Waiting Patiently
The stockings are hung on the fireplace with care...
Heidi Kaisand
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HenandChicks: Waiting Patiently
My son and husband (and 2 year old grandson) would love the tractor stocking! I still need to hang the stockings and make one for (2 month old grandson)-I better get with it!!! HUGS... and stitches
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Loved your stockings Heidi. Thanks for helping get the 29 quilts sent to Afhanistan. Sixty of our "Thanking Our Troops--God Bless America Touring Quilts" are cheering troops at Camp Striker Stables in Baghdad this Christmas.
Larry (Gunny) Sizemore, Supervisor, Camp Striker
Stables, Baghdad, Iraq had this to say about the God Bless America Touring Quilts: "Daily, your patriotic exhibit delighted thousands of troops passing through our transit facility at Camp Striker. This quilted tribute to the troops boosted their morale and their spirits when they were forced to spend Christmas thousands of miles from home. Please
thank each quilter for honoring us by creating these beautiful quilts."
They also gave much pleasure to the VIPs in the Victory Base Complex and the hundreds of the newly deployed and re-deployed
troops. I came from a military family of five generations who have always been proud to stand
and serve Old Glory. Gunny went on to share that
some of the men stayed for hours examining the quilts and taking pictures of each other posing in
front of the display. The soldiers loved reading the accompanying stories that thanked them for their
service. As they stood talking, many soldiers shared their own foxhole tales, or the heroic acts of fathers and grandfathers who served in Vietnam and WWII.
One colonel and several other soldiers even shed tears as the quilts evoked memories of our brave troops as well as our lost loved ones.
Kaye Hansen’s 22-inch copy of the fullsized
Independence Quilt, which she made to permanently
comfort the troops at the Stables, also told about her Home of the Brave quilts. These memorial quilts are gifted to the families of the fallen troops and the quilts replicate the 1860s bedroll quilts issued to Civil War soldiers.
Joan Ballew created a portrait quilt, incorporating a
zipper and buttons from her wounded Marine son Logan’s uniform. Logan received a quilt from a Quilts of Valor volunteer honoring him when he was airlifted from Iraq to the Bethesda hospital.
Gunny e-mailed me almost one hundred photos of the
troops admiring the quilts. The troops penned the following comments in Gunny’s journal:
Major Mick Kerr, Camp Striker Mayor wrote: "I was
captivated by the beauty of the quilts and the stories they told. Taken together, there is no better testament to the blessings bestowed upon our nation through the valiant service of its men and women. Looking at the quilts, it’s evident
that 'freedom is not free,' but no sacrifice is too enormous to keep our great nation free. I am proud
to have served with this country’s finest—the American soldier."
See photos of all 305 GBA Quilts on www.HeavenlyPatchwork.com. All profis from the $100 exhibit rental fees (free to military & veteran) go to provide quilts for wounded soldiers and families of the fallen. Enter your 22" quilt today.
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