Winner and Next Years Quilt Information!

Congratulations to Bill McKenzie who is a Florida State Trooper on winning the quilt!!!!

Thank you to EVERYONE who purchased tickets, shared the information about the quilt or sent us patches. We were able to hit our $1,000 goal to send to the National FOP for the Fallen Officer Ceremony. Once the final Pay Pal money is deposited we will be writing a check to them!

We especially want to thank the following people:

*Akron FOP and Clay Cozart for selling tickets and promoting the quilt.

*Deputy Casper with the Summit County Sheriff for selling tickets and getting the word out about the quilt.

*Police Wives of Ohio and Stef Wells for allowing us to come to multiple events to sell tickets and display the quilt.

*Akron K9 unit for allowing us to sell tickets at the K9 Challenge.

*My parents for helping make the quilt.

*Rob Winebrenner for meeting with us to draw the winner and Tiffany at Papa Dons for allowing us to do it there.

We have SO many patches left that we have decided we want to continue doing this and each year we want to donate to a different police related charity. We have decided that the proceeds next year will be split between the Joshua Miktarian Scholarship Fund and the Justin Winebrenner Memorial Fund. 

*If you have any suggestions of future charities please feel free to e-mail us thinbluelinequiltproject@gmail.com

Keep checking back for information on the next quilt. We've already got some ideas in mind and will be starting on it in a few months!

Little Update!

We've been selling tickets for about a month and a half and so far we've raised $525!!!! We'd LOVE to at least DOUBLE that by August 31! 

Thank you sooooo much to Police Wives of Ohio (Canton area) for letting us set up the quilt at the Officer Down 5k! 

Tickets are STILL available (Until August 31) and can be purchased in person (if Local to Akron/Canton) check out our facebook page for info on who to contact, by paypal (thinbluelinequiltproject@gmail.com - sent to family and friends) or by check (thinbluelinequiltproject@gmail.com for the address). Tickets will also be sold with quilt being displayed at the Akron FOP Sunday July 19th during the Police Wives of Ohio Quarter Auction. (I will have more information on that as it is available to me) Tickets are $5 each or 3 for $10 and all proceeds go to the National FOP for the Fallen Officer Ceremony.

Quilt set up at Police Wives of Ohio table at Cleveland Officer Down 5k

Update!!!!

If you've been following along the Thin Blue Line Quilt Project Facebook page you know we've been selling tickets for a couple months now. We've had the quilt at 3 events so far and it's been a big hit! 

The Officer Down 5k in Youngstown has been cancelled but we still have plans to have it displayed, as well as tickets to sell, at the Officer Down 5k in Cleveland on June 21st! So be sure to stop out and get your tickets!

As always tickets can be purchased through Pay Pal (thinbluelinequiltproject@gmail.com and send to friends/family -otherwise Pay Pal takes a portion of the donation). We will e-mail you a copy of your tickets!

If you're in the Akron/Canton area you can get a hold of us on the Thin Blue Line Quilt Project Facebook page or e-mail us at thinbluelinequiltproject@gmail.com and we can set up a time to get your tickets to you!

Feel free to share the flyers below with your friends and family!

Quilt Raffle Information!

I ordered tickets and they should be available 5/8/15 for purchase. They will be $5 each or 3 for $10. 

The quilt will be on display:

May 6th - at the Fallen Officer Memorial Service at the Akron FOP Lodge.

May 16th - at the Akron K9 Challenge at Locke 3 *we will have tickets there to sell*

June 14th - at Officer Down 5k in Youngstown Ohio - look for the Police Wives of Ohio table. There will be tickets there!

June 21st - .at Officer Down 5k in Cleveland Ohio - look for the Police Wives of Ohio table. There will be tickets there!

If you are local you can contact Tim or Jenn Sayre (thinbluelinequiltproject@gmail.com) or Clay at the Akron FOP for tickets.

If you are out of the area you can send a check (e-mail thinbluelinequiltproject@gmail.com for details) or paypal the money using thinbluelinequiltproject@gmail.com as the paypal e-mail.

The following paperwork can be downloaded from this page, can be e-mailed as a PDF upon request (thinbluelinequiltproject@gmail.com) and will be available wherever the quilt is displayed.

List of Department Patches on quilt.

 Diagram of where each patch is on quilt.

Flyer with information about Raffle.

It's Finally Done!

After months of collecting patches from departments around the country and even some from other countries, after over 240 hours of cutting, pinning, sewing, after the blood (those pins are sharp!), sweat and tears (of joy because of the cause we are doing this quilt for as well as the memories of our recently fallen)... we are proud to say that the quilt is finished!!!!

