BSA QOV presentation

yesterday was a special day. a long awaited day - especially if you're 7 years old.

yesterday, the man in the hawaiian shirt below came to visit den 7 for their final official den meeting for the school year. [M] shared his underwater photography experiences with the boys - he was under the impression that it was for their photography belt loops. it is, in a way, but it was more of an excuse to get him to the meeting for what we had on our agenda.




we were able to have 6 of the 9 boys in attendance. it's not often that we get all 9 at one time. they had lots of questions and [M] was so good with them. i knew he would be. [M] had printed up and bound the book he's been writing - a copy for each child. he even brought them a seashell souvenir from his dives.




upon thanking him for his time and what he shared with the den, we announced that we had a little something for him as well. a quilt of valor as a token of appreciation for his prior service with the u.s. marine corps back in viet nam. [M] sustained wounds both physical and other and is a purple heart recipient.

all 6 of the boys immediately popped up when i asked who wanted to help me.



my son handed [M] the journal i had kept during the entire process. it includes the first day when the den drew their pictures, all the sewing, opinions of the scouts when i showed them their drawings as stars, and i finished it appropriately on memorial day. the journal includes my "aha!!" moment when i knew the quilt belonged to no one else but [M].

i have no doubt this quilt of valor will be loved and cherished. [M] is the type of person who loves children, his country and the sacrifices he endured during his service. in the moments that we stood together in the above photo, you could see the pride and appreciation in his eyes and face.

it was a token well deserved and long awaited for as well. just as my mother said to me last night - i'm glad it went to a viet nam era veteran. they did not receive the appreciation or homecoming they deserved at the time.

holy cow! i won!

first - have you read this book yet? if you haven't, run (not walk!!) to you nearest bookstore or library and snag a copy. then grab a cup of tea and sit for hours. you'll say "ooh" and "aah" over the gorgeous quilts featured in it, and then cry over the stories.



well.... i bring up the book because i got a flickr mail message tonight from the publisher's flickr group saying i had won a copy of the book and a fabric pack from moda/united notions. how cool is that!? i can't wait...and i know what i'll do with the fabrics (or what i'll probably do depending on what they send me) - make another QOV! i won it because of the work i've been doing on them, so why not give back with my fabulous earnings?

i already bought fabric today to use on an upcoming QOV that will be made with the assistance of boo's tiger cub scout den. i get to discuss it in further detail tomorrow afternoon with his den mother. so far, my plan is to prepare a bunch of white cotton squares with freezer paper and have the boys color heart-warming and happy pictures with crayon, then heat set the crayon and make a quilt from there. robert kaufman has a line of boy scout fabrics right now and i got some today to use in it. this is the 100th anniversary of the boy scouts, so it's a pretty big deal in scouting. there will be hints of the cub scouts in the QOV, but not overly obvious. then, my hope is to find someone local: at one of the boy's churches or a family member or neighbor who is deserving of a QOV, then have the den present it in person. it is supposed to be one of their community service-type activities and what an experience for them. so these 7 year olds may not remember it or exactly just how emotional the process is, but you never know. my 7 year old knows what it means.

that's all for me tonight. i've got to unload all the stuff my mom unloaded on me today. it's so hard to say no sometimes...it's all good things, i just don't have a place to put them. and i need sturdier pots for the pretty amarillus bulbs.