Quilts of Valor........and more.......

It seems as though several quilters are responding to Alycia's call for QOV block donations in her:

BIG BLOWOUT BLOCK DRIVE

She has posted several donation blocks on her blog already!

Look at P go at:

the way i sew it

A little bird told me that Dar is getting in on the fun!

I also have a feeling TLC, and Nina may be in on this too??????

ME TOO!  ME TOO!  ME TOO! ME TOO!

For those of you who are unaware, Judy at Patchwork Times is encouraging quilters to

go ALL out and make at least 20 blocks by hosting:

THIS INCENTIVE

The blocks are really fun, and easy to make, and will create a quilt to honor a current or former member of our US military with a beautiful keepsake.  There are two pattern designs to choose from:

Pattern 1

or

Pattern 2

Just think of the satisfaction you will have in donating an hour or so of your time making 5 blocks?  If you do make 5 blocks, there are some WONDERFUL prizes that may have your name on them?   But, besides the prizes, take a look at some of THESE photos of soldiers receiving their Quilt of Valor. (Note: The following quilts are NOT made from the patterns listed.  These quilts were made and hand quilted by Quilts of Valor of Eastern Missouri.)

WWII Veteran receiving his QOV from Jackie with Quilts of Valor of Eastern Missouri.

Another WWII Veteran receiving his QOV from Jackie with Quilts of Valor of Eastern Missouri.

A Vietnam Veteran receiving his QOV from Jackie with Quilts of Valor of Eastern Missouri. 

This WWII Veteran is seated with his wife who also served at the Pentagon during that time.

This WWII Veteran is quite the "ladies man" from what I understand?

This Vietnam Veteran was able to share this day with his 96 year old mother, and his young granddaughter.  (His daughter was also present, but, is not in this photo. 4 generations!)

Perhaps you don't have time right now in your busy schedule to make donation blocks, but, maybe you have an unfinished quilt hanging around that is begging to be donated?  Do what my friend Donna did.....donate them to Quilts of Valor!  Make sure the quilt meets these:

SPECIFICS

Here are the lovely quilts Donna donated:

Panels work great for QOV's!

These "Vanna Whites" are parading the recently donated quilts around the work area to be seen by all!

Here comes another quilt in the parade!

I DO hope you will consider donating to this worthy cause!

If you ARE interested, please do NOT hesitate to message me!

(Donated quilt tops do NOT have to be made in patriotic colors.)

In other sewing news:

Victoria Findlay Wolfe of Bumble Beans  recently sent out a request for:

 Anvil blocks

Click on the link I provided to learn more of why she needs these blocks, and what they are going to make.  She also provided a free tutorial on how to make the blocks.  They are A LOT of fun to make!

Never say never!  I sewed on a label BY HAND at the QOV meeting.

Thanks Dar!........I think???? LOL

Until next time!  Honor a Veteran!

Thanks for all of the encouragement!

Kevin the Quilter

You just never know......

When searching antique malls...........

you just never know what you may find???????

The seventies called........COLLECT!!!!!!!

Enjoy your Sunday!

Thanks for all of the encouragement!

Kevin the Quilter

Many blessings.......

Recently, I have been the recipient of many blessings.......

A blessing, according to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, is “the act or words of one that blesses,” or “a thing conducive to happiness or welfare.”

I am going to claim both meanings for today's post.  I have been blessed by other quilter's generosity as of late and would love to share with you some of my recent.........BLESSINGS!

My friend Alycia at Alycia Quilts knows how much I LOVE crumbs!  She recently sent me a surprise of......

YUMMY CRUMBS!!!!!!

And, yes, this box was literally busting at the seams!

How many crumbs did you fit in here anyway Alycia????

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

I have been following Dee's blog over at mike & gabby for quite some time now.  Her blog is always inspirational, and she makes some beautiful quilts.  Recently, she has been remodeling her sewing space, and I must tell you, it is going to be AWESOME!  She has been giving away various quilting goodies she isn't using or claims she won't be utilizing in her new sewing space.  I entered and upon returning from flying for 6 days look what was waiting for me at the post office......

My prize package included these delicious books!  I can't WAIT to dig into them and find some new projects!  Dee was so nice to include some 2x2 squares as well!  YUM!!!  Please go check her blog out and her sewing space remodel, look at her beautiful quilts she has made, read about her kitties, and who knows.....she may even have another give away?

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! 

Earlier in the summer, I went to visit my friend Donna.  You can read about the way we met here.  We had a great visit, as we usually do.  During our visit, I was able to meet her friend Kathy.  We chatted about various items, but, something Kathy said in particular perked my interest.....  

YARD SALE !!!!!!

Kathy was preparing to have a yard sale, and was getting rid of a lot of quilting fabric.  She told me that she knows who she is as a quilter now, and she had bought a lot of different fabrics when she first started quilting that she knew she was never going to use now.  She was downsizing her stash!  Well you KNOW I was ALL over that!

DONNA TO THE RESCUE!!!!

She interceded for me since I couldn't make it to the yard sale, and boy oh boy.........

 I can't even begin to tell you how much fabric is here!

YARDS and YARDS of PATRIOTIC FABRICS!!!!

YIPPEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

I am STILL going through it, organizing it into QOV projects I want to make with it!  Thanks Kathy for being so generous to a newbie quilter, and MANY, MANY thanks to Donna for being my personal shopper! Just so you know, when my family brought this haul to me, I passed out, and had to be revived with smelling salts!  OK, maybe, I didn't pass out, but, I did roll around in the fabrics for a little while!  LOL 

The last blessing I would like to share with you is one of sharing MY passion for Quilts of Valor with a friend.  Several of my friends know I make quilts, and donate many of them to QOV.  But, I haven't had the opportunity to share my passion first hand and teach.  So, when my good ole' buddy Mike started asking a bunch of questions, I simply asked him, "Would you like to learn?"

