Happy 2012!!!

I thought that we should start the new year with a new post to our blog.  It was great to see everyone again after our little hiatus, catching up on the comings and goings of the group.  2011 was filled with lots of changes- new grandchildren, marriages, trips, jobs, and of course, new quilts and knitting projects.  I am sure that 2012 will be just as exciting. 

Our Christmas Party was a huge success.  We even had a project, thanks to Margaret. Martha's button tree was made into a lovely pillow.  (I hope to post a picture of it when I get her email.)   The raclette was great, although the lingering odor of cheese must have remained for days.  As always, the gift exchange was a huge success.  (I think we should be able to "steal" more often, though.)

Here's a picture of our happy group.  What a treat to have us all together! 

Let's hope we have more pictures, projects and recipes to share in 2012!

Ginger Spice Cookies

It's been some time since we have posted anything, but this recipe had to make it here.  Thanks to Martha for making these fabulous cookies and sharing the recipe!  (Remember that you can just click on the recipe to print out your own copy.)  Enjoy!

Thank you Mary for inviting me to join the quilters last Thursday (even though I've given up quilting and now am knitting!) I enjoyed looking at the Blog - loved the pictures and the recipes!

More Pictures and Recipes

In case you've missed the last two quilting Thursdays, there have been some great desserts, thanks to Julie and DiAnn. But first, here are the latest 2 blocks of Julie's red quilt.  As usual, they are gorgeous!

The second veteran's quilt now has borders.  I'll post a picture as soon as our resident photographer (Margaret) gets it to me.  We will piece together the backing at quilting next week, so if you have any fabrics that you think would make a nice back, bring it with you. 

Now to the desserts. The first recipe is an ice cream cake that uses ice cream sandwiches.  The recipe calls for Magic Shell chocolate, but we thought that you could substitute hot fudge sauce, if you'd like.  Julie also thought that that if you do use the Magic Shell, you could use more than one bottle.  It was delish!  (Remember to click on the recipe to see a larger view and to print your recipe!)

The next recipe was made by DiAnn and comes from Martha Stewart and was featured on Aug. 4th's show.  I'm including it here so that it is easy to print.  The addition of salt is so, so good!  You must make this dessert if you didn't get to try it!

Carolyn, we really miss you and hope you will be able to join us soon.  Hang it there - only a few more treatments to go!

Quilting and Mexican Train, What Could Be More Fun?

What a fun afternoon we had at Margaret's this week.  I wish everyone could have been there as we were joined by Marilyn, who is in town for a couple of weeks while big Mike is making some improvements to their rental property, and Diane Grace, who is visiting from New Orleans.

First, take a look at Marilyn's quilt for her granddaughter!  Not only are the colors wonderful, but it is backed by super soft pink Minkie!   And look at all the different fabrics that she used (remember this is Marilyn, who usually only buys enough fabric for the project she's working on and gets rid of the scraps once she is finished).  The quilt measures about 50" x 60", a great size for a "big" girl.

Since we are posting pictures, here  is our veteran's quilt that is being quilted by Robin. As soon as we have get that back, we'll get another picture up.  There were lots of left-over scraps and pieces so DiAnn went home and made more blocks, enough for a second quilt.  The blocks are currently being passed around for more input.  We should have sashing for the second quilt by next week and maybe another photo in two weeks.  For more info on the Quilts of Valor program, see  http://www.qovf.org/
(Thanks Carole, Betsey and Margaret for the pictures!)

Our "Quilts of Valor" quilt

Next, I have to tell you about the delicious cookies that Margaret made.  It's Diane's recipe that was handed down to her from her grandmother.  These cookies are just sinful!  There are only 3 ingredients - butter, flour and sugar.  Diane is willing to share, so here is the recipe:

Diane Grace's Butter Cookies

2 sticks butter, softened
2/3 c sugar
1-1/2 c flour

Preheat oven at 350.  Cream together the butter and sugar; stir in flour.  Diane says she rolls the dough into balls and Margaret used an ice cream scoop.  Bake cookies 12mins for small balls, 15mins for half scoops and 19mins for full scoops.  Margaret topped her cookies with pecans/chocolate chips before she baked them.  The cookies are thin and crispy and Y-U-M-M-Y.

