It's all Jeff's fault!

My little brother, Jeff, was texting me one night with quilt ideas. He is excessively smart, creative and slightly odd (which is a huge compliment in my family). As my "little" brother (he is ALMOST 40!... had to get that jab in), we have always been buddies. I am the third child. Jeff is the baby... and there is almost 5 years between us. Therefore, I had quite an impact on his early development. I probably dressed him in cute outfits against his will, made him have tea parties, and on and on. I consider him one of my best friends.

Back to the story, all this mushy, sentimental stuff will just embarrass him at this point in his life!

Anyways... he is my go-to guy for photography issues, math homework questions for my boys, and general pc fixing. Our discussion via text messaging started with a general follow-up to my son's homework question about inverse trigonometric functions and somehow ended up a brainstorming session about quilts. One of the resounding messages I took home from Quilt Market this year was the desire for more "guy" quilts. So, I mentioned this to Jeff. Next thing I knew it was an hour+ later and I had a whole bunch of hilariously awesome ideas drawn all over my graph paper! We had so many great geeky ideas that they should almost be put in a book... "Quilts for the Geeky Guy". Being a database analyst for the last 21 years might end up being a good thing for my quilt design career!

Before I tell you what Jeff is in hot water for, here is one of my most popular "guyish" quilts... River's Bend. Not only is it a beginner's pattern and a wonderful design to feature those long, vertical prints, but, it is also designed (in part) by my son Ryan! He was 16 at the time. I was trying to figure out how to use the kayak print and this is what he and I came up with. More him than I, but still a team effort.

Ryan doesn't like his friends to know he has an eye for graphical patterns and likes advising his mom on her quilts. I call him my very, very silent partner. One thing he does like is the cut in sales he gets. His first response was early retirement. Funny when you think about it since I haven't retired yet and he is only getting 5%... but he was 16!

Now, back to that pesky, little brother. He filled my head with so many funny quilt ideas that I couldn't sleep a wink! I woke up over and over again all night long. As a result, I have decided that he is the reason I got the crud and haven't written a newsletter in weeks. I honestly spent an entire weekend in bed... thank goodness for antibiotics and a doctor willing to give them to me! I'm all good now, but for a few days I wasn't sure I would ever get better. As a true older and wiser sister... it is all his fault and I'm telling mom!!

Off to "report" Jeff's latest naughty,
Joanne

River's Bend in a beautiful woodpecker print and a fun, beachy version.

And just when my husband thought his chicken nightmares were over... bahahahahahahaha!

Time for a little nonsense...

From the husband's point of view...
Mikey's Chicken Nightmare

Today I introduce you to my 5 newest, cutest, littlest and most adorable chickens! They are about 2 months old. I have spent the last week getting to know each of them and giving them names.

In order from left to right:
Michelle
Zoe
Sally
Mary Poopins
and last, but not least...
Bart (Bartricia is a egg appears)

They join the coop with Buffy, Gertrude, Dumbledora, Georgie and Lena.

Check out my blog post from 6/24 about my favorite notion from Spring Quilt MArket. 10 patterns designers are hopping from blog to blog. We are each talking about our favorite notion and giving away a fun prize! Check out the list of fun designers here!

I wrote about Clover Wonder Clips. You still have time to comment on the blog and win a set of clips! Drawing is on Friday, 6/27.

Today's blogger extraordinaires are Kate Colleran and Elizabeth Balderrama of Seams Like A Dream Quilt Designs. Their nifty tool is pretty darn awesome... makes a girl think she might need one!!