Crazy Stars

I am definitely blog challenged. Lately every time I upload a picture when I'm doing a new post, instead of the jpg I get funny talk. It mostly turns out OK when I tell it to publish but I do get some of the funny talk posted.
OK a new contest. Years and years ago - back when the dinosaurs roamed - I made Snowbound. While I was making it I needed a rectangular shape to get things to fit. Surprise, surprise - a star came to mind. And of course, with me doing it, it couldn't be straight and neat and tidy, it had to be lopsided. As far as I know, that was the origin of the crazy star. Years later, it was really funny to open a magazine and read articles on how to draft a "crazy star". Anyway, the contest is this. What year was Snowbound published and what company published it. If you have an old book you're in luck. I assume I'll have multiple right answers - a lot of us save those old books - and Zoie is in Atlanta, GA for the summer with her dad. So I'll have Tara.org draw from the right answers to see who wins the Blessings Jelly Roll. Deadline for guesses is Wednesday, 15th. Good luck all of you collectors.

1st & 2nd

Reproduction of block from 1st quilt - made for Kelly out of muslin. seafoam green and pink floral fabrics. Had sashing and outer border of the pink foral with a muslin stop border. The original quilt is now in quilt heaven having been well loved and well used.

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Somewhere in here I found a "Quilter's Newsletter" that featured Micheal James and I started making "art quilts". I even went so far as to get a quilt into Quilt National and was firmly headed in that direction. Then we adopted Brian, Kelly wanted a Christmas Quilt and I started designing quilts for books and patterns. Here then is my 2nd "quilt" quilt. Quite different from my first one, don't you think. See what happens when you let me loose with fabric and color? Linda and my line that will show at Fall Market is going to be "Looking Back". If the colors that are picked are anywhere near right I want to kit Snowbound. It's such a fun quilt. The 3 kids on the taboggan are Brian, Kelly and Max. Pep and I of course are by our house and My sister Nancy and Mark and Matthew are in town. To see one of my latest quilts, go down one post for Zoie's Baskets or look at the blocks on the right.
And if you haven't already gone to Sandy blog http://piecesfrommyheart-sgervais.blogspot.com/, go to it for a walk down memory lane if you have any age on you at all.

Happy 5th of July

Hope you had an awesome 4th of July. 7 of 8 grandchildren and all but one child were here. Good food, good family - luckily we celebrated on the 3rd because the weather was OK until
after we finished with the fireworks and cake and ice cream - then it really stormed but we were all safe and sound inside in bed.
The 2 weeks before however, were a very different story. If you follow the Minick/Simpson blog you've seen Laurie's house with all of the photographers, etc for the photoshoot for American Patchwork & Quilting. Well - I had that many people in and out of my house and my bedroom for over a week trying to fix my DSL connection so I could work. And so Tara could work. My computer is in the corner of my bedroom. I work here - then email things to Tara up in the office. We couldn't charge, we couldn't ship. I couldn't work at the computer because there were people on it trying to fix things. It was not fun! Hours and hours on the phone - my IT lady - my son - days later - still no wireless connection. We couldn't really do much of anything - yada, yada, yada. After a week they finally sent a technician out and it took him over 8 hours to get it done. Still don't know why it happened. If you want to know what I do when I'm stressed out - I have a pretty clean house and office.
And the binding is on Zoie's Baskets. It's ready to go to Knoxville for the booth at the AQS Expo. Come see us there.

And we have a winner - the year was 1973

What a fun, fun contest. And I do so agree with Laurie that Bruce is a great sport. All of the comments were such fun to read.

But wait - the winner first .......

And the winner is ....... Leah S (who guessed the year right after commenting - "this isn't fair - I wasn't even born until 82!) Email us Leah at info@janpatekquilts.com and give us your address. Also let us know whether you want a Layer Cake or Jelly Roll.

We had quite a few right answers of 1973 so I wrote each name on a piece of paper, folded it and put it in a bowl. Pep held the bowl up high and Zoie closed her eyes. Maybe not Random.org but pretty good Zoie.org.

Well, it's Father's Day so I'd better get off of the computer and spend some time with the Father of my Children. Have a good one ladies.

And thank you Bruce and Sandy for a really fun contest.

Sunny Days - Girl Gang 09/10 and A Contest - Finally a Contest

I didn't like the size of the Girl Gang Quilt in the last post. Drawings don't show up as well as pictures. And I couldn't figure out how to change the size in the last post (I'm still pretty well blog challenged) so I decided to post it again because I really like this quilt. You ought to see it in color - hopefully you will this fall at your local quilt shop.

