Feb 2016 Mtg

A big thanks to Rachel for hosting this month!! It was fun changing things up a bit by having a cooking demo at the end of our show and tell. We should do that more often.
Susan also updated us on our Blessing Bags collection we are doing this year for homeless men in our area. We no longer need bandaids, Qtips, toothbrushes, toothpaste or denim for the bags. We are hoping to have all the supplies gathered by October this year so we can make the bags and get them ready to give away.

Here's the show and tell:

Rachel made this windmill quilt and used black minky on the back.

Rachel used Hello Darling fabric to make this star quilt. She used a jelly roll and got the pattern from the book Scrap Basket Sensations by Kim Brackett. The pattern is called Nova. She added a flying geese border.


Sherry decided to re-do and update all the Christmas stockings for her family. She embroidered the names by hand and intends to make extra for future family too.


Jeri made this Vintage Baby Quilt pattern quilt. She used a disappearing marker to mark the grid on the background fabric. She said that worked well but sometimes tended to disappear earlier than she wanted. It was recommended to use Frixion pens on the white fabric from now on.




Corrie made this crocheted bear rattle.


Kelly made this scrappy 1/2 triangle tulips table runner

Corrie designed and made this iron cozy for her small travel iron. She said "this is is big deal" and obviously very badly needed. It is lined with heat resistant material, teflon and also used insulbrite for more protection against the heat. She used Little Red Riding Hood fabric.




Kelly made this wool tulips in a bowl.


Kelly also made this scrappy 1/2 triangle quilt.


Julia made this star quilt using a tutorial from Missouri Star Company. She used bandana floral fabrics.




Lynette made this stained glass quilt to give away for a humanitarian/charity.


Caren hand quilted this Lone Star quilt. It is a wedding quilt.

Evelyn made this star quilt using 1/2 square triangles. She bought her fabric from Westwood Fabrics online.

Robyn made this cute tent using a pattern from http://thediymommy.com/sew-a-diy-teepee-play-tent/

LUNCH

Farmer's Market Tacos

Cheesy Potato Casserole

Artisan Bread with Honey Butter

Here's the link for the recipe for the Farmer's Market Tacos http://www.layersofhappiness.com/farmers-market-breakfast-tacos/

Corrie said she really likes using Bertolli Balsamic Glaze on top of the tacos if you don't want to take the time to make it yourself.

ARTISAN BREAD DEMO

Artisan Bread

3 cups flour

1/2 tsp yeast (I would do 1 just to be safe)

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 3/4 cup water or enough to incorporate all the flour. 

Mix till flour is incorporated.  Let sit on counter covered all day. Put Dutch oven in the oven and heat to 450 degrees. Then put bread in Dutch oven and bake for 30 minutes or until Loaf feels set.

Rachel added craisens, orange zest from one orange per loaf and pecans.  

You can add garlic and chedder cheese or anything you think would be good in it! 

January 2016 Won Ton Chicken Salad, Pecan Pie bars, Coconut wedding cookies

New Year, new goals, beautiful new quilts! Fun meeting at Robyn's. Intermixed with some of our show and tell are quilts we brought to show methods we have used, other than longarm quilting, to put our quilts together. Robyn also had a quilt up on frames so we could tie it and give it to a charity-another option for quilting a quilt.

Cindy made and brought a bunch of quilts she is getting ready for their Stash Buster Quilt Roundup-a yearly event at their church where the women are asked to donate as many quilts as possible using their stashes. Then those same quilts are used to decorate the walls at their women's conference. This baby quilt is one of those quilts.

This is another quilt Cindy made using batiks.

Cindy's sister sent her quilt blocks and she made this wall hanging from them.

Cindy made this Suburbs house quilt at the retreat she went to.

Cindy brought this jeans quilt she made as part of our "other quilting methods" demo. She handquilted it on a frame.

Kathi brought this Vintage Baby Quilt to show raw edge quilting as well as home machine quilting.

This is another quilt Kathi made using raw edge and her home sewing machine.

One more made by Kathi using the same techniques.

