Partners & I have now completed 4 bandana quilt projects, i.e. quilts incorporating a bandana like those sent to soldiers in Afghanistan. All bandannas were provided by Celia Gwaltney who obtained them from Operation Bandana. Quilt were given to those who suffered great personal &/or physical loss in service to us all.

Recipents & Quilt Stories

1. Cpl. Cody Stanton (in 3 parts)
2. Army Staff Sgt. Brian Keaton Sr.
3. Sgt. Rodwell Shootes
4. Sgt. Jason Roten (in 2 parts)

If you are interested in making such a quilt, know that I will longarm it no charge & provide the bandana. I think I still have one on hand.

The Labyrinth Quilt Top I pieced in May 2012 will soon have a home with a local couple, Sgt. Jason & Tiffany Roten. I met Tiffany today and learned of Jason's service. This quilt is going to the couple as it rightfully should. Tiffany is helping me with the details while keeping this a secret from Jason for the time being.
    Since the top is already finished, I am going to incorporate this bandana into the backing. I learned Jason was a proud tanker so that theme will be incorporated into the backing too. Nope-didn't happen that way.

Feb 25: Met Tiffany. Decided to complete this quilt as a bandana thank you quilt for her husband's service including Afghanistan.
Feb 26: Just spoke to Celia Gwaltney who will send me a bandana this week. The bandanas are part of 
Operation Bandanas | Psalm 91 bandanas for our Troops  only I use them in quilts for soldiers who have come home.
Mar 02: I have just appealed to the Intelliquilter group for pantos for this quilt. Trying to get an eagle to hit just right on the front center and the bandana on the back is not a good idea. I want something as special as custom yet a panto that incorporates the same themes & most of all a says a HUGE THANKS to Jason and all those he represents. Hey, I can dream!!
Mar 03: From Tiffany: Linda, Hey, just looked at the QOV patterns and saw the one labeled Tanks. I didn't have to look any further. He was a tanker and I know that is the one he would want! Thanks again! Tiffany Roten. Hmmm.
Mar 06: Celia tells me the bandana is now in the mail so it will be here in plenty of time.
Mar 07: Met with Tiffany and showed her the quilt. She shared the significance of tanks to Jason, a tanker & a collector. Did some research online & found images that can be printed on t-shirts, patches, pins...all kinds of things. We settled on the Eagles On High panto and will incorporate tanks into the backing somehow.
Mar 08: Got the panto and played with a couple of layouts. Also researching army armor/tanker images to print on t-shirts & then incorporate into the backing.
Mar 09: We have a final plan (NOPE) if there is such a thing. Meanwhile, Jim Goodson, an artist who sells on Zazzle under the name Arklights, is busy putting his designs on shirts for us. A huge thanks to Jim! His artwork will make this quilt very special for Jason.
Mar 12: Ordered 4 t-shirts for the backing. Oops ... something went wrong. Zazzle will not print the army insignia on the shirts. Bandana came in.
Mar 13: I am glad now I didn't get to order the shirts yesterday. Laying this out on the bed, I see now that I need smaller images that will fit in a maximum 8" wide border. I also like the on-point layout, something I didn't think about before. Also much easier to piece.
Mar 14: When Zazzle wouldn't print Jim's images on shirts, he sent them to me to put on t-shirts &/or fabric myself. My t-shirt gal can't print on black so I need a light color that coordinates. The good news is that I can use any cotton fabric rather than t-shirts. This proved too complicated.
Mar 18: Just came across some newly released army fabrics that offer potential here.
Mar 19: Still in love with Jim Goodson's work, I ordered a clock with the emblem so meaningful  to our Army Tankers. Zazzle allowed it without issue & it will here in one week, i.e. Tue Mar 26.
Mar 20: We have a new final plan that I hope this time is fail safe. The importance of this quilt is validated by the difficulty and road blocks to getting it designed. Let's hope that piecing the backing will be seamless - well, it will have a few seams of course. 

