STRING QUILT

Our September block of the month was so simple and fun. Thanks to everyone who made a set of blocks. In case you missed it the directions are as easy as covering an 8-1/2" x 11" piece of paper with strips of fabric of various widths and angles. We each used bright strips and made two blocks - one vertically and another one horizontally. Sew with a small stitch (press as you go) and when the paper is covered you're done sewing. Trim block to paper size then remove papers. We used bright fabrics with black/white prints to give it some zip!

Before and after trimming. 

We received a nice stack of blocks at our October meeting, so it appears most everyone enjoyed making these blocks and I had fun sewing them together. The rectangular shape is rather interesting to work with and alternating blocks like this made a nice size for a veteran.

 

I thought all this wildness needed taming so I added a border. After auditioning several fabrics decided on a dark fabric that reads like a solid, so it doesn't complete with the activity going on within the blocks.

 

Close-up showing 3"  border

 

Now with the borders added it looks like this:

 Veteran Quilt approx. 48"- 63"

 

We have 16 blocks that were not used in this quilt, and they are begging to be joined with more blocks, so if you made blocks and didn't get them to the meeting, or didn't make blocks, there's still time.

 

The blocks for the second quilt have a lot of PINK in them, so you might want to keep that in mind as you make more blocks. 

Stacks of leftover blocks (16) 

 

Happy sewing everyone!

 

 

 

 

Batting for charity quilts

In our meeting this week we had a long discussion about the batting that we buy for the veteran's quilts and whether we wanted to use that batting for other charity quilt projects. After discussion we decided that we would keep the king size rolls of batting specifically for veteran's quilts and would purchase a queen size roll (30 yards) to use for other charity quilts. We will see how it goes with one roll and make decisions about purchasing more batting as needed.

I was authorized to go to Virginia Longarm to purchase a roll of batting and did that today. They were out of stock of the queen rolls but when I told them what it was for they offered us an "irregular" roll for FREE! I don't know what's wrong with it. It might have some holes or some thin areas but I'm sure there's plenty of good sections for us to get a lot of charity quilts!

If you need batting for charity quilts just send me a message before a meeting (like at least a day before) and I'll cut the batting and bring it to the meeting for you.

If you happen to be at Virginia Longarm to drop off or pick up a quilt please thank them for their generous donation and support!

About quilting. I will continue to quilt the veteran's quilts that are withing the 48 x 60 size range. I'm not able to quilt any other quilts. I'll start taking veteran's quilts again in January so if you are working on quilt tops please hold them until the January meeting!

Thanks,
Vicki

APPLESAUCE COOKIES WITH CARAMEL FROSTING

INGREDIENTS

APPLESAUCE COOKIES

·                   2 cups sugar

·                   1 cup shortening

·                   2 eggs

·                   2 cups applesauce

·                   4 cups flour

·                   2 tsp. baking soda

·                   2 tsp. baking powder

·                   1 tsp. cinnamon

·                   ½ tsp. cloves

CARAMEL FROSTING

·                   6 Tbsp. butter

·                   ½ cup heavy cream

·                   1 cup packed brown sugar

·                   2 tsp. vanilla

·                   2 cups powdered sugar

INSTRUCTIONS 

Cookies

1.          Preheat oven to 375 F

2.          In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and cloves. Set aside.

3.          Cream sugar and shortening together.

4.          Add eggs and applesauce and mix well.

5.          Add in dry ingredients and mix until well incorporated.

6.          Drop small spoonfuls of batter on greased cookie sheet.

7.          Bake at 375 F for 8-10 minutes.

8.          While cookies are cooling, prepare frosting.

Caramel Frosting

1.          In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine butter, heavy cream and brown sugar.

2.          Cook, stirring occasionally until mixture just begins to boil; remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Let cool, then stir in the powdered sugar.

3.          Spread frosting over cookies

FROM CAROLYN MILLS:

Makes about 90 cookies, dropped by full teaspoon.

In my stove, the cookies needed to be baked the full 10 minutes (need to start to brown, since they are so soft).

I cut the ingredients for the Caramel Frosting in half. That was enough to frost all but a few. I didn’t have “heavy cream”, so I used coffee creamer.

I washed & cored mixed kinds of apples (do not peel) and cooked overnight in crook pot. NO INGREDIENTS ADDED. (This is what I now call “fried apples” Husband is diabetic & loves them)

To make the applesauce, I blended “fried apples” until peelings were completely cut 

REMINDER for Oct. Meeting

We will be collecting quilts for veterans at our October 14 meeting.

Please don't forget to bring your quilts and be sure to have the labels sewn on. 

Here are 15 that I've been keeping at my house.

 

Looking forward to seeing everyone at our meeting.

Bring lots of show & tell!

Meeting reminder!

Please bring any complete veteran's quilts to the October meeting.

The program this month is all about quick Christmas gifts to make.....because it's time to get started on those projects even though we will probably wait until December 15th.