A new family member and a new tutorial - Yay!

Meet Stumpy Sniff Findley II, Jakes new puppy.

Here he is meeting Hunny and Spike.

He is 5 weeks old and a little ball of fluff.  We have to watch Hunny though because she's still a puppy too.  She gets soooo excited and he does look a lot like one of her chew toys.

Not for long though.  He's a Pembroke Welsh Corgi and will grow up to look like his cousin, Jake's beloved Sniff (seen here with Bully).  We miss them both but Spike and Stumpy are doing a good job of holding up the honored name of Bulldog and Corgi.

This is a block from my Lilly's Hearts quilt.

We did a throw sized quilt and

a Mini (or Wallhanging) size.

And I used the simple heart shape in these patterns to do my tutorial on the Applique Stitch.  To watch it click here.

And if you enjoy it, please subscribe to my channel.

Happy Almost 4th - and my fabric scans came in.  Yay!  To work - to play!

My - oh - my! What a week!

Kelly had a 2nd job this summer - working for a temporary greenhouse that set up in Cameron in the early part of the summer.  She worked hard and she loved it.  

Then - when the major part of the early growing season was over, they broke down until next year.  And the employees could take home any plants that hadn't sold.

Apparently, you don't only get attached to animals in this family.  I told her that we'd make room for as many plants as we could.  These pictures are just the tip of the iceberg.

It took us 2 days to get beds ready and everything planted.  Hunny did a very good job of overseeing.

And, of course, since we were already on overload, this year's baby chickens came.  The brooder house had to be cleaned and stocked.  Hunny did not get to help with this.

And in the midst of planting in the garden and taking care of baby chickens, I had blocks to get ready for the tutorials we've been filming on the Basics of Needleturn Applique.  There will be a little tutorial on each of the aspects.  I use a specific pattern or quilt to illustrate but the techniques apply to any pattern.  So far we've done Freezer Paper Applique, the Basic Applique Stitch and this one on Outside Points.  I kind of wonder what I was saying here.

Jake and Misty Doan are doing the filming and editing and they are absolute jewels to work with.  I must say that having to stay that focused, making sure I've included everything, yada, yada - is totally stressful - good stress to be sure, but stress.  I woke up at 4:00 am the morning we were doing the Freezer Paper one and realized I hadn't included reverse patterns.  A mad scramble ensued but I had things ready by the time they got here :)

Jake said that the first one in this series should be done in a week or so.  I'll be sure and blog about it and post on Facebook when it's ready.  I do really enjoy doing them and hope you all find them helpful.  Shops, do feel free to use them to help teach if you want to.  

We had a light rain this morning - the garden loved it.  

Pep and Jake got the netting over the baby chicken yard this morning so we can let the babies out of their house when they're ready.  (I saw the hawk circling on my walk 2 nights ago.)

Things are settling down into my routine again.
Pep's off tonight so he's puttering in the kitchen cooking dinner.

So I'm taking Hunny and we're going for our walk - Spike's leg is healing but he's not ready for that yet.

Then puppies get their treats and I get to sit and stitch.
Life is good.

Snow Day & Zoie's 13th

This is Snow Day, the other Crossroads BOM.  The first time I used 3 kids on a toboggan they were Kelly, Max and Brian.  That was a year or two ago in one of my first quilts Snowbound.  This time the kids in the toboggan are Aiden, Quinn & Cullen, Max's 3 sons.  The children in the bottom block are Brooke (with the lellow hat because lellow is her favorite color, she's 2) and Gabriel and Lilly.  They're 3 of Brian's 4 kids.

Children playing in the snow are a recurring theme in my quilts because they are so very awesome.  

Jake, Brian Jr & Zoie are teenagers and much harder to depict but they're pretty awesome too.

The quilt size is 70" x 68".  We have also gotten emails and phone calls asking us to kit it as well as Eagles & Roses.  So we're taking preorders for this kit now also.  I need the preorders to know how much fabric to order and again I have very little time before orders for Crossroads close  So if you want a kit from me, you need to order it now.  It will ship in late August or early September and will cost $215.00.  You need to email Tori at janpatekquilts@yahoo.com (Be sure to ask for a return email to make sure we got it) or call 816-632-7632.  We do take layaway orders.  I'm pretty sure there will be a tutorial on it, God willing and the creek don't rise.  

And speaking of Zoie - she had her 13th birthday on June 3.

Zoie loves pie.

She has always wanted a "pie in the face" birthday party.  So this year her mother bought all the ingredients, graham cracker shells, pudding packs and whipped cream.  And Zoie, Ashley and Cheyenne came to the farm.

This really was her idea and something she always wanted.  

To each her own. :)

She really did seem to enjoy it.

And I know Hunny and Spike did.

At least there wasn't just the pies.  Pep grilled chicken and made slaw and a yummy birthday pie for all of us.

I must say, the quilts I was stitching on stayed inside.

Eagles & Roses

This is Eagles and Roses. 

It is made out of Crossroads, my new fabric line.  Have I mentioned more than a lot of times that Eagles have a special place in my life and my heart.  

And when I got the strike offs for Crossroads all of the greens and reds just yelled to be made into this quilt.  

The quilt size is 98" x 98".  We have gotten emails and phone calls already asking us to kit it.  We're taking preorders for the kit now.  I need the preorders to know how much fabric to order and I don't have much time before orders for Crossroads close  So if you want a kit, you need to order it now.  It will ship in late August or early September and will cost $275.00.  You need to email Tori at janpatekquilts@yahoo.com (Be sure to ask for a return email to make sure we got it) or call 816-632-7632.  We do take layaway orders.  I'm pretty sure there will be a tutorial on it, God willing and the creek don't rise.  

And I know the roses in my garden are yellow.  I prefer yellow or peach/pink in the garden and red in my quilts.

Oh, and please suscribe to my YouTube channel.  You can do that by clicking here.

Happy quilting ladies.