Happy Fall Ya'll!

 Happy Fall Ya'll!

 My family at this year's family reunion.

Lots of things are scheduled during the fall.  The kiddos are busy with sports and other activities in school.  Hayrides, and bonfires.  Fall harvests and prep for next year's crops.  Lots of flying for me because I take November off usually.  And, of course, we always hold my mother's family reunion during this time of year.  We had a really nice one this past Sunday.

At this year's family reunion I was able to make some long overdue thank you's to some special family members in the form of:

 QUILTS OF VALOR

Enjoy the photos of the presentations to my Uncle Lee, a Korean disabled veteran, and my cousin Donald, a Vietnam veteran.  All photos of the presentations were taken by my cousin Phyllis.

I appreciate all of the family members that were present for these presentations, and everyone who took photos as well!  As you all know by now, all of these quilts are presented on behalf of 

Quilts of Valor, Eastern Missouri.

 It was exceptionally emotional being able to present these quilts from the block drive to family members and in front of several other family members.

Lil' Bubs brought the quilts in to be presented.

"If you've never heard it before, WELCOME HOME!"

I say this to every veteran I present a QOV to.

I think their smiles say it all!

It was such an honor being able to award QOV's to these guys!  My Uncle Lee hasn't been in the best health this past year, and it was good to see him smiling!  He told me he had NEVER been thanked for his military service before!  How sad is that?  My cousin Donald jokingly said he may have to change his opinion about me! LOL

HERE IS A LINK TO ALL PHOTOS OF THE PRESENTATIONS
Thanks to my cousin Donna for these photos!

After the presentations were over, I caught my nephew talking to his Great Uncle Lee.

He was sharing with him about his wounds from battle.  I loved talking to Uncle Lee when I was a kid about his military service.  The one thing I will ALWAYS remember him telling me about is how he prayed and talked to God while he was in the heat of combat.  He promised God that if He got him out of this war alive, Uncle Lee would do anything God wanted him to do.  Well, God did get him out, and I can say with assurance that Uncle Lee has kept his promise as he has been a Baptist minister for the last 45 years.

I was also blessed to receive this practically new Singer sewing machine from my Aunt Doris at the family reunion!  One of her elderly friends gave it to her because she said it was too hard for her to use. My aunt (who is a very talented seamstress) thought I may be able to use it as she already has a working sewing machine? What a blessing! Thanks Aunt Doris!

In other news........

The Perky Piecers Quilt Guild volunteered to work on the blocks from the block drive!

23 tops were completed this day!

That leaves approximately 26 more tops to complete!

OH YEAH!!!!!!!

This encourages my hope to get all of the tops completed by the end of the year!

These gals really went to town getting these tops done!

 Time flew by......

visiting and sewing on a very rainy day.....

everyone worked so hard to get so much accomplished!

Pat on the left offered to quilt some of the completed tops, along with Kim, who I wasn't able to get a photo of.  Joanie, on the right, did a FABULOUS job of organizing tops to sew!  She painstakingly laid out 17 quilt tops row by row, numbered the rows, and had them all nice and neat for all of the sewers that day!  It worked AMAZINGLY well!  I was VERY impressed!

THANK YOU SO MUCH JOANIE AND PERKY PIECERS!

And, here is a little update on Flossie.....remember, my grandmother's treadle my cousin gave to me?

My dad is really helping me get her back to her original finish.

The years were very hard on her, and she needed a little face lift!

My dad already has the actual treadle looking showroom new!

Enjoy the Fall ya'll!

WHO IS GOING TO HOUSTON??????

Thanks for all of the encouragement!

Kevin the Quilter