If your quilt was machine quilted locally it wouldn't have had to be sent out.
You could have taken his name and info and registered him on the QOV site. He would have gotten an appropriate quilt with honor presentation. World War II veterans are a priority now for QOV.

I never checked for legality when I made DH his quilt, I just told him about the program, and he asked if I would make him one (he is a Vietnam Nam vet of the US Army). His is a queen size biscuit quilt in red, white, and blue, with his name across the center. I guess to him it is a "QOV", since that is why I made it, but it is exactly what he wanted and made just for him so he is thrilled. I have plans when I am gone to donate all of my sewing supplies thru the local VFW (in honor of my grandfathers) to be passed n to the local QOV group to use or sell as they see fit. My quilts probably would not be up to their standards and I am OK with that. We all help according to our abilities.

I did the same as Chester the bunny. My neighbor retired from the military but was not in an active war area; due to being an only son/child. So I put on his label "thank you for your service". The size met QOV requirements; I just changed the wording.

If you are worried about calling your quilts a QOV, why not call it something else: In Honor of Service or something similar.

Perfect!!!! This is what I think also.

Thank you for your response. I am not a member of the 'Spin off Bee' that makes the Quilts of Valor. They are members of our Guild however. As I stated, they have already done this for years and have sent hundreds of quilts, so their procedure has been established years ago and they have it down pat. I was only questioning if I could do it on my own, then donate it to our local Legion. I think my original question was answered by 'Chester the Bunny'. Hope your information can help others though, this is certainly a worthy cause.

My guild had made and sent off quilts but those with that passion have been finding local vets, men and women, and have been presenting them to our "locals" for the past year. These veterans may never be noticed by the national organization but are just as moved by the simple honor given through a quilt. We all contribute blocks so we feel like we are all contributors to honor our vets whether we give a block or two or if we assemble the quilt or make our own full quilt.

Some prefer to give personally. Giving is the point however you do it.

I think QOV has become something akin to calling all facial tissues "Kleenex". Locally, our quilters often refer to them as "Patriotic Quilts". At the beginning of our projects, we looked into the QOV rules and decided that was not for us, but we could not prevent the participants from calling them "Quilts of Valor".

As a woman veteran who didn't aerve in a combat area, I just want to say thank you first of all to all you who make the quilts. Secondly, the Armed Forces have a definition of veteran status: an individual who has served 180 days or more in uniform & been discharged honorably.

As a former facilitator of a veteran support group, I made no such distinction about the status of the veteran's discharge nor their length of service. I just cared if they had served cuz life happens to all of us.

Mostly, I wanted to say that you need not have been in a combat zone or combat to be called a veteran. Okay, off my soapbox. Thanks for caring.