Mar 26: I just got in the Military Salute Army Vehicles Patches Black fabric. It is beautiful and very good quality. I don't give up easilyy but the bandana just does NOT look good with this new backing. The backing doesn't do justice to the bandana & the bandana spoils the theme of the quilt. TIffany knows the tanker theme is far more meaningful to Jason so tankers it is. And a bandana on the side!! OH! And the clock is here!
Mar 31: Cleaned my machine. Selected, loaded & tested the thread. Batting is cut. Backing is ready to load.
Apr 01: Prepared and loaded the top. Everything looked good on my test stitches but alas, the tension is way off on back. Did a small partial row and the start of a full row before I realized it. So now I'm backing up and undoing what I have quilted so far. Good thing I went ahead and ordered extra thread. Back to the beginning and stitched another test. Will try again tomorrow.
Apr 02: Starting over with the quilting. Still having tension issues when the needle is moving in one particular direction that I hope I have now tweaked out of the stitching. This quilt will take three hours of just stitching time alone (not including rolling and basting) & that is a lot. Those eagles wing are going to give my system quite a workout. I will also be out several hours today getting mice &/or their nest cleaned out of  my car's heater venting system. Yuck! The guys said the nest was the size of a basketball!! Have learned mice flee from peppermint oil & my garage & car now smell wonderful!! Hopefully, problem solved.
Apr 03: Quilted. Only the binding is left while Tiffany plans how we will present this to Jason.
Apr 04: Squared the quilt. Binding is ready to attach.
Apr 05: Attached the binding.
Apr 06-11: Hand binding.
Apr 13: Tiffany & Penny conned Jason into coming to the cabin with them today. Turns out he knows a lot about quilts & quilting from his grandmother's hand quilting. Jason is such a gentle soft spoken man. Can you believe that I was so caught up in enjoying my company that I forgot to take final quilt pictures or pictures of the recipient couple? Instead I photographed the card Tiffany gave me as they left. This was a truly wonderful project & it could not have turned out any better in the end.

A sneak preview of Terrie's Bandana quilt.

Once again Nancy has been an invaluable help. She mentioned Sgt. Shootes to me back in December & immediately Terrie said YES for him to receive her quilt. He knows about it too. So much fun...and joy.

Jan 19: Terrie and I had some fun tonight tossing around ideas of how to quilt her bandana project. It will be fun to see where we end up.
Jan 22: EQ7 rendition that will probably need modification.
Jan 25: Terrie offered a layout to get things moving.
Jan 26: I devoted the day to trying different layouts. Together Terrie & I are trying to come up with the perfect plan even density that won't take until Easter to longarm. LOL. Seriously!! I will spare you all the process until we get closer to a YES smile from each of us. After a second long day, I just deleted (by accident) my entire folder of quilt layouts.It's okay because I have it memorized by now and have all the pieces saved as patterns. Easy to recreate but not easy to find a YES! design. Ideas welcomed.
Jan 27-28: Still working on an IQ plan.
Jan 29: The quilt top is here. Actually it was at the PO Saturday but couldn't be delivered.
Meanwhile, Nancy Haacke of Wasatch Quilting and Laurie Thomas of It's A Quilt Thing have offered their assistance with patterns for this quilt. Both women are IQ pattern designers. After several very long days, Terrie has decided on the plan she wants. In a very rough cut & paste kludge, it is shown below.
Jan 30: I feel like a plan is slowly emerging.., Yes, we have a plan for sure.
Feb 03: Prepared the quilt for loading (pressing, checking size of batting and backing).
Feb 04: Loaded & basted. Ready to quilt. I will be quilting this rotated counter clock wise 90 degrees. There are several reasons. 1) The borders are on the sides only. 2) The blocks are 16". I never program a panto larger than 15" to be sure it fits. As a quilt is rolled up, it takes up quilting space. Doing this sideways leaves me the maximum amount of quilting space on the third column. 3) The backing has 2 vertical seams. Quilting sideways changes these to horizontal seams which do much better.
Feb 05: This is FUN!!
Feb 06: Quilted and shipped.

CODY'S QUILT PART 1: PLANNING
CODY'S QUILT PART 2: PIECING

I pieced Cody's quilt top in October & thought I would quilt it soon after. Other quilts kept coming in so I decided to save this quilt for last. I stopped receiving quilts in mid November to ensure time to complete this by New Years.

When I heard Cody didn't need the warmth but his mom, Nancy, did. I suspect Cody is the type of man who is very glad his mom got hers first & willing to wait until last.

So I have been looking forward to this since August. It will be the crowning work for a year of longarming beautiful and often challenging quilts. This is the 6th one I pieced this year and only the 2nd one of my own that I will longarm.

