April 2014-Fajitas, Fruit Dip & Magic Cookies

Wow, what a fun and informative meeting today. We turned in a record number of donation squares. Sherry took them all to make a quilt top. If you brought 8 or more donations, Diane brought a basket full of fabric for you to choose from. 

Then Corrie passed out cut white fabric for all those who are participating in the Polaroid quilt exchange which will take place next month. Each person will bring their Polaroid picture square bordered by white fabric.

From there we had a wonderful show and tell. After that, we went around the room and shared handy tips.

Lunch was scrumptious thanks to Tracey!

So take a look below at what happened this month. If you weren't there, we missed you!

 Nancy said this was the fastest quilt she's ever made. She used a wool batting in it along with a woolie flannel on the back to make it even softer.

Diane made this cute pillow for her granddaughter.

 This is a cheater quilt top that Diane put together 18 years ago. Just recently she had her friend, Michiko, hand quilt it. Michiko is very talented with hand work and enjoys having projects like these to work on.

Close up

 This is Diane's friendship block quilt that we all contributed to several years back.

 This pincushion is a gift to Nancy from her friend Bonnie.

 Jeri made this embroidery/patchwork quilt

 Maurene brought back the quilt she made using our donation squares. Maurene is going to give it to Mary who is 95 and just found out she has breast cancer.

 Notice the cute decorative edging she used along the binding.

 Maurene made this alphabet quilt while she was in St. George for the winter. It's for her granddaughter.

 Maurene used the quilt smart method to make this Texas LoneStar quilt. It's a sew and flip method and Jeanie made one just like it. They both said it was easy to make.

 Maurene's flower quilt.

 Rachel made this doll. She and Susan made dolls together using the book below.

 Rachel's tablerunner

 Another tablerunner made by Rachel

 And one more by Rachel.

 This is a t-shirt quilt Rachel is making for a woman who has hired her. Rachel needed some of our input as to how to quilt it and what color thread, etc.

 Rachel calls this her funeral quilt. She wants it displayed on top of her casket at her funeral instead of having her family purchase expensive flowers. It's one of three she's planning on having at her funeral. It's made entirely from wool that Rachel has dyed herself.

 Close up

 Susan's dolls.

 Susan made these chickens with her dyed wool and attached them to candlesticks. She made them for a friend who raises chickens in Kentucky.

 Susan's wool wallhanging. It is now finished and she will hang it above her fireplace.

 Jeanie made this quilt from a kit she purchased in Rupert. It's a French General using Moda fabric. Carolanna quilted it.

TIPS

1. Sherry always has an extra rotary blade on hand. She learned that lesson the hard way.

2. Jeanie cuts out a project then lays it out and uses sticky dots with numbers on them to keep each square in the right order.

She also told us about the big Eagle Library book sale coming up the first weekend in May. 9-5 on Friday and 9-4 on Saturday.

3. Kathi told us how to keep the sewing machine foot pedal from sliding all around. If it's on carpet, use a piece of stick on velcro under the pedal. If it's on wood, use a piece of shelf lining under the pedal or even a silicone hot pad. Kathi also showed us a different way to finish the edges of a fleece quilt. It's called looped braided finish. Here's a tutorial showing not only the looped braided finish but several other ideas for finishing fleece blankets.

Kathi also told us about a cool tool that is used to make little holes in material along the edges so that you can add a crochet border. It is a blade that attaches to a regular 45mm rotary blade and it's called a Skip Stitch. Also here's a tutorial for using the skip stitcher to finish blankets using a crochet stitch.

4. Nancy showed us a new ruler for making folded corners (below)

 5.Nancy also showed us her rotating mat board which is a big help when cutting patches and not having to turn the fabric, just the board.
6. Diane shared a tip about using leftover triangle pieces after cutting them off corners and using them to make another quilt. She found her info on the website Quilting in the Rain.
7.Jeri's son has found a passion for woodworking and made this thread holder for her.

8. Maurene told us how to stabilize bias edges on triangles by sewing a line just in front of the cutting line which will prevent the bias from stretching.

 9. Above is a copy of the pattern Jeri shared with us for making 16 half-square triangles. Place two pieces of fabric right sides together and put this paper on top of them. Sew along the dotted lines, then cut on the solid lines. You end up with 16 half-square triangles.
10. Lynette told us that placing bananas in plastic bags will prevent them from ripening.
She also reminded us that by sewing used dryer sheets onto the right side of any applique shape, then cutting a small slit in the dryer sheet and turning the piece right side out, you will then have an applique piece that is ready to be sewn onto your quilt. The dryer sheet is soft and can be left on each piece. An easy method for turned applique.

LUNCH

 Tracey's cute table centerpieces. The mason jar above is wrapped with a tea dyed piece of batting!

 Magic Cookie Bars and Lemon Bars

Magic Cookie Bars

1 stick butter

1 ½ c. vanilla wafer cookie crumb ( I am a cookie snob...Nabisco Vanilla Wafers)

1 c chopped nuts, (I used pecans)

1 c milk choc chips

1 1/3 c coconut

1 can sweet condensed milk

Melt butter in the bottom of a 9x13 glass dish.  Sprinkle cookie crumbs evenly over melted butter. Then nuts, choc chips and last coconut.  Pour sweentend condensed milk evenly over coconut.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool completely, then cut into squares.

