Sew'n Wild Oaks Class is in Session

 

Hello Everyone,

 

The classroom was full at In Between Stitches yesterday with my Sew'n Wild Oaks Wild Women.  Some fantastic quilts are appearing on the design walls the 2nd Tuesday of every month.  Here are Barbara's blocks for Minglewood.  These are her last four blocks in the gorgeous quilt! You'll be seeing her sashing next month.

 

Suzie is making baskets for Buttonwood. This is going to be the perfect summer quilt in her red, white, blue and yellow fabrics.

Embellishment Evelynne added absolutely the cutest touches to her marionette for Toyland Tree.

Just look at his little knees!  So realistic.  (I wish I'd thought to do that on my quilt!)

Isabelle has a pile, I mean a large pile of beautiful Minglewood blocks and sashings.

She was very organized and used the design wall to display her blocks and attach the sashings.  This is going to be spectacular!

I'm going to rename Kaye to Kristmas Kaye.  She said she could work on Christmas projects all year long.  Here, she is making her own patchwork fabric from my Mittens With Moxie pattern.

More patchwork in the making.

Marti's Chelsea Cottage by Blackbird Designs is coming along beautifully.  Just two more blocks and she's ready for the applique section.  I love her colors.

Cindy is going on a road trip and preparing her swags for Toyland Tree in advance for some stitching time in the car.  That's one of the reasons I love to applique, it's just so portable.

Gail is almost halfway done with her Country Charmer blocks.  Just feast your eyes on all the plaids and fussy cut centers!  Great attention to detail makes for a spectacular finish.

Susan is working on Butterscotch Baskets....but I think we will rename her quilt to Baskets of Roses. I'm so excited for Susan.  She's new to quilting and just look what she's accomplishing.  This is going to be such a wonderful gift for her daughter.

I snuck in a sneak peak of the design wall with Suzie's Buttonwood and my new fall design.  I left my flying geese at home, but trust me, there will be lots of geese circling this quilt, ready to fly south.

So there you have it, many, many beautiful quilts in the making.  Like I always say, "You girls rock!"

Soon,
Lynn

Sew Knotty Quilters Part Two

Hello Everyone,

 

The quilt parade is brought to you by the following, talented, funny, delightful group of women, The Sew Knotty Quilters.  Front row, Elaine, Paula, Evelynne, Me, Melody, Nancy, Gail, Barbara and Peggy. Diana & Carol were part of the group, but they were not with us at Lake Alpine Saturday night.

 

Yesterday morning we had our quilt parade.  Gail and Barbara brought their Butterscotch Basket quilts to the retreat.  Gail is ready for her borders and Barbara's quilt is ready for the quilter. Aren't they something!

Melody finished the quilt on the left from her granddaughter.  Barbara finished her Anna's Mountain quilt by Denise Sheehan. Melody almost finished her throw quilt on the right, a Thimbleberrie design.

The girls were clowning around displaying Paula's finished hexies. (They didn't drape too well over the railing!)

Elaine graciously offered to model the hexies which I promptly named Paula's Pasties!

Here's the closeup.

 

Peggy learned how to make double flying geese for a Nostalgic Pillow.

 



Nancy designed a strawberry dipped in chocolate for the center of her Nostalgic Pillow.

 

Evelynne, the queen of bling, showed us her mailbox for Party in the Garden.  Her embroidery and embellishments are top notch.

Diana worked on her little teddy for Toyland Tree.  So sweet, the bear and Diana.

There goes Elaine, using her chest as a design board again!  She finished some wonderful blocks for her Country Charmer quilt.

Peggy worked on her Summer's Blush/Winter's Warmth quilt.  She is now an expert  when it comes to attaching borders.

Gail worked on her Country Charmer and displayed two of her six blocks.  She's well on her way to a beautiful quilt.

 

Paula showed us her wonderful house for Party in the Garden. 

 



We ate our breakfast and enjoyed our last morning together chatting and sharing out on the deck. 

Whenever anyone finished a block, or a significant section of a quilt, they ran over and rang the cow bell.  That bell was kept busy over the weekend.

 

 

Here are some random shots of us on Saturday.  We escaped the relentless, scorching heat and drove north and viewed the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness area on our way to Lake Alpine.  Now I'm quoting Elaine here, "We are a skosh more refined than the Calendar Girls!"  Again, one of our many memorable moments.

 

Our destination was dinner at Lake Alpine Resort.

