Thanks for Honoring the Soldiers on Veteran's Day!

A HUGE thanks to those who made quilts to honor the wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on Veteran's Day! We received 24 beautiful quilts from all over the country that Scott presented to his patients and other wounded soldiers on Monday, November 12, 2007. My friend, Kristi, helped spread the word about this project all the way to California. Her friend, Chanel, posted photos and information about the flag quilts on her blog and soon I received packages from Amanda, Barbara, Chanel, Ellen, Jenni, Julie and Kylie. These talented and amazing women sent 9 beautiful quilts that were humbly and graciously received by the soldiers. We are in awe of how quickly they responded. Your tremendous effort was greatly appreciated!!
Fifteen of the quilts Scott presented to the soldiers were made during the summer by young girls ages 12-18 while they attended a summer youth church camp. About 100 girls from around the Washington D.C. area and their youth leaders decided to make patriotic tied quilts as a service project to honor and thank the wounded soldiers at Walter Reed. A special thanks goes to Sue, a good friend who has given me help and inspiration for this project from the beginning, and Leslie, who spent countless hours managing this quilt project over the summer, and all of the girls who contributed and learned to tie quilts.

They are all members of The Church of Jesus of Latter-day Saints, Washington, D.C. Stake. This was the second year we received quilts from Girls Camp. Last summer, Sue spearheaded a similar quilt project, with the help of our mutual friend, Anne, and they gave us 20 quilts that were presented to the soldiers on Veteran's Day 2006.
Many, many hours were spent sewing, and quilting and we are so thankful to the many individuals who support this ongoing service project.

Those who are fortunate enough to be able to work with these soldiers will tell you that their bravery, patriotism, optimism and spirit are amazing! Scott has been touched by his interaction with these men and women and this project provides a way to say thanks, honor and salute those soldiers who represent all of us. Few of us will have to make the sacrifices they have made for our country and the world. To all of them we say THANKS and will always be indebted to their service!!!

History of Flag Quilt Project

For those of you wondering how this flag quilt project all began - here is some background information. My husband, Scott, has been an active duty military doctor at Walter Reed for 12 years. When Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) began in 2003 he was finishing his final year of residency in orthopaedic surgery at Walter Reed. Shortly after OIF began he found himself treating many severely wounded soldiers and the devastating toll of war became a grim daily reality for him. Scott worked many long hours and felt he could never do enough to help repair his patients. He was getting ready to leave Walter Reed for a year and we both hoped the war would be over before he returned.

We moved to Charlotte, NC later that year for Scott to complete a one-year fellowship in foot and ankle surgery. When he returned to Walter Reed as a staff orthopaedic surgeon in August 2004 the war was getting worse and the number of wounded soldiers was on the rise. In the months that followed Scott came home from work many days deeply distraught over the gravity of the injuries of his patients. He also began to share with me his tremendous concern for these brave men and women who serve in our armed forces and their remarkable attitude of selflessness, service, duty and loyalty.

These brave soldiers have left a permanent place in our hearts and my children and I wanted to find a way to honor and give thanks to them in an anonymous, non-intrusive manner. We came up with the idea to make flag quilts for them. A friend had taught me how to make flag quilts a few years earlier and my children suggested we make them for the soldiers. This turned into a family project and it's been a great way to help the kids understand what Scott does and more importantly what our soldiers do for us and our country. We wanted to have some quilts ready for Scott to give to his patients for Christmas 2004. A bunch of good friends and family jumped in to help. We really wanted this project to be accessible to anyone who wanted to say thanks to a soldier so we decided to let people sign the backs of the quilts and write thoughtful notes. My children's classmates, teachers, neighbors, friends and others all wanted to participate. On Christmas day, 2004, Scott put on his "dress-blue" military uniform and brought the quilts to his patients and other wounded soldiers along with some of his fellow physicians.

The response and support we have gotten from this project has been tremendous. These quilts are presented to some of the most seriously injured soldiers, many of them spend months and sometimes even a year or more at Walter Reed recovering from devastating injuries. With encouragement and support from others we have gradually tried to increase the number of quilts that are presented. In an effort to spread the word about this project, a friend encouraged me to enter the wonderful world of blogging. My contact information, the pattern for the flag quilt and other ways to help are included on this blog.