 Strawberries and whip cream with orange flavoring.

Fruit Dip

Sweeten  1 cup whipping cream with pwd sugar to liking.  When cream starts to thicken add 2-3 T thawed orange juice.

 Fajita fixings

Julie’s Chicken Fajitas 

¼ c lime juice

1 t sugar

1/8 t oregano

1 t chili powder

½ t garlic powder

½ t salt
½ t pepper

3 T olive oil

Mix ingredients together, heat.  Pour over 2-3 cooked and shredded chicken breasts.

(I boil & simmer chicken breast for 2-3 hours in a bit of chicken bouillon)

Mar 2013 Chicken Wild Rice Salad, Mint Brownies

We met at Robyn's this month, a week earlier than usual because of spring break next week. Our numbers were a little smaller than usual this month, but still plenty of show and tell, good conversation and wonderful food. Robyn took the "green" donation squares home to make a quilt for charity.

Here are the show and tells:

 Nancy made this Montesorri child's apron. It's easy for a child to put on using the elastic neck and the velcro strap around the waist.

 The other great thing about the apron is that it's reversible!

 Cindy made a scrap quilt out of leftovers given to her by her mother.

 Sherry showed us a scarf that was given to her as a gift from her 93 yr old friend, Edythe. Sherry asked her friend how she learned how to make this particular scarf and Edythe told her she just looked it up online!

Cindy made this 3-dimensional quilt. The bees all have 3-dimensional wings

Lenette made another peek-a-boo bag using the Boise State fabric. She added a jean pocket on the back.

 Lenette also made this purse and was able to use these handles she had purchased a while back.

 Lenette also learned how to knit just recently from her daughter. The first thing she made was the square washcloth, then she made the burp cloth. She affectionately calls it the "20-hour burp cloth".

Rachel was able to make this wool penny rug while on a recent vacation. Most of the wool came from her own hand-dyed wool collection.

 Susan showed us her finished lampshade quilt complete with fun embellishments.

 Susan also showed her schnibbles flannel quilt.

Once we finished show and tell, Cindy and Nancy showed us a shortcut for making scrappy trip around the world quilts.

 First you cut 2 1/2" by 16" strips

Then sew six strips together and iron the seam allowances as shown. Then sew the strip-set into a tube by joining the end strips to each other.

Once it is a tube, cut 2 1/2" strips from the tube.  Then unpick one stitching line from each cut strip. However, you must unpick a different stitching line from each strip so that when opened as shown below, the squares will be in a different order. (If that sounds as clear as mud to you, give Nancy or Cindy a call. :)

 Lay out your strips in whatever order you desire.

 Sew the strips together to form a 6x6 square

Above are 6 blocks  6x6 inches laid out next to each other. Once you have your 6x6 squares all made, lay them out and form any pattern you desire for your finished quilt. Sew the 6x6 units together for a great "Scrappy Trip Along" quilt.

Corrie then explained our next quilt block exchange, which will be a Polaroid quilt. Anyone that wants to participate can. Here's what we are doing:

1. Corrie will purchase the white fabric for us to use around the little squares. Look for more info about how much that will be, then bring a check to our next meeting. The white fabric is used to make a        1 1/2" border around each 4" square.

2. Start looking for fabric that is juvenile, colorful and has objects that can be fussy-cut into 4" squares (as seen below) You must use at least two separate lines of fabric.

3. Cut 32-four inch squares and bring them to our May meeting to exchange.

Here are some examples of Polaroid quilts. Once you get all your exchanged Polaroid quilt squares, you can make it into any style quilt you wish. It's very much like an "I Spy" quilt and will be fun for a child. Here and here and here are also some links to Polaroid Quilts.

California Grilled Chicken Wild Rice Salad

1 box (6 oz) Uncle Ben’s Long Grain Wild Rice, cooked according to package directions

2-3 grilled chicken Breasts, cubed

4 green onions, chopped

1 red bell pepper, diced

3 oz. snow peas, ends removed, cut in half

1 c. chopped almonds, toasted

2 medium avocados, diced

Combine rice, chicken, green onions, peppers, snow peas and almonds.  Stir in dressing.  Serve with avocados.  Can be served warm or cold.

Dressing:

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp. Dijon mustard

¼ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. pepper

¼ tsp. sugar

1/3 c. rice wine vinegar

1/3 c. canola oil

Mix all together.

Chocolate Mint Brownies

1 c. margarine, melted                        

4 eggs

2 c. sugar                                                        

½ tsp. salt

½ c. cocoa                                                      

1 ½ c. flour

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix melted margarine, sugar and cocoa.  Add eggs, then dry ingredients and vanilla.  Bake in greased 13x9 inch pan at 350 degrees for 23-25 minutes. 

Mint Cream

½ c. margarine                                                            

3 c. powdered sugar                                      

1 Tbs. water (if needed)

1 tsp. peppermint extract

Green food coloring

Cool brownies completely.  Frost with Mint Cream. Chill in freezer  then brush 1 square melted baking chocolate (or 1 Tbs. melted margarine with 3 Tbs. cocoa blended well) over top.