The plan is to display the quilt at a few events this summer and sell tickets. We are currently working on getting all that set up. The first event it will be displayed at is the Akron Fallen Officer Ceremony on May 6th. We will draw a winner on August 31st.

Tickets will be $5 each or 3 for $10 and all proceeds will be donated to the National FOP.

If you are interested in helping with selling tickets or have an event this summer that we could display the quilt and sell tickets at, please contact us at thinbluelinequiltproject@gmail.com

Thank you again to everyone who helped with this project whether you sent patches, cheered us on or helped us sew it, it really means a lot!

Stay tuned for details, updates and photos of the quilts journey this summer!!!

Below is a list of the patches included on this quilt. We still have SO many more so we plan on doing this again next year!

1. Auxiliary Police of New York

2. Savannah (GA) Police

3. Ohio Department of Natural Resources Wildlife

4. Green Springs (OH) Police

5. Orlando (FL) Police

6. Wilmington (NC) Police

7. Broward CO (FL) Sheriff Office

8. Kansas City (MI) Police

9. Canadian National Police

10. Cook County (IL) Sheriff Office

11. Port Authority Police

12. Wadsworth (OH) Police

13. Put in Bay (OH) Police

14. Ottawa (CA) Police

15. Hamilton Co (TN) Sheriff Office

16. Austintown (OH) Police District

17. Toledo (OH) Police

18. Detroit (MI) Police

19. Las Angeles (CA) CO. Investigator District Attorney

20. Anchorage (AL) Police

21. U.S Customs and Border Protection- Field Operations

22. Gloucester (Canada) Police

23. Fairfax Co (VA) Sheriff Office

24. Ohio State Police

25. Milton Township (OH) Police

26. Key West (FL) Police

27. City OF Tampa (FL) Police

28. Warren Township (OH) Police

29. Boardman (OH) Police

30. United States Capitol Police (DC) *Due to security reasons, this patch had to be approved by the President to be sent out for our project.

31. San Diego Co (CA) Sheriff Office

32. Pierce Co (WA) Sheriff Office

33. Port Clinton (OH) Police

34. Woodville (OH) Police

35. Berea (OH) Police

36. Deputy Sheriff (OH)

37. City of Beavercreek (OH) Police

38. Maury Co (TN) Sheriff Office

39. Chester Township (OH) Police

40. Cookeville (TN) Police

41. Champagne (IL) Police

42. Overland Park (KS) Police

43. Salem (MA) Police

44. Village of Attica (OH) Police

45. Girard (OH) Police

46. Barberton (OH) Police

47 Republic (OH) Police

48 Akron (OH) Police *In memory of Justin Winebrenner & Russ Long

49 Phoenix (AZ) Police

50 North Miami Beach (FL) Police

51 Tulsa (OK) Police

52 City of Sandusky (OH) Police

53 Dallas (TX) Police

54 Orrville (OH) Police

55 Regina City (Canada) Police-Patrol Division

56 Gainesville (FL) Police

57 Bettsville (OH) Police

58 San Antonio (TX) Police

59 Kent State University (OH) Police

60 Tupelo (MS) Police

61 Charlotte/Mecklenburg (NC) Police

62 Philadelphia (PA) Police

63 Clearwater (FL) Police

64 Polk Co (Wis) Sheriff Office

65 Lake Township (OH) Police

66 Fremont (OH) Police

67 Brookfield Zoo (IL) Police

68 Maumee (OH) Police

69 Lehigh University (PA) Police

70 Long Beach (CA) Police

71 The Ohio State University (OH) Police

72 Castalia (OH) Police

73 Plymouth (MA) Police K-9

74 Pontiac (MI) Police

75 Canton (OH) Police

76 Ohio Investigative Unit

77 Portland (OR) Police

78 City of Tioga (ND) Police

79 Westerville (OH) Police

80 Norton (OH) Police

81 Weymouth (MA) Police

82 Austin (TX) Police

83 New York State police

84 Campbell (OH) Police

85 Cook Co (IL) Sheriff-Corrections Dept

86 Mercer Co (PA) Sheriff Office

87 Baltimore (MD) K-9 Unit

88 Hudson C0 (NJ) Sheriff Office

89 Charleston (SC) Police

90 Cincinnati (OH) Police

91 US Border Patrol

92 WML Peters Security

93 US Virgin Islands

94 Jourdanton (TX) Police

95 City of Atlanta (GA) Police

96 Tiffin (OH) Police

97 Texas Dept of Public Safety Vehicle Inspection

98 Nazareth (PA) Fire

99 Ohio Law Enforcement Games

100 Denver (CO) Police

101 Hartville (OH) Police

We're almost there!!!

