May Guild Meeting

New Members

Welcome to our new members! Two of our new members were at our May meeting.

UQSM Winners

Congratulations to our talented members whose quilts won prizes this year at the Utah Quilting and Sewing Marketplace:

Kathy Porter received Viewers' Choice for her quilt Ralph the Rhino.

Kathy Porter's quilt Ralph the Rhino

Karin Crawford received Riley Blake 1st Place for her quilt Sweet Millefiori Meadow, which was quilted by Kim Peterson. 

 Karin Crawford's quilt Sweet Millefiori Meadow

Deonn Stott and Debbie Proctor received the Riley Blake Honorable Mention for their quilt Sweet Quilty Adventures Over the Meadow.

Sweet Quilty Adventures Over the Meadow, a quilt by Deonn Stott and Debbie Proctor

Helen Butler received the Utah's Own 2nd Place for her quilt With All My Heart.

Helen Butler's quilt With All My Heart

Bee Highlight—Piecemakers

Piecemakers is a fun group, and open to new members. It meets in the Springville High School home economics room. Meetings are held the third Thursday of each month, September through May at 7 PM.

At one meeting, they had a fat quarter drawing, a great show & tell time, and a presentation on quilting tips. The group has an ongoing challenge to finish old quilt projects. Drawings are held three times a year to reward one of the lucky quilters who finished a UFO (unfinished object). Then there is a bigger drawing in November to reward those who finish 3 or more old projects during the year. The group is also doing a spool block exchange, with each member making 14 blocks in an assigned color. At the end, each participant will get 14 different colored spool blocks to make into a quilt.

Each year Piecemakers puts on the July 24 outdoor quilt show in the Jones-Hughes Pioneer Park in Spanish Fork, as part of Spanish Fork's Fiesta Days. This is a great community service! For more information on this Bee, please contact the Bee's president Amy Williams.

Show and Tell

 Diane Carn and her Stacked Squares quilt

Diane Carn showed her quilt, Stacked Squares. It was made with the Andover Downton Abbey fabric collection, which she purchased from Craftsy, and it used 1 layer cake, 2 jelly rolls, and some fabric from her stash. This is the first quilt she's quilted on a longarm machine, with help from her sister-in-law, Mary Frances Killpack.

Trish Derrick and her Barbados Bag

Trish Derrick showed her Barbados Bag, a cute yellow, gray, and white bag with different compartments and zippers. She has made one of these bags for each of her girls.

Helena Miskin and her quilt

Helena Miskin showed us a darling tied baby quilt. The fabric has baby Minnie Mouse on it, with black flannel on the back so it's both cute and soft.

Wanda Sump and her Vintage Tin quilt

Wanda Sump showed her Vintage Tin quilt. This was a gift for her husband's 50th birthday. It took her two years to make because it was a surprise for him and he works from home. She tea-dyed the muslin and changed the pattern to personalize it with embroidery of their favorite numbers, nicknames, birthdays, cities they are from, and details from their Route 66 trip. The license plates have their kids' names and birthdates, and the babies they lost. 

Janice Walker and her quilt for LuLu

Janice Walker showed a quilt made from a Missouri Star Quilt Company pattern called Kindred Pinwheels (scroll to the bottom for the supply list and a link for the tutorial). She saw a charm pack online named "Little LuLu, I love you Lu." She had to make a quilt for her granddaughter whose name is Lucy and they call LuLu because she does, indeed, love her little LuLu.

JoAnne Hawks and her Rail Fence quilt

JoAnne Hawks showed her Rail Fence quilt from a free pattern taught by Angela Walters on The Midnight Quilt Show for craftsy.com. All the batik fabrics were from JoAnne's stash.  She had broken her shoulder and was having a hard time not being able to sew. This is the first quilt she made after she could sew again, because she needed something simple while she was still recovering.

Sharon Wright and her Scrappy Stars quilt

Sharon Wright showed us her Scrappy Stars quilt. It is a multi-colored scrap quilt with a wool vine, and quilted with big stitch quilting. She says this represents not a FINE quilt, but a DONE quilt.

Sharon Wright and her Gingerbread Friendship quilt

Sharon Wright also showed her Gingerbread Friendship quilt. This was a fun block exchange with the Utah Quilt Guild consisting of 15 gingerbread boys and girls. Another DONE quilt!

May Program—Round Robin

We had a great group of quilters at our May Round Robin, learning tips for making half square triangles, flying geese, disappearing 9 patches, fidget quilts, and fast kitchen hacks. Thanks to the wonderful teachers and helpers who made our classes successful!

Half Square Triangles and Flying Geese

Machelle Preston taught us about half square triangles and flying geese, some different methods of making them, and different ways to use them in quilts. 

Machelle also shared a pattern for a Half Square Triangle Pouch by Kanako Fukatani (@kanakofukatani) available for free from Craftsy. If you make the bag, you can tag her with #HSTPouch @kanakofukatani on your Facebook or Instagram posts. 

Don't forget the Magic 8 Method for Half-Square Triangles that was shared in our June Patchwords newsletter. This method is by Karen Walker of Craftsy.

Just think of all the possibilities for blocks made with half square triangles! 

Quilt Block Designs by Mark Jason Dominus

Disappearing Nine Patches 

Davidene Zimmerman demonstrated disappearing nine patches using a pinwheel block. A traditional nine patch quilt block is made with nine squares sewn together, then sliced into four parts to create four smaller blocks that look completely different. They can be rearranged in different ways to create different patterns. Starting with a pinwheel block gives a lot more possibilities than the standard traditional nine patch quilt block. Davidene showed some block options, then passed around flannel boards to the guild members to rearrange into the different patterns. Some people even came up with some new configurations.

