An Armed Forces themed alphabet quilt is a great way to introduce little ones to the world Mommy and/or Daddy work in, or it could be a gift to a hero who has already served.

Each letter block in this U.S. Armed Forces Alphabet Quilt has a colorful, non-threatening representation of some aspect of military life. (W is for "World comma anywhere-in-the," which is where you may serve! M is for M.R.E.) The corner blocks have pictures which represent the caring and kind natures of the men and women who serve in the armed forces. After all, a lot of what the military does is build relationships.  One corner has a sailor kissing his baby goodbye.  Another shows the special relationship between a soldier and the camp dog.  Another has a service member playing soccer/football with a young boy.  The final block is a family waiting for their loved one to return home after deployment.

The field of this quilt is white and is divided into blocks, one for each letter of the alphabet, plus four picture blocks.  Where possible, I used accurate colors to represent the items depicted.  (Yes, there are tanks that come in ocher, but the purple paratrooper came about because I thought the alliteration funny. )  The border of the quilt is red, white and blue with patriotic stars sprinkled throughout. 

Each picture is hand appliqued and hand embroidered. There is an incredible amount of detail in this piece, taking hundreds of hours of work. The method I use for making this type of quilt is paper-basting applique which is done entirely by hand. First I break each block down into colors, then create paper pattern pieces for each color. Then, starting from the background to the foreground, I sew each each layer with tiny stitches, then pull the paper out either from the back or the side. After this, I embroider any details by hand. Once I have assembled the quilt top, I layer it with the batting and backing, baste and quilt the entire piece. The binding is also applied by hand. The border on this quilt is quilted in a stars and stripes swag design. Quilt has not been pre-washed, so when you do wash it, it will develop that lovely, crinkled look.   Each quilt I make is not only a quilt, but a work of art.
 
Made in USA