It's not all about beer and brats

In honor of all of the valiant men and women 

                    who have served and serve their country so well......

                                 Happy Memorial Day!

Did you get a little rain?

We didn't get a little - we got a lot.  And from what I hear up north was quite a bit worse.

Makes me very glad we live at the top of a hill that's on the top of a series of hills.

Which brought to mind "Gabriel's Ark".  So I put it on special for a couple of weeks.  The regular price is $125.00.  From now until after Market it's only $106.00.

Linda and my new line is "Fellowship" and we really like it.  "Our new collection was inspired by the anticipation of another season celebrating life's simple pleasures with family and friends.  It is this Fellowship that deepens and enriches our lives."  

Here's a sneak peek at some of the fabrics that will be showing at Market next week.

They'll be shipping to your local store this September, I think.

We solved a little mystery this week.  We have been having trouble with our Quickbooks program.    Byron would put people into one of the clubs but then their name would disappear and they wouldn't get their blocks.  Or we would take them out at their request but the next time we shipped they were back in.  Everyone was getting very frustrated.

Yesterday I was in the office instead of the studio and started helping with the invoices for the latest block of the Coxcombs and Pomegranates quilt.  All of a sudden it dawned on me that Tori didn't realize that when Max (Byron) sent up the Flash Drive and we downloaded it into the office computer it was overriding anything she had done.  Tori has worked mainly in kitting and shipping for a couple of years but for quite some time has been taking over a lot of the computer work.    Those of you that got things you didn't want or didn't get things you did want, it should be sorted out shortly - I hope.  

AND, AND, AND - we started shipping the BOM'S "DELIVERY CONFIRMATION" today.

Everyone cross their fingers that this method gets them delivered in a timely manner just like the old days.  They said it should at the Post Office.

(And for the kind person who suggested "Click and Ship" - we did check into it and it is for Priority and Express Mail only, not First Class)

It's supposed to rain again Saturday - hope you don't need the Ark - just the Ark Quilt.  

Back to getting ready for Market.  Unlike Laurie and Polly we will have our own booth and are in the usual before Market scramble.

AND WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL ME HOW TO GET TO THE DASHBOARD ON THE NEW SETUP SO I CAN GET TO MY READER.  I HATE IT WHEN THEY CHANGE THINGS   - JUST TO CHANGE THINGS.  DO I SOUND UPSET?  :)  I AM!  LOUSY TECHNOGEEKS.  I wanted to give you a link to Laurie's post about not having a booth and being ready in plenty of time and I CAN'T GET TO IT.

Of Cabbages & Kings

So, let's talk of many things ...... probably not cabbages & kings though.

First - that bogus email saying we had been mugged in Madrid.  I would never ask you all for money.  I have a husband, 3 kids, a sister and brother and American Express if I ever get stranded in a situation like that.  But I was in Madrid last year.  At least I was at the Madrid airport on my way to and from Nantes, France.  It is awesome!  I showed a picture last year but in case you missed it, here it is again.

But the email did bring up email issues.  You all know that we have been having trouble with the regular mail for about a year now.  Well now we're having trouble with our email.  Some - just some - are not getting through.  Lori, my quilter, called Monday with a question about a quilt.  She said that she had sent me an email Saturday.  I never got it.  That was to my personal email account.  We have also been having trouble with purchase orders not getting here.  Mr. Biddle at Moda and I have had to set up a doublecheck system because some of the purchase orders don't get here.  He's showed me a screenshot of his computer saying they were sent - and they never got here.  Recently I realized we hadn't gotten the Market Exhibitors package from Quilts, Inc.  Rose said she had sent it and I believe her and we never got it.  She did resend it and I met all of the deadlines, whew!.

What this means to you is that some of YOUR emails aren't getting through either.  And this is with 2 different servers - my personal email server and Yahoo!   So how can it be the server.  My son says we live in a communication black hole up here.   We've had people say they sent emails 2 or 3 times and we didn't respond.  Tori and I check the email at least twice every day.  If you do not hear from us within 2 business days of sending the email, try again or call.

And that brings up another issue - the phone.  If you call and the phone rings and rings and rings and no one answers it doesn't mean that we're not here when we say we'll be, it means we're on the phone.  Why in God's name Centurytel decided to do away with the busy signal is beyond me.  

Back to the regular mail issues.  We're going to try something new.  We have had a schedule for around ten years that has always worked well but not any more.  So we need to change it.  We have always shipped our BOM's the 2nd and 3rd weeks in the month.  That worked fine when it only took 2-3 days to get a block.  Now, the mean time for delivery of a First Class package seems to be about 3 weeks.  At least from here.   

                                   Cockscombs & Pomegranates - Block #3 - May


So - We'll be shipping out our BOM blocks the first half of the month.  Then maybe you'll at least get them the same month.  Imagine - the May block in May!.   Cross your fingers.
And we're sending them First Class-Delivery Confirmation which means they will be tracked.  Quite a few people had asked for Priority Mail and said that they would be glad to pay it.  Priority is tracked but not everyone wants the extra expense and we would have to be at the post office to get the tracking number.  Tori will have to take everything and spend about an hour getting all of the tracking numbers for the Delivery Confirmation too but it's about a $1.00 cheaper.  It will cost about $2.50 more to send it this way.  We'll split the cost - the blocks will only be $23.75.  We'll try this and see if it works.  The Postmaster at Kidder said it should make things go faster.

And we have someone new cutting the kits - she's just breaking in.  Hopefully everything this month should be there.  Really, she's just new at cutting.  She's been helping with the sewing for a couple of years now and is very OCD about seams and making things meet so we didn't check the kits.  Our bad.  It should be corrected by now.

Back to the Cabbages & Kings.  This is one of the baby starlings we found on the cold concrete by the office door about a week ago.  We brought them in to keep them warm and to keep them from being eaten by one of the cats.  Then Zoie found a recipe for baby bird food on the internet.........

we mixed it up in Pep's new Vitamix and made baby bird pablum..........

This is Polly with Zoie.  They still need their pablum but are fully feathered.  It seems we have 2 new pets.

So - the quilt on special this week just has to be Cockscomb and Bird.  Regularly $64.95 - this week - until May 10th - only $54.35

WELL, FOR PETE'S SAKE - DON'T HELP

If you get an email that says this

Hi,   Just writing to let you know our trip to Spain Madrid   has been a mess. I was having a great time until last night when we got mugged and lost all my cash, credit card and cell phone It has been a scary experience, I was hit at the back of my neck with a club. Anyway.I'm still alive and that's whats important. I'm financially strapped right now and need your help. I need you to loan me some $$, I'll refund it to you as soon as i arrive home.Please let me know what you can do  Sincerely,  Byron Patek Jan Patek Quilts  Ignore it please.  We're not in Madrid - didn't get mugged. Someone hacked into our Yahoo account apparently and got all of our addresses.  Thanks to all of you who alerted us. Just one more crazy thing.