Last of all, we played Mexican Train for the last hour.  It was SO much fun!  After a practice round and great instructions by Julie and Margaret, it was off to the races to building our trains.  The rules are simple and the game goes fast, so it's great for young and old, and can be played by many (we were 9, I think).  If, that is, when we play again, we have to make sure the neighbors/husbands don't mind our roars of laughter.   By the way, I found the set that Margaret had on Amazon.  It's a travel set, so all the pieces pack nicely into a neat container.
http://www.amazon.com/Travel-Mexican-Train-Double-Domino/dp/B001HBLBL8/ref=pd_sim_t_8

Hope to see everyone next week!

Long Time No Post

Well Ladies, I decided that it was about time to get something new onto our blog. So, I'm going to post some of the pictures that Margaret took from quilting at my house this past Thursday. Here is the first picture, Patty's wonderful vegetable quilt a la Ruth McDowell. Isn't it delicious? And it was machine quilted by Patty!

Next, we have Julie's blocks that uses red as her background. The blocks are from a Piece of Cake quilt pattern. The colors are just fantastic but you really have to see these beauties in person! I love all the different fabrics.

And just for an added bonus and you lose the recipe for the carrot cake cookies, here it is again (without the pickled carrots, so we don't get too confused). Remember that I added craisins or dried cranberries to the recipe and if you don't add these, I would add more raisins to the cookies. Enjoy!

Shark iron?

Well, ladies, my iron has died. Tomorrow I'm going to go to Target to scout for the Shark iron, a la Margaret! So thank you again for the suggestion!

I hope you got the paper pieced patterns I sent for the pineapple blocks. Let me know if it didn't work (operator error, no doubt).

Hope everyone is doing well. Missing you all and thinking of you on Thursday afternoons!
Love,
Randy

my photos from Thursday

Hi ladies,
I'm going to try to upload my own pictures to the blog. If it doesn't work, I"ll send them to Mary.
Thanks again for such a fabulous time. I'm really jealous that you get to meet every week.... just need to figure out how to get down more often! Oh and I loved the show and tell. Thanks for sharing.
Love,
Randy

Randy's Visit to San Diego

It was such fun having Randy visit us for quilting. Thank you, Betsey for being such a wonderful host. And thanks to everyone for the Salad by Committee. As usual, it was yummy (the recipe can be found on an earlier blog entry). The afternoon flew by so quickly. There was great conversations and we learned so much, too. Who would have known that Brother makes a great cheap sewing machine that can be found at Costco for about $169 and Shark makes a great iron for around $40! Randy's Feathered Star quilt was quilted using the Brother. (Did someone happen to take a picture of it? It's fabulous, btw.)

Susan sent a couple of pictures of Randy's pineapple scrap quilt. All those tiny pieces! (Randy said it was a lot of fun and not that difficult.) Here's another look:

There were more pictures taken of other quilts, so if you have them, please post or send them to me and I'll share them.

Come back soon, Randy! (We're all invited to visit Randy, too. Sun River, Sisters Quilt Show in July anyone? Sounds like fun.....)

Fun at Susan's

What a great time we had at Susan's last week! After visiting the always charming Fat Quarters, we were greeted by Susan's infectious laugh and her wonderfully delicious vegetable soup. Julie brought her 2 quilt tops to share, which were just amazing, as you can see. Sally would be so proud!

We also had a lot of fun learning to knit mini sweater ornaments for our Christmas trees. Thanks, Donna for introducing us to these little cuties and your infinite supply of double pointed needles. Next will be making those cute little gold hangers.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Pot Holders and Dish Towels, What Next?

