Quilt of Valour

I got it into my head on Friday that I wanted to sew a quilt of valour for a Canadian soldier. This has been in the back of my mind for years but came to the front again after seeing an article in the Summer 2013 issue of "Quilter's Connection for Canadian Quilters." A Canadian quilt magazine that I picked up at Indigo. (The Quilts of Valour article is on page 15.) I saw the article on Friday and by the following Friday (yesterday) I had finished the quilt. :)

A few moments after the initial idea came to me another idea came to my head that I wanted it to be for a soldier that I already know. I know quite a few being a military wife. There are many soldiers who went to Afghanistan and came home with injuries that people cannot see. There are also many soldiers with injuries that we can see and I imagine they also have injuries we cannot see as well.


This idea rolled around my head for the weekend and on Monday it was my birthday. Where would I most like to be on my birthday? In a quilt shop! So I went to Quiltessential Co. in St. Albert, AB and I used some of my birthday money for some lovely red and white fabrics. I chose fabrics with no florals since this quilt is for a man. I also chose more modern looking fabrics since this is a modern quilt. This pattern is called "Diamond Tread" by Freshly Pieced. She has this pattern for sale in several locations on the Internet including Threadbias and Craftsy.


Since this quilt is for a Canadian Hero of course it has to have maple leaves on it. (I got those at Fabricland.) I quilted it with randomly spaced straight lines using my walking foot.


There was A LOT of trimming of 80 half-square triangles. And then these were pieced to make the diamond tread strip. I love that strip! It looks like an army truck drove over the quilt! Anyway, the trimming and piecing was tedious and I could not do either of them all in one shot. I just kept thinking about what he went through for our country and that helped me get through it because sewing this quilt was nothing compared to all that he went through in Afghanistan.

The little half-squares are 2.5 inches when you are finished trimming and sewing.

Here is the label that I embroidered.

The back has Canadian flags that spell "Canada" with maps of the country.

So there it is. My first Quilt of Valour. I hope it brings comfort and that he knows all Canadians appreciate him and what he has done for our country. I'm sure I will be sewing more quilts of valour in the future.

If you would like more information or would like to sew one yourself please visit the Quilts of Valour Canada website. With gratitude to all Canadian soldiers and their families.