And the winner of the Mystery Quilt Is.....

Peony who said "Love the goldfish". Me too Peony. If you'll email Tara at info@janpatekquilts.com and give her your information, she'll mail you the blocks for the first two months and the border and sashing.

I loved reading the comments and wish you all could have won. We do have a few spaces left, I think. If you want one, check with Tara. I'm sure she can fix you up.

Right now I'm going to the loft to make some pillowcases to go with Zoie's Baskets.



We're setting up a bed with the quilt on it at Missouri Star Quilt Company in Hamilton and I think it needs pillowcases. I ordered a sham from Moda to put in the middle. I am soooooo ready for spring.

Miami Valley Album Quilt - Mystery Quilt 2010 and A Contest, A Contest

A few months ago I bought a quilt book that someone had recommended on Amazon. When I bought it, Amazon did one of it's "people who like that book also liked this one" things. I thought this book looked interesting so I bought it too. I can't remember the name of the original book but I absolutely LOVE this one. It is chock full of my kind of quilts and all the history I love to go with them. So when I was thinking about the Mystery Quilt this year I decided to do a quilt patterned after theirs. I added some blocks of my own, of course - like the fishbowl block from an antique quilt I saw at Festival. And, also of course, I didn't use strictly solid fabrics.

And I'm making mine an "Album" quilt also. Before I finish it, I'll embroider a name or names on each block.

This is Pep and Dueces - Pep is a cat person. I'll embroider the name of his first cat "Sylvester" and of course "Deuces" on the cat block.

And these guys are Dotso and Jeremiah. (The water is really clear - the wall behind them is gold.) There's a long story behind these goldfish. It all started when Jake asked if he could have one of the 12 cent goldfish they sell at Petsmart. I have found out a lot about goldfish since then. They don't live in a little bowl like in the block - each mature fish needs 10 gallons of water and can live up to around 25 years. For my birthday Pep got me a 37 gallon tank. I find them very restful. They are my quiet friends.

Anyway, anyway..... each block will have a family member's (human or otherwise) name or names on it. The names don't necessarily have to have anything to do with the block. They can if there's a link but otherwise just the name of someone you know and care for enough to remember. Of course there will be flower blocks, etc. I can't give away too much - it's a Mystery Quilt. I am enjoying this quilt very much so decided to share the fun.

Make a comment - anything at all between now and Feb. 24th. The morning of the 25th Tara will draw a name and we'll give that person the Mystery Quilt this year - a block at a time of course. If you already belong and we draw your name, we'll give you next years blocks free.

Have fun and good luck to all.

Flower Patch and the consequences of aging :)

In 1989 Snowbound was published by Red Wagon. Since then I've published I don't know how many books - by myself and in conjunction with other designers. As I've gotten older, I no longer have the energy to publish books of my quilts - so I'm pretty well just doing patterns. I leave the books to younger folks or organizations like the KC Star. (By the way, the 2nd block in our Star BOM came out in the paper today for those of you in the area. For those that aren't in the area or can't get the Star see my February block picture to the right to download or order the pattern from the Star.)



Anyway .... larger quilts don't show up well on patterns. Flower Patch is an awesome quilt - I really like it. Shannon used it as the wallpaper this month on the Home Page of the website, she liked it so much. And I really don't like the way it shows up on the pattern or even the individual blocks. The color is too dull on one and too bright on the other.



But then, color was always a problem in books too. At least you could see the detail though - even if the color was right. Aaah well........I'm doing a book for Quiltmania next year. I think I'll put Flower Patch in it and let them do the struggling. For right now you can order it as a kit and see the color for yourself. If you like flower quilts and my quilts, I promise you'll like it. :)

Across the Wide Missouri

This is "Across the Wide Missouri" the Kansas City Star BOM for 2010 designed by Edie McGinnis and myself. Edie and I each made the quilt out of different fabrics from the "Blessings" line Linda and I designed. This is my version of the quilt.

The patterns for one of the blocks will be in the KC Star on the 3rd Tuesday of each month as well as some information on a woman who lived during the frontier period. These histories are written by Edie and are really fascinating. So you get to make a great quilt and learn a lot about some of the women who settled this part of the country. Both quilts and some projects to go with them will be in a book that will come out this fall. Meantime you can make a block each month if you get the paper. If you're unable to get the Tuesday Star for that months block, you can go to the Pickledish website and order either the individual pattern for $7.00 or download a pdf for $3.00. Be sure to click on our "Across the Wide Missouri" and then go to the month you want.

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.

Now taking preorders

Homespun Stars - 104"x 104"

Now taking presorders.

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.

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.