Quilt squares collected at fair

MOSES LAKE - Red, white and blue squares are being displayed at the Grant County Fair before they're turned into quilts for combat veterans.

The Basin Piecemakers Quilt Guild collected the squares as part for the Quilts of Valor Foundation. The foundation, started in 2003, provides quilts to servicemen and servicewomen touched by war, according to the foundation's website.

This is the first year the group has collected quilt squares for the foundation at the fair, said Roylene Scoggin, the quilt department's co-superintendent. Group members previously participated in the program by making full quilts.

"We have one of our gals who is very involved in this," she said. "I think she's made a minimum of 100. We have a group of ladies in our club, who, as they get enough blocks, they continually make quilts."

Both Scoggin and the foundation stated the quilts are about people and not about politics.

"We don't care what political beliefs any of these people have. We're interested in a quilt for all of these soldiers," Scoggin said.

The guild members decided to accept the squares at the fair in hopes of getting more blocks from people, Scoggin said. Members will assemble the blocks into a quilt top.

"(The tops) are sent to volunteer quilters who quilt it," Scoggin said. "It comes back to us and we bind it, and we make a pillowcase and a label, and then it's shipped off to certain areas they tell us."

The finished quilts have minimum dimensions of 55 inches by 65 inches, according to the foundation. Once it's bound, washed, labeled and wrapped in the case, it's ready to be awarded. The quilts are sent to various people and organizations, such as chaplains, service units returning from combat deployment or presented individually.

"There are a lot of soldiers that need quilts," Scoggin said. "We have a lot of wounded soldiers and veterans ... They're comfort quilts. Both men and women are going through some very serious injuries and trauma."

Volunteers plan on assembling the quilts during Make a Difference Day in October.

The guild accepts squares whenever someone wants to give them, Scoggin said. They need to be 12.5 inches square and need to be made from red, white and blue cotton fabric. People interested in donating squares can contact Gloria Murphy at 509-760-7140.