I Want to Introduce You To Our First Feature Friday Facebook Fan!

I am SO excited to share with you our very FIRST Feature Friday Facebook Fan!!

You see, when we started our online store over 4 months ago, I wanted to find a way to say thank you to our awesome Facebook Fans. Unfortunately, Facebook has all kinds of crazy rules about doing giveaways. You can’t “make” them post anything. You can’t “make” them upload anything. Blah blah blah

Yet, we had so many WONDERFUL friends on Facebook and I wanted to find SOME way to highlight our amazing friends. Some of them don’t have blogs, don’t tweet, and Facebook is the only way they communicate with us socially.

So each week we are going to grab up a fan from our Facebook Page, ask them some questions so we can get to know them a little better, and of course… I will send them a little present as a special thank you.

Who will be our next Feature Friday Facebook Fan???? You never know……


But for this week…..

I would like to introduce you to our very first Feature Friday Facebook Fan….

Mrs. Janet Yatska

Janet is an awesome beautiful lady that I can’t for all of you to meet! Whenever anyone has a question, she is always there to help. In our Quilting Book Club, you can always find her jumping right in to offer support. I think once you get to know her, you will see why she is so awesome.


Tell us a little bit about yourself? (Where are you from, a little bit about your family, and anything else you want to tell us)

Above all…I am truly blessed, God has been so good to me, and I am truly thankful!

I grew up in Jacksonville Arkansas, went to college but decided it would be better to go into the Navy so I could “see the world”  I retired from the Navy in 2003 in Bee Branch Arkansas on Greers Ferry Lake. My father built this house when I was young as “the lake house” and I bought I it from my parents when I retired and my husband and I have been adding on to it and renovating it.

I have 3 girls still at home identical twins Jordan and Justine are going to be seniors this year, Somer …my baby is going to be a Sophomore!  I have 2 grown and gone a Son Shane who is 23 and a step son Michael that is 28.  I have 1 grandson Caleb! he will be in first grade this year that I do not get to see often enough cause he lives in Texas.

Seems we are always taking in some extra’s  We have hosted 3 exchange daughters.. 2 from Switzerland and 1 from Thailand and over the years have hosted several other “daughters and son’s” that just needed a little help.

One of my children has Autism/Aspergers.  I homeschooled her from 5th through 8th grade and she is now back in a very small public school and off All meds associated with that.  She is doing fantastic!

We love animals and there is at least a half dozen running around here now, 3 cats, dog, indoor litter trained rabbit,  hamsters…and we’ve had plenty more assorted animals over the years, turtles, fish, horse.  My sister has cows and horses so we know all about them as well.

We have lived in Texas, Virginia and in Brawdy, Wales in the UK and now home to Arkansas.

We LOVE to travel and see new places and we are a very close knit family, we do as much as we can together.  I am SO Thankful for such wonderful children, they are really close to each other. My exchange children keep coming back!  So it’s like a reunion every few months!!

We are LOUD and messy but clean at the same time. We’re very musical especially my Husband he can play and teach anything and he does beautiful wood work (he can even sew) and we’re artsy, the girls paint and draw, name a craft and we have probably tried it! We love to cook together and my door “welcome” sign reads  “Welcome to Camp Run-A-Muck”  We’ve never met a stranger! Some of our sayings are “the more the Merrier”!!, “the door is Always open and the light is always on!!  I judge things by this saying “in 200 years…is it really going to matter?”  The girls are very involved in 4h and I was a 4H Leader as well as a Girl Scout leader, both I have given up now.

You’ll never go hungry or without a cup of coffee if you come to visit here.

My mother had a fall on Mother’s Day last year and broke her arm and hip and had multiple surgeries to replace and repair her hip arm and knee, so during that time I spent a lot of time on the road helping them staying with them and renovating their house. AND when this happened SHE was helping an elderly woman in the church 93 now, so I had to take that on also.   This year my sister has been ill and I have been going back and forth to her farm helping out.  SO It seems that I am ALWAYS on the go, My children are just great about this, and they understand the importance of helping your family when needed.  One of the girls has spent half the school year going to school and living with her on her farm. And I travel back and forth between.

