And We're Back Home - for Awhile

And we're back at multitasking. Clothes unpacked and washed again, ready to be ironed and packed for Market at the end of the month.

The booth unpacked and sorted, some quilts to go to France for the book I'm doing for Quiltmania, some will go over to Missouri Star Quilt Co. for display and a few I get to keep for the house.

It was a really fun festival with only a few hitches. Tara locked the keys in the car when we got there to unload but a very nice officer from the sheriff's department got us back in. Once set up, Max joined us (he had class until Wednesday evening). He and Tara took care of things on the selling and adding up end. I got to sit and chat and sew and do demonstrations on Needleturn Applique. I don't really call it work if I get to sit and sew and show ladies how easy applique can be if you just know a few tips.

The show itself was awesome. The DesMoines Guild had some great quilts.

Moda Lissa was there and posted lots of pictures on her blog so I gave you the link to her page. It is really

worth seeing - I recommend it highly. Thanks Lissa.

This seems like a good place to announce the winners of the drawing for the Free Kit. Drumm rolllll ... And the winners are ..........Linda Lyn of Newton, IA and Marilyn Holder of Fairview, TN. Congratulations ladies. Tara will be emailing you and letting you choose between Sunflowers & Scarecrows and Sue's Snowman Basket.

Here's Christmas 101 again. It's also in the strip on the right because it's the Wallhanging Club offering for the month. We're building a new storefront - with only a slight delay due to a blown motherboard on a computer. The Mini Quilts and Wallhangings are up. As you may or may not know, I'm not taking credit cards any more. I found out the hard way that the merchant is not protected with online credit card orders. If someone steals your card - or gets your card number somehow - and uses it to buy something, the cardholder is protected. The merchant is not. They simply lose their money. Mastercard and Visa are not set up to verify that the person buying online and receiving the goods is indeed the cardholder. Paypal is. They are set up for online buying and selling.

If you're a Wallhanging Club member or anyone else who wants to buy the kit, click on the picture to the right and it will take you to the storefront. If you just want to look at the storefront, type janpatekquilts.goodsie.com/ (no www.) in your browser or just click on it. If you don't have an account with Paypal, it's very easy to set one up. We're also looking into Amazon.com and Google.com to accept payments.

Did I mention that the trailer had a flat tire on the way home. The show ended at 5:00, we were packed by 7:00 and I got home around 2:00 a.m.

It's good to be home.

Come See Us in Des Moines - Booth 1228-1230 Oct. 6-9

The week and especially the weekend has been spent multitasking.

I think everything happens in October. The apples are ready to be juiced and sauced, the peppers are ready, hens are still laying so we have hen fruit too. The green beans are ready too so we had a big mess for Sunday dinner along with the roast. And of course, Pep has to make bread.

Meanwhile, besides picking veggies and washing clothes, we been packing. This morning we're off to Des Moines.

And here's a sneek peek at one of the quilts we'll have along.

Christmas 101 is one of my favorite quilts lately. Come see it (and me) in person. I'll be doing Needleturn Applique demonstrations every day.

Fall is so awesome!

Awesome Autumn!

My, oh, my things have been happening around here.

I'll do the bad things first and get it out of the way. WE WERE SCAMMED!! (kind of like Identity Theft) - by someone saying they were a shop in Australia. Instead they were scam artists using other people's credit cards. YUCK!!! And it has thrown a huge hitch in the get-along. Everything had to be closed down and switched.

At the present time we're not able to process credit cards and we're not sure when we'll be able to. And let me tell you, I am not at all impressed with Mastercard and Visa - period. Their security is fine if you're a shop and the card itself is present. But they are not at all secure or up to date if your sales are over the internet. Nor are they helpful.

So we are back to the good old days. If you're a new customer we will ask for the 1st payment up front. After that we'll ship and bill you.

Most quilters are pretty trustworthy so we're not worried. (These people never would have put money up front the first time.) When I first started designing, that's the way we did it. And we will have the option of Paypal. They are savvy on internet sales. If you absolutely have to have something now and are a new customer, we can refer your sale to a nearby shop that carries our products and takes credit cards. So we still should be able to serve our customer's needs.

Now on to fun things. The Remembrance fabric is in and our first kit is ready to ship. I just love it. And it really goes with the way I'm feeling right now.

Size: 29" x 43 1/2"

Cost is $50.00 + $7.00 shipping.

Oh - Come see The Witch, me and all my Remembrance quilts at the AQS Des Moines Festival at the Iowa Events Center - October 6-9. Booth 1228-1230. I'll be there with kits, quilts and Needleturn Applique and Amy Oxford punchneedle demonstrations. See you there.

The Witch and all the new patterns will be on the website soon. Watch for them.

And the weather is beautiful and supposed to be this way all week. What a relief after the heat of summer. Have a good one, ladies.

