A Quilt for Sgt. Jason Roten - Quilted 04/03/2013, Bound 04/11/2013

This did not become a bandana quilt persay though I tried hard, but 
a Bandana & a Quilt

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.

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Planning the backing, etc.
deleted all the along the way pictures ... You're welcome.

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. 

Longarming & Binding

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.