Good Quilting Week

Sometimes you just can't get enough. Sunday afternoon our guild had its "Hats Off To Us" Party as a selfcongratulation for our successful first quilt show in October! We all had to wear goofy hats, brought some good food and the majority of the members were making a jacket. The sewing was led by a couple of good members who happen to be sisters. As usual, we pack the maximum amount of quilters into our space and just talk and try to accomplish something with all the chaos around us!
I attempted to cut out that baby quilt but in the process I just kept cutting and cutting and now I have 2 1/2 baby quilts cut out...Thats a good thing though as I have another grandchild due at the beginning of December. So actually, I'm a step ahead.
Monday was our meeting of my first quilt group, the Moonlight Quilters, and we got to meet in Marge's little quilt house. She has a tiny house next to her regular abode which is totally devoted to quilting. We pack 12 people into the place and there are times we do get things done. We usually solve the problems of the world and politics can get heated but we all left still liking each other. We are planning our annual pilgramage to the Minnesota Quilters show which will be held in St.Paul this year. I would love to go and am planning on it but have had years when family stuff has totally destroyed my plans so I feel grateful to be able to make it when I can. I think the Minnesota show is a great one and after being to Paducah, I find many things I like better about the Minesota shows. But I'd still go back to Paducah thats for sure and I plan on doing it in another year maybe.
Wednesday was another quilty day. About 20 members of Pine Needle Quilters met at Mulligans for lunch to just get together and NOT discuss the problems of the show and who is doing what and why don't we have enough entries!!! We had good food and my sis and I had a couple of glasses of merlot and who wants to go home then. Anyway, many said we should do it again. We discussed our Art Quilt group which probably only has 3 or 4 members as of now and we refer to ourselves as the Art Wenches, with a name like that we probably only will have 3 or 4 members. About a month ago I heard someone mention a Miniatures Quilt group but for the life of me I can't remember who wanted to start it. Everyone I asked said they'd be interested in joining it though so I think I'll bring it up at the next meeting as long as I don't get involved as I don't want to make miniatures. I have a hard enough time with the big ones!

Here is a recipe for the bars that I brought to the party:

Deluxe Chocolate Marshmallow Bars
3/4 c. butter or margarine
1 1/2 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1 1/3 c. flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
3 T. baking cocoa
1/2 c. nuts, optional
4 c. miniature marshmallows
Topping:
1 1/3 c. chocolate chips
3 T. butter
1 c. peanut butter
2 c. crisp rice cereal

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla: beat until fluffy. Combine flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa; add to creamed mixture. Stir in nuts. Spread in a greased jelly roll pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes. Using a knife dipped in water, spread the melted marshmallows evenly over the cake. Cool. For topping, combine chocolate chips, butter and peanut butter in a small saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until melted and well blended. Remove from heat; stir in cereal. Spread over bars. Chill. Yummy stuff!

Sewing machine organizers and Quilt Shows

As a demo item for our local quilt guild, I sewed up a quick item to be used as an organizer for your machine area. This is the perfect item for me as I am not real organized as I work, my brain is very organized just not my hands.

This little project takes two FQ's and some leftover cotton batting. The pockets are made with vinyl by the yard. The edges of the vinyl are bound with leftover fabric from the base of your project. You have the option of being able to sew the pocket sections as you wish and then just machine bind the whole thing.

These are photos of the organizers.

This picture show how it sits under your machine. As you can see, I need some serious reorganization around my poor machine. This machine is named "Tangerine" for her wonderful orange colored panel I guess. These organizers were fun and now I have three Christmas gifts done!!! Thats the best part.

This weekend is a larger quilt show in Marshfield. My sister, two other friends and myself all have quilts entered in the show just for the fun of it and in the competitive spirit of it all. We had to send our quilts through the mail which is the most traumatic part of the whole ordeal, sending our "babies" off into the world without us. We were to receive pickup tickets for our quilts after the show, but so far no one has gotten theirs so maybe they plan on keeping our quilts in a permanent collection...hee, hee. Dorothyann and I will be driving, (she driving, I'm sitting) over to the show on Sunday and meet with Laurie and Deanna for lunch and then see the show. This is the first time I've been to this show, it should be a good time.

Oh, this is a picture of the quilt I entered in the show, its called Black Beauty after my favorite book as a child. There is not one horse on this quilt, lots of birds, no horses.

Grandbaby Quilt-Rush Job

I have a new grandbaby due November 3 and as I don't know the sex of the baby, I have to make an "either or" quilt. That happens to be a difficult thing for me to do, I have a lot of ideas for boy or girl quilts but not many for the unknown. I finally purchased a cute panel of ABC's done in an old fashioned style of the 40's or 50's. As with many panels, it is difficult to cut the sections or the panel to a size that is easier to put into a block or add borders around. The result is that I added a border of different sizes on the top, bottom and sides, I found a cute gingham to use also.

Now I had to make something special around the borders so I decided to piece some Friendship Star blocks as an easy addition (and cute too.). I chose assorted softer colors that matched the fabric of panel.

This is a picture of my Featherweight named "Black Beauty" as we chain pieced the half square triangles for the Friendship Star blocks. I am truly spoiled with this sewing machine, she allows me to do some very precise piecing, (as well as the not so precise...). I have another machine but the Featherweight is my "piecer".

These are a couple of the complete stars. Now on to assembly and four blocks in the corners which I intend to applique. I hope my intentions remain true!

After that I will still have to quilt and binding. I found some really cute fabric for the back which is an ABC flannel from Eleanor Burns Tent sale in Paducah KY. I stood in line over an hour to get that piece of fabric cut so I guess its worth it .