Remembering......

My dad has been gone now for 22 years this December.  He served his country in WWII like so many young men did back then.  He never really talked about it, except to tell me how his mom sent him Heinz Ketchup all the way to China.  I saved his old mementos, some Chinese money, some patches, some pictures, and his old hat. 

When I saw this panel from Block Party Studios called Light in the Window, I knew I wanted to use it to honor my dad. It had the blue star that the families back home would hang in the window to let people know they had someone serving in the military.  At one point, my grandmother had 2 blue stars in her window.  I found this picture of my dad, Notice the Chinese writing on the bottom and my grandmother's handwriting....
I scanned the picture onto a printed treasures fabric sheet.  Then I used the panel to create this...

Last night I went searching to find some other things to add to it.  I found his patches from his uniform and some lapel pins...

Today I will add these pieces to my wall hanging.  I also have some red white and blue star buttons to add,  I'd like to add a flag somewhere too.


Then I had a thought, with Memorial Day coming, wouldn't this make a nice class.  I"m sure lots of us have pictures of our family members, maybe even their patches and pins. 
If you would be interested in doing this, please comment on the blog post here.  If I get enough comments, I'll set a date and time. I think this can be done in a few hours, it is pretty easy!
Hope you will join me in honoring those who served and those who are still serving.