Saturday was the BIG DAY! We assembled at the Covington National Guard Armory to present 168 quilts to the soldiers from the 1021st Engineering Company which deployed to Kuwait in 2014.
Pearl and the gang had been taking photos of groups of quilts over the past 10 months as they were coming in and we have posted them over these past months in our newsletters but on this day, they were all together for the first and last time prior to being distributed.
Unfortunately, not all the Company were on hand to receive their quilts but, fear not! All the quilts are in the trusty hands of the Armory and will be transferred to each of the soldiers in their hometown.
Here are some of the quilters, armed and ready with the first batch to go around the shoulders of the men and women of the 1021st.
Carol Miller was the spearhead behind this massive effort that brought in quilts from all over Louisiana and 4 other states. It takes dedicated people to turn out this type of result.
I hope, when you look throughout these photographs, you see the one(s) you made..... and the smile on the face of the soldier. You cannot believe how touched these people were! They loved their quilts!
There was one VERY tall soldier who had been given, randomly, a rather small quilt in relation to his height. When we told him he could exchange it for a larger one, he politely declined, stating he loved his quilt and didn't want to exchange it. He had bonded with it in just a few short minutes....
Each and every quilt was wrapped in a pillowcase and Carol Miller & her Team cranked the majority (136 to be exact) of them out in record time. It's hard to see them in the photos but they are indeed with the soldiers now.
One of the quilters who came to wrap a soldier, Kathy Q. opened a pillowcase only to find the very one she made! How serendipitous to wrap and meet the man who gets it!!!
These are a few photographs for you to see.... and if you come to the shop, you will be able to see the photos of your quilts as they hung from the balcony above the shop.
Thank you to Melinda Jones for sharing some of the following photos...
To all the men and women who serve in our armed forces and all the quilters who made this moment possible,
Thank You.
For more outstanding photos, please check out Brett Duke's awesome shots here at NOLA.com.
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