Hello there,

Here is a little bit about me. I am a mother of three, wife of 20 years, retired United States Army veteran of two wars. I have flown an airplane, driven a tank, thrown granades and fired all kinds of weapons. I was a paramedic firefighter, forensic research assistant, and have two degrees; one in biology and one in public health. I have played all kinds of sports, loved all kinds of food and was raised in Philadelphia where you can not visit without eating a real Philadelphia Steak Sandwich! I love to laugh and love to create. My favorite quilts are ones that have great color and original designs. I teach just about any quilting classes of any size and have a special place in my heart for changing things up. I find inspriation from everything to nothing. There is always room to improve and I am lucky enough to have learned something new with everything I do.

I am a fierce mother, wife and friend and believe in the bonds that tie us. We have walked a long hard road as a family and made it to the otherside. I work in my basement "studio" and spend just about every waking moment with my family. I am hardly ever seen out and about without one of my kids or my husband; they are the love of my life. Not to mention my older two kids are driving and that makes Mommy a happy camper! Other members of the family include my two crazy but wonderful dogs.

My passion is designing original works and quilting your works; making them come to life. I stand by my work and love what I do. I miss who I was before I was injured in Iraq but am who I am and make no excuse for it. Since being home I have done many things but I am extremely proud of like the Ultimate Sew-In that I created to raise money for the Paralyzed Veterans and the 2010 Wheelchair Games. During that fundraiser we created just over 500 quilts for other soldiers, like myself, injured in the War on Terrorism. We also helped to raise money for the 30th National Veteran Wheel Chair Games taking place in Denver, CO in 2010. The awareness, money, and quilts we have raised are a big part of who I have been for the last year and a half. I have been blown away by the love that the quilters here in Colorado and around the world has shown me. I am not very comfortable in the spot light, as far as my story is concerned... Instead I would much rather talk about what we can do together to make a real difference in the lives of the participants of the Wheelchair Games and other veterans through the arts.

I have written a book through the Veterans Book Project called Object of Deployment Juliet Madsen available on lulu.com. I do not get any proceeds from this book, the proceeds go towards other veteran book authors. There is also a free e-book available at that same web site. Another exciting event in my life was my first triathlon with the help of the Wounded Warriors Project. The CapTexTri was May 2011 and I am thrilled to say that I survived and loved the entire experience. To date (10/2011) I have been in three Triathlons and have gotten two first place medals. It has been hard work but it goes to show you that no matter how hard a battle is there is always a goal to do more and prove all of the doctors wrong.

I have been lucky enough to have several gallery shows of my paintings and my quilts. My quilts have hung in some incredible places like the Library of Congress, the Pentagon, Governor's offices, Capitol buildings, two Airports, galleries, and in multiple public and private collections. Much of my work is to raise monies for organizations that support veterans and individuals with invisible medical issues like myself. My quilts are given, at no cost to the recipient or their organizations like VFW, DAR, VA, American Legion, Operation TBI, CAUSE, Wounded Warrior, FOB Summit County and IDA to name a few. My auctioned quilts have raised as much as $9,000 for one quilt. Since I can't not often afford to donate money this is how I can give back to the wonderful programs that have supported me. 

I do a great deal of public speaking on being female in the military, being a female war combat veteran, recreating yourself after life changing occurances, and of course Quilting. I am an Ambassador for the Invisible Disablilites Association and am active in the Daughters of the American Revolution as a Veterans Committee Chair and in multiple quilting related groups. If you are interested in having me speak at your function or are interested in finding out about getting an Auction quilt for your organization please send me an e-mail and we can talk about what would best suit your group.

If you would like to help us with any of our charity programs please contact me for more information.  I hope we can get to know each other and I look forward to meeting you.

Sincerely,

Juliet