Home Again, home again

Dueces and Bully were ever so glad to see us when we got home. Pep unloaded a few necessities from the van (it was a little after midnight) and then sat in his favorite chair. As soon as he made a lap there was a cat in it (that's what laps are for, isn't it?)

Right now, I'm uploading pics to my blog and doing my usual multitasking. Yesterday was sunny but it's supposed to rain tonight. Pep got the peppers and chard planted and I've been unpacking and doing laundry. On the entryway railing are the dry clothes to be ironed and a basket of wet clothes destined for the clothesline. In between folding and hanging clothes I upload a picture or two and I took a lot of them.

Here are Pep and Bruce Gervais (and Pep's newfound friend) the first day. They're taking a well deserved rest after the hard work of set up.

One view of my booth. For those that don't know, most of the Moda designers have booths that ring the central Moda booths. So I'll try to take you around the circle from my booth.

Camille - one half of Bonnie and Camille. Across from their booth is

the section of Moda's booth with my Morning Song quilt. Moda's Lissa Alexander is smiling as usual.

Stan & Sandy Klop - American Jane.

Laurie Simpson and Polly Minick. And you all have a great treat coming in the awesome quilt Laurie is making (not seen here) and the great rug Polly is making that will be the basis of a KC Star book. The quilt is applique and both the quilt and the rug are "to die for". I've already told them they need to kit at least the quilt if not both and that I WANT one. It's not my project so I won't say more but keep watching their blog for word of it. It probably will be awhile but well worth waiting for.

Edytka of Laundry Basket with her usual awesome booth full of quilts.

Lynne and Robert of Kansas Troubles Quilt - longtime friends and consumate quilter.

Kathy Schmitz - love her Crackle basics as well as her latest line -

Sandy Gervais and her Lollipop line. The airconditioning was really going the first day and we were all freezing.

And full circle to my booth. I do apologize to the designers that weren't in their booth when I made the route with my camera - Joanna of Figtree, Sweetwater Bay ( you were there but my picture turned out lousy and I try not to post bad pictures of people), my great and longtime friend Deb Strain and finally Me and My Sister.

And here we all are for our group photo - they're going to do something on the Moda website similar to the Brady Bunch - that's why we're all looking different directions. I can't wait to see it.

To keep from going stir crazy

I take a break from doing brochures and binding quilts by periodically going outside. It keeps me from going stir crazy - I think :). The last quilt shipped to Lori on Wednesday. The first one came back to be bound Tuesday.

If April showers bring May flowers, we certainly deserve these.

And while we always order babies from a hatchery, once in awhile one of our hens has her own ideas. She has decided that our male duck is a menace. Poor guy - she chases him all over the place.

Luckily, sewing on the binding by hand is one of my favorite parts of quilting. I get to sit in my chair and listen to music and be cozy under a quilt. Good thing I like it. See you after Market.

The fabric's in!

But before we go to the loft and start playing - we get to go through the garden on the way!

With all the April showers we've had - we'd better get lots and lots of May flowers!

And really, we've already been playing. The flat folds came straight from Korea so they had to be unfolded (they're 44" wide - not 22) and redone to stack on the table. They're just easier to work with that way. So yesterday afternoon was spent folding fabric and stacking it on my table. Here's a glimpse of one side.

Now the real work begins. We're trying for 6 quilts before Market. Well - 2 quilts and some wallhangings.

Meanwhile, just in case we weren't busy enough, Tara and Kelly decided to have a Spring Fling Sale. Here's the email Kelly sent out if you're interested. And if you want to be notified of our specials you can go to www.janpatekquilts.com/ and sign up for the emails if you haven't already..

Well - off to the loft to play with fabric!

5 Fabulous Days at Jan Patek Quilts!

StartingMidnight! Greetings! We have a very exciting event to share with you! Starting at midnight tonight we'll be offering a daily email special! For the next 5 days (skipping the weekend) we'll send an email at midnight announcing that day's Fabulous Sale! There will be 1/2 price sales! Buy one get one free sales! Sales with free shipping! Sales too Fabulous to miss! Each special is for one day only and starts at midnight cst. Quantities will be limited (first come, first served!) so you'll want to order quickly. Ladies, this is gonna be fun! 5 Fabulous days at Jan Patek Quilts!

While we wait for fabric

The fabrics not here yet but the babies came Wednesday - and were made all cozy and snug in their brooder house.

And to take breaks from sitting at the computer working on patterns and directions for the sewers, I get up and walk through the garden a couple of times each morning and afternoon

This is such a beautiful time of year around here! The divinity of God shines through the diversity of creation.

Amen!

And there will be apples this fall!!!

Dried apple strings for the mantle at Christmas and before that

apple pies, apple cobbler, apple tarts and Pep's hard apple cider that tastes like champagne. Yum!

I need to get out my Apple Tree Lane quilt.

It's been awhile .....

I've been a pretty bad blogger lately. I pulled a muscle in the back of my right leg shoveling snow about six weeks ago. It got inflamed and either sitting at the computer or driving makes it worse as does a lot of walking. Even now this is going to be short. The small amount of time I spend at the computer is spent working. But today it feels good enough to do a little. It's so beautiful outside I just need to show you some pictures of the garden.

This of course, is not the garden. This is our Easter Lamb Cake. Both Pep and I spent part of our childhood back East and remember Lamb Cakes each Easter. This year we got a mold and started the tradition for our grandchildren.

This obviously is the garden. Tulips & hyacinths.

Golden Poppies.

Bleeding hearts

And just one of our many forsythia.

There's lots more going on - it's great just to walk out to feed the birds and see what's new each day. Life is pretty good - now if my body would just cooperate more :)

Hope you all had a great Easter and have a good spring.

Fabric due at the end of the month!!! Yay!

At long last - no snow!

At least the snow is gone in this part of Missouri. Thanks God. We were rather tired of it. It is a lot grey and gloomy - and rainy. I think someone mixed the months up. It's supposed to be windy this month - to dry up all the moisture from the snow - and THEN we have April showers.

Anyway - spring is on its way and I made my Peter Cottontail Miniquilt to celebrate It's not on the website yet but if you want one you can email Tara at info@janpatekquilts and order one. Or better yet, join the Mini Club and save some money. Which brings me to a problem it seems we were having. Apparently somehow the page for Linda's Club (which we no longer have) and the Mini Quilt Club got mixed on the website. Tara started getting quite a few people joining Linda's Club. She very nicely emailed or called them and told them that we no longer had that club. One lady had a friend who had just gotten her latest Mini quilt and called to question. So Tara figured out what was going on and got in touch with Shannon (our weblady). We're pretty sure it's fixed now but if you tried to join the Miniquilt Club and were told that it was defunct, get in touch with Tara at the email address above or 816-632-7632 and she'll fix it for you. Sorry about that.

This is my new fence behind the birdfeeders made out of skids. I really like it. Not too many birds around with Dueces in the area. I want the leaning dead tree cut up for firewood. I don't think it adds much to the ambiance but Pep says that Dueces uses it to cross over to the big tree on the right. I think the exercise would do Pep's little mountain lion good. He is quite a climber.

The dogs on their morning constitutional when I fill the feeders - Wooly Bully, Sniff (Jake's dog) and Sumo (Zoie's dog)

The other day, I was hurrying around as usual, getting all the chores done and everything taken care of. Cullen was here and wanted to gather eggs. Usually I do that at night. I started to say "no". Then I thought of all the times I had gathered eggs at my Grandma & Grandpa Laird's house. They had a big garden each summer and birdbaths and a grape arbor and a chicken house.

So we stopped everything and let Cullen build memories.