We are branching out, Ladies! Thanks to Margaret and Betsey for sharing their time and skills on teaching us how to make these great kitchen items. I've put my potholders and dish towels to use and let me tell you, they are the best. Think these will make fantastic stocking stuffers. For those who missed the lesson, here are the how to's: (Both use Sugar and Cream cotton yarn)

Knitted Dish Towel

Using size #10 knitting needles, cast on 4 sts. Knit 1 row.

Increases: Knit 2 sts, YO (Yarn over), Knit to the end on the row. Repeat this row until you have 43 sts on needle.

Decreases: Knit 1 st, then Knit 2 sts together (K2 tog), YO, K2 tog, Knit to the end of row. Repeat this row until 4 sts remain on the needle. Bind off and weave in you ends.

Pot Holder

Using a G or H crochet hook, chain 38 sts (or 32 sts for a smaller version). Single crochet in each chain to the end. DO NOT TURN. Single crochet on the other side of the chain. Continue to single crochet in each stitch going around and around, crocheting in the back loop only of each stitch. The pot holder will begin to turn on to itself. The ends form the diagonal corners of the potholder. When the rows of your stitches meet in the center of the potholder, pull the yarn through and whip stitch your stitches closed.

Have fun!

More Recipes

(Updated! The recipes should be printable.)

Here are two recipes that I thought I would share that I received from Phyllis Carey's class at Great News. You may omit the chilies, if you like a milder version. As for the rice, I left out the serrano chili and replaced the pine nuts with pistachhios. I think you can use any nut that you like. The recipe calls for vegetable oil, but you can also use olive oil or grapeseed oil. The recipe is easily doubled. (Remember that you can click onto the image to print a copy.)

Enjoy!

Chipotle Apricot Chicken Breasts

Cilantro Rice

Margaret's Refrigerator Rolls

It's the recipe we've all been waiting for, Margaret's fabulous cinnamon rolls! Just click onto the image, print and get to kneading. Thanks, Margaret!

Carole's Lemon Tart Recipe

Here is Carole's yummy lemon tart recipe she served at last week's quilting. Remember to click on the image for a printable and larger view. Thanks, Carole!

9- Patch Quilt and Thursday Update

What a great 3 days of quilting! Our 9 patches are all finished, with a few extras for everyone to play with. Not only are our blocks complete, Patty finished all of her Le Moyne stars, Betsey made wonderful progress on Chris' quilt, Carole had time to work on a couple of projects and Carolyn cut out and pieced a perfect sunburst block! And, we were so fortunate to have Barb drive down to sew with us on Tuesday. (Those itsy-bitsy blocks of Barb's are so cute and perfect!)

Now for those that are working on the 9-patch quilt, the possibilities are endless on how we can finish our quilts. Of course we may make our hour glass blocks as in the pattern, white with a small white print and it would look stunning. But, there were a lot of other great ideas that were put up on the design board. Julie, I hope you will post some of the photos you took, or you can send them to me to post. Homework Alert: Try playing with various combinations and bring them to quilting next week. If you want to sew a few hour glasses together and don't have the pattern, which I will try to get to everyone soon, I'll try to explain how to go about its construction.

Cut 2 squares of the fabric (color A and B) at 5-3/4" for the hour glass block. Draw a diagonal on one of the fabrics. Match fabrics, right sides together and sew a 1/4" seam on both sides of the marked diagonal. Cut the fabrics apart on the drawn diagonal. Press seams toward the darker fabric. Now with right sides together, line up the squares again, but this time place the fabrics so that the darker fabrics are directly opposite to each other. Your seams will butt up against each other, opposite in directions and should lie flat. Pin pieces together and draw another diagonal, going in the opposite direction. Again, sew on both sides of the diagonal, cut apart on the marked diagonal and press your seams. You will have completed 2 hour glasses with this method. Of course if you are using different background combinations, you could cut 5-3/4" squares on both diagonals and sew the hour glasses individually.

Have fun and experiment! Bring your blocks or mock-ups to Patty's next week. (We may need to find some more free days for more group sewing to get these hour glasses done.) Thanks again, Margaret for getting us together and thank Gary for letting us turn your house into a sweat factory this week! (Could we get that yummy cinnamon roll recipe?)