Quilting for our soldiers is something near and dear to my heart. I am new to this forum and am so happy to find this particular thread. Thank you.

I will tell you that my son's unit is allowed to wear the neck coolers and that they appreciate the Army colors or the new camo colors best.

Extreme Quilter, I'm waiting for my son to arrive on R&R any minute (he was in Kuwait Saturday waiting for a flight) I'll answer your pm then. I appreciate your kind words!!

Would anyone wanting to send things please include your snail address and name. I want to protect "my guys" as much as possible. There are 50 men that work for my son.

Thank you each and every one, no matter what you decide or who you send things to. If you add the US military, all over the world to your daily prayers every mother of a military person will be grateful because voices raised in prayer make the difference in this life!

God love you each and every one,
Sharon

When my son was in Kuait there were certian things that I could not send. Please check with the PMM (Proud Military Mom) before deciding what to send.

Loves_2_quilt

just a thought for anyone esle interestied in these boxes . The post office will ship them to you for free with preprinted labels if you request. I use these alot when my husband was there and now that my oldest sone is there.

As an Army wife with a husband has gone to Iraq twice and a Proud mom of a soldier who is over there now. I am more than willing to help out where i can. I am currently in Germany myself so shipping from here for me is free sinse it is APO to APO. So please let me know if there is anyhting i can do from here.

I also wanted to let you know that as i read this sight i wanted to cry for all the love and support that flowed from these messages. It is very endearing to my heart.

Thank you all,

Hi ya'll. I am relatively new to this forum, but a specific question was asked by Bonita - yes I am very familiar with the QOV program. My son received a quilt from this organization, I have made one, and my quilting sisters here in my local quilt guild have made four. You can check out their website at www.qovf.org. They are a great group and if you have any questions, you can ask me and if I don't have the answer, I will find out for you.

I do know that at Walter Reed, the chaplain blesses each quilt before an injured military member receives it. While I was there with my son, I did see a lot of these quilts being loved by many of the soldiers there.

There are just a few "no-no's" - the size should be no larger than a lap size, no "rag" or fringe type quilts, and all quilts must be washed and dried prior to shipping. These are just a few things to keep in mind. I read somewhere that a Girl Scout troop made a quilt for a local soldier that had lost his sight - Every block was a different texture.

Sorry to ramble. This is just dear to my heart.

God Bless,
Lynne
PAM (Proud Army Mom!) of Jim

Lynne, I may have misunderstood QOV's guidelines, but I thought they were only interested in twin size quilts and did not want the smaller lap size quilts. Up to now, I have not participated because quilting a twin size quilt is too difficult and cumbersome since I do not have a long arm. If they DO want lap size quilts, I can start churning them out and sending them to them.

Extreme Quilter is right, they prefer the twin size quilts. Lap quilts may be need at Walter Reed or any of the military hospitals that are receiving injured. They have some in wheel chairs but what most of the organizations want are homemade quilts, blankets in twin size to give the guys in the wards to keep their spirits up.

If you are making them for specific units in Iraq serving, they should be only twin size as they have bunks or cots to sleep on only.

Sharon
Proud mom of James
Proud aunt of Michael

if you prefer to make just the tops, QOV will match you with a volunteer long-arm quilter.

http://www.qovf.org/getting_a_longarmer

to review size and fabric recommendations, go to this page.
http://www.qovf.org/quilt_topper_whats_expected

they do accept oversized laps (as small as 50" x 60") i've emailed to ask and was told they absolutely insist on 100% cotton. ("The blends just don't cut it. If you have difficulty getting fabric, let me know. We have people who are swimming in it.")

personally, i can't relate to the slavish, nose-in-the-air, unquestioning worship of 100% cotton. don't know about anybody else but i have some blends in my stash (GASP!!!). :shock:
hey! they're pretty, they were inexpensive, they'll take a beating, and they don't shrink. so hush now and leemee 'lone. 8)

but it's for a good cause, so i won't argue with her about it. (quick!!! somebody get smelling salts for Kathy! I'll bet she just fainted.)

Kathy wasn't the only one who fainted!! :D