Long story short.......

I think the smile says it all! 

It was a blessing being able to teach another guy how to sew a quilt block!

These blocks will be sent to Alycia and her BIG BLOWOUT BLOCK DRIVE!

Make sure to check out this block drive and donate a few blocks in order to qualify for some
AWESOME PRIZES!

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I haven't a clue why my blog is acting all funky with the text????
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Patterns for memory quilts coming soon!

As always, 

Thanks for all of the encouragement......and BLESSINGS!

Kevin the Quilter

August...........Family Time........

Greetings Kevin the Quilter Blog Readers!

I have several items to share!

First I would like to share with you one of the memory quilt tops I have completed.  This top was made for my brother-in-law's mother.  She is a very special lady, and I have known her most of my life.  I wanted to create something that would allow the fabrics from the shirts to be showcased on a larger scale so she can easily recognize them.  After much thought, research, and execution, I came up with this..........

"Hugs from Howard"

Howard was my brother-in-law's father that passed away.  I used all of the cotton dress shirts that were given to me in this quilt.  I have several of his flannel shirts that I have used in quilts for the other family members. Photos of those quilts will be coming up in a post as soon as I can put together the pattern I used for them.  I used some unbleached muslin, and white shirting fabric as the background.  I was able to show my sister and her husband this quilt, and I believe they really liked it.  There were tears........and smiles.  My brother-in-law started inspecting the quilt and said several times, "I remember dad wearing that shirt."  After hearing that, I felt as though I accomplished my mission in this regard.  It was an honor making this quilt top.   

You may be wondering how I came up with the design for this quilt?

I used one of my favorite go to sites:

YOUTUBE

  Big Star Quilt Tutorial

by the 

Missouri Star Quilt Company

I could watch Jenny Doan of the Missouri Start Quilt Company all day long because she makes quilt making fun and easy.  I had the privilege of meeting her, and I have ordered items from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.  I must say, I have been quite impressed by their customer service.

In other news, August is family time!  My mom, dad, sister and her family made their annual trip to my home to spend several days with me.  We usually plan this get together around my dad's birthday.  My sister takes my niece and nephew shopping for back to school clothing and other items while here. 

  Happy 73rd Birthday Dad!

I was able to take dad out on the Mississippi River for a while on his birthday!

We had a great visit!

Some points of interest I was able to share with the family were:

Ted Drewes

If you are from the greater St. Louis, Missouri area, you KNOW you HAVE to visit this place at least once!

AND

Grant's Farm

If you ever wondered where the famous Anheuser-Busch Clydesdale are kept, it's Grant's Farm.

There is so much more to see at the farm though, and my niece and nephew really enjoyed it!

What on earth am I up to now????????

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM???

I hope you all are enjoying your families and the end of summer!

As always,

Thanks for all of the encouragement!

Kevin the Quilter

Quilts of Valor.....humbled......beyond words......

August...........

REALLY???????? 

I truly can't believe how quickly this summer flew by, not to mention how fast 2013 is jetting on by!

Last week, I was humbled, .............beyond words.

Why you might ask?

I was honored to sit in on a meeting of the Quilts of Valor Eastern Missouri quilting day.  When my friend Dar asked me to visit the group, I didn't really know what to expect?  She told me that the ladies of the group were intrigued that a "guy" had made quilt tops to donate to the group.  I even received a very nice, hand written thank you in the mail from one of the group's leaders.  It says:

"Kevin,
Thank you for the 3 quilt tops along with the binding, backing and pillow cases you donated to the Quilts of Valor Eastern Missouri.  These are the first quilts we have received from someone of the male gender........."

LOL  I just have to laugh at that!

It went on to say when and where the next meetings would be held, and that I was invited to come by and visit.  So, with great curiosity I went.  When I arrived at the venue, I guess I looked lost because one of the nice quilters asked me, "Are you lost?"  I stated that I had arrived for the Quilt of Valor meeting, and she kindly directed me the right way.  I met Dar at the door, and she was so excited not only because I actually came, but, also because one of the quilts I had donated had just come out of one of the quilting frames!

Jean, one of the QOV Eastern Missouri leaders, and me with the newly quilted QOV I donated.
(Does this quilt look familiar Bev?)

I was so impressed by this operation.  Every quilter there had a designated job, and they work, and work until they are done!  I simply stood in amazement as I watched a room full of 112 quilters donate their God-given talent to help those who sacrifice so much for our country.  As I visited with Jean, she could see how speechless I was.  Jean's words were, "it's really moving the first time you see this, isn't it?"  BEYOND!!!!

See what I mean?  And, this wasn't even the entire room of quilters!  

This organization is finishing up quilts to be distributed to a troop of soldiers returning from overseas.  They have already exceeded their goal of over 100 quilts!  WAY TO GO!

This group of ladies had just finished quilting this QOV!

Every time a quilt was finished on the frame a cowbell would ring to uproarious applause!  It was really exciting seeing the quilts quilted.  I was able to meet so many nice people there.  I definitely plan to attend again, and help out in any way I can.  

I even learned something from Dar............

How to hand stitch a binding down!

Thanks Dar!

As always,

Thanks for all of the encouragement!

Kevin the Quilter