For a quilter, a true labor of love is measured patch by patch and stitch. For this particular project, no saying could be more accurate.  The Home of the Brave Quilt Project is a nationwide grassroots movement with coordinators in 47 states.  The goal of this project is to provide the families of fallen soldiers with a quilt.  The quilts are based on the U.S. Sanitary Commission Quilts made during the Civil War.   

This project is not about politics, but about giving a gift of love.  The families have lost a loved one, and nothing can replace that loss, but we can show our support and comfort them by wrapping them in a quilt that says we care.  To date, over 2,500 blocks have been presented to the families of fallen soldiers.   

Volunteers are needed to make quilt blocks, and then once the blocks are made, volunteers are needed to assist in assembling the quilt tops, quilting, binding, and sewing on the labels.  The blocks should be an album block or cross X block.  Good quality 100% cotton Civil War or 19^th century reproduction fabrics are preferred, but any fabric that has the “feel” or “flavor” of the 19^th century will be acceptable.   

For more information about this worthwhile project, please contact Loretta, the Arizona coordinator, at rhetta@att.net or visit www.homeofthebravequilts.org

I pray that our Heavenly father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of liberty.

President Abraham Lincoln, letter to Mrs. Lydia Bixby of Boston upon the loss of her sons in battle, 21 November 1864.