March 2010

Material Girls met at Kathi's, our fearless leader's home, for quilt group today. Twelve ladies were in attendance: Lenette P., Corrie M., Mary L., Diane S., Nancy C., Jeri M., Robyn C., Jeanie F., Kathi T., Carolanna M., Rachel L., and Lori S.

To begin, we turned in our last friendship blocks. These were a log cabin block for Nancy C. They all sewed up very very cute. Kathi introduced a new monthly block activity called The Pizza Exchange which we will carry out for the next 12 to 18 months. Next month we are to bring a block of our choosing done in colors that we would like everyone else to follow for the block they make to go with our original block. The size block you make to begin with can be from 12 inches to 8 inches (finished). Bring it in a pizza box with your name on it. Subsequent blocks made by each Material Girl will be that same size. The boxes will be passed around the group at each meeting. You will only make one block for another person per month. Clear as mud? :)

For "sew and tell" we started out viewing Quiet Books made by Lenette and Diane. They turned out great. Diane also showed a small wall quilt that was started 25 years ago. Finally finished in 2010! Corrie showed 2 Vintage Baby Squares quilts. One done up in the Wheels collection by Riley Blake and the other from the Rawhide line by Moda. Both quilts are absolutely awesome. Mary showed a baby size butterfly quilt top and a flannel quilt that she crocheted around using the "cowboy" stitch. Very nice. Jeri showed two table toppers and a tablecloth top with scalloped print on the fabric. Very unique. Robyn, again has been busy sewing with Kaffe Fasset fabrics and Batiks, mmmm, one top all quilted and washed the other ready to be sandwiched. Jeanie showed 3 flannely soft baby quilts and receiving blankets done with the mitered corner. Carolanna made a darling pink and brown quilt with daisies, a pillow to go with the Breat Cancer Auction quilt and a stunning pink, red, orange and black quilt top. Kathi has been working with intensity on a large appliqued winter tree wall quilt! Whew! She also completed a beautiful bag (The Bella Bag by Heather Mulder Peterson) made from fabric she picked up overseas. The handles are attached with BIG grommets. At this point we had a 'texture magic' discussion. Rachel showed a table topper with fabric scallops on the edges, a black wool topper and a "pineapple" quilt top. Lori came loaded with wonderful quilty goodness to inspire. She showed a big bag made of home decorator weight fabric, a smart orange 'purse', a big pink pillow made from a free tutorial on the Amy Butler website, a zigzag quilt (crazymomquilts tutorial), a green and white quilt (from FilmintheFridge site), a quilt from the Livin' Large book and another quilt made of an Abby Lane pattern. Everything was a feast for the eyes.

Kathi then demonstrated a Four Sided Placemat! If you use placemats, it is a must do! How do people come up with all the clever ideas???

Thank you so much, Kathi!

See you all in April. We are tentatively meeting at Jeanie's home in Emmett.

February 2010 Meeting

For our meeting on February 24, 2010, we sewed quilt blocks for the Cancer Research Donation quilt. We met at Lori S. home in south Boise, with our sewing machines ready to piece. The block used is a Buggy Barn pattern. The quilt is made of pink, white and black as seen in previous post. Thank you to Rachel L., Carolanna M. and Lori S. for organizing this quilt and work meeting. Lori and Rachel provided a great lunch of salads, bread and pound cake for dessert. There were 11 ladies in attendance: Nancy F., Diane S., Lenette P., Carolanna M., Susan T., Rachel L., Lori S., Diane B., Jerri M., Kathi T. and Monica C.
This is the last month for Friendship blocks. We returned the Bullseye blocks to Lenette, and received Nancy C., block.
We missed seeing several members, including Maurene, who's daughter passed away. Our best regards and wishes go out to the family.

Thank you.

Susan G. Komen Quilt

As you all know each year we do a quilt to donate to Susan G. Komen for the Cure Boise to auction at their Survivors dinner in May. This year we will be doing Buggy Barn's "It's in the Bag" quilt similar to Rachel's below.



Like the example we are going to do it all in pink, black and white. To do the 30 blocks needed to make a twin we were hoping that each of you could bring 3 fat quarters in any combination of pink, black and/or white. I realize that we may end up with lots of extra fat quarters but this will give us some flexibility in planning the blocks as well as making it so that we can add a few to the back.

