Feb 2011

We met this month at Lori's and learned how to make cute pin head toppers out of Sculpey clay. After making our pin toppers, Lori placed them in the oven to bake while we had our show and tell and pizza box exchange. Afterwards Lori served us some scrumptious quiches, fresh sweet pineapple and broccoli raisin salad. Here are some pictures from our meeting:

Getting to work on our pin head toppers. We started out slowly, then we couldn't stop coming up with ideas. Lots of fun-thanks, Lori!

Pin head topper

More toppers

Some more of our pin head toppers

Sherry's quilt

Sherry's Christmas quilt

Jeri's tablecloth quilt

Kathi's grommet purse

Large opening for grommet purse

Nancy's charity quilt top

Rachel's easy pattern skirt

More of Rachel's skirts

Rachel wearing one of her quick and easy skirts. She promises to teach us all how to make them.

Rachel's apron

Rachel's small travel purses

Dish towels from Lori's swap partner

Lori's tablerunner

Lori's scrap basket

Lori's wall hanging

Lori's FLickr swap blocks

Lori's swap partner has a hedgehog for a pet, so she made this cute little square for her

Lori's blocks from her Flickr group, Bee Scrappy

Carolanna's husband's quilt

Carolanna's husband requested this design and even the machine quilting

Carolanna's baby quilt-she's helping a friend design a whole nursery

Close up

Quiche-mushroom, bacon and asparagus

Fresh pineapple and broccoli/raisin salad

January 2011 meeting

Nancy C.'s tablerunner.

Nancy C.'s quilt
Nancy C.'s quilt
A pillow for Nancy F. from her mother.
Nancy F.'s tree skirt
Diane's raw edge squares quilt

Another raw edge quilt by DianeMaurene's husband's mother's quilt. Maurene hand-quilted it.
Lori's wallhanging.
Lori's felt flower.
Lori's wall hanging.
Lori's quilt.
Rachel's table topper
Rachel's new bag. She adds a flower that compliments her outfit

Kathi's carolers.
Sharon Baker's presentation:




















Thank you Nancy for hosting this month's meeting. We had a great sew and tell and enjoyed a special guest Sharon Baker, a wonderfully creative fiber artist/quilt artist. Sharon shared several of her pieces and enlightened us on her creative thought that went into each piece. Sharon teaches classes on creativity, has written a book and has several patterns. Her work has been exhibited in competitions and galleries throughout the United States. Her website is www.kapamaker.com. It was a treat to have her visit our quilt group.

Here are the recipes for the great lunch we had afterwards.

Flavored Cream Cheese for Ham Croissant Sandwiches

16 oz cream cheese (I used 1 regular and 1 light.)

1/2 C dried cherries soaked in orange juice for several hours

1/2 C toasted pecans

1 tsp orange zest

Whip cream cheese. Chop soaked cherries and pecans into small pieces. Mix into cream cheese. Add a little of the orange juice to get a spreadable consistency. Add zest. Bring to room temperature before spreading on croissants.

Apricot Almond Bars from Alyson

1 C butter

1/2 C sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 C sifted flour

1 12 oz jar apricot jam

2 egg whites

1/2 tsp almond extract

1 C powdered sugar

1/4 C sliced almonds (you can use slivered, but I like the way sliced almonds look)

Cream butter, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add the flour and mix thoroughly. Spread in 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes and cool. Spread apricot jam over crust. Beat the egg whites and almond extract, then add the powdered sugar gradually. The mixture will be thin. Spread over jam, top with almonds. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes. (Be careful not to let the glaze brown very much in the oven. The bars look prettiest when the egg whites are hard and glossy and let the apricot jam shine through.)

Cut bars while warm, or even better, after freezing.

(note: the only change I made was to sub 1/4 tsp almond extract and 1/4 tsp vanilla for the 1/2 tsp almond in the glaze since I don't like really strong almond flavoring.)