Quilting friends are the best friends.......

Some come all the way from Germany (Susanna Stein) to see you

and others just come from Lenexa, Ks (Robin Allen).

And while Susanna (on the left) was taking

a selfie of the 3 of us

Pep was taking a "selfie" of us taking a "selfie".

Besides taking pictures, we've laughed and eaten

and stitched and stitched.

Susanna and I have worked on my Anniversary Quilt 

and Robyn is working on this awesome quilt

for her granddaughter - nice bright colors.

Our vintage book this month is The Pokeberry Quilt,

a memory quilt I made for my father.

Each block in the quilt hold a memory

of my father - It's a very special quilt for me.

Our Deal of the week is Millennium Garden, 

a BOM that I designed with Alma Allen.  I have been

blessed to work with so many talented people

over the years and Alma was one of them.

And as well as being an awesome quilter 

she is a very nice lady, a 

real joy to work with.

To get your copy, click here.

See you next week ladies and

keep on quilting.

:)

A Day Late........

Well, Maybe 5

One of the not so great things about raising chickens is

that everything wants to eat them.

Recently we've been having a lot of trouble

with critters getting into the brooder house 

and dispatching my babies. 

Raccoons are NOT CUTE when they kill

my chickens.

We still had all of our laying hens but I lost my 

"pet" chickens - ones that are around not because they 

produce well but because I like the way thy look - 

kind of like playing with dolls. 

We called in a Conservation Agent who helped us

get the brooder house secure again.

I tried to order new babies from the usual hatchery

but it is past the hatch date.  Our friendly Conservation 

Agent came to the rescue Again with the news that the Amish

were having a small animal auction last Friday so my sister 

Nancy and I got in the car and drove to Jamesport.

We didn't have an address but "just find a place with 

lots of buggys and pickup trucks and you'll be there."

And guess what I found?

Lavender Orpington babies.

Who will grow up to be Lavendar Orpington hens 

& roosters. So now I have purple chickens to 

go with my purple fabric and quilts. 

I am assuming they will lay tan

eggs like my Buff Orpington hens but who knows.

Maybe I'll get lavender eggs - my aracaunas lay blue eggs.

And I also bought these 4.  They have feathers 

on their feet like my Cochins did.

Does anybody have any idea what breed they are?

I haven't had time to research it

mainly because I've been working on this months

Tablestand Quilt - Fall Favorites.

I would have gotten a turkey too (Max and Zoie both had

pet turkeys when they were kids) but they came up last and 

Nancy and I were too tired to wait.

Have a good week ladies - maybe I'll be back on schedule 

by then and post on Wednesday.

Holidays always throw me off.  :)

And I almost forgot

Our

Deal of the Week

2 patterns for the price of 1.

Trick or Treat

and

Wilhamina Witch.

To get your copies click here.

Rainy days make me want to nap.......

And it seems I'm not the only one.

Kitty Kate Kat is taking a

deserved rest - she was up all night - 

outside with Muffin Kitty, a big stray

male who has taken up residence in our barn.

He's called Muffin because of his color.  

He's gotten friendly enough that he will

let me pet him.  

When he gets a little tamer, he will go 

have a visit with the vet.

Meanwhile Kitty Kate Kat has been spayed 

and had all of her shots so no little kitties 

will come visiting.

Her real name is Katherine the Great and she lives with

Queen Elizabeth, our English Bulldog.

Deb Strain asked on Instagram if we had 

any furry friends who helped us work.

Indeed we do.  Besides Kitty Kate and Elizabeth, 

there is Jake's Welsh Corgi Dobby.

Dobby got his name because he likes socks.

He's staying with us while Jake is in 

college and now Dental School.

And while the animals are hanging around

keeping us company I have been working on

blocks from our 50th Anniversary Quilt - above - 

and the Clover Meadow Wallhanging.

The quilt we're featuring from our vintage book

Country Paths is November's Song

You can get the book with the pattern for 

this quilt by clicking here.

Meanwhile Fall is just around the corner

and to help us get ready, our Deal of the Week

is 20% off our Pumpkin Man Quilt.  

You can get your kit by clicking here.

I hope you and your dog (or dogs & cats)

had a good National Dog Day.

And I'm sorry, folks but the kit won't be in

the store until the 28th.  

I clicked on "Publish" instead of "Schedule".

Keep on quilting

Meanwhile

Lazy, Hazy, Crazy..........

Lazy, hazy, crazy,

Well...... kind of!

Martingale is getting set for

my Sunny Days to come out.

It will come out in January and

we're taking Preorder this month.

We should have it set up by next week

so be sure to come back then.

Meantime we're still selling our Vintage

book Country Paths (one of my all time 

favorite books) at 1/2 price.

This is one of the quilt patterns in it

by the name of Oak Leaves and Turkey Feathers.

You can see why this is one of my favorite books.

I just love these colors and fabrics.

And speaking of all time favorites and

things that I love, this is our grandson

Jake.  You saw him graduating from UMKC 

last May.  This week he started at UMKCs

School of Dentistry.  All of his hard work

in college paid off.

Congratulations Jake - only 4 more years of

hard work and you'll be a dentist.

Following up on the Watermelon Days 

theme, our Deal of the Week is 

the Prize Watermelon Tablestand Kit for 25% off.  

