Wednesday, January 30, 2013

January 2013

First meeting of 2013 and we met at Sherry's.  We got a record number of donation squares this month. Maybe it was because Diane had prizes for anyone who donated. We got lots of blacks, whites and bright blues which should make a beautiful quilt.
We also had a wonderful show and tell. Here are the pics:
 Robyn's stake (church group) is having a use up your scraps quilt contest where all the quilts will go to charities in our area.  These first two quilts are made from her scraps and both quilts will be donated.
 We think someone will be very pleased to receive this quilt.
 This is Robyn's "Pizza Box Exchange" quilt. It turned out amazing and she did quite a bit of quilting on it as can be seen in the picture below.

 This is Monica's quilt which she quilted with variegated thread.

Monica made this scrappy pink and green baby's quilt

These are a couple of toppers for Monica's washer and dryer
This is also a quilt made by Monica using some metallic fabric
 Diane is showing off her new glasses she uses for handwork. There are lights on either side and she says they work great. She got them from Seymours Glasses.
While on the subject of glasses, Nancy told us about a great site where we can get glasses of any kind for a lot less. It's called Zenni Optical.

 Diane made this cute baby's bib with armholes from a tutorial online


Diane made these peek-a-boo bags that Corrie showed us a while back. The little bags are made to hold earbuds. They are a free pattern on Dog Under My Desk
 
Sherry made this cute Valentine's tabletopper
 Susan made these wool hangings. She said they were very fast and easy to make.

Susan also made this wool Waltzing with Bears pumpkin rows

This was made from Thimbleberries flannel panels. Susan made it and Carolanna quilted it for her.

This is Carolanna's twister wreath. She quilted the circles with a round plastic template and some in the group today told us a tip to help stabilize the plastic on the fabric while quilting. We can either use little sandpaper dots on the bottom of the template or some mentioned that you can also find the same type stuff at skate board shops and it's relatively inexpensive there. Hot tip-thanks group.

Carolanna's table topper

Carolanna used the Indian Summer fabric line for this cute quilt. She said it turned out more like a Valentine's quilt, so she'll be using it in February. 
Carolanna also told us about a quilting class that she's taking online from craftsy.com

Rachel's chicken quilt

Rachel found these old springs from a chair from an abandoned barn. They make perfect stands for her roosters.

This is a bag that Susan made for Rachel for Christmas. Rachel is going to use it as her stitching bag. Lucky Rachel!
 This is called a skinny quilt that Rachel made from the Skinny Quilts book.

Rachel made this quilt for Christmas for a woman she visit teaches each month. She actually visits two women and has already given another quilt away that was very similar.
Close up of Nancy's quilt

Nancy is also making scrap quilts for church as donations. We also learned some new quilting vernacular from Nancy. Since this quilt is made using scrap fabrics, Nancy calls them "old boyfriend fabrics"-the ones we don't care for any more. Also instead of calling it a quilt top (what we usually refer to before we sandwich the quilt together), Nancy calls it a "flimsy".

Nancy made this mostly from old sheets. It reminded her of her grandmother's wash line so she's calling it Wash Day. The pattern is made using 1/2 square rectangles. The tutorial for making them can be found here at the Modern Quilt Guild.
Nancy's niece gave her this sewing bag





 Kathi saw this ironing board/storage shelves on pinterest and decided to make one for herself. She uses the oversized big ironing board on top and loves that it has wheels to move it around when needed.

Now for the luncheon. Thank you Sherry for such tasty food.
 These are pretzels dipped on either end and wrapped in a personalized printout to make them look like crayolas.

Sherry's homemade bread was a big hit. She also made a wild rice chicken soup which was perfect for our cold, snowy day.

These were a fun dessert made using Rolos on top of pretzel squares. After they are melted, you just add whatever color m&m's on top. Warning-they can be addicting. :)

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Christmas mtg 2012 (Spinach Salad, Broccoli Slaw,Cranberry Cinnamon Chip Bars, Toffee)

This year for our Christmas luncheon we met at Lenette's house. Even though it was still November, she had beautiful decorations up and her tree looked gorgeous. Here's our show and tell from the meeting:



Carolanna's tablerunner

 Heather's sock monkey quilt
Susan's wool tablerunner
 Jeanie's quilt-she said she's finally finished it after about five years. It's beautiful.


Carolanna's yoyo flower quilt
 Rachel's chevron quilt

Susan's fall wool wall hangings



Carolanna's vintage-like quilt


Rachel's twister quilt
 Kathi's tree skirt from last year. It was made using a pattern online from a post on Sew We Quilt. 

It went together quickly.

Maurene made 21 of these snap purses for a woman she met in St. George. She's going to teach us how to make these in one of our upcoming meetings.
 All the presents in our fun gift exchange.



Corrie had us play a fun version of Christmas Bingo. She even had prizes for those who won. Thank you Corrie!

Croissant turkey cranberry sandwiches!
Salads to choose from:
Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing

Directions

  1. Place spinach into a large serving bowl, top with hard-cooked eggs, mushrooms, 4 crumbled strips of bacon, Swiss cheese, and almonds.
  2. Heat olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Stir in shallots and garlic, and cook until softened and translucent, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the vinegar, Dijon mustard, honey, and 2 crumbled strips of bacon; season to taste with salt and pepper, then cook until hot.
  3. Pour hot dressing over spinach and toss to coat.




Broccoli Slaw
1 pkg broccoli slaw- (10 oz I think)
1 bunch green onions chopped
1/2 cup salted sunflower seeds
1/2 cup cashews
1 pkg chicken ramen noodles, broken up

1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup water
season packet from noodles

Combine dressing ingredients.  About 20 minutes before serving add dressing to salad ingredients.


Lots of fun homemade desserts!



Toffee
1 c. unblanched whole or slivered almonds-spread out on a foil lined cookie sheet

1 c. butter 
1 c. sugar
1/4 teas. salt
1/2 teas. vanilla

Cook over high heat for 5-6 min. stirring like a mad woman with a clean dry wooden spoon. Use a 2 qt. heavy bottom pan.  Toffee will be the color of a brown paper bag.

Pour over almonds.









Cranberry Cinnamon Chip Bars

½ c butter, melted
1 ½ graham crackers crumbs
1 ( 14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 ¼ c shredded coconut
¾ c cinnamon chips
½ c chopped pecans or walnuts
½ c dried cranberries
 Preheat oven to 350
Coat a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray.  Pour butter into pan and put graham crackers, mix &r press down gently with fingertips.  Pour sweetened milk evenly over cracker crust.  Sprinkle with coconut and continue layering with remaining ingred:  cinnamon chips, white choc chips, pecans and cranberries.  Press down evenly with fingertips over entire pan.
Bake 25-30 mins, until bubbly and slightly golden on top.  Let completely cool before cutting.  Jeanie        




 
Hot apple cider