American Spirit - Americans All

I taught Girl Gang today in Lee's Summit, then ran errands, did some sewing in the loft, went for my walk with the dogs and watered the chickens. All nice, normal things to do on a Saturday.

But this isn't just any Saturday - it's September 11th. A day to remember and to pray. And this Saturday, I think that we need to keep in our minds and thoughts, not only this day and those brave people we lost, but that the good Lord created all of us in his/her image. Which means that all of our diversity together makes up Gods image. So that we pray together - in alphabetical order as

Christians

Jews &

Muslims

that God bless us all and never let us forget that "United We Stand".

I can't believe it's been a month

I really can't - almost a month since I've blogged. And this needs to be short because Cullen and Quinn are here and will get up at the crack of dawn tomorrow. That's one of the reasons it's been a month. They have been staying with us every other week all summer. Their father is back in school - midlife crisis career switch - and he's been working construction in Oklahoma all summer. Since school has started again now, things are back to some kind of routine.

This is one of the sunflowers Quinn planted this spring. He checks on it the minute he gets here. They are awesome. And as my life always ends up in my quilts somehow...

Sunflowers and Scarecrows - I know there's only 1 scarecrow but scarecrows sounds better - poetic license in quilt naming. This is the next Mini Quilt Club offering that will ship in September.

Let's see - the new fabric lines - Classic Wovens and Lilac Hill are being worked on. Four new patterns for the wovens and some minirugs.

Then I took a break to work on the book I'm doing for Quiltmania - get to go to France next April on my way to Salt Lake City. The Quiltmania people are such a joy to work with.

And in between Jennifer Dick (editor extrordinaire for KC Star) sent proofs and we finalized Across the Wide Missouri book by Edie MCGinnis and myself.

Finishing up patterns for Quiltmania book the first couple of days this week and then on to Lilac Hill line. Even if I do say so myself both the Classic Wovens and Lilac Hill are awesome. See you get to say things like that when you do them with someone else :)

And this is Zoie and Quinn's masterpiece. Quinn's first assignment for kindergarten had to do with this gingerbread man. It was his job to decorate it to make it have something to do with him. Since the poor guy got pretty manhandled for a week, going in and out of backpacks, his dad rescued it and made sure it came with him this weekend. With a little help Quinn traced it and had me cut it out for him. Then he and Zoie went to work with fabric scraps, glue and markers. Then they decided to add his sunflower and things really took off. There's our apple tree and berry bushes and flowers! Wow! I think it is absolutely awesome and just had to show it off.

And something I had absolutely nothing to do with, (except one person removed) but get to enjoy, is the fact that I have a new granddaughter born on August 27th. Her name is Brooke and she is beautiful.

I lost the connection to the internet last night so am finishing it today. They did get up at 6:00.

Better go let the chickens out.

Keep quilting.

Thank God for the internet!

This is my dog, Wooly Bully - not a very original name but it fits him. This is his usual stance unless there are dog cookies around. In fact he occasionally gets left in the loft and I have to go get him because he sleeps through the leaving part. Being a bulldog he could be prone to skin problems but at 8 years old, he has had nary a one. An occasional bath and sprinkling with flea powder and he's good to go. No Frontline - no Advantage or Biospot - fleas just don't bother him.

This is my son Max's English Mastiff "Nero" who is staying with us for the summer. This is a picture of him as he's only been for the last 2 days. The whole rest of the summer he's been scratching and chewing and itching. He is highly allergic to fleas and they have been driving him crazy. All of the usual remedies don't work. The really expensive one worked for around 24 hours. As we live on 160 acres of pasture and woods, spraying the yard wasn't much of an option. Nero was losing weight and his skin and hair looked horrible. After we had exhausted all of the chemical remedies Pep went to the internet and googled.

We mix plain old white vinegar and water half and half and spray him down every morning and night. (Luckily he doesn't seem to mind it - he gets a cookie afterwards.) It is supposed to repel fleas and boy, howdy it seems to do so. It isn't recommended for cats - they don't like the smell of vinegar. Just thought I'd post this in case anyone else is having the problem. It doesn't totally get rid of the fleas but there's only an occasional scratch.

Now Nero and Bully are sleeping buddies - thanks God, for the internet.

Thought I'd let you know

When I was at Girl Gang last Saturday, Sue is making a wallhanging for all of her daughters and daughters-in-law and brought her daughter's quilt for Show and Tell. It is the time of year to start thinking of Holiday quilts, etc. for your house or gifts if we're going to make them. Anyway, this is the latest email Kelly sent. I can't figure out how to change the size. Should be a good sale and we have done a Holiday quilt or two.

Christmas in July from Jan Patek Quilts! Hey Quilters! Jan Patek Quilts has decided to celebrate Christmas in July! All next week check your email often to get in on someSPECTACULAR sales on holiday projects, patterns and books! Quantities will be extremely limited, and first come, first served! Lets get a jump start on those Christmas projects and save some serious money! Stitch, stitch, stitch! Join Our Mailing List!