Tuesday, January 30, 2018

At last, a reference from Kevin.......

Wanted:  Secretary with excellent computer skills in pdf's and blogging
Needed:  IMMEDIATELY
Pay:  Ummm.......well...........do fresh eggs count?

Yeah......you all KNOW I need a secretary!  I just can't pull it all together as of late! 
I do apologize for being MIA on the blogging front!

I have been reading blogs as best I can while I try to fly, work on the home front, and quilt!
My apologies for not commenting!

OK, so here are some updates in a nutshell......


My face when Scrap Club is back up and running!
Our first meeting for Scrap Club hosted by Kevin the Quilter
was held on Jan 25th.
I can't believe 3 months have passed so quickly!

Although I won't be providing all of the info I present 
at all of the Scrap Club meetings, 
those of you who are interested
can play along!
We are playing with a fun older quilt block this time:

"Improved Nine Patch"
or 
"Glorified Nine Patch."

We voted on this block design at the close of last year's
"Sapphire Stars" mystery quilt.
And, I have seen a lot of interest forming via the
intertube, I mean, interweb, I mean internet....

Barbara Brackman
did a wonderful post about the 
"Improved Nine Patch Quilt"
on her Cloud of Quilt Patterns page.

And, on her Material Culture page, she
did a post of a circular quilt
which is similar in regard to the arc placement.

And, of course,
Eleanor Burns of 
fame
simplified this "challenging to piece"
block on her Youtube channel.
I encourage you to watch this very helpful video if 
you would like to play along?
I will be sharing how I made a template for my arcs
without using a specialty ruler in a future post.
It is easier than you may think!

And, lo and behold........
while browsing one of my favorite antique malls.....
I literally stumbled across this wonderful
"Improved Nine Patch" quilt!
($24 for a "cutter quilt" according to the seller with 20% off!)
This quilt in my opinion is 
definitely from the 1930s when this pattern first originated.
This was a wonderful sample to help inspire us at our
first Scrap Club meeting.

Insert cute puppy pic......
I LOVE it when Antique Malls are pet friendly!
LILLY MAE!

Moving along.........

Scrap Quilters were bustling about our new meeting locale
for Scrap Club hosted by Kevin the Quilter:
in O'Fallon, Missouri.
You have to check this place out!
It is so cool!
If you are close to O'Fallon, Missouri and would like to 
join us at Scrap Club, feel free!

Mike, and his lovely wife own our new venue.
What a wonderful way to show our appreciation
to them for giving us a place to meet
than to award Mike with a Quilt of Valor on
behalf of Quilts of Valor, Eastern Missouri
for his military service to our country.

This handsome guy is at least 16.5 years old this month!
I adopted Valentino at the end of January in 2004.
At that time, they estimated him to be at least 2.5 years old.
What a joy he has been........such a good, GOOD boy!
He definitely likes to inspect my work while I am sewing.
(More like CUDDLE time!)

AHA!!!!
Another reason my sewing gets delayed!
How on earth could you say no to a grin like this?
Sophia can hardly stand for her belly to be tickled!
LOL
This is her face as I was doing it!

I was FINALLY able to get some good quality
sewing time in with my Quilt of Valor, Eastern Missouri friends!
This quilt top was made in a few hours by four of us.
We think this pattern may be called
"Road to St. Louis?"
16 patches and snow ball blocks (two sides only)
created a wonderful future Quilt of Valor.
This was my friend Ree that hosted and 
conceptualized the pattern for us.
Thanks Ree, Dar, and Linda for the fun sewing day!

I have also been having some
in her annual block swap!
This year's churn dash block swap filled up
in record time according to her!
I am participating in the Civil War Repro swap.
Her swaps are so successful because
 she is such a delight....and so much...... FUN!

Yum!
My ladies continue to provide me with delicious eggs!

And, a change of decor.........
Isn't this chicken quilt fun?
This was gifted to me by my quilting friend Bev.
The quilting is great on it with chicken wire and
feathers!

Thanks to ALL of you whom have recently contacted me with your concerns if I am OK or not?!?!!  It means so much to me knowing there are people out there that care about me and my well being!  Quilters truly are the best people around in my opinion!  Retirement can't come soon enough!

Thanks for all of the encouragement!
Keep on Quilting!
Kevin the Quilter












26 comments:

  1. So GREAT to hear from you, Kevin! Life gets in the way for all of us now and then. Just touch base with us now and then so we know you're OK.

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  2. So glad to hear from you (finally!). We all have very busy lives and it is so great of you to share yours with us. Quilt On!

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  3. Thanks for the super post and for sharing your busy life with us. Question about the "Road to St. Louis"...it appears that the blocks are 8" and the snowball block - are the corner squares cut 4.5" before they are sewn onto the white block? Can't quite figure out the measurement. Thanks. Great quilt for a QOV. Our group actually made a quilt modeled after one of yours - we called it Kevin's quilt. I will search for a photo to share with you.