Neither this quilt nor words can express my gratitude to Cody and all the wounded warriors in our midst. Their wounds are my wounds. Cody's quilt is theirs too for he receives it not only for himself but for all the wounded. Merry Christmas, Cody, and a very Happy New Year.

Dec 20: Got the backing out to piece ... then came the interruptions. Tomorrow...
Dec 21: Piecing the backing & preparing to load while it snows outside. Brrrrr. I need to re-check the IQ pattern after all I learned while doing Brian's quilt. Meanwhile the quilt is loaded & ready to baste.
Dec 22: Went over the entire plan making substantial changes virtually starting from scratch.
Dec 23: Spent all day on the design brainstorming options.
Dec 24: Still designing. Finished basting. Started quilting late in the afternoon. Got the first row done. Started on the feathers for the inner borders. Oops! Need to split some of the patterns into sew-able sections. I shut everything down & took the IQ tablet computer into the living room to program the splits. The center eagle fits in one pass but the rays and star frame need to be split too. And so it goes. Tis the night before Christmas after all. Snuggling in for a long winter's nap sounds perfect.
Dec 25: Programing breaks into the pattern so they will fit within the 15" roll of the quilt. It takes time to get it right. Ready to resume quilting tomorrow.
Dec 26: A new upgrade, oh yes! Oh no. My IQ started behaving badly--like going left when I went right. Got that fixed. I had to stop & revise some of the splits. All I managed to do today was the two corner stars.
Dec 27: Quilting. Got first row done. Can't do any more because every time I try to SEW, the system reboots. So all is far from well with IQ.
Dec 28: System is still down since last night.
Dec 29: Late in the day I learned I had misunderstood the message to (not) revert to an earlier release. I have now completed all but the center of the 2nd row.
Dec 30: Working on the eagle & its borders. The complications with so many border pieces prompted me to simplify the design, I think for the better. Made decent progress today and got some interesting late night shots.
Dec 31: Quilting has gone smoothly today but setting up each pattern was time intensive. Only have some of the pledge and two sections of single feathers to do. May add some top stitching too.
Jan 01: Finished quilting. Only the binding is left to do.
Jan 02: Attached binding and hand sewing.
Jan 05: Still binding. Posted how I do it--slow, slow, slow.
Jan 07: Finished! Off to ship it.
Jan 10: Received by Cody.

I offered & Georgette Dell’Orco at Quilters Niche accepted two of my patterns used in this quilt.
They now belong to her & she is sharing them for free.
How cool is that?

Find them here.

On Cody's blog, Tim says: Thanks for doing this for Cody!! Cody keeps the apartment at Walter Reed very cold so the quilt is much appreciated by everyone :)
Later Tim writes: His Mom will be the one using the quilt most likely as Cody stays very hot with the all of the medications he is taking. Because he stays so hot, he keeps the air conditioning very low and freezes his Mom. Tim Cody

Hmmm. Sounds to me like Cody's Mom needs her own quilt! Anyone interested? If so, I will longarm it for free.
THAT WAS FAST! Laura Mourning has decided to make a quilt for Cody's Mom and already has it planned out. Thanks, Laura! Thus L&L Quilts--totally unofficial--is born.
Laura is also the angel who is going to do the binding on both of these quilts. She too is a 24/7 caregiver so she knows what it's like--joys, stress, exhaustion, etc. Quilting keeps her sane or so she says.

The quilt is here for Nancy who is Cody's Mom.

Laura Mourning pieced this beautiful quilt. She will also bind it and then ship it Nancy.

Oct 16: Around this time Laura was shopping and planning the quilt top.
Oct 29: The quilt is here.
Nov 01: Quilting day. Using a beautiful and fast meander called Bird Bath. I considered something more elaborate but decided the fabric is elaborate enough. Will use Dream Orient silk batting. Loading. Quilting. Still quilting. Still quilting. LOL. Almost done. Finished.
Nov 02: Shipped to Laura to do the binding.
Nov 08: Laura finished the binding & thus the quilt.
Nov 10: Laura's binding photos (collage here).
Nov 17-21: Cody (and Nancy) were in the hospital.
Nov 20: Nancy picked up her quilt from the post office.
Nov 22: They made it home for Thanksgiving.
Nov 27: Received a nice note from Nancy: "It is beautiful and the colors that I love!"