Fidget Quilts

Mary Killpack talked to us about fidget quilts, and showed some examples and ideas for how to construct them. There are many different ways to make these quilts, but basically they are a mini lap-size quilt about 20×20 inches with different objects sewn on that are tactile and manipulative.

It is estimated that in America over 5 million people are afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease. Although the mechanics of this disease are not fully understood, scientists do know the disease develops in stages with dysfunction in cognitive processes, notably memory loss. As the brain shrinks, due to the disease, those affected become more agitated; developing restless hands, and often “fidget” with medical equipment. To ease this agitation, the fidget quilt was created.  

    Tips for construction

• Fidget quilts can be made as a 9-patch or with a plain piece of fabric. 
• Sew ½″ seams.
• Use a shorter stitch length.
• Zigzag seam edges. 
• Use a heavier needle.
• A walking foot is helpful. 
• Use sturdy and washable decorations.
• Reinforce areas as needed.
• Make a regular quilt sandwich and back with flannel, Minkee, fleece, etc. so it won’t slide off their lap.
• If you're using heavier fabric like denim, twill, or home decor fabrics, you may not need batting.
• Envelope the quilt and stitch around the edges.
• Do some quilting to stabilize the quilt sandwich.
• Picture yourself using the quilt—what would interest you?
• Consider using letter beads for the name of the person.
• Include an envelope pocket with a Velcro flap to put in tissues or little candies.
• Fidget quilts are also useful in foster care, and for kids with autism. 
• Make the quilt gender applicable.
• You can find a lot of examples by searching Google, Etsy, or Pinterest for "fidget quilts" or "fidgety quilts." 

Food Hacks and Tips to Get You Out of the Kitchen Fast!

Maureen and Sarah Yourgensen demonstrated a lot of different food hacks and tips to help us get out of the kitchen fast, so we can get back to what we'd rather be doing—quilting! Here are the tips and a few quick dessert recipes they shared.

• Put ripe avocados in fridge to extend their life
• Putting tomatoes in the fridge can change their flavor. 
• Red peppers are green peppers that were left on the vine longer. They contain more beta carotene. 
• To store lettuce, wash the leaves, dry off or spin, then place in a ziplock bag with a dry or damp paper towel in the bottom and seal to extend the life of the lettuce.
• Put a wooden spoon on top of a pot of boiling potatoes or pasta and it will keep the food from boiling over. 

• Use Glad® Press 'n' Seal in your sewing room! Cut off a strip and wrap around spool of thread to keep ends from unwinding. 
• Use your Kitchen shears to chop herbs, cut canned tomatoes or chilies finer right in the can, or to trim meats. It's much faster than a knife. 
• Shred cooked boneless chicken in a deep bowl with your beaters for enchiladas, salad, etc. So fast! 
• Freeze onions for 8 to 10 minutes or halve and put in a cold water rinse before chopping to keep your eyes from burning. You can also light a match, blow it out & wave it around before cutting your onion. The sulphur from onions makes your eyes burn, but the smoke from the match smoke helps it dissipate. Remember to freeze extra chopped onions for later use. 
• To get rid of the smell from garlic or onions on your hands, rub your hands on a stainless steel spoon under cold water to remove smell or on a cut lemon.
• For brownies or other bar treats, remember to cut them with a PLASTIC knife. Your treats won’t stick to the plastic knife like they would to a metal one. 
• They also demonstrated other kitchen hacks like how to peel kiwis and dice mangos. They also suggested searching for other kitchen hacks or ideas online.

RECIPES
Maureen and Sarah Yourgensen also shared some recipes with us, that you'll find below. Enjoy!

Quick Frozen Citrus Pie 
1 can (6 fl. oz.) lemonade or pink lemonade frozen concentrate 
1 pint vanilla ice cream, softened slightly 
8 oz. Cool Whip Yellow or pink food coloring, if desired 
1 graham cracker pie crust 

Place concentrate in a large mixing bowl and beat about 30 seconds. Gradually spoon in ice cream and blend. Fold in Cool Whip and add food coloring, whipping until smooth. Freeze, if necessary, until mixture will mound. Spoon into pie crust. Freeze until firm, at least 4 hours. Adorn with mint leaves if desired. 

Quick Candy Bar Pie 
Melt one Giant size Symphony chocolate and toffee candy bar (or chocolate candy bar of your choice) in microwave just until melted when stirred. Mix quickly into a 12-oz. tub of Cool Whip until blended well. Mound into a graham cracker or Oreo cookie crust. Grate a chocolate bar or chop another small Symphony bar and sprinkle over the top. Chill well before serving. This is very rich. 

Quick Summer Ice Cream Sandwich Dessert 
In a 9x13 pan, place a layer of ice cream sandwiches (the thinner ones, not Fat Boys), cutting them to fit pan. Drizzle prepared hot fudge and caramel sauces over the top to mostly cover the ice cream sandwiches. Place another layer of sandwiches, cutting to fit pan. Drizzle sauces over the top again. Spread Cool Whip on top and grate a chocolate bar over the Cool Whip. Freeze overnight. When you cut and serve the dessert, no one can tell it’s ice cream sandwiches. They think you slaved over this delicious layer dessert.