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  4. Good to hear from you again! I figured you were spending more time in the air to make up for all the time off you had during Christmas!! Love your babies...2 legged and 4 :) Oh, that quilt at the antique mall is beautiful!! I am making a QoV top (since I can't quilt yet) because they presented my father with a QoV during our Christmas celebration when all my kids and grands were here, so I told them I would make them a top...now I want to do either your Road to St. Louis or that cool 9P!!

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  5. Kevin? Kevin who? Oh, yeah, the chicken guy! LOL
    Good to know you are still alive and kicking!
    Always a treat to be caught up on all your "doin's". Never a dull moment.:)
    I love the Improved 9-patch. What a great find you made on the "cutter". I have an old top from the 50s or 60s, made by someone's grandma from her old aprons. Now particularly well made (hand stitched, but not carefully), but I couldn't resist it.
    Bev gave you the perfect quilt!!

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  6. Glad you are back! We missed you! What a steal on that antique quilt but it also makes me sad no one in the family wanted it! Thanks for the morning laugh with the cute pic of Sophia!!! She's a hoot!!! Love your other pets too!!!

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  7. I'd be glad to work for eggs, unfortunately the commute is too far from northern Indiana! Your quilting group looks like fun. If I ever make it to Missouri to visit my sister-in-law, I'll try to make the visit co-inside with Scrap club. Happy stitching!

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  8. Great to see your quilts ,sometimes life just gets in the way of quilting ,Love seeing the little pets, they are time consuming also,I am training my new little puppy at the moment. I seem to be always catching up on here lately .

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  9. You have had your hands full, great to see a post, I have been wondering what you were up to.

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  10. Nice to see you again :D How serendipitous to find that Improved 9-Patch at that time!

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  11. I figured you were busy being useful and productive.
    Thank you dear friend for sharing your adventures
    I love the photos and the projects and your sweet pup, and kitty Valentino. I have two kitties too. Not the two that I used to have a blog for....:-( my sweet Pierro died a year and a half ago, very painful to my heart. Now I have a girl kitten and she is a hand full.

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  12. I need a secretary too! Someone to organize my life, my schedule, my quilting room, my fabrics, etc
    Fun to hear about your adventures... glad all is well!

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  13. I figured you were busy. Dar would have let me know if something was wrong. One of these days, Dar says I need to come have a sewing machine 'spa' day with both of you, and get her treadle clean and running. Now to find a couple of days that the 3 of us are all available.

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  14. Love to see it all in one place! You are a busy guy! I love our random texts too!

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  15. LOVE that new QOV that you and your friends made!!! Thanks for the report. Have fun with Scrap Club!!

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  16. I love your improved nine patch, for that is one of the quilts that my mother made, and I have it. It is an amazing treasure to me. Love your quilt of valor!!

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  17. Kevin, great to see that you are doing ok. Love seeing your new projects (and your babies!).
    Take care,

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  18. So happy to get this update and your fun photos. Life gets crazy busy and yet somehow precious sewing time/quilting allows us to relax and focus on putting fabrics together to create beautful and useful projects. I love seeing your fur babies and that smile is Priceless!!! Fabulous February Dear...<3

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  19. I'd volunteer for the secretarial position, but I am afraid you would fire me after the first week. I am way behind in Blogland too! Thanks for taking the time to write another great post. And if you don't stop putting eye makeup on Valentino, I'm going to call the ASPCA - wink! Have a great day.

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  20. Are Valentino and Lily Mae good friends ?
    Fun post as usual Kevin and yor quilt of Valor is beautiful... My swap blocks are finally done !
    I can't wait to see the others from quilters... ;)
    I'm late for my comment, I'm sorry, I was a little busy those last days !

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  21. Kevin, I have a book titled "Working Women Need Wives". Some days I feel like that. Hey, just wanted you to know I have almost finished my Sapphire Stars. Check out what I'm doing with the border. The poached eggs sandwiches look yummy. Are you also making egg salad? Mmmm, sounds good for lunch today.

    Sandy at sewhigh.blogspot.com

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  22. Hi, Kevin! Guess I will have to wait until May to see you. Maybe you could bring me some eggs then? Your puppy and kitty are way too cute.

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  23. Sorry you too have the work/life/quilting/blogging balance problem. It seems to afflict those of us who still have to stay gainfully employed for one reason or another. Glad you've been able to find some time to sew and hang with your quilty friends. Safe travels!

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  24. I would love to play along with your scrap club quilt the improve 9 patch, but I'm unable to find where the directions are.Can you help with that? I have done your mystery quilt and it was so beautiful. I gave it to my son in law and he couldn't be more pleased with it.please get back to me if you can: my e-mail is boodals@yahoo.com my name is Diane. thank you for you help and all you share.

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