November 2016

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  

We had a great time at quilt club today.  Three of us were working on our first clue for Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt "En Provence".  They were Rhonda, Patty and me.  Linda was working on her wedding quilt and Sheree was working on her round robin quilt.

On to show and tell.  You can tell we have had some busy quilters this past month or two.

This is my Baby Bovine quilt that I made for a friend who shows cows.  She had her baby early, by about a month.  He is already here and was due after Christmas.

 Linda has made great progress on her round robin quilt.  She followed Patty's lead and did every other block for the last round so far.  We all love it!

This is a really nice picture of you Linda!  She made her wreath pillow two wreaths.  She did the quilting herself.  It turned out great!

A few years ago, the club made snowmen quilts as a group.  Linda decided to turn hers into a table runner for now and then is planning on cutting it in half and making two pillow from it.  She did the embroidery on her machine and it turned out quite cute.

 Linda also made some cute cupcake aprons for her granddaughter and a friend.

 This is a very nice memory quilt Linda made with flannel shirts from a friend's grandfather.  This pattern really showcased the shirt fabrics nicely.  She has two more to do.

 Here is the wedding quilt Linda is working on for her niece?  This picture doesn't do it justice.  It is absolutely beautiful.  Thank goodness for show and tell as two turned blocks were discovered.  Linda learned how to unsew and fix these.

 This is Patty's quilt that she made with left over fabric from the commissioned quilt that she made.  This will have flannel as the backing and will be for her husband.  She used a MSQ pattern to make it.  Great job Patty!

 Rhonda's Texas quilt is almost finished.  It just needs to have the binding sewn on the back.  We all loved this one too.  This goes to a friend of hers from TX living up North.

 Rhonda made this quilt with children's specialty fabrics and a Moda's Bake Shop pattern.  I think this is the pattern she used.

 Rhonda's round robin top is finished.  It finished quite large and looks so pretty.  I notice the colors repeating in her rows that help tie it all together.  I can't wait to see all of them together.  Patty's are both quilted and I think on is also bound already.

 This is a Burst Block that Rhonda made to test out the template from MSQ.  Here is a link to what the pattern looks like put together.  Pretty cool.  Rhonda is planning on making this in  primary colors.

 Sheree brought some show and tells.  This is a baby quilt that she made.  Do you recognize some of those blocks?  This is adorable.

 Sheree is almost ready for Christmas!  She bought the panel and fabrics for this on our last shop hop.  This is so pretty.

 This is Sheree's last shop hop Christmas panel quilt.  She had to search online for the border fabric and found enough to make this border.  This is a  really  sweet quilt.

Rhonda made a delicious Cream of Crab soup for us and will share the recipe.

3 cans potato soup
1 can cream of mushroom
1 can cream of celery or asparagus
1 quart half and half
1 pound crab meat
Old bay seasoning to taste

Mix all ingredients in crockpot and heat.  Serve with oyster crackers.



I brought some crackers and was asked for the recipe.  Here is the recipe for that.

 I used the dill dip instead of the salad dressing mix, so I didn't add dill.  I also added gold fish.  I think I over baked them because my temp was 350 for about 20 minutes.

HIDDEN VALLEY OYSTER CRACKERS

Ingredients

• 2½ tablespoons freshly chopped dill (or 1 teaspoon dried)
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 16-oz. box oyster crackers
• 1 1-oz. packet Hidden Valley® Original Ranch® Salad Dressing & Seasoning Mix
• ¼ teaspoon lemon pepper (optional), and/or garlic powder

Directions

1. 1. Preheat the oven to 250°F.
2. 2. In a small bowl, add the oil, Hidden Valley® Original Ranch® Salad Dressing & Seasoning Mix, dill, and lemon pepper and/or garlic powder. Stir until mixed through.
3. 3. In a 1-gallon-size Glad® Zipper Bag, add the crackers and oil mixture.
4. 4. Seal the bag and toss until well-coated.
5. 5. Arrange the crackers on an ungreased half-sheet pan in a single layer.
6. 6. Bake the crackers for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden.

Our next meeting will be January 28, 2017.

I hope everyone has a very Merry and Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!

November Shop Hop

After a chilly start, we all met up at Shady Maple for a breakfast buffet.  We schemed about our Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt and got to know each other a little bit better.  On the left side of the photo are Doris and Deb in the front and Marie and Deb in the back. I think maybe we shouldn't have stood in front of a bright window?

 Cathy had a great suggestion during breakfast about the blog.  Supposedly whatever is on the internet is on it forever, but we might not have access to it forever.  She suggested that the blog be printed out and saved in paper form.  Is anyone up for that?

