Sewing with Silk at Red Rose Quilt Guild

I really love teaching workshops.  I get to meet the nicest women

 and often times I learn something too.

 

Look what they did with these bed risers

Now the table is the perfect height for either ironing or cutting.

They told me Walmart - $10.00!

Today's workshop was called Sewing With Silk and I teach how to make dupioni silk as easy to work with as cotton.  During the class, everyone makes a whole lot of half square triangles  from 6 fat quarters and chooses a layout.

They can use my suggestions or design their own.

 

Sue was working on the layout above

 and then decided she liked the zig zag better.

Some people do their own thing.

If any of you visited Bitty Kinna's Quilt Shop in Intercourse, you'll recognize Gina on the right.

She misses the shop and all the wonderful friends she made.

If you would like to take this workshop with me, give your quilt guild workshop chair the link to my website and workshop description.  Maybe I'll get to meet you!

Wednesday's Wanderings #43 - Sewing with Bonnie Hunter

Bonnie Hunter is our guest speaker at my quilt guild this month.  She is the Queen of scrap quilts.  You have to visit her website, www.Quiltville.com .  It is chock full of free tips and patterns. But, it would be even better, if you want to use up a bunch of fabric or scraps, to take a workshop with her. 

Yesterday, I took her Scrappy Bargello workshop. 

 You can see the quilt here.

For weeks before the wokshop, I would look at my stash to decide what type of colors I wanted to use. I waivered back and forth between modern, clear colors or neutral batiks or blue and white. 

 This past weekend I decided to use a bunch of fabric that I have been saving since 1996.  When I started designing Judaic  quilt patterns, I thought I needed to have all the Chanukah fabric that was ever printed.  After a while I realized I never used them in any of my designs. 

So this was the perfect opportunity to use up a bunch. 

First I cut out enough fabric to make pillow cases for ConKerr Cancer.  This would be good for any Jewish kids  that were stuck in the hospital during Chanukah.  Then I cut up the left over fabric for my scrappy Bargello quilt.

Bonnie is a tireless quilter.  You can see her quilt in the background of the photo.

This is an easy, full steam ahead type of quilt to sew. 

Here is half of the top that I completed during the workshop:

I can't wait to sew the second half and then try some other scraps.

So my WW is spending a day sewing with Bonnie and then listening to her talk. 

It is hard to see the Bargello design in this mini,

 but it will certainly remind me of what I did this week.

A great way to spend part of my week.

Kent County Quilters

It all started with a pot luck dinner with a group of members at the home of the quilt guild's Program Chairperson. The food was delicious, and the women were all so nice and friendly. (I was staying at the home of a good friend of mine who had actually referred me to this guild. But the crazy girl slipped down the steps a couple of hours before my arrival and the doctors decided to keep her overnight for observation.) There was one dish that was so unusual and tasty that I just had to ask for the recipe. Eleanor was kind enough to share it with me. What a great dish for a warm summer's night. Thank you Eleanor.

KLING HOUSE CHILLED STRAWBERRY SOUP

24 Oz. Frozen Whole Strawberries w/syrup, thawed. ( I used sliced)
2 1/2 c. Water
3/4 c Sugar
3 T. Cornstarch
3 T. Water
1/3 c. Lemon Juice

2 1/2 c. Sour Cream ( I used Lite)
1 1/3 c. Milk ( I used 2%)
1 1/2 t. ground Cloves
1 1/2 t. Nutmeg
1/2 t. Cinnamon

Sliced Almonds for Garnish.

Drain Fruit, reserve liquid. Combine sugar, water, syrup & spices. Bring to boil and simmer 5 min.

Mix cornstarch & 3 T. Water; add lemon juice and add to spiced mixture.

Bring to boil; boil 1 minute. Cool to room Temp.

Blend in sour cream, strawberries, milk with spiced mixture.
Chill thoroughly.

Garnish with sliced strawberries.

Makes 8 generous servings.

The meeting took place in Chestertown, MD on Monday night. I talked about the many ways to put text on quilts, how the computer is a wonderful design aid and how to make story blocks. The next day was a workshop. It was a project to learn about using the computer for putting words and images on fabric and I also shared how I make my embellished edges. On the left are 2 samples of the project. It was a hands on learning experience as the participants were trying to match their fabric choices to their photo. My samples, couldn't have used 2 more different fabrics with the same photo. This was a great teaching tool.

We all really had a great time. Photos of a family trip to France, a cat named Sarah, a greyhound, a bride and groom in Napa, 2 rescue dogs, a family party and a family fishing trip were framed and embellished with many different types of fabric. The ladies all learned so much and I felt that I left Maryland with a whole new group of friends. I hope that they will make friends with their computers as new design aids.