2010 Freedom Quilts Raffle Quilt Winner

For the pass four years now Freedom Quilts has been making one quilt to raffle off so we can use the funding to make quilts for our fallen soldiers families. This is one way of raising money. Last year our winner was Leona Babb from AZ this year winner is Virginia Carlson from Storm Lake Iowa. Freedom Quilts theme is always Patriotic and this year was no different just different design. We are already planning our 2011 raffle quilt so we hope many more would join in see if you would be lucky and win. Thanks to all that helped without your help Freedom Quilts would not be able to do all that it does for families. God bless you all

Freedom Quilts Mural

Our artist Kate was kind enough to draw a mural that will overwhelm you when you see it. It came from the heart with lots of love for the families of 9/11 and for our fallen soldiers families. Our shop is open by appointment on which you can see this beautiful mural along with other things we have and stories of how Freedom Quilts came about and why it must continue.

2010 Raffle Quilt

Again we plan on making a raffle quilt help continue this project making quilts to comfort fallen soldiers' families. For every $25.00 donation Freedom Quilts will add your name to the drawing help make this a success so we can continue to help other families.

Legion Riders helping Freedom Quilts

Legion Riders men and women that at one time serve their country and continue to do so for the families of our fallen. Their task is one of pain for they are the ones that come with their motorcycle to protected the families from protester at funerals. Today was different they got to honor the families one more time but this time they help by saluting to the families of our heroes as they walk inside the Freedom Quilts Shop for the presentation of quilts. They presented some quilts to the families and got the honor of witnessing the beautiful quilts that was made to reflect each family love ones. The day was beautiful so the Legion Riders came with their bikes one was sweet enough to give one of the mother a ride in his bike.

April 11, 2010 A Day to honor Heroes

Berkley loss her son other parents also loss sons Bill who loss his son a hero that received the congressional medal of honor, Bill and Liz loss their son Arlene loss her son, Norma one of our Freedom Quilts loss her son two month later loss her husband and then her sister, Father Gene loss his brother Father Ed to cancer, and Crystal and Dan loss her son. A very emotional day but a day that gave the families hope that this country will not forget them. The quilts were all personalize to honor their beloved love ones.

Even more pictures to share of April 11, 2010

More pictures to share April 11, 2010

We honor families of Gehrig, Murray, Schiller, Feistner, Webster, Smith, and Hayes

Freedom Quilts took time on April the 11th to honor heroes and their families. It was a beautiful day to respectful honor them all. Freedom Quilts had honor families of 9/11 and fallen soldiers making it 6,777 quilts given to families.

2 big Events

April will be a busy time for Freedom Quilts we are getting ready for two event one for a wonderful dear friend that loss his son Jonathan Ielpi. Lee is coming to Iowa and thanks to the Iowa Firemen Association they will be setting everything for the event all Freedom Quilts need to do is show up with the two quilts. One quilt is to honor Lee son Jonathan the other is for the Tribute Center which by the way anyone that goes to New York needs to take time to go and visit the Tribute Center a must.

The second event is for our fallen soldiers families. We will be having the Legion Riders present to honor the families and we will be presenting the quilts to the families on April the 11th. We have a mother that is coming all the way from Dallas Texas to be here for the event. Normally we mail the quilts if they are not from Iowa. Kings Pointe is going to be kind enough to let the family stay free for one night to honor the families. We will post pictures of the event on both this blog and flicker site for all to see. I'm excite and can't wait embrace the families. It will be a day to remember a time to reach out with loving arms and let the families know that we care.

27 more quilts sent out

Even with the weather not being nice it doesn't stop us from trying to send out quilts to the family of our fallen heroes. This time we got 27 quilt all done and sent out. I'm working on another shipment of quilts to send out to families. Thanks to all that help out. We are getting ready for our big annual raffle quilt this year we hope we have alot of people join in and donated for this cause. It will help continue our work in making quilts and getting them out to families.

UPDATE on Previous "Cautionary" Blog Post

In December, I blogged about a cautionary update involving a quilting group based out of Wisconsin. The purpose of the update was to dispel confusion related to two different organizations with very similar names and missions. Here's what I explained in the blog post:

It has recently come to my attention that another quilting group based out of Wisconsin is calling itself "Freedom Quilts". Please know that this Wisconsin-based group is not affiliated with our group Freedom Quilts, Inc. The organizer of this Wisconsin-based group lost her son in Iraq. True to our mission, we reached out to her and made her a personalized quilt in honor of her son.

A photo of the personalized quilt we made later appeared on the the Wisconsin group website. Much of the confusion surrounding these two organizations stemmed from a lack of proper attribution and credit for the online posting of this personalized quilt.

Because both groups have the Freedom Quilts name, it is kind of confusing to people as to whether Freedom Quilts WI Sisters is part of our group. The answer is no. The Wisconsin Group is a group that reaches out to the families of WI and truly does a great job of helping those families that are hurting. We do it on a bigger scale and started this project back in 2001 reaching out to families all over the world. While our organizations are not affiliated, we both do our part to help others.

After all is said and done, my hope is that two helpful outcomes may arise out of all of this...

1. That more people come to learn that there are many of us who believe in the power of comforting another with the love and dedication that comes from a quilt. Freedom Quits, Inc. out of Iowa and the Freedom Quilts WI Sisters are two wonderful organizations that make this dedication a reality.
2. That more people will have a greater understanding of how to properly attribute, or give credit to, another's work. Online communication makes it amazingly easy to collaborate and share. But, it also means that we need to pay special care to respect copyright laws. Adhering to copyright laws -- when you boil it down -- is really pretty straight forward... obtain permission before copying, posting, or reproducing another's work and include proper credit.
   

26 more quilts sent out

I'm happy to say we sent out 26 more quilts to families. Working on trying to send some more for families. This project is truly a labor of love. Every single quilt is made with love to comfort the families that mourn the loss of their love ones. We are also getting ready to send out our fundraiser letter hope we can get help so we can continue. Your contribution kept us going last year we hope this year we will be able to do the same.