Saturday, October 23, 2010

Crazy at home book signing

Today at the Country Loft we had a book signing for Crazy at Home......I thought you would like to see how everything looked set up in the backyard of the shop....

It was threatening rain all morning and we weren't sure it would work outside....but we were under an awning and that kept the light rain off of us....


We had all 15 projects displayed. It was such fun, because no one had seen all of them....


Next week they are all off to Houston. My sister Kathy and our owner Sharon will be taking them and I may come in for a day .....I am off to Portland tomorrow to be with our daughter Megan...


This is my mom, Gert....she was my special guest all day and made cookies for all the people who came to the signing....I think maybe they come for the cookies....:))))

Thanks everyone for all your thoughts and prayers....All my best, Jo Ann



Monday, October 18, 2010

CRAZY AT HOME

I want to thank everyone for the nice notes I have been receiving. All your thoughts and prayers are most welcome. Megan hopes to find out what the procedures will be sometime in the next few days. It will be good to be starting the fight against this unwelcome guest in her body. She has a great attitude and a lot of people who are there for her, and that goes a long way!

Gene and I went up to Portland on October 8th and we found an apartment for me to rent. I will be up there as long as I am needed to help out with the kids and whatever. I am so glad that I will be near her....a thousand miles is too far away to hug her!

I've been busy getting all of my classes in order and kits made up for them....It is great to stay busy.....and I've also gotten everything ready for Quilt Market in Houston. My sister Kathy and my boss and friend, Sharon will be running my booth there. I pick up CRAZY AT HOME tomorrow and we will be having a book signing at The Loft on Saturday from 10 to 1....(you can preorder books online at www.cloft.com )

I am headed off to my studio to cut out some projects to take with me. I know there will be a lot of down time and of course I will need some stitching and wool to keep me occupied.

Take care everybody and if you have a chance check out the website my son just made for me....it is www.jampatterns.com You can't order from it, but you can dream and then contact The Country Loft if you want something.

All my best...Jo Ann


Some of the projects in Crazy at Home....:)))

Sunday, October 3, 2010

A bit more fall

Hey everyone....A few weeks ago I showed some of my fall decorations and I decided to show you some more.....This runner if from a pattern by Cheri Payne, made by my friend Donna....and the mat is one from a pattern by Cheryl Wall for her company, Country Quilts....

I love carved folk art....Here are some of the pieces I have collected over the years...

This jack-o-lantern bag is one we made in my monthly Brown Bag classes...(you come to class once a month and have no idea what you will make...all you know if that it will be in a brown bag)


......and a crate full of pumpkins....my sister Kathy made the mat...



....and she also made the bird from Renee Plains book .... This little display is on my kitchen counter.....I actually did leave enough room to still use it when forced to cook....:)


I hope you enjoyed the little Fall tour....in Southern California the fall colors in our homes are much more abundant than the ones outside....:)

This last few weeks have been hard ones for our family. Our daughter Megan found 5 years ago that she had eye cancer. After lots of treatment and losing her eye, it looked like she was out of the woods.....but now the cancer has returned. They are doing tests and she will be starting to fight it soon (we are not sure what that will entail) . She lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and a 5 year old son and 3 year old daughter.....I will be going up there to help out and staying as long as they need me....So, you may not be hearing from me very often......I ask that all of you keep her in your prayers. Take care.....Jo Ann