I forgot

to say - Quilter Kim, please email your shipping info to info@janpatekquilts.com and Tara will ship your kit right out. Sorry bout that.

Ornament Kit

Zoie drew a name and the winner of the Ornament Cutout Kit is Quilter Kim. Hope you and your grandaughter have lots of fun with it. Zoie decided to use some twill and homespun for the back of the ornaments since they would be up against the tree. That way she has 20 ornaments instead of 10.



They have two new kitties this year and have been pondering what to do about ornaments. These, some paper ones made by the kids and some apple slices on fabric loops will probably be the only things on the tree besides lights. Good year to get it for her.
We're off to sew.

Thanks for all of your great comments. We have 9 pairs of cardinals that come to our feeder every day, Brenda. They are just awesome.

A lot of a pretty good thing - mostly

I love snow - as long as I don't have to drive in it. Pep made it home safely yesterday morning and was off last night. Kelly and both of my boys in KC did fine so I just get to think of the pretty part.



I filled the bird feeders early this morning. Bully didn't like the deep snow but went out anyway. Sniff, our Welsh Corgi, may be low but he loves the stuff.



People ask me sometimes where I get the ideas for my quilts. Usually I just process the world I live in - it's pretty rich and varied. This morning I just consciously noticed one of the garden gates. But I've done 3 "Gate" patterns over the last year. Watch for "Spring at the Gate" - due to ship in February with our Looking Back fabric line. We'll be ready for spring around then. Right now, I still like snow. There's a pot of soup on the stove, the chickens, cats and dogs are all cozy and I get to quilt.



This Saturday I teach Girl Gang at Quilter's Station in Lee's Summit. Zoie will be going with me so I got her this kit to make Christmas ornaments. You have to order them in 3's. Zoie has one, Tara took one for Sierra and we have one left. If you'd like one for a little girl in your life, just make a comment below - say something Christmasy or snowy. We'll do a drawing of all of the comments Friday morning.

And we have a winner

"
Linda Schaefer of Ca emailed Tara the correct guess. There were a lot of correct guesses and Kendra drew Linda's name from them this morning. Congratulations, Linda. Each month next year you'll get a free Mystery Quilt block.
We have one kit left of Cabin in the Pines and will probably auction it off in January. For those of you who didn't get the kit and want to make the quilt, it will be a BOM that comes out with our next fabric line. In different fabrics, of course.
For those of you that got the Mystery Quilt this year, your last block will be mailed out soon. Have fun!

An extension of Mystery Quilt contest deadline

First - we need to post an extension of the deadline in the Mystery Quilt Contest. We had a little trouble getting the email out so we extended the deadline to Monday the 30th. You have through the 30th to guess and Zoie will draw a name on the 1st from the correct guesses. What does the grandfather clock have to do with the Mystery Quilt???? Well - nothing but there is a story that goes with it.




As you know if you read my post last month, Pep and I have been married 40 years as of October 18th. The first time we went to his parents home I saw this Grandfather's clock and just loved it. It was Pep's mother's clock and had originally belonged to her father. Pep remembers his grandfather letting him hide in there when they all played hide and seek. The clock stood in the corner of their living room for 40 years that I know of - but it didn't work. Eunice had jewelers over on several occasions to try to fix it but it just didn't work. Since she loved the way it looked - just like I do - and it had been her father's, it stayed in the corner of the living room. Last month before the house was sold, my son Brian went to Chillicothe with me to bring the clock to our house. He thought we should put it in the living room but that would have called for a major upheaval and furniture rearranging - not one of my favorite chores. And there was a space in the back bedroom where it would just fit. We got it home just as it started raining and put it in the bedroom. The weights had gotten askew and the lock was stuck so I had Pep come open the door and straighten things out. He set it and started the pendulum.

It's been working ever since.
And it chimes. Some clocks have a lever to turn off the chimes but not this one.
And it's in the bedroom with the crib :)
We can just stop the pendulum and that will stop the clock. We've had to do that a couple of times when people need to sleep but it has started up again each time we reset it.
And I'm not moving it! It might stop working. It seems to like it where it is.
Pep's mother would have been so excited - maybe she is!

Mystery coming to an end

I was doing one of my favorite things thIs morning while I sipped my coffee and listened to my tapes. I was sewing the binding on this year's Mystery Quilt. It's almost time for the December Mystery Quilt block to be posted on the website, finishing up this year's quilt. Sooooo.......



we decided to have a contest. Make a guess as to what the 12th block will be. Just post your guess in the comments section or email Tara at info@janpatekquilts.com. We're sending out an email on this contest too so all of the guesses won't be in the comments section. And since we're sure that there will be lots of correct guesses, Zoie.org will draw a name from the correct guesses on Friday the 27th. The winner will get a free Mystery Quilt next year. And do remember that next year the quilt will be almost totally different - it will be a sampler though - my favorite kind of quilt. Good luck ladies.

Frost on the Pumpkin?

This might be carrying "frost on the pumpkin" a bit too far.