by signing blocks......that is everyone but Uncle Jim.  He was totally surprised and moved.  He started getting teary eyed as soon as I started talking and we draped the quilt over his shoulders.  It was a very moving and difficult presentation to make, but reminds me of how special these quilts are to the recipients.  Below is a picture of Uncle Jim, my mom and myself presenting him with the quilt.

Uncle Francis was at the presentation and brought his Quilt of Valor that mom and I had presented to him.  After Uncle Jim's presentation, Uncle Francis showed his quilt to the family and they both commenced telling stories of their time in Korea.  Several hours later they were still reminiscing.  There was not a dry eye in the house as these two revealed so many stories of the events of their service.  Many family members have called and written me to say that this Christmas family dinner was one of the best that they can remember.  No one was in a hurry to leave.  So glad that everyone could be a part of this special presentation.

I am so blessed that quilting has given me the opportunity to make such a special gift for someone.  His service and the service of all of our veterans gives me this precious opportunity.

Happy quilting,
Shelia