Gotta love ice cold watermelon on a hot, muggy

summer day.  :)

Well, I'd better get back at it.

Pep and I have been married 50 years on October 18th

and I'm making us an Anniversary BOM.  

Its 93" x 99" - Whew!

Stay tuned for further installments.

And still busy :)

America For Me

has certainly kept us busy.  

We weren't quite prepared for the

flood of orders for both the pattern

and the kit.

We had  enough fabric to make the sample but had

to order the rest from Moda for the kits.

Unfortunately the order for this fabric got mixed in

with an order for my next line.

Tammy finally called and they got it sorted out.

The fabric got here Tuesday and the kits are being cut.

Mary from Country Thread asked on her blog how I

got the quilt done so quickly.  I made the flags with

machine appliqué since the lines are straight.

DMC Machine Embroidery floss with 

the stitch set on one - almost invisible.

If you've been following Mary's blog you know

she's been having computer problems.

Our printers must have caught them - the problems -

because they both stopped working.

Everything finally seems to be humming along 

now though so patterns and kits have started shipping.

We are still taking orders for them or you can

get yours by clicking here.

This is "The Lady" from the same book - Lady Liberty.

I'm thinking of doing it again too -

 but with needle turn appliqué - 

maybe when we finish my 50th anniversary quilt.

Here are a few blocks from it.

And if you follow my blog, you know 

I have chickens.  Guess what I found the other 

day when I went to gather eggs.

He (or she) was in one of the nests.  Cullen was

with me and said it was probably a female 

because of her size. I'm not scared of snakes - 

never have been.

When I was young my father was in the Army

and we were stationed at Ft. Belvoir. 

We lived in Officer quarters with woods behind us 

and then the Potomac River.  Our house was 

shaped like a V with a little porch by the front door.

One spring a big black snake came up repeatedly

to sun himself on the porch.  My father

would go get our garden rake, pick him up

and take him back to the woods.   

Pretty simple and not scary.

Its August and August in Missouri is full of 

Watermelon Days.

Go to our store and any quilt pattern with a

watermelon is 50% off.

And speaking of 50% off our vintage book

for August is Country Paths.

I love that quilt - the patterns for it

and 3 other quilts are featured.

Well, I'd better go check the chicken house :)

and see if we have any other visitors.

Busy, busy, busy.............

It was indeed a busy week.

Monday my friend and email ad lady, 

Sandy Noelsh and I drove to Springfield, Mo. 

- actually she drove and I rode.  

It didn't start off too well.

When I picked her up, she started 

the car and the air-conditioner

blew hot air instead of cold.

After a quick trip to my neighbor who

also has taken care of our cars for 20 odd

years, it had a new air conditioner motor 

and was blowing cold air again.  

Since it's a 4 hour drive to Springfield 

that was very good.  There are lots of 

advantages to living in a small town :).

The long and short of it is that we made it to Springfield

where Sandy's sister, Charlotte, is a member of the

Ozark Piecemakers Guild.  

Tuesday I gave a lecture at 10:00 A.M. and then again

at 6:00 P.M.   It's a very large, active Guild and has a

Day Meeting and then an Evening Meeting.

Then on Wednesday, I taught an all day workshop 

on the basics of Needleturn Applique to these lovely ladies.

Throughout the entire thing I was very well taken

care of by their program chairman, Mary Loker.  

Thanks Mary.

Thursday and Friday, I stayed at home and rested

so that I could drive to Lenexa on Saturday to

meet with the  Walnut Valley Woolen 

group led by Robin Van Allen (on the far right).

They have spent the last few months working

with my Birdsong pattern.  The backgrounds

of their quilts are cotton and the appliqué is wool.

We had a delightful time looking at quilts

and eating a great lunch at the Hyatt in Lenexa.

Our Deal of the Week is

Town and Country,

one of my favorite BOM patterns.  

To get one of your own click here.

I want to thank all of you for your good wishes and

prayers for Pep.  And all the hugs for me.  

Pep is entering his 3rd month on the 

medication and the bad side effects are only

supposed to last for 3 months - God willing and

the creek don't rise.

Keep quilting ladies - I certainly am. :)

Creating things always helps and I'm working

on "Jan and Pep's Marvelous Adventures"

our 50th Anniversary Quilt.

Right now I'm in Springfield, Mo

Giving a workshop to the 

Ozark Piecemakers

I just love that name!

I gave my lecture twice - 

 yesterday morning and last night

and by tonight I am going to be 

plain old tired.

I always get worn out but I also always

enjoy myself very much.  Quilters 

are such nice people.  :)

Since I got this ready in somewhat

of a hurry this part will be short.

These are pictures from our 

Deal of the Week 

Sleigh Bells by Martingale -

They do such awesome work :)

And this is Old Glory - our June Tablestand Quilt

Front and

Back.

And once again this week we're featuring

our quilt America for Me.

We're cutting more kits since 

we sold out so quickly.  And of course,

we still have patterns.

And once again a big thank you from

all of us to Mary and Connie of Country Threads.

Another quilt from Oceans Aweigh.

Storms never last by Waylon Jenning

& Jessie Colter became our song.

It still is.

And I'm asking for prayers for Pep.

He's on an experimental medicine for his 

severe COPD and it is kicking his butt :)

See you next week ladies and

Keep Quilting.