We are also renovating a house in Harrison Ar so it seems like every time I come home my husband leaves again to go work on that house.  The door is constantly swinging.  LOL


When did you start sewing?

I started sewing when I was 12.  I was a very “overactive” child so my mom signed me up for sewing classes in the summer, hoping that it would calm me down and keep me busy.  I rode my bike back and forth from class.  (It didn’t work) but I did learn how to sew! LOL

When did you start quilting?

I did not start quilting until after I retired from the Navy in 2003. I just LOVE quilts and always wanted to make one. I have a passion for fabric and have collected it for years…Don’t we all. My first was a quilt my mother and I made together for my son. Then I saw some classes available in a town near here and went, the instructor was wonderful.

When you are about to make a quilt, do you prefer starting with a Jelly Roll, Layer Cake, Charm Packs, Fat Quarters, or Yardage?

My “stash” is… I know for sure over 5000 yards.. did I really just say that out loud?? I really wonder HOW far over the 5000 mark I am.. I admit it.. I am a fabric Hoarder..  LOL  but I do SHARE !!!  I always seem to pick other fabric than out of my stash for a new quilt, it’s whatever strikes my fancy at the time.

Do you mostly create from patterns/books or do you try to create your own designs and styles?

The first quilt was My mother and I’s design, but since that one I usually use patterns. She knows all the older patterns and tends to stay with those…cathedral window and bow tie are some favorites.


Which fabric manufacturer is your favorite? Moda, Free Spirit, Michael Miller, etc

I really like Moda and Thimbleberries but I can only get them online, there are not a lot of Fabric places around here so some of those you mentioned…I’ve never even “seen”…you know I mean “Felt”.. before.  My “stash” is a mixture from everywhere, including fabric from Thailand, Switzerland, antique stores, thrift shops, estate sales.  My exchange students brought me fabric from their countries.


What style of fabrics is your favorite? Traditional, Modern, etc

I lean towards Antique patterns, but I do not discriminate when it comes to Fabric.

When it comes to quilting, what challenges do you face?

The actual QUILTING. I am fond of hand quilting.  But the space and time are both issues.  I have tried to machine quilt.. did not go so good.  AND threading the needle of my machine… it has an automatic threader .. but I am ALSO Automatic needle threader Impaired.   Hehe  And I cannot SEE anymore to thread my needle!  Drives me crazy, I have 15 pairs of glasses and not one of them works like I want them to,  apparently according to the Ophthalmologist I am having some sight issues that glasses cannot fix.  I think I’d rather lose my hearing…So that is WHY I have kids…to thread the needle on my machine! LOL


What would you like to learn more about?

I Would LOVE to learn Long-arm and I just found a place I can rent machine time and take classes to do this. Of course those systems cost a zillion dollars so I doubt that I’ll ever get one but who knows…I just might.


What is your favorite part of quilting?

Picking MORE fabric!!!  And FINISHING one of course :) ( I’m not very good at getting past finishing the top.)

And I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE admiring all the quilts that other people make and share pictures of!

And I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE being a part of this on-line quilting group! I don’t have many neighbors and I live way out so the computer is really a great source for friends!

Is there anything else you want to tell us?

Now you see why the sign reads Camp- Run-A-Muck.

I am also a painter…not of pictures but of walls.. I repaint rooms with the seasons…no lie and if anyone is painting…I’ll come help! :)

Someday I intend to paint a picture. I am a TRUE Left hander….. everything I do seems to be backwards.. if it’s going to go wrong it will happen to me…..there is NEVER enough time in any day… and only to soon all my kids will be grow and gone and my world will stop spinning :)……so… I will quilt.