Veterans Day Weekend at the Tuleburg American Pride Quilt Show

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Veterans Day Weekend at the Tuleburg American Pride Quilt Show

November 14, 2011 by Jan

What a great weekend Quilts of Honor had celebrating Veterans with a Quilt of Honor Ceremony at the Tuleburg American Pride Quilt Show.

We started our weekend on Veterans Day setting up the Quilts of Honor Booth and the Family Quilting Booth. We always look forward to the quilt shows. Our friendly weatherman said “no rain”. Well, guess what – it rained the whole time we unloaded on Friday. But our weather God was good to us on Saturday – the sun was bright and we knew we would be able to have our QOH ceremonies in the courtyard.

Our colors were posted by Karl Ross Post 16 of Stockton. Those guys were great and they did a beautiful job. Teresa, an Army Veteran, sang the National Anthem. I was so proud and honored that she would sing for us. She has such a gift! I told her I was going to keep her number on my speed dial.

Pastor Russ, my brother, gave an invocation and we started our ceremonies. I gave my little speech so everyone would know what we did. Pastor Russ then blessed the quilts. I always feel so good when I know these quilts have so much blessing and love with them as they go on their journeys.

We awarded our first quilt to a Navy Seal from Enduring Freedom who told me he wasn’t deserving of his quilt, but as most Americans now know, Navy Seals are very special. Carlo, God Bless you for your sacrifices and service. We then awarded the Brigadier General, who is a Silver Star recipient with tours of Korea and Vietnam, his QOH. The General asked if he could say a few words – I said, “Sir, you’re the General.” He stepped up and said he accepted his QOH in honor of all those who didn’t come home and thanked our organization for what we do and how wonderful it was. Both quilts were pieced by Sandy and are beautiful. She made a lone star because the General has one star.

We then awarded Joe, a Vietnam Purple Heart recipient, his QOH. He has waited an awful long time to get his “thank you.” Joe does volunteer work helping veterans and is always there for Color Guard honors. When we gave Joe his QOH, he looked at it, and you could have heard a pin drop. I finally said, “Joe, is it ok?” He said, It’s more than ok.”

One of the nice things was that all the recipients had their families with them, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins – it was great!

It was a beautiful ceremony! There were a lot of tears in the crowd. I got lots of hugs and kisses from the guys – this is a pretty good job.

We gave out 4 QOHs at our Quilt of Honor booth to different recipients or their spouses. We also received 5 new requests for quilts.

Tuleburg Quilt Guild presented us with 32 QOHs from their show. Thank you so much ladies. I had quilted their quilts in the past few months.

When I think of how the weekend went, two stories come to my mind and my heart breaks. One of the quilts, made by a member of the Tuleburg Quilt Guild, is on its way to Texas to her nephew. It was mailed priority mail this morning. When she asked if she could give her quilt to her Nephew who had 20 years in the Army and had a Silver Star, I told her we would mail it right after the show. She said she would get the address and on Saturday morning she called her nephew in Texas to get the address. She asked how he was doing and he replied, “Auntie, my heart is breaking – my son John Jr. was killed in Afghanistan last week.” Needless to say, I grabbed her and hugged her. She said all she could do when she got off the phone was hug his quilt. Later that day she brought her best friend over to hug the quilt, too.

We also had a lady come up to the Booth and asked me for some time. She said she would like to give us a donation. She told me that we had given her neighbor a quilt when she lost her son and that it meant so much to her. I told her I couldn’t imagine what her neighbor was going through – her son suffered with PTSD and took his own life. If only we could have given him a quilt in time.

Just know that these quilts, your quilts, do so much – mean so much! And, ladies and gents, we are being noticed for what we are doing. We touch a life with every quilt we give.

God Bless you all. And tons of thanks to my QOH Crew and family!

Gail