We said our goodbyes, yesterday morning and went back to our normal life.  We'll wait for our ship to come in so we can buy more fabric at In Between Stitches!



Thank you, thank you, thank you all for making our first annual retreat at Wilder's Last Resort such an enjoyable time.  You ladies are absolutely the best sports!  I never once heard a negative peep from anyone regarding the horribly hot weather and our lack of air conditioning.  You were delightful the whole time.  Memories were made, stories and laughter rang throughout the cabin.  Did I mention the food????........we are all dieting this week.  I'll post more picture and recipes throughout the week.

Soon,
Lynn

P.S. Barbara wanted me to extend a special 'thank you' to all of you for you generosity to Relay for Life.  Barbara is the Survivor Chairman for this very special event on June 22nd in Livermore.  You girls rock in more ways than one!

P.S.S. We have a new way to make coffee that involves a turkey baster!  I can't explain.....you just had to be there.  I know Paula and Gail are laughing while they are reading this.  Mrs. Barnes was cooking again!

The Sew Knotty Quilters

 

Hello Everyone,

 

Well, here we are, getting ready for dinner the day before the retreat.  Melody, Barbara, Evelynne, Elaine and Gail.  One of these days I will come out from behind the camera.

 



We started our meal with warm goat cheese salad.  I'll have to post the recipe at another time since I don't have it in this computer.

Fast forward to breakfast out on the deck this morning.  Almost everyone had arrived, but we didn't wait too long before we dug in.

 

 

We had lots of fresh fruit, croissants, and Orange Coffee Cake.

 



 

Orange Coffee Cake

¾ cup sugar                                                                            

½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1 tablespoon grated orange rind
2 (11 ounce) cans refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese
½ cup melted butter
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
2 tablespoons orange juice

-    Combine sugar, nuts and orange rind in a small bowl.  Separate each biscuit; place a cream cheese square in center of one half, and top with remaining half, pinching sides together.

-     Dip in butter, and dredge in sugar mixture.  Stand each biscuit on edge in a lightly greased 12-cup bundt pan.  Drizzle with remaining butter, and sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture.
-      Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until golden brown.  Immediately invert on a plate.
-      Combine powdered sugar and orange juice and spoon over warm coffee cake.

 

Over breakfast we decided we needed to come with a name for our group.  Barbara came up with Sew Knotty Quilters.....and collectively we decided that was us.  Let the sewing begin!

The kitchen island turned into a great cutting station.

This was a real sweat shop.  It was 99 degrees outside and 86 degrees inside!  The cabin doesn't have air conditioning.....so we quilted, talked and drank lots of water.

 

 

Diana was doing her impersonation of Marilyn Monroe in front of the floor fan!

 



Before we knew it, the time had arrived for appetizers before dinner at Snowflake Lodge.

The marinated cheese was a big hit!

Marinated Cheese

½ cup olive oil

½ cup marinated rice vinegar
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
3 tablespoons minced green onions
1 teaspoon sugar
¾ teaspoon dried basil
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 (2-ounce) jar diced pimiento, drained
1 (8-ounce) block sharp Cheddar cheese, chilled
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, chilled
Garnish:  fresh parsley sprigs

-      Combine first 10 ingredients in a jar; cover tightly, and shake vigorously.  Set marinade aside.

-    Cut block of Cheddar cheese in half lengthwise.  Cut crosswise into ¼-inch thick slices; set aside.  Repeat procedure with cream cheese.  Stand cheese slices on edge in a shallow dish, alternating types of cheese.  Pour marinade over cheese.  Cover and marinate in refrigerator at least 8 hours.
-     Transfer rows of marinated cheese to a serving platter in the same alternating fashion, reserving marinade.  Spoon marinade over cheese slices.  Garnish, if desired
-      Serve with assorted crackers.  Yield:  16 appetizer servings
 

It's about 10:30pm.  It was a great day.  A nice mix of ladies, a nice mix of projects and the food was great.  It is a quilt retreat that turned into an eating retreat!  We did walk 1/4 mile to dinner and 1/4 mile back.....so we got some exercise in, other that talking and quilting.

Tomorrow is day two of the retreat.  Breakfast starts at 9 on the deck while it's still nice and cool.  Join us to see the parade of projects.  Knock on wood.....we didn't blow a fuse!  The happiest part of the retreat for me is the girls are already making plans for another retreat next year.  Same time, same place, same people, different projects.

Soon,
Lynn