Sewing for Soldiers at the Sewing Garrett - Daytona Beach, FL

My son, Sgt. W. Eric Rodman, is serving in Al Asad, Iraq with the US Army - 3rd Platoon of they 23rd Ordnance Company out of Grafenwehr, Germany. This is his, and probably many other soldiers' in his unit, 3rd Tour of Duty in Iraq. Each time he goes 'down range,' as he calls it, I get together with other quilters and make quilts for his unit - he sends us the platoon emblem and we recreate it in some way for use in the quilts.

Well, this time, being new to Fernandina Beach, FL and having little time to join a local guild, I was sort of at a loss as to how I would make good on this commitment - making 25 quilts for Eric's unit. But last year, just before Quilt Market in October, providence came a calling...I met Gracye Beaman, owner of The Sewing Garrett in Daytona Beach, FL. Gracye is a Brother, Babylock, Janome and Ulna dealer and has an awesome store right off of I-95 - a must visit if you are coming down our way. We got to know each other at market and then invited me to teach at her store in November - a new friendship formed. After a bonding sewing sister week in January, I approached Gracye with this project - and she immediately opened her store and heart to the idea of making quilts for activity duty soldiers -

Flash forward to May 2009 - after advertising on the local PBS station, which Gracye sponsors through corporate donation, we had an unbelievable group of women come out for a two day sewing and quilting bonanza! These are the MOST WONDERFUL GROUP OF WOMEN you could will ever meet - many who are wives, daughters, relatives of veterans and activie duty soldiers themselves - I started our first day off explaining the quilt pattern choice - called A Soldiers Quilt - this quilt was made by Civil War women whose husbands and sons and nephews were going off to fight our Nation's bloodiest and most heart-breaking war. At that time, they had to provide all their own gear - so the women made their men quilts - just large enough to cover a cot in the event they got wounded - and filled with scraps from their dresses and shirts and pants to remind their loved one of home. This story so touched my heart that I HAD to use the pattern - I knew it was perfect for our guys in Al Asad.

The slide show shows some shots of the day - and soon I will post some footage where I let the girls tell our Soldiers brief messages of the heart -

I want all to know - I love my son with all my heart and I know that all the women who came out wanted to show their love for the soldiers serving overseas - and guys and girls,if you are readin this - they THANKED me for the opportunity to SERVE YOU!!! The quilts will ship out this week - all our love and prayers - THE SEWING GARRETT SOLDIERS QUILTERS!