When people find out Scott works at Walter Reed with many of the wounded soldiers they always mention how much they want to tell the soldiers thank you. For those of you who have already helped and supported this project we are forever grateful. The soldiers and their families really represent all of us. This quilt project has provided a wonderful, simple way to let our soldiers know they are in our hearts and prayers without intruding on their recovery efforts. Scott continues to distribute quilts to the wounded soldiers each year. Our goal is to present as many quilts as possible to the soldiers at Walter Reed for Memorial Day, July 4th, Veteran's Day and Christmas. Ultimately, we would love to be able to present a flag quilt to each soldier at Walter Reed upon their arrival at the hospital. Of course, the greatest gift would be for all of our soldiers to be out of harms way.

Directions for American Flag Quilt for Wounded Soldiers, finished size approx. 41" x 57"

(Thanks Chanel for putting together these directions!!)

Fabric requirements:

Red 1/2 yard Cut 7 - 2 inch strips

White 1/2 yard Cut 6 - 2 inch strips

Dark Blue Stars 1/3 yard Cut one rectangle 11" x 15 3/4"

Inner Border (Brown) 1/2 yard Cut 3 - 3 1/2" strips

Corner Posts (Gold) 1/4 yard Cut 4 - 3 1/2" squares

Outer Border (Blue) 1 yard Cut 4 - 8" strips
(a yard is 36" long and quilting fabric is usually 45" wide. Make sure you cut your fabric so that the stripes are approx. 45"long)

Binding (Gold) 1/3 yard Cut 6 - 2" strips

Backing One piece of muslin washed and cut to 44" x 60"

Batting Warm and natural cotton cut to approx. 44" x 60" or at least 2" larger on each

side of the finished quilt top.

Piecing

Sew 3 red 2" strips and 3 white 2"strips to each other, alternating colors and press. Cut this strip set to be 36 3/4" wide. Sew remaining 7 white and red strips together, beginning with red and alternating white and ending with red. Press. Sew dark blue star rectangle to this strip set and press. Cut the extra red and white strips so the blue stars and red and white stripes measures 36 3/4" wide. Sew this strip set to the top of the striped set and press. Flag should measure 19 1/2" high x 36 3/4" wide.

Measure your flag quilt and then trim 2 of your inner border strips to be 1/2" longer than the width of your flag and then cut 2 pieces each measuring 1/2" longer than the height of your flag. Sew 2 or your corner posts to each end of your shorter inner border strips and press. Sew longer inner border strips to top and bottom of flag and press. Then sew 2 shorter border strips with posts to the sides of the quilt and press.

Measure your flag with the inner border and strips and use the same process to cut and attach the wider outer border strips to the quilt.

Layer the backing, batting and top together and machine or hand quilt. Sew binding strips together and sew binding to quilt.

PLEASE NOTE: We welcome anyone who is interested in participating in this project. For those of you who have quilted before this is a relatively simple pattern. If you haven't quilted before, but want to try it out this would be a good beginner quilt. If you just want to make a quilt top and can't quilt the layers together that's fine. We're thrilled to receive any completed flag quilts, flag quilt tops or signed quilt backs and we can complete the rest. Just click the e-mail me link on the blog with any questions. Quilt top or finished quilts can be mailed to Linda Shawen, 17 Lloydminster Court, Gaithersburg, MD 20878. If you include your return address or e-mail information, we'll send you information once the quilt is presented to a soldier.

Send Me a Quilt Backing

One of my favorite parts of this flag quilt project is having lots of people participate in signing the back of the quilt. It really helps personalize the quilt and provides a way for people of all ages to say thank you to a soldier. If you like this flag quilt project idea, but you don't sew or don't have the time to sew - this would be a tremendous help and a fun project for a family, school group, boy or girl scout group, neighborhood, etc.

We have received signed quilt backs from elementary, middle and high school groups, book groups, and corporate business groups. Last year, my friend, Kate S., brought some quilt backs into work for their annual Christmas party and had everyone sign them.

If you would like to participate, here are the steps:

1. Purchase a piece of 100% cotton fabric in either white or off-white that is 44" tall x 60" wide. Muslin is a little less expensive and works very well also.

2. Please use Micron Pigma writing pens for people to use to sign their names and/or write a brief note of thanks to a soldier. These pens are acid-free and permanent and work very well. They can be purchased at Michael's craft store or many other craft stores. Those of you who scrapbook will probably be familiar with these pens.

3. Have people sign the fabric and be sure to leave about 4-6" blank around the outside edges so we don't cut off anyone's signatures when the back is quilted onto the front and trimmed.

4. Click the e-mail me link on the blog and let me know if you have a quilt back to send me. The address is Linda Shawen, 17 Lloydminster Court, Gaithersburg, MD 20878. Also e-mail if you have any questions.

5. If you provide your return address I will send you information and a photo when the quilt is finished and presented to the soldier.