Crosses and Losses - Quilt of Valor

I finished the QoV quilt top the first week of July.

When I shared it at Show n Tell at guild, someone asked me the name of the block. I was surprised I didn’t know. When I got home I looked it up in Maggie Malone’s 1,001 Patchwork Patterns. It’s called Crosses and Losses, a Biblical block that was published in 1931. It’s a renaming of the block Fox and Geese. This pattern was created during the Civil War to represent the standoff for control of Fort Sumter in 1861. I didn’t know if Bobbie knew the block’s history when she chose it for her Quilt of Valor, but I couldn’t think of a more appropriate pattern.

I talked to a local long-arm quilter and asked if she’d be willing to do the machine quilting for me. She was excited to participate in my Quilt of Valor and we talked about quilt designs. I wanted something soft and curved to balance the strong geometrics. She said she’d have it done by the next meeting.

 
When it came back, I added the finishing touches by creating a label and a matching pillow case for it to travel in.

It felt good to help one of our wounded servicemen or women in some small way.