With such a large group, (and we would have been larger if Deb, Peggy and Patty had been able to make it-I hope you are all feeling better quickly) we had some miscommunication going on.  It all worked out in the end though.

Linda and I proceeded to Good's and bought fabric for our mystery quilt.  The rest of the group went to Zinck's (which used to be Goodville) and loaded up on goodies.  From there we went to Obie's so Quilting 4 All could get to experience that.  I didn't get to hear their feedback, so if they would like to comment, that would be great.

We followed Rhonda's itinerary pretty well from here on out.  We went to Kitchen Kettle Village and a lot of shopping happened at Zooks.  From there we went to Old Country Store.  Some of the group were getting hungry again at this point so they searched the Village for something to eat.

Our last stop was the Log Cabin Quilt Shop.  This was a first for some of us.  They had some of everything here-quilts, fabrics, patterns, crafts, etc.

Then it was time to say good bye.

I think we will plan more adventures with Quilting 4 All.  We all had a great time!  Thanks for joining us Q4A!  We look forward to more sewing and shopping with you!

If anyone has pictures they would like to share, I will upload them to the blog.

Hope everyone is well for our next meeting on 11/26!

October 2016

Wow-a lot has been going on with our members.  I hope for a speedy recovery for all of you.  Rhonda, Peggy and Sheree all had surgery since last time.  Peggy had two surgeries.  Rhonda will be going to Sue for some physical therapy next week.  Good luck with that.

Rhonda was able to host quilt club in spite of her recent surgery and we thank her for that.  She was even sewing, but did tire easily.

Show and tell didn't have too many participants this time.  :(  I know I was in a slump of sorts, though I did finish the batik quilt I was working on.)

Sue is making progress on her medallion quilt.  I love the red, white and blue theme.  I really like all of our quilts with all of our different interpretations and color schemes.

 Patty's breast cancer quilt is finished.  If you look closely you can see Rhonda's pink quilting on it.  This turned out very nice.

 And Patty's owl quilt is finished.  She had a nice warm flannel used for the backing.

Cathy's "God's Greatest Gift" quilt is finished.  Very nice.

  Cathy's Disney Signature quilt is finished too.  I think she said this one took three years to finally get finished?  Samantha is going to love it!

  And that is all the show and tell for this month.

Our food was delicious, as usual.  We had beef barbeque, veggie tray, pumpkin roll, another veggie salad, potato salad and Garlic, Herb and Nut cheese spread with sweet potato and roasted onion Triscuits.  I had a request for the recipe, and being the lazy blogger that I am, I took a picture of the recipe from the back of the box. It was easy to make and surprisingly good.

Thank you to Patty for getting us all paint chips for Bonnie Hunter's next mystery quilt.  Now we have an idea of what we will need to buy on our Christmas shop hop next Saturday.

On November 5th some of us will meet at the Galleria around 8:30-8:45 to go to Lancaster.  We will meet up with the rest of our group at Shady Maple.  There we will also meet up with Rhonda's friends from New York.  (Did they ever name their club?)  We will start out with breakfast there.  Rhonda wants to make sure her friends get to see Obies.  We will probably hit Goods and Kitchen Kettle,  Burkholders was mentioned.  Hopefully the weather holds out and we have another beautiful day to shop hop.  Details will follow in emails.

We will have quilt club the Saturday after Thanksgiving-November 26th.  I hope everyone has recuperated and will be able to get there.  The first clue will be out for the mystery quilt by then-how many are on board to make this?  I think Patty, Pam, Rhonda, and Cathy are in so far.  

 See most of you soon!  

September 2016

It is a beautiful day for out last quilt club of the Summer.  Technically it is the first one for Fall, but it felt like a lovely Summer day and I for one get sad to see Summer turn into Fall, so I am going to call it Summer.

The first picture is of the Featherweight quilters!  We now have three in our little group.  We are working on little triangle bags that Rhonda kitted up for us.  

They turned out really cute and were pretty easy to make, zipper and all.  Rhonda led us in this make and take, basing the pouches on Crafty Gemini's tutorial.  

 I took multiple pictures because I was afraid you wouldn't be able to see how cute they are and their shape.  My assistant, Sue, is  holding them on this thread arm!  LOL

In addition to the little bags, some of us were working on our Round Robins.  Rhonda has given us until January to get them completed.  That met with a round of laughter!

We did show and tell after lunch today.  This is Rhonda's Penn State Beach bag.

 Here is a little calf pillow I made.

This is a Bonnie Hunter pattern that I made from batiks for one of my daughter's friends.

 Patty has been very busy.  This is a breast cancer top she made.

And an owl top for her daughter.

