NEW EMAIL ADDRESS

WE HAVE A NEW EMAIL ADDRESS
janpatekquiltsinc@gmail.com.
Please send all emails to that address

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Signs of spring

Really - this is a sign that it's between Christmas and New Year's Day. That's always when we get our first seed catalog. I guess that spring is on it's way - it is after the Winter Solstice - days are getting longer.
It was really hard to tell though as we got hit with the worst snowstorm in 20 years. On the way to town to pick up the grandkids I found a huge snowdrift around a corner at the top of a hill. It went clear across the road and was about 5 carlengths long. Thanks God - for cellphones and neighbors.


The cellphone enabled me to call AAA but the neighbor just happened to have a Bobcat. By the time he had me dug out of the drift he had icicles hanging from his mustache. Then he followed me home to make sure I got here. There are some really nice people in this neck of the woods. Pep and I stayed at home for a couple of days until the roads were cleared (even UPS couldn't get here) and planned our garden. Lots of peppers to keep us warm.


The "Cackle" catalog just came 2 days ago. Spring is on it's way.


But my chickens already knew that. They've been laying 12-13 eggs a day - in the midst of all the snow and REALLY COLD weather.

It's been really cold and gloomy here for almost a month but they knew it would get warm and sunny again. One of the things I love about having animals is that they're in touch with the earth cycles and what's really going on. I always felt better each evening after I gathered the eggs and made them cozy for the night. Warmer days are coming - it will be time to hatch babies soon.

Quiltwise, I've been working on blocks for the Mystery Quilt and, of course, I can't show you those. I want to get as much done as possible as everything comes to a halt when I get the new fabric line. I've also been working on drawing patterns so that when the next fabric ships I won't have quite so much to do. And of course, I can't show you that either.



I've also been working on some spring and summer Mini Rugs that I do with my punchneedle.
I can show you one of them. I'll try to find time in the next week or two to do a blog on
the process. I just love the look and feel of them.


Meanwhile, it's still cold but at least the sun is out. And my favorite rooster watches
his hens as they scratch in the garden.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Now taking preorders

This is the Featured Fabric Quilt for 2010 and it's been keeping me busy. If you don't know about the Featured Fabric Quilt for each year, it is usually a fullsized quilt that we kit. It ships out in four sections to keep the cost down. Also so it's not so overwhelming and time consuming. You have 3 months on this one to get a large block, one border and corner star done. That seems a lot more manageable.
We don't ship the lst section until March but this is mainly done from the "Looking Back" Brannock/Patek fabric line so we need to take preorders in case we need to order more fabric. If you belonged to the club last year, you're automatically on the list for this year unless you cancel. If not, and you want to get on the list for this year, email Tara at info@janpatekquilts.com or call her at 816-632-7632. I'd hurry every chance I get, when Moda's out of fabric, they're out of fabric.
I haven't ever done a quilt I don't like but I really like this one. I can't wait to see it quilted and on my bed.

My heartfelt sympathy goes out to Laurie Simpson and Polly Minick on the loss of their brother. We pray that the Ultimate Healer be with them and the rest of his family at this time.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Happy 2010!

Happy 2010. Hope your New Year is full of family, friends, good food and of course -
quilts.

Today is the day I take down the tree and one thing always leads to another!
When the tree came down, I saw the curtain needed washing - and then so did the
window. And,
I just had to move the couch and chairs when sweeping up the needles. But I had an email asking me to give some ideas about quilting on and around applique on my blog so I decided to multi task. It always takes quite awhile for the pictures to upload and this blog needs to be full of pictures. So I'll upload and go sweep and upload and wash a window. Kind of a fun day! Then tonight I get to stop and sew.

Anyway - back to the quilting question. I do very little quilting myself - there just isn't time to do both applique and quilting. Since applique is my first love, that's mainly what I do. The little quilting I do is on small projects only and I use linen thread but I'll do another blog on that some day.


For the larger projects, I am very lucky to know a longarm quilter who does awesome custom quilting. Her name is Lori Kukuk and she is a gem. She has done all of my quilts for years now. To give you an idea of the different things she does with quilting my applique quilts I decided to use last year's Mystery Quilt - Cabin in the Pines.



I hope you can see the quilted heart in the door along with the quilted boards in the house and bricks in the chimney.

I think the pictures can give you some ideas about quilting in and around trees and


stars,

flowers, berries & leaves


beeskeps

and backgrounds.

I hope this helped and gave you some ideas. I thank Lori mentally every time I get a quilt from her. It is such a joy to sit and bind something she has quilted. As I bind I get to see all of her neat designs that have added so much to my quilt. Thanks again Lori. By the way, her email address is kukuk93@gmail.com if you want to get in touch with her.

On a totally different subject - while we were at Market last fall, Moda had all of the designers that were there interviewed and videotaped. It was really a lot of fun after we relaxed and decided we didn't care what we looked like on tape (I usually take pretty bad pictures).
They gave us a list of questions and we got to pick a few to answer. The tapes don't tell what the questions were but mine were: 1) oldest thing in the house 2) time you were in trouble 3) first thing you do in the morning 4) advice to quilters
If you get a chance, go to the Moda Home Page and watch the videos. They're really fun.