Last fall Sunrise Senior College offered a quilting class with two primary goals. The first was to teach class participants the quilting technique of paper piecing. The second was to work together to create a patriotic quilt to be donated to a veteran from our community. The class only met four times but the ten members created an incredibly beautiful quilt top. The class included both experienced and inexperienced quilters. The instructors were Pauline Wood and Nancy Skala, both of whom are quilters with an interest in honoring veterans who have served in our armed forces. Ramune Dailide from Orland donated her time and supplies to finish the quilt. Ramune is a long-arm quilter and her custom quilting included stitching the words "Heroism", "Freedom", "Honor", "Patriot", "Valor", and "Pride" across the quilt. 

This class was loosely modeled on the national Quilts of Valor program, a non-profit, volunteer organization whose mission is "to cover service members and veterans touched by war with comforting and healing Quilts of Valor." Originally, Nancy and Pauline intended to make the quilt as part of the Quilts of Valor program, but there were logistical and time constraints which made this unfeasible. Instead, the instructors decided to have the class members jointly select the recipient of the quilt. The first idea was to donate the quilt to a resident of the Maine Veterans' Home in Machias; however, when the group learned about the new activity room at the home, it was decided, in consultation with the veterans' home, that the quilt would be hung on a wall in the activity room or in a similar spot, where it would be enjoyed by all the residents and their visitors. 

The quilt was presented to the Maine Veterans' Home on Tuesday, February 24. The home hosted a tea for the residents, the quilting instructors, and the members of the class on the day of the presentation. 

Many thanks to Nancy Skala, Pauline Wood, Ramune Dailide and all the members of the class for their fine work and generosity. X