Workshop for Charity

Wednesday's meeting on Feb 21 was a workshop day, so there was no business meeting, only the mini raffle and a little Show and Tell. 

We all loved Ann's pieced bunny that she made for the Area 4 meeting in April. She used a pattern from Thomas Quilting called 'Little Bunny Cottontail'. Love the little eye!

And Leanne, who loves her paper piecing, made a gorgeous green and gold quilt using blocks from Carol Doak's online block of the month and blocks from Carol Doak's book, Sixty Fabulous Paper Pieced Stars. 

Wednesday's workshop was scheduled as a charity sew day. Ann conducted the workshop using a pattern from Villa Rosa Designs called 'The Lady', a jelly roll friendly pattern. It's a fast pattern to put together. 

Ann used batiks in oranges and golds for hers.

 

Several members worked on projects of their own. Meliss made her Lady quilt at home and brought it in to show us. She followed the basic pattern but made it her own by varying the widths of her strips and assembling vertical rows with no match points. Hers is all made from scraps in a controlled color scheme. 

Two other tops were completed during the workshop. I'm sorry that I forgot who the first person was, but this is SandiH's. She still has to add top and bottom border sections. Beautiful!

I'm looking forward to seeing how these quilts look in all the different color combinations I saw during the workshop.

We're not just here for the snacks, you know

"Breakfast of Champions"

Carol knows how to start the day off right!

A bright and lively quilt from Carol. 

Anne is wearing an intarsia knit sweater from a vintage Kaffe Fassett 1984 pattern. The pattern was republished in the 40th anniversary edition of Vogue Knitting Magazine in 2022. Knit by Kate LaMontagne using her own yarns and randomly knit colors. 

Both Anne and Donna are wearing dresses made by Kate. They look happy, don't they? 

 

Elly used homespun fabrics to piece this large quilt. Elly did not like it but the rest of us certainly did! The pattern is called Star Gazing, from Bonnie Hunter's Scraps and Shirttails book.

This one is more Elly's style and colors. "Glow in the Dark" from George Siciliano. 

"Take me to your leader!"

Well, maybe not. Elly says this is a brand new toilet bowl brush. Can you guess what she uses it for? She swishes it over her design wall to remove threads. Ha!

Here's me with a funny look on my face...sigh. My quilt is called Baxter, my own design. When our kids were little we went to Baxter State Park every summer. I used a photo transfer to capture memories of happy days in the woods and on the water. 

Sherry used 1930s fabrics from her stash to create these wonky pinwheels. So pretty. 

"Celestial Stars" made by Leanne. We hope she enters this beauty in the PTQG quilt show this summer. Fantastic piecing and colors! Pattern by Linda MeGibbon, Lakeview Quilting, foundation piecing. 

Leanne showed us this vintage quilt top from her mother. Embroidered and pieced. 

We think this piece was meant to be used as a doily. More vintage embroidery from Leanne. 

Oh, how I love this quilt! Diane made it from a pattern-Tree of Life from The Rabbit Factory. So charming. 

Sue says this purple and gold quilt is called :"RST2 (Right Sides Together Squared" from 3 Dudes Quilting. 

Sue made a wonky pinwheel block for this colorful quilt. Kathy B showed us how to do this at an earlier meeting. 

Sue has been busy! She decided to finish up this "disappearing sampler" following the guidance of Brita Nelson on YouTube. 

Susan showed us several quilt tops she made. This blue top is made with jelly roll strips. 

Susan said her quilts use up scraps and several of these were free patterns found online. She based her Chinese Coin quilt on a quilt made by Ruth Swasey in 1987. A traditional design. 

This little quilt top was made using a pattern from Dots 'n Tots called Framed Bow Ties. 

And this one is the Staggered Strip Quilt from The Quilting Compound. 

Kat has been making quilts for the children and grandchildren of a family member who died recently. It is a big family so she has plenty of quilting time ahead. Kat's family will be very grateful for her kindness. 

Barb said she made this cheery wall hanging some time ago and always thought she would write up a pattern for her design which includes a 3D Dresden Plate. Well, as with many of our plans, life gets in the way and the little quilt top remained unfinished. Recently,  Barb pulled out the unfinished pieces and finished her project. No pattern but a lovely design!

"Scalloped Garden" from Thimbleberries is another old UFO that Barb finished. The scallop border is fused and sewn with a machine blanket stitch. 

Kathy made a quilt out of vintage fans. What a great design!

Elly showed us how to use striped fabric to make interesting blocks. Kathy made this geometric wonder using that technique. 

Kathy made another quilt using vintage blocks, this time the blocks were from "someone's Aunt". Well, Auntie would be happy to see this pretty little quilt, don't you think?

Kathy used the Granny Square quilt top for this colorful quilt. 

Kathy shows off her "favorite" scraps which are 2 1/2 x 4 1/5 in this quilt. . We've seen many colorful variations from those scraps by Kathy over the years. She is our Scrap Queen!

Betty closes our Show and Tell with this quilt. She got the pattern from The Fabric Cafe's 3 Yard Wonder books. 

Until next time, keep on stitch'n!

Custard Recipe

From SueR -- A couple people asked for the recipe for the custard I had for refreshments at the Feb 7 meeting. Here it is.

4 - 6 eggs*
½ cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon salt, optional
3 cups low-fat milk, heated until very hot but not boiling
Ground nutmeg or cinnamon for garnish, optional

* The amount of eggs used can vary according to your needs. When I make the custard for dessert, I use 4 eggs. When making for breakfast, I increase the recipe to 6 eggs. 

* The directions below are for 6 custard cups. I use a souffle dish for a one-bowl custard. I lightly butter the souffle dish and place it in a large Corningware casserole dish for the water bath. I do not heat the water for the water bath, I just use hot water out of the tap. I cook the custard at 350 degrees for about an hour. Check it after about 50 minutes. If the custard is set and the center jiggles a little, I take it out.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter (or use non-fat vegetable spray) six 6-ounce custard cups and set them into a large glass baking dish.

In a large bowl, beat eggs slightly; add sugar, vanilla extract, and salt, and beat until dissolved. Mix in hot milk until blended. Pour egg mixture into prepared custard cups. Sprinkle with nutmeg or cinnamon.

Bring the water for the water bath to a light simmer on top of the stove; carefully pour hot water into the baking dish to come half way up the sides of the custard cups. NOTE: The most common mistake people make in baking custard is not putting enough water in the hot-water bath. The water should come up to the level of the custard inside the cups. You must protect your custard from the heat. Carefully pour hot water into the baking pan to come halfway up the sides of the custard cups.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until set around the edges but still loose in the center. The cooking time will depend largely on the size of the custard cup you are using, but begin checking at 20 minutes and check back regularly. When the center of the custard is just set, it will jiggle a little when shaken, that's when you can remove it from the oven. Remove from oven and immediately remove cups from water bath; cool on wire rack until room temperature. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.

Makes 6 servings.