 This cute picture or Patty includes her Christmas pillow that she finished.  She edged it with red Christmas tree lace.

This Tree of Life quilt is almost finished.  Patty appliqued it for an 80 year old woman and it was sent out to be quilted.  I think Patty said before it had 800 applique pieces?   Now Rhonda's elderly aunt will finish the binding for it.  How old is your aunt Rhonda?

Here is a king size quilt that Patty was commissioned to make.  She had this one custom quilted by a lady in Missouri.  Stunning!

This is a close up of some of the free hand quilting.  This color is a little more true to the actual color of the background fabric.  It was really nice to see this amazing work.

Here are a couple of virtual show and tells.  This is a wine bag and coasters that Peggy made.  I think she is making these for Christmas presents.

This is the beach bag that I made with the vinyl and webbing Rhonda bought for us.

We had some great food again.  Stuffed pepper soup by Peggy,  Hot Wiener Sandwiches by Deb, Patty brought Antipasti salad, Sue brought some decadent cookies from Philadelphia, chips and beverages.  Deb provided the recipe for the sandwiches.  This is from the 70's that she got from a college roommate's mom.  

Next month, October, we will be meeting on the 29th.  

Then on November 5th, we will be doing our annual Christmas shop hop in Lancaster.  We will be meeting up with another quilt club there.  Have they given themselves a name Rhonda?  I am thinking they are from New York, but I may be totally wrong about that.  This club is kind of an offshoot of our club because Rhonda mentored a friend in her quilting, much like she did many of us, and then they created their own club.  

Enjoy these last few weeks of warm weather!!!

August 2016

It was a hot day in August today.  I for one am loving this heat.  I get sad at the though of summer being almost over.

There was some sad news for us today, from Sue.  Her husband suffered a heart attack this week.  He got a stent put in and is back home, but Sue is having to keep guard over him to keep him from over exerting himself too soon.  We all hope for a speedy recovery for Jim.

Cathy wasn't with us today due to a pulled muscle in her back.  We hope for a speedy recovery for you too Cathy.  

I think Deb had been nursing her husband too after knee replacement surgery. 

I hope we don't have a lot more of these health concerns in our blog, but unfortunately we are all getting older.  :(

On to show and tell.  Up first are two of the Christmas pillows.  Peggy decided to make hers poinsettias.  Aren't they pretty?

Rhonda finished hers, with wreaths, bows and buttons.  Now I am more motivated to finish mine.  How about you?

We have two rounds to go on out round robins.  At the end I will show Deb's block for her round.  This is Rhonda's.

Pam's

Sheree's

And Peggy's

Peggy got a Featherweight!  This is the quilt top that she made to test the machine out.  It is a MSQ pattern.

Peggy made a simple Christmas tree wall hanging.  Simple and pretty.

 On the back, she sewed two corner pockets for a dowel rod so it can be hung.  I think this is more suitable for small quilts.  I wouldn't suggest this for a quilt much larger than Peggy's Christmas tree.

 Patty made this string quilt, using muslin squares.  It is a really fun and pretty string quilt.

 This is my convoy quilt that I made for my grandson Josiah's 3rd birthday.

 On the back I used this cute Paw Patrol fabric that Cathy gave me.

 Peggy crocheted this shrug for her relative who works at a cemetery?  Did I get that right Peggy?  It was a square that she folded and sewed arms in it.

 Peggy brought two make and take projects along with her, and we didn't get to them this time.  Linda did make a wine glass stem coaster though and she and Peggy will be able to show us how to make them next time, maybe.

 The other make and take was this bowl cover.  The fabric was adorable and we all want to make some of our own.

 This is a clever, matching casserole carrier.

 This is one of three memory quilts that Linda is working on.

Rhonda just sent me this quilt to add to the blog.  It had already been gifted to Griffin for his 4th birthday.  He is still a Thomas the Train fan.

 Here is Deb's block.  It will look like a circle when sewn into the quilt.  I will really have to try to figure out my colors on this round to pull my quilt together.  Deb used 2 1/2 inch squares and then the tri rec ruler for the half squares.

Patty is doing the final round.  She is doing a simple piano key boarder, so you may make it as large or as small as you would like.  These quilts are getting pretty large,

We had chicken enchiladas for lunch today, along with salad, chips and dip, strawberries, cookies, and cake.

Next month we will be meeting on the 24th of September.

Looking forward, on November 5, we will be meeting up with another quilt club in Lancaster for our annual Christmas Shop Hop.  This new quilt club is a group that Rhonda mentored.  A friend of hers from New York got it started.  I think they are looking for a name for the quilt club-how about Cloverleaf Sisters?  Just kidding.

I hope everyone has a great rest of the summer!!