Quilts of Valor has awarded 16,000 quilts to soldiers at the Walter Reed and 70 other Hospitals. Marine Comfort Quilts made 4078 for the families of fallen soldiers with special hand-stitched messages of hope. Home of The Brave Quilts has given 2039 commemorative quilts. Operation Kid Comfort transfers Daddy’s photo onto a quilt or pillow for deployed servicemen’s children.

KIA Memorial Quilts, Quilts for Injured Soldiers, Tribute to the Troops, churches, quilting bees, schoolchildren, Amish and Mennonites stitch with love and gratitude these comfort quilts.

All profits from the God Bless America Quilt Exhibits and publication  go to these groups that provide quilts for wounded and fallen soldiers.  Judy Howard is challenging all Betsy Ross's to express their patriotism by creating 22” quilts for the exhibits that are touring the U.S. for three years to benefit wounded soldiers. “With your help, we can blanket America with love of God and Country to help mend our torn nation and encourage our troops,” Judy said.

These 22” quilts pay tribute to our American Heroes and Troops, depicting “Liberty and Justice for All” and expressing flag-waving loyalty to our “One Nation Under God.” The traveling exhibit is returning from Chattanooga, TN and Salt Lake City to make its first stop in Oklahoma before its Millsboro, VA showing.

It’s not too late to enter. Open to children and adults, the deadline is December 31, 2008. But if you’d like to see your quilt and story published, please mail it by June 30 to 12101 N. MacArthur, #137, Oklahoma City, OK 73162. Rent these patriotic quilts for $100/week-end for your next quilt show or patriotic event today by emailing BuckboardQuilts@cox.net.   See www.HeavenlyPatchwork.com for quilt photos, entry and rental forms “cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land, God bless the U.S.A.”                                                         

     Disarming a roadside bomb in Iraq, Logan received the impact of the bomb when it exploded. The local military hospital personnel feared Logan might die. They waited three days to notify Logan’s parents, not knowing whether they would be sending him back home in a body bag or to a hospital.

     Logan arrived two days later in Bethesda where a quilt made by a Quilts of Valor volunteer welcomed him. Arnold and Joan Ballew flew from Edmond, Oklahoma to Bethesda to keep bedside vigil.

     Marine Mom Joan had made many quilts through Quilts for Injured Soldiers. “We created these quilts as ‘Hugs for Our Heroes’ to give them hope and peace for their road ahead. A little piece of me goes out with each quilt I make,” Joan explained. Joan’s reward for her many hours of volunteer work comes from the Thank You received from wounded soldiers like this one: “When I get scared with the memories of war, I curl up in my quilt and the nightmares go away. It makes me proud to be a soldier, knowing Americans really care. There’s so much love and a prayer in every stitch.”

     One of the first questions Joan asked Logan was if he had received a quilt. When Joan asked what he thought of the gift, Logan expressed how humbled, honored, and encouraged he felt to receive such a treasure. “ It was a source of strength and comfort that lifted my spirits and warmed my heart. I knew my service was appreciated and not in vain.”

     Joan related, “I excitedly unfolded the bright quilt and caressed the stitches of comfort some volunteer quilter had lovingly taken.”

     When Joan emailed the quilt guild to thank them, she instantly bonded with the woman who made Logan’s quilt. “She became my new buddy when I most needed a friend to share my feelings of loneliness and fear while sitting at my son’s bedside.”

     After fourteen months of painful physical therapy, progressing from wheel chair to walker to cane, Logan now walks with a slight limp with the help of a concealed leg brace. Permanent nerve damage in his leg shattered Logan’s career dreams of serving his country in the Marines. However, he is now adjusting well to civilian life with his part-time job in cabinetry in Norman, Oklahoma.

      Joan’s 22” portrait quilt of her marine son using the zipper, fabric and buttons from his uniform won a blue ribbon in Buckboard Quilts' God Bless America Quilt Exhibit which is touring the U.S. for three years with profits going to provide more of these healing quilts for soldiers.