QUILT MARKET - SPRING 2013

Quilt Market was held in downtown Portland.

It's such a big trade show.  Aisles and aisles of booths.

Trends seemed to be embroidery and stitchery patterns, lots of bag patterns, more company's offering organic fabric, lots of florals coming out. 

We had an up-close and one-on-one demonstration by Heather Bailey of her amazing booth wall.  She chain stitched the bird on it.  She's coming out with 6 new embroidery patterns. 

Then we were walking down the aisle and Bari J invited us to pull up a chair and learn to embroider.  She has a new line of fabric, Bijoux, that would be perfect for embellishing with embroidery.

If you're familiar with the book - Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus -- it's coming out in fabric.  We'll have the whole line of that. 

The Ghastlies by Alexander Henry is coming out with a Christmas line.  We'll have that too :).

Ric Rac is a charming lady that made the amazing selvege dress that was all over the web a couple of years ago.  She has a line of adorable toy patterns.

Andover Fabric is coming out with a Downton Abbey line of fabric.  I was hoping for fun quirky Downton Abbey fabrics, but these are beautiful reproduction fabrics.  There are 37 pieces in it.

http://blog.andoverfabrics.com/2013/05/the-downton-abbey-collection/  I'd love to know what you think about these.

It's always great to be able to attend Quilt Market.  Glad it was so close in Portland this year.  Next year Spring Market will be in Pittsburgh.

May 2013 Hot Corn Dip, Fiesta Salad, Strawberry Yogurt Cake

To begin the meeting, Lenette showed a flannel bib that she crocheted around the outer perimeter. She used a new cutting blade called the Skip Stitch to make the holes in the fabric to crochet into. The concept is the hemstitch. It worked into a nice project. Good job, Lenette.

Jennie, a new member of our group, showed these two quilts. The top picture is of the Granny Squares block done with Sew Cherry fabric line by Lori Holt of Riley Blake Fabrics. The quilt pictured below is Jacob's Ladder pattern made of the Hello Sunshine fabric line by Riley Blake. It is comprised of half square triangles and four patches. 

Sherry Stafford made a new pillow cover for her couch pillow. She said it is the fourth time that she has covered it. Her mood changes are reflected in the latest fabric she uses!

The above quilt top is also by Jennie. It is the "trip around the world" pattern. She saw it on-line and went from there. She used fabrics that are London themed.

Sherry also showed an afghan  in which she is making good progress. It is a cable stitch. Sherry makes all of her dish cloths. She showed us the cable of cotton string/yarn that she uses and the lovely white dish cloths. 

Kelley made this beautiful baby quilt. Notice the binding is scrappy. The cottons are brushed cottons.

Kelley also made this beautiful wall quilt. It is applique with the needle turn method.

Rachel made this awesome 'Daughter of God' quilt. She designed it, using her sewing machine for the embroidery of the words. The colors and words represent the young women values. She is making three quilts for 3 young women.

Rachel also talked about entering juried quilt shows and encouraged us to do so. There are several opportunities around the valley to enter.

Corrie Munson gave a report on quilt market. She attended the bi-annual event in Portland with a friend. See the next post for details. Thanks Corrie.

Here's the yummy food served with recipes:

Layered Fiesta Salad

1 1/2 cups uncooked long grain brown or white USA rice
1/4 cup canola or olive oil
1/4 cup lime juice
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. honey
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/4 tsp. each salt and pepper
a few drops of hot sauce
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 ripe avocado, peeled and cubed
1 14 oz. (398 mL) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 mango, peeled and cubed
1 1/2 cups each corn kernels and diced tomato
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Cook the rice according to package directions. Spread evenly on a baking sheet to cool; fluff with a fork. In a jar, shake together the oil, lime juice, cumin, honey, garlic, salt, pepper and hot sauce.

Layer rice, red pepper, avocado, black beans, mango, rice, corn, tomato, green onion, cheese, and cilantro into a straight-sided, glass bowl or trifle dish, or divide among individual glass serving dishes. Drizzle with dressing and toss just before serving. Serves 8.

 Hot Corn Dip:

  2 cups shredded chedder cheese

  1 cup shredded Montery Jack

  2 tbs chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, diced small

  1 small can (4oz) diced green chilies, undrained

  1/2 cup Mayo

  1/4 tsp garlic powder

  1 11oz can of corn, drained

  1 small tomato

  2 tbs cilantro, chopped

  2 tbs green onions, sliced thin

1.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.     Mix the cheeses, chiptole and green peppers, mayo, garlic powder and corn together. Pour into an oven safe dish.

3.     Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly

4.     Top with diced tomatoes, green onions, and cilantro. Serve immediately with tortilla chips.

Cheesecake Factory's Corn Cakes

This bundt cake was served for dessert.

Fresh Strawberry Yogurt Cake

YIELD: 12 SLICES PREP TIME: 15 MINUTES COOK TIME: 1 HOUR

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter softened

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

3 Tb. lemon juice, divided

Zest of 1 lemon

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, divided

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

8 oz. plain or vanilla, Greek yogurt

12 oz. fresh strawberries, diced

1 cup powdered sugar 

Thank You Rachel for a great lunch!

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)