Because each block is made up of 5 different fabrics we need to be careful in picking our fat quarters. Please make sure that your fabrics are comprised of any combination of: true pinks (any shade, just none that is dusty or muted), black and/or white (no cream or ivory). You do not have to have all three colors in each fabric, any combination will work. Also, prints are great and will add variety to the quilt; tone on tone, animal prints, stripes, polka dots... we love them all just as long as they contain only pink, black, and white.

This is a fabric we are thinking about using for the sashing



And this is an example of the "feel" we are hoping for from our fabric choices.



In addition to your 3 fat quarters, please bring your sewing machine a tabletop pressing board (if you have one) and iron (if bringing a pressing board). This should make for a fun activity. If you've never done a Buggy Barn pattern, you're in for a treat :-)

Granola Recipe

Granola

(this recipe can be doubled)

3 cups rolled oats (not quick)
1 cup slivered almonds, or sliced
1 cup various nuts, broken coarsely, I used whole almonds also
3/4 cup shredded sweet coconut
1/4 cup dark or light brown sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 T. maple syrup
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 t. salt
1 cup raisins (optional)
Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, coconut, and brown sugar.
In a separate bowl, combine maple syrup, oil, and salt. It takes a few minutes of stirring. Pour syrup mixture over oat mixture, and combine. Pour onto a sheet pan. Cook for 1 hour, stirring half way through.
remove from oven and transfer into a large bowl. Add raisins and mix.

note: other dried fruits can be used instead of raisins, I.e. cranberries, cherried, chopped dates, chopped apricots, blueberries.

This granola is excellent when served over plain yogurt with chopped fresh fruit.

January 2010 Meeting at Diane S.'s

Our first Material Girls Meeting for 2010, was held January 27, 2010, at Diane Spackman's home.
There were 18 people in attendance, including, Corrie Munson, came to talk about a darling springy tablerunner she had made and to show the group how she constructed it. The pattern is titled: Dresdens On The Vine. Corrie talked to us about English Paper Piecing. Thank you Corrie for coming. We hope to see you more often! Attending: Diane Spackman, Diane Beagley, Lenette Poole, Nancy Christensen, Maurene Lamm, Rachel Lamm, Carolanna Mellon, Robyn Chamberlain, Nancy Fahnestock, Susan Tway, Monica Campbell and her mother from Utah, Kathy Mumford~visiting, Lori Schroath, Linda Ingram, Kathi Thompson and Jeri Moore. We returned friendship blocks for Nancy Fahnestock and received a new one to do this month from Lenette Poole. It is a circular block called the Bullseye. Nancy Christensen will bring us a friendship block to sew in February. This will be the last friendship block we will sponsor. We enjoyed seeing many many projects completed by one another. Our refreshments were fruit, yogurt and granola parfaits. Thanks to all who participated. Our meeting in February will be held at Lori Schroath's home. We will bring our sewing machines and sew away, as we are making a quilt for the Breast Cancer Research Auction.  

Christmas Luncheon at Nancy C's 2009

December 2, 2009 Material Girls Christmas Party held at Nancy C. home.

Attending: Mary L., Maurene L., Jeanie R., Jeri M., Carolanna M., Lori S., Robyn C., Kathi T., Diane S., Linda I., Rachel L., Susan T., Diane B., Lenette P., Nancy F., Nancy C., Monica C., Jan L.
We enjoyed many Sew and Tell items, as you can see in the slide show.
We gave Susan T. the friendship blocks that we made for her. Nancy F. presented her block for us to take home, sew up and bring in January.
After Sew and Tell, we played a game which entailed passing fabric, tearing it in half and continue passing it. We all brought 1 yard of Christmas fabric for this fun game.
Our gift exchange was different than previous years. We passed gifts right or left around the circle, to a story about Mr. and Mrs. Wright. One by one, we opened the gift we ended up with at the end of the story. It was a lot of fun also.
Lunch consisted of soups, rolls, dill bread, vegetable tray, refreshing punch and lovely Christmas desserts, contributed by all in attendance. Thank You to Nancy for a very nice event. We felt like we'd had first class treatment.
Next month meeting: Wed., January 27th 2010 at Diane S. home.
Lenette will bring her friendship block to us in January.
Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year.