Ready For the Fourth

 It's a rare day indeed that ol' Jayne the quilter has a leg up on July 4th decorating. Long before I was Jayne the quilter, I was Jayne the procrastinator. But by gosh, this year I am so ready.

I have red geraniums on the front porch with American flags blowing in the breeze.

Also on the front porch is my new Ohio Star barn quilt in red, white and blue.

On the inside of the house, I have my little Market Day table topper quilted and bound. I wrote it about in this post a few days ago. 

And now it has it is joined by its big sister, the larger table topper, also quilted and bound. 

I have a couple of older patriotic pieces out also. The Patriotic Spring Dreams from last year's sew along is draped over a chair in the front room. The photos below were taken last year before it had been quilted, but it is done now, for sure. It is made with a lot of my grandmother's patriotic scraps. She was well known for her love of red-white-and-blue items.

Another item I made last year was this pillow cover. I'd really like to go ahead and make a matching one so that I'd have a set. Maybe soon.

We are doing a slow-and-lazy type of celebrating this year. We attended a picnic and fireworks party at some friends' on Saturday night. Tomorrow we are making homemade ice cream for immediate family. Maybe someone will bring some sparklers. Low key, for sure.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Patriotic Duties

Welcome to July, dear quilters. This weekend brings all the fun, rest and relaxation that is America's Independence Day festivities. We enjoy picnics, baseball, vacations and weekend getaways, and, of course, fireworks. Hopefully in all the revelry, we don't lose track of the reason for our celebrations - America's Independence and honoring freedom.

Untold thousands in America's military are fighting for our freedoms, and many more thousands have lost their lives in that fight. Our county, Ross County, in southern Ohio recently lost a 28-year-old soldier who was serving in Afghanistan. Army Staff Sargeant Josh Gire died after an IED attack on his unit on March 22. Read the article here.

The ladies in my Frankfort quilting group, even though we did not know this young man, felt an urge to remember him to his father, mother and wife with quilts. We got together on 2 or 3 different days to work on them.

Here are the quilts we made.

All three quilts are of the same pattern, but look different due to the placement of the colors. I don't remember the name of the pattern, but it was very easy to construct.

Two of us delivered these quilts to Josh's father on the Monday evening of quilt camp. He was so appreciative. He'd also contacted Josh's mother, who was there, too, and she was overcome with the remembrance. It was an honor to make these quilts for our local hero's family. Both parents assured us that the third quilt would be shipped to Germany where Josh's wife lives with their 2 children.

It was such a small gesture to make these quilts for the family of a fallen soldier. We can go on with our lives, enjoy our freedoms, forget about the sacrifices of so many. For Josh's family, their lives are forever changed, and they will never forget the sacrifice. Their sacrifice is permanent.

God Bless America, and thank  you, Staff Sgt. Gire.