Oct 10: Plugging away. My goof is fixed and now history. Had to make a couple of changes on the order of the strips & now ready to sew them. Finished the day starting round 9.
Oct 11: Finished through round 14.
Oct 12: Added last four rounds. The quilt top center is ready for borders. Squaring this top before adding borders is going to be a bit tricky to put it mildly. I roughly squared it several rounds ago but I left well over an inch for later more careful squaring. Started working on that this evening but I am out of steam now. In addition to this quilt, I have had several projects going requiring paid help. That of course frees me to keep sewing but it also means lots of interruptions. Once I get this top done, it will be time to design the IQ layout.
Oct 13: Squaring before adding borders. Thanks for the tips, Joan! Got the two inner borders on. One to go.
Oct 14: Nine days from start to finish--way more than I expected. Next I need to program IQ. Sadly a friend left me high and dry on an outdoors project that I must now attempt to do alone before any rains come again. Oh dear!
Oct 15: My first complete draft of the IQ Overlay is done. I'll see if I still like it in the morning. I am wide open to suggestions on this.
Oct 16: I have been testing various thread colors and weights today. I have decided to order So Fine! black for all the stitching, front and back, except the outer border. I have some So Fine! thread in house that I think tops that off nicely. Thus, this project will not be quilted until early November.

Sept 28: A friend volunteered to do the binding. Oh yes! (Dec: Decided to do my own.)
Oct 05: Piecing begins. Trimmed the bandana so the Psalm is centered.
Oct 06: Cutting & sewing strips one at a time. Made it through round 4. The outer border is beginning to get wavy so I may have to redo some it ... tomorrow.
Oct 07: A new day. Yep, redoing that 4th border to flatten it out. Can't bear to think how bad things would get by the outer round if I don't. This will take a lot longer than I thought. Such is piecing but I want to keep my longarmer happy! LOL
   From this point forward I am going to do several strips at once hoping for less waving. Well, that only worked kinda well because I reached the side borders and goofed up the top and bottom of that last round (6). I didn't have quite enough fabric and then goofed up what I had when I tried to make it work. So back to the store Tuesday (closed Monday) hoping they have more. Another idea brewing too. So I didn't get nearly as far as I hoped but I can still cut strips if I dare. This thing is tricky or else I just am not being very clever.
Oct 08: Got all the strips cut. My goof led me to modify my plan a bit.
Oct 09: Bought the rest of the fabric I need for the revised plan. Keep thinking about what IQ patterns to use. Found some that may work in the file below.

Earlier this year, Celia Gayle Gwaltney promised to send me a bandana like they send to men in service. I got it this week. Immediately, I wanted to design a quilt with it as a center focus.

Operation Bandana
CODY'S QUILT PART 2: PIECING
CODY'S QUILT PART 3: QUILTING

Hoped for Cody's input but that was not feasible. Finally decided to just stitch the pledge in gold thread around the outer black border.

Aug 27: Received the bandana. Stopped by the quilt shop but it was closed.
Aug 28: Early in the morning I did the first design. When I got up, I did the second design.
Aug 31: in town anyway so stopped by the local quilt shop again. Immediately found some fabrics that I though would be perfect. Bought a yard of several of them including black Very close but off just a bit. Personally I like the solids better than the prints I picked up.
Sept 01: Going back to the quilt shop with the bandana this time.

Sept 07: I hoped to have interest from others who visit this site but none was shown so that idea is off the table. I will proceed to make this one & let Celia give it to the wounded warrior in her community-Cody Stanton. Really looking forward to it this once.
Sept 21: Decided to proceed with the "R&R" (Round & Round) version. Figured out how much fabric I need. Something isn't right with my plan...hmmmm.
Sept 22: Found the error in my plans so I am all set to proceed with cutting.

This a another project I picked up on 1/27/2012 at the quilt show in Statesville earlier this year.
Photo on the left is the fabrics in the quilt kit.
Photo on the right was taken of the quilt at the show.

May 18: I spent several hours just getting familiar with the design by drawing it into EQ7. The pattern is mostly 1/2 square triangles with a few rectangles where possible.
May 19: Cut out all the pieces. Marked the triangles. Sewed the squares & cut into triangles.
May 20: Ironed open the squares and started the layout in the center. Must layout entire rows so I can sew one row at a time. This is so fascinating to observe.
May 21: Sewing the rows. The rows are together.
May 23: Half is together.
May 24: Only 1 border to go.
May 25: Quilt top finished.