Guest Blogger - Renelda
Peldunas-Harter
She
is the author of “From Ensign’s Bars to Colonel’s
Stars” Honoring Those Who Serve which is being published this month. Her first book offers a glimpse
into military history and trivia, her experiences as an Army officer and quilts
to honor her fellow service members. She is also a pattern designer for Cut
Loose Patterns, a division of Checkers Distributors and the Quilt Challenge
Exhibit Curator for the Mason Dixon Quilt Professional Network. When not
quilting she is a docent at the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of
Natural History’s Human Origin Exhibit and is president of the Loudoun Breast
Health Network, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit assisting women and families with
breast cancer.
Please join me in welcoming Renelda.
Thank you Nan for the opportunity to be your guest
blogger!
Just
like quilts, quilt designers/pattern designers/fiber artists have their own
story to tell. My story, like my quilts, is a simple one. I started quilting
several years after being commissioned an Army officer. I started quilting
because, to me, a quilt said ‘home’ and being in the military one was always
far from ‘home’. I spent over 7 years on active duty and over 20 years as an
army reservist. During the Cold War, the reserves was the place to be – it was
a fantastic part time job, allowing me to stay home with the boys during the
week, but still afforded me an ‘adult’ outlet on the weekends.
As we moved around from assignment to
assignment, I always found a quilt guild to join and expanded my quilting experience!
I started out designing quilts for my family and friends and then started
selling my patterns. It turns out pattern selling/self promotion and marketing
was not for me, but I did find out I really enjoyed writing. I started to write
stories about my military career and thought it would be fun to design quilts
to accompany the stories. From Ensign’s Bars to Colonel’s Stars
was born!
The book is a hybrid creature – part bio and
part classic quilt book. I designed 6 quilts (for the 6 ranks I held),
incorporated the 5 sister-services into the quilts (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines
and Coast Guard), wrote a short story about where I was and what type of
assignment I had at each rank, included the pattern for each quilt and have
generous friends who took those patterns and made non-military themed quilts to
show how versatile the patterns are. The
book is published by Schiffer Publishing, available on Amazon and will be out
27 Nov 2014! The quilts are for beginner and intermediate quilters.This quilt is Colonel's Stars.
And this one is Colonel's Stars only done in Christmas Colors!
I could never have written a book with a house full of boys and their friends so I had to put it on hold until the boys were older and I was retired from the reserves! The boys have graduated college, moved out and left Bill and I alone to manage the busy social schedule of the Director of Creative and Excessive Recreation - The Smudge. She is an integral part of my creative process, a process she will not talk about (nor does she grant interviews). When I get the time, which isn’t often enough, The Smudge helps me blog at www.QuiltedCora.blogspot.com
And this one is Colonel's Stars only done in Christmas Colors!
I could never have written a book with a house full of boys and their friends so I had to put it on hold until the boys were older and I was retired from the reserves! The boys have graduated college, moved out and left Bill and I alone to manage the busy social schedule of the Director of Creative and Excessive Recreation - The Smudge. She is an integral part of my creative process, a process she will not talk about (nor does she grant interviews). When I get the time, which isn’t often enough, The Smudge helps me blog at www.QuiltedCora.blogspot.com
I also spend about a fourth of my busy month as the
president and treasurer of the Loudoun Breast Health Network (www.lbhn.org)
which is an all volunteer, 501 (c) (3) non-profit. The LBHN assists women and
families in our community with financial assistance while they are undergoing
breast cancer. We are very proud of all we have accomplished, we have helped
over 80 clients get over the ‘speed bump’ which is breast cancer and have
recycled over $130, 000 of the community’s assistance into helping our clients.
The LBHN has been recognized regionally and nationally for our efforts.
Just so you don’t get the impression I’m taking
classes from The Smudge in excessive recreation, I design patterns for Cut
Loose Press® which is a division of Checkers Distributors. One of the patterns,
2Cool4School,
is a tribute to my son Kevin, a graduate of Virginia Tech and is in the
school’s way too cool colors (not!) – orange and burgundy! It is a fun and easy
pattern for beginners or anyone! Try it – it is addicting!!
Thanks again to Nan for letting me share part of my
world with you!
Renelda, thank you for being a Guest Blogger. Your story is a very interesting one and I know we all look forward to your book which will be out on November 27, 2014. Thank you too for serving our country. And as you know I am a cat person, so I would be remiss if I didn't say thank you for sharing The Smudge with us. What an adorable kitty! Thank you again.
Well to my readers, I want to wish each and every one of you a very Happy Thanksgiving.
Until next time...
Nan
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