2015 HMQS Quits of Valor Challenge 1st Place Winner

I had never made a Quilt of Valor quilt before entering this challenge.

I don't have any relatives in the armed forces, but I honor and respect those men and women and their families who valiantly serve and sacrifice for our country. I love the thought of giving something back to them.

For many reasons, including lack of time due to other commitments, I knew this quilt needed to be relatively simple in both piecing and quilting. But, I believe that simple things can sometimes be stunning, and that was my goal for this quilt.

I looked through my quilt books and patterns and found this simple Stars Over Ohio pattern in Sherri McConnell's book Fresh Family Traditions.

Quilting Treasures provided their Patriotic Pop and Salute to Summer fabric by Studio 8 and Liz Kolansky. I chose three different white-on-white fabrics for the background. I knew framing the stars with white fabric would allow me to show off my machine quilting.

All pieced and ready to be quilted.

I photocopied the pattern in black and white (for personal use only) and drew out different quilt designs before I loaded the quilt.

The motif inside the white area is a digitized design by Kimmy Brunner. I thought it fit perfectly with the 'star' theme I was sticking to.

I used one layer of Hobbs 80/20 batting and White Highlights thread by Superior (now discontinued but I still had some on hand).

I love the pattern created by the quilting on the back of the quilt!

I thought this quilt turned out beautiful! But I was still shocked to learn it had won 1st place!

 It just goes to show that simple really can be stunning!

When I quilt I usually listen to audiobooks. I get them through my local library and an App called Overdrive Media. I want to remember the books I read, so I'm going to start documenting them here.

As I quilted this QOV quilt I listened to the following: