A "thank you" pillow

Patriotic Pillow

Earlier this year ... a long-time family friend, Evelyn, sent me a copy of The Lost Heroes Art Quilt book.  This is a book that tells the story behind the Lost Heroes quilt that was made to honor our fallen soldiers from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.  This quilt, which has been on tour around the country for the past year, has 50 panels to represent the 50 states, and a fallen soldier has been chosen to represent each state.  In each panel on the quilt, there is a photographic image of each of these soldiers when they were children.

The quilt has been used to honor the fallen and their families, as well as to raise money for charities that support the families of fallen soldiers.

It turns out, that Missouri is represented by Bill Hecker ... the kid brother of a friend of mine from high school.  Bill came from a military family and left behind a wife and four children ...

I've been meaning to pull something together to send Evelyn to thank her for the amazing gift of this book.  And while I am late in getting it put together ... I completed this 12 x 16" flag pillow for her today.

With our final soldiers now returning from Iraq this week ... it seemed an appropriate time to remember the 4,802 American soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice and did not get to come back to their families and friends.

All the best
Lisa