“This is about letting our soldiers know that we care. The number one thing that people who are presenting the quilts are told is ‘I didn’t know anybody cared,’ from the veterans they present to; they hear that statement more than anything else. But anyone that has fought for my freedom deserves it,” said Nannette Moss, co-group leader of Freedom Quilters of El Dorado.
Started in 2003 by Blue Star mom Catherine Roberts, a native of Georgia, the Quilts of Valor Foundation is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to providing comfort through handmade quilts to veterans who have faced war times.
“Her son was deployed overseas, and she was having a hard time dealing with it. She had nightmares and panicked all the time, and one day, it came to her in a dream that she should create a quilt that he could wrap around himself because she couldn’t be there to hug him,” she said.
That dream to wrap a quilt around her son flourished into reaching veterans in all 50 states, with many more to be presented in the future.
A few weeks ago, QOVF spilled over into South Arkansas as the Freedom Quilters presented their first quilt to WWII veteran Herman Higgs at the Union County Courthouse.
“There are so many veterans out there who don’t want to talk about what it was like being in war. It’s not just the ones that are physically wounded, because we all know just from everyday news how many people come back and struggle with the effects of war mentally. They don’t say anything to anybody because they have such a sense of pride or they are scared they will look weak or be made fun of,” she said.
She explained that each quilt is made with the love and donation of the creator, either by scrapping pieces together or taking a panel and bordering it. Once the quilter has an idea of what they would like to do for the quilt, it will be pieced together with fabrics that are QOV official fabrics or reflect the patriotic colors and stars and stripes. Once the top and bottom layers of the quilt are created, batting, which is made from polyester or cotton, goes between the layers and will either be hand sewn or quilted together using a longarm machine.
“We prefer longarmed quilts. You can produce them faster that way. You can run the machine and draw pictures on it or trace stuff on the quilt and it takes about four hours to quilt it. Then you have another day to put the binding on it, which is the edging of the quilt. If it is double edged, the machine will sew it onto the front and then you have to hand whipstitch it to the back,” she said.
Once the process is complete, a label, which makes the quilt much more special and valuable, is placed on the back. The label indicates the veteran’s name, their service information and the name of the QOV group that created the quilt along with an indication that it is an official Quilts of Valor quilt.
Moss, who is the owner of MNM Creations and Quilt Shop, explained that after presenting quilts commemorating the terrorist attacks of 9/11 in 2011, she was approached by QOV Arkansas Group Coordinator Sheila Gordon.
“She contacted me, realizing I was a quilt shop, and asked if I would be interested in having a group down here. She had been after me for a year or two, but she told me to think about it and urged me to do it. Our quilt guild, the Union County Night Owls, had done the 9/11 presentation and I just thought it was the coolest thing. We set up and did it for three hometown heroes. I finally decided to get in on Quilts of Valor after Pat Bain, the co-group leader with me for Freedom Quilters, asked me to get involved with Mr. Higgs’ quilt,” she explained.
She explained that though war veterans are targeted, veterans who are currently injured and undergoing medical treatment are the top priority. After that, WWII veterans are priority for quilts, with others trickling down through the years.
The Quilts of Valor website states that “quilts are awarded at many different levels: they may go to military hospitals where Chaplains award them to service members; there may be awards of QOV’s to entire service units returning from deployments; they may be awarded at VA’s or awarded individually. But no matter how a Quilt of Valor is given, the impact it delivers is unequivocal.”
According to the QOV website, each quilt is 55 X 65 inches in dimension, and averages roughly $250 in materials.
“There is no money in our pockets for anything. People either have to donate fabrics or money. The quilt fabric is not cheap and the national average does not even include labor, it’s just the physical cost to make the quilt. When you give one of these quilts, it’s about a $400 quilt when you get through with it,” she said.
Every quilt also comes with a matching presentation case.
Nominating a veteran for this once in a lifetime donation can be done on the QOV website at www.qovf.org. From there, a person can nominate a quilt for themselves or someone they know. The name will go to the national database and based on the veteran’s location will be sent to a QOV group that is nearest them.
“Whoever nominates them, I call that person and ask them if they want it to be a big deal or not. We can do a presentation or we can present it privately, it just depends on what the veteran wants and is comfortable with. Some veterans don’t want any recognition. But we always let them know that we do care and thank them for their service,” she said.
With a $5 membership fee, Moss explains that anyone can support QOV—even if they don’t know how to sew. For those who would want to form their own group, they may go online and set it up. Moss also explained that if anyone wants to make their own quilt, they may come to the quilt shop and purchase a kit that they may take home and sew. Then they can bring it back and have it quilted.
“These people gave their all and a lot of them gave more than that—they gave their lives. That’s why when people ask me what this means to me to present a quilt like that, I can’t go and fight for my freedom but they made it possible for me to be free and this is the least we can do for them,” she said.