Good endings.........

Hey everybody!

I truly hope your work week was much better than mine!

All of the weather, Boeing directives for SWA, and general disrespect by passengers made the beginning of my week.........delightfully fun.............NOT!!!!!!!

However, I am thankful to have a job.

That being said, the news I received yesterday MORE than made up for the start of the week!

"Radar" is AQS Paducah bound!!!!!!

Ann and I are so very excited to see him at the show in Paducah!  How many of you are planning to go to Paducah as well?  PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE........if you see me (it's a little hard to miss a big guy like me LOL) come introduce yourself!  I would LOVE to meet and chat with you!

I am off to see my family for the weekend.

 My beautiful "Lil' Sugardoll" that used to call me "Untle Tevin".......

(By the way.....some of my flight attendant friends still call me this

because I talked about her calling me this all of the time. LOL)

Is turning 17 years old today!

Happy Birthday Sugardoll!!!!!

Where did the time go??????

Hope you all have an enjoyable weekend!

Thanks for all of the encouragement!

Kevin the Quilter

Random Acts of Sewing......and Cooking....

Well this has been a February of random proportions!

I have gone through some of my unfinished projects, and........finished them!
(The tops at least!)  (Or almost!)

First, I want to let everyone know that my version of Bonnie Hunter's "Blue Ridge Beauty" is back from my wonderful quilting friend Dar of Dar's Patchwork Garden!  She did a beautiful job on it, and binding will begin on it as soon as I get back from working this week.

 Here are a couple of shots of her on the frame.

And as most of you probably know, I get a lot of inspiration from looking at quilting books and magazines while I am flying.  Take for instance.......

"Apple Crisp" by designer Jan Ragaller

American Patchwork and Quilting October 2010

Had someone not shared this magazine with me that would have otherwise been thrown out, I would have never been inspired to create this.....

I love how scrappy this turned out!

Tons of neutrals, reds, and a few browns combined to make this a great quilt.

This would be wonderful made in various other colors as well!

The backing and binding are selected, and this one is ready to be quilted!
Thanks Bev for helping me with those snowballs!

And here comes another Bonnie finish.........or almost.........

I proudly present to you my version of Bonnie's Pattern/tutorial

"Geese on a String"

I still need to add a gold 2.5" border all the way around.

Wait until you all see what I have in store for this one......heh heh heh

While in the process of finishing the aforementioned tops, my iron went south!

SOUTH TO THE FLOOR!

I don't know how many times I dropped that iron, and she still worked, but, not this last time!

While I was at the store selecting a new iron, I went all out and got me a wider ironing board!

I LOVE BOTH of these new purchases!

I may or may not have become addicted to paper piecing half square triangles???

How many of you use either Thangles or Triangles on a Roll?

My fast growing crush on Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts may be to blame?

If you haven't seen or heard of the way Edyta got her start with quilting,

press the play button above and enjoy this wonderful interview.

Her scrap quilts are truly amazing, and I am falling for her......I mean her quilts!

She's MARRIED folks! LOL

I was surprised to learn that I had won the Superbowl raffle at

Homestead Hearth!!!!  Tons of fabric and goodies in here!

I truly felt I had won the Superbowl....but, no desire to go to Disney here!

Thanks to my friend Ann of Attic Threads & Quilts

who gave me this bundle of patriotic fabrics from a recent teaching engagement!

Several of her students brought fabrics to be used in Quilts of Valor!

And this is a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG overdue shout out to a very sweet lady by

the name of Judy in Alton, Illinois who sent in a TON of pillowcases for the QOV block 

drive quilts from last spring!  I was looking through some of my older posts, and found I had neglected to thank her here on the blog!  That's what happens when you are a 40+ year old 14 year veteran flight attendant that loses brain cells daily on an aircraft due to lack of oxygen!

THANK YOU JUDY!!!!!!!!

Speaking of the 40+ club.......my friend Matt recently turned 40!

His wife requested I make his birthday cake.  She wanted a carrot cake for the party,

and it just so happens that I love carrot cake and have a wonderful recipe for it!

You can have it too if you follow this LINK.

Here's hoping your February is random as well!

Thanks for all of the encouragement!
Kevin the Quilter

February in photos..........

Kevin the Quilter blog readers!

Here life goes again!

February is ALWAYS a ridiculously busy month for me!

Here is my February thus far in photos............

I promise I haven't been snoozing the month away like these two!

Why are me and my family applauding with all of these people????

Because of this girl in the center wearing the black robe with Gold trim.

Back in the fall my niece was selected to the Missouri All-State Choir.

For those of you who may not know, this is a HUGE honor.

It takes several auditions to make it into the choir.

I worked very hard when I was in high school trying to make it, but, never did!

It was great being able to see my niece make it, and really understand the accomplishment she made.

Congrats to my niece Hannah!

The concert was beyond amazing, even with my stuffy head cold.

After the concert my mom and dad came for a visit.

Mom taught me how to make her FAMOUS Cherry Streudle!

Besides her Red Velvet Cake, this has to be one of my favorite desserts ever!

This was a really cool basket quilt I found at an antique mall with matching patchwork bear.

Both too pricey for me, but, I appreciated being able to see this scrappy quilt.

Close up of block.....hand pieced and quilted.

I had to go to the clear the bolt sale at one of my favorite quilt shops, Homestead Hearth.

While there, I couldn't pass up this kit......I know, I know.....I don't do kits, but, look

how scrappylicious this is!  AND with ALL of the fabrics included.....it was such a good price I HAD to get it!

Their scrap bags were also half price so you KNOW several came home with me!

This may or may not have been my biggest haul in a quilt shop...EVER!

This baby quilt top has been assembled, and the binding has been selected.

I am going to be quilting this one ASAP!

The Honor Flight quilt has been quilted, bound, and washed.

Here is a close up of some of the quilting I did on it.

My friend Ann of Attic Threads & Quilts taught me so many new things!

I learned some really cool ruler techniques!

Thanks so much Ann for being such a great teacher and friend!

Birthday celebrations for my beautiful mother and handsome nephew!

They share the same birthday which I think is so special!

Lil' Bubs even decorated his own cake this year!

Awesome job Bubs!

 While I was home I was able to visit a few of my favorite places.

There were some eagles flying around here, but, they were a little too far away to see in the photo.

A view from my office window.......

I have cut several jelly rolls for Quilts of Valor, Eastern Missouri

from donated fabric they have received.  I was happy to be able to use my

Accuquilt Studio for this!  I really love this toy!

And Quilts of Valor, Eastern Missouri is churning out the block drive quilts!

Take a look!

And I would like to thank all of you who have sent me messages concerning the passing of my

Uncle Lee whom I presented a Quilt of Valor to last fall.  You can read about that presentation 

HERE.

I thought it was very thoughtful of my cousins to display his Quilt of Valor at the funeral home.

They told me how much he loved the quilt and that he loved showing it to everyone that came to visit.  I am glad he was able to enjoy it and what it meant to him.  And I can't thank everyone enough that participated in the block drive last year.  These are the special kind of memories we are affording our veterans and their families through our efforts.

Thanks for visiting!

Thanks for all of the encouragement!
Kevin the Quilter