Kathi brought this quilt to show a technique called Snippets where you apply fusible web to the back of fabric, then cut it into little snippets of fabric and apply it to a background making any design you'd like. Once it's ironed on, she used her home machine to quilt it.

Susan shared this flannel quilt she made for a new great grandbaby.

Susan also made these burp cloths to match her quilt.

Susan made these baby bibs to look like little dresses. Very cute!

Susan also made these wool pillows.

This is another of Susan's work with wool.

Susan used a panel to make this quilt. In between the panel pieces she added a quilt squares from a block of the month calendar.

Corrie made this tumbler Halloween quilt. She hand quilted it with pearl cotton using size 10-12. She used a hoop while quilting it and just started in the middle and worked her way to the outside.

Diane made this corn heating bag. Inside she used muslin and then made a pillowcase with flannel so you can wash the outside covering whenever it needs it.

Rachel made these two pair of mittens.

This is a Valentine quilt made by Rachel for her daughter. She got the pattern from Pinterest.

This is a second quilt, a wonky windmill, Rachel was able to make using the same material.

Kelley made this I Spy quilt and also used the scraps to make a matching game with bag (below).

Kelley also made this

Kelley made this quilt using a pattern from Madison Creek Co.

These are table toppers made by Kelley using strip scraps and they are hand quilted.

Kelley showed this quilt where she used strips of bias chenille that are sewn directly over the seams. That sewing then becomes the quilting for the whole quilt. 

This is the product Kelley used for the above quilts.

This is Julia's Pizza Box Exchange quilt. She backed it with minky fabric.

Julia made this sudoko quilt

Julia also knit this hat as a Christmas present. Knit one, pearl two

Monica made this flannel blues quilt.

Monica also made this table runner and used her longarm to quilt it.

This is a quilt pattern called "Cindy Lou Who" by Snibbles. Monica enlarged the pattern to make this quilt.

Monica also shared this thread cutter that she loved to use.

Robyn made this bag as a gift.

Robyn showed us this minky quilt, using minky on both sides and just binding it. No quilting required.

This quilt that Robyn made was stitched in the ditch and she will donate it to the Stash Busters.

Robyn then demonstrated how to tie quilt without leaving strings on top of the quilt by using a long doll needle, tacking at each corner.

LUNCH

Won Ton Chicken Salad

1 head iceberg lettuce (can use ½ romaine)

3 green onions, finely chopped

1 can water chestnuts, chopped

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cooked then cooled and cut into bite size pieces

14 won ton skins

Dressing:

1 tsp. salt

3 Tbsp. vinegar

5 Tbsp. sugar

5 Tbsp. oil

Fry won ton skins in canola oil until light brown, turning once.  Drain on paper towels.  Make dressing.  To serve, toss lettuce, onions, water chestnuts, and chicken with the dressing.  Break won ton skins into salad. Toss and serve.

Pecan Pie Bars

1 7/8 c. flour

3/4 c. butter

6 Tbs. sugar

¼  tsp. salt

3 eggs

1 c. + 2 Tbsp. corn syrup

1 c. + 2 Tbsp.  sugar

2 ½ Tbsp butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla

2 c. coarsely chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter a 13”x 9” pan.  In large bowl, mix first 4 ingredients with pastry blender to resemble fine crumbs; press firmly into prepared pan.  Bake 20 – 23 minutes or until light brown.

While crust is baking, beat eggs, corn syrup, sugar, melted butter and vanilla until blended.  Stir in pecans.  Pour over hot crust – spread evenly.  Bake 25 minutes or until filling is firm around edges and slightly firm in center.  Cool completely.

Coconut Wedding Cookies

14 oz. bag sweetened coconut (Bakers Brand)

2 c. powdered sugar

1 cube butter

about 12 oz semi sweet chocolate chips

Leave butter at room temperature.  Whip together with powdered sugar then add coconut.  Roll in balls and put on a cookie sheet.  Make an indentation in the center of each ball.  Melt chocolate in the microwave then use a ziplock bag with a corner snipped out to squeeze chocolate into the center of each cookie.  Dust with powdered sugar (optional). Refrigerate until several hours before serving. These freeze well.