Last weekend we pretty much finished up the quilt!!!! :) :) :)

We finished sewing down between each block and finished the edges. It was a pain to get to the middle rows because there isn't much room to fold up this ginormous thing to get it through the machine but we made it work! It may have taken 3 of us but we got it done.

I think we'll be able to finish it tonight. I have a few spots to hand stitch and Tim has to put together the list of what all patches are on it and any stories that went with them. 

I have to say for not having EVER quilted before I think it looks pretty good. I just hope whoever ends up with this agrees! 

It's been a while...

I know it's been quite a while since we've worked on the quilt. The past couple months have been really busy and honestly doing any work on this turns into an all day project and truth be told I've been avoiding this step like no other because I had a feeling it would be the hardest.

Saturday we got all the trim put on the front of the quilt and, after some small disasters, we got the back all ready to go. We picked up the batting for it and got to work. 

Basically what we're doing now is attaching the back to the front with the batting in the middle. This is SO hard because, let's face it, this quilt is FREAKING HUGE!!!!

For comparison.... I'm 5'1". I can pretty much cover up from toe to neck with this thing sideways. The entire quilt finished will be 59"x92".

It took 3 of us to pull and pin to get it smoothed out to sew everything together. And did I mention we're just using moms ancient Kenmore sewing machine?!?! There's really not a whole lot of room between the needle and the side of the machine which means each time we would sew something we had to lay it out on the floor (only space big enough for it to stretch out) then 3 of us tugged on it while we pinned it in place. Then we had to carefully fold it all up so it could fit in the machine. I would sew and Tim would help me guide all the extra through. Then back to the floor to do the next row. 

As of yesterday we had 3 (I think) rows done and one edge. Now that we have it all figured out it should be a little easier to do the others. Hopefully we can work on it this weekend coming up as well. 

Tim also is going to start working on paperwork to go with it. Some of the patches on this quilt have stories behind them that we were made aware of when we received the patch. We plan on putting together a spreadsheet numbering each patch and then a list of where each patch is from and if there is a story behind it. 

It's so close to being done and I just hope it turns out nice. Because well.... I'm kind of making this up as I go because I've never made a freaking quilt in my life!!!!

Did I mention how freaking huge this thing is?!?!

Quilt Update

While Tim worked this weekend I spent a LOT of time working on the quilt. A lot as in 14 or so hours. 

We already had all the patches sewn on to the fabric so now it was time to start sewing the squares together. This was the tricky part. Have I mentioned I've never made a quilt before and sewing a straight line seems impossible to me sometimes. 

The guy was at it again. He made a thingy (yes that's the technical term) so that I had a surface the same height as the sewing machine to make it easier to sew the longer strips together with. Thank God for the guy.

Saturday I spent most of the day sewing together the squares for the top half of the blanket.

Then I cut out the blue line and attached it to the top half of the blanket.

 Tim was really surprised when he found out the top half was done.

 Sunday went a little quicker. Now that I had a routine down and knew what I was doing (or so I made it seem I did). I finished sewing the bottom squares together.

Then attached the bottom half to the top half.

All the front needs is the border around it and the front half will be finished!

I'm REALLY surprised how well it's coming together seeing as I've never made a quilt before and like I said - sometimes sewing a straight line is tough for me. I also really don't think Tim realized just how much work was involved in this when he said "Oh yeah my wife can make a quilt!" 

Day 2 - Quilt Making

Yesterday we continued working on the quilt. It seemed like it was taking FOREVER to cut out all the squares so... The Guy to the rescue!

He made a nice little device so in a matter of 10 minutes or so all of the squares were cut out!

Mom and Tim started pinning patches on to squares of fabric while I finished ironing the rest of the squares.

Once all the patches were pinned on we began sewing them on.

Here's a preview of some of them finished!

Day 1 - Quilt Making

Last night we sorted through 200+ patches and separated them into 2 groups. We have WAY more patches than what we can fit on one quilt, so we're planning on making another one to raffle off next year! We really want to thank everyone who has donated patches because with out them this wouldn't be happening!

Today we sat down and figured out how many patches we had for this quilt, exactly how we wanted to set it up and how much fabric we would need. We headed out to the fabric store and scored a great deal on the fabric we needed! 

We ironed out all the fabric and started cutting out our squares.

After realizing what a pain in the you know what it was to iron the seams of each square dad aka "The Guy" (as we so lovingly call him around here) made us a template to make it easier.

So tonight we managed to finish cutting out and ironing seams on 40 squares.... 40 down 56 more to go!

Be sure to check out our Facebook group and this site to keep up to date with information on how things are going and how exactly you can get in on the raffle for the quilt!