And...

and...

and..

I finally thought of a contest.

Sandy Gervais has a picture of husband Bruce in her first post on her blog, comments on his shirt and says "Guess when we were married". Go to her blog http://piecesfrommyheart-sgervais.blogspot.com/

and guess in my comments section. (No fair emailing Sandy and asking her like I did.) We'll take guesses in the comments until next Sunday afternoon June 21st. I don't know how to work random org but if we have more than one correct answer, we'll write the names on pieces of paper and have Zoie.org draw one to win a Harmony Jelly Roll or Layer Cake.

Byron and the Jungle Gym

This is my father-in-law, Byron Henry Patek, who rose to the rank of Lt. Commander in the Navy. He was career Navy until he retired and served during WWII and after. After he retired he eventually moved back to Chillicothe, Mo. to join his brother at the family brick plant. I'm working right now with Edie McGinnis who is editing my book Flags of the American Revolution that will be coming out this summer or early fall. Both Byron and my father, Major Glover Wilson Laird (career Army - medical corps - he was a veterinarian) were responsible for both Pep and my strong love of country, flags and Americana.
Besides working on the book, what has brought Byron strongly to mind recently is the jungle gym. When our kids were little they used to climb all over me and I would say "I'm not a jungle gym" - hence the idea of really getting one. We have the space. Well, we looked at the jungle gyms available and Byron didn't like any of them. He didn't think they were durable enough for our kids. So he went back to the Brick Plant and got out his catalogs and designed a jungle gym out of pipe and pipe fittings. One weekend he drove down our gravel road and up the driveway with the jungle gym in the back of the pickup. It didn't fit inside, of course but sat on top and over the sides of the bed. He barely cleared the sides of the road in some places and under some trees - but he made it. It made my eyes leak this afternoon as I watched 4 of his great grandchildren climb it like the little monkeys they are. Aidan Patek is in the teal t-shirt, Byron Quinn Patek in the wonderpets outfit, Cullen Patek in the spiderman outfit (they're Max's - Byron Henry Maxwell Patek) and Zoie Findley (Kelly's daughter).
Behind the jungle gym is the entrance to the office where Tara works and the stairs to the loft where I work.

And speaking of working, people have been asking about this year's Girl Gang. Since some shops do their own versions of it, I decided to show it in tan they way I do the Mystery Quilt on the website. This is a really folksy Girl Gang - a Sampler, BOM type quilt that I so enjoy doing covering a lot of my favorite things. It's called "Sunny Days" but I almost called it "Back to Basics". The recession we're all struggling with has brought to mind what is really important in our lives and I tried to capture that in this quilt. I wanted to remind all of us that these days are sunny too if we focus on what we have - home, family & friends, gardening and pets and quilting .
And speaking of friends and quilting - you need to go check out Sandy Gervais new blog. You can hook up with her at http://piecesfrommyheart-sgervais.blogspot.com. Sandy and I and Bruce and Pep have done many a Market together. Besides being a really good designer, she's a great lady.

Well, you may not hear from me for awhile - I have to get the 1st Section of Girl Gang done, proof the book, and write instructions for patterns.

Oh and I have to start getting ready for Knoxville in July. Hope to see you there.

I'm sure I'll blog before then.

So much new - so little time

Some day before Market, some kind soul dumped a very pregnant cat at our doorstep. She soon had kittens and when they were around 2 weeks old, she disappeared. Here is Zoie feeding one of the kittens with a syringe full of kitten milk replacer. (We found that easier than using a kitten bottle. The kittens couldn't suck on it, it was too hard.) Zoie just slowly filled the little tummies - you could see them expand - and then the kittens fell asleep. We found homes for 2 and 3 now terrorize us. You haven't lived until a kitten jumps for your leg and your slacks or pjs are thin. Pep was adopted by Deuces, Kelly was adopted by Dave and Jake was adopted by Waffle.
And spring is always the time for new growth - new baby chickens
and raised beds full of peppers, tomatoes, flowers ........new life.

I may actually get to quilt again sometime. I did get the 4th of July Mini Quilt done and I found time somehow to read my favorite blogs.

I laughed and laughed at Laurie Simpson's floor blog - even more so because I can really see it happening to me soon - we're getting ready to do Max's old room. Thanks Laurie.