Monday night was guild night!

Time for another Guild night Rundown!

First up was our quilt show meeting, We decided that Red & White quilts will be used as decorations in the entryway at this years show, be sure to get started making one now! We would like them to be in the size range of close to 45”x60”. This way the quilts will be close in size to one another for a bit of continuity in the decoration!We received the contract and check from Accomplish Quilting. So that means Representative Tamera B. from The Quilting Station will once again be at the show selling Gammill Quilting Machines this year!

Show Book Add Sales must be turned in to Karen R. by August 15th… NO EXCEPTIONS!

Be sure to bring in your extra fat quarters or yardage and hand them over to Helen M. who will be in charge of collecting the 400+ fat quarters this year. We will purchase fabric if we do not get enough donations from the guild members. Helen would like to get the fat quarters ready to go as soon as possible to save time for more tasks when we get closer to show time!

Michelle B. will be printing sticky tags to put on our Pink gift bags. She has been given the ok to order the tags from Staples and get started!

This years Bed Turning will feature Antique Quilts. If you have a antiques quilt you wouldn’t mind to share at the Bed Turning this year be sure to talk to Rita N., who has agreed to be in charge of the turning again this! Rita would like to have around 15 quilts for the show. Please remember that quilts 50 years or older are considered antiques at our show!

The Guild’s Challenge Quilt project was announced and colors were picked by the members. More info on the challenge can be found here on the blog! 2012 Guild Challenge

Blanketing Effingham With Quilts will take place again this year. Be sure to start thinking about what business you would like to ask to display a quilt in their shop. These quilts will be donated to Project Linus when the show is over, and they WILL BE JUDGED!

Becky H. reported to the group that last year we made, 37 WIC quilts, 263 Linus Quilts, 13 pillow cases, and 116 do-rags all for donation! These numbers include only the ones that were recorded, and we are sure a large number of quilts were missed but great work!

We will be making Red & White Prairie Point Swags to decorate the doorways and entry areas. If anyone has and red and White scraps at least 6” square in size please bring them to a guild meeting and give them to Beth K. or Colette F.

Next month we will have the Entry Forms ready for the show, as well as the show fliers so we can start getting them set to shops, guilds, and our vendors. We would also like to get the dates changed on the large outdoors signs next month at the regular night meeting.

At the regular night Meeting Sue W. showed us this years Raffle Quilt, a Nine patch on Point made from Batik fabrics. Get your money out girls cause this one is a beauty! Sue handed the quilt off to Beth K. for machine quilting.We will be purchasing two boxes (4 rolls) of batting for Project Linus as we are once again out of batting! This means the group and others are making lots of donation quilts, so keep lets it up! last Friday Linus held a sew day at The First Christian Church. With the bad weather and the short notice not many were able to attend. Those that were there pieced a few quilt tops, cut lots of fabric, and bagged up even more quilt kits. Most of the kits that were put together that day were taken home by the ladies attending to finish up and return at next months sew day. Beth K. brought home a large box of sports themed fabric to cut and bag into kits. the kits were available at the guild meeting for anyone who wanted to finish them up. A sign up list was used so we knew who took kits and how many kits they have. Linus has decide that this is a good way to keep track of pre cut kits & fabrics so when things go missing we might be able to find them easier!

The refreshments sign up sheet was passed around, this months hostesses were Karie W. & Beth K. Next month Sharon D. & Irene V. will be the meeting hostesses.
It was decided to go back to having the refreshments at the end of the Program as many people were leaving at after refreshments and not taking part in the programs. Guild members work hard putting a program together and it would be nice if everyone would stay, not talk, and listen up! Sue W., our Program Charman let us know that Lori’s Pins & Needles will be coming to our July meeting for a Trunk show to share with us new quilt market items!

Sharon D. talked to us about having a two day retreat at the Untied Methodist Church in Watson. It would be a Day Retreat meaning we would come in the morning, sew all day, and go home to sleep at night. Any items brought the first day can be left overnight at the church as there is a security system at the church. A Full kitchen is available and The Hanger Restaurant is located not that far away. The dates of February 6-7 were chosen for the retreat and Sharon D. has volunteered to make a soup for the first day of the retreat. Sandwich making items, deserts, and snacks will be needed.

Debra G. Henninger, author of the book “Hobo Quilts” will be coming in July for a lecture on Hobo Quilts and the meanings of the symbols used by the Hobo’s. We will be checking on a room at the KC Hall for the lecture and will be inviting other guilds and the public to attend. Cost of the lecture will be determined at a later time.

The nights program was from Rita N. who gave a quick but informative lecture on Batik fabrics. Lots of samples were available to see and the information was very well received. Thanks Rita for the program!

Rita N. passing around samples of Batik fabric

Show and tell was shared by all, it’s always great to see the amazing quilts the guild members have been making!

Simply Sashed Turning Twenty in Black & White made by Sue W.

Nita's Fat Quarter Linus Challenge Quilt!

Large China Coin Quilt made by Joyce C. for Project Linus!

Joyce also brought along a second Linus Quilt, A Simple Strip Quilt!

A Fat Quarter Linus Challenge Quilt

Tossed Nine Patch made by Ivy M.

Finally the finished Spool quilt from Gwen!

Gwen shared with us her paper pieced Snowflake wall hanging

Next months meeting will be held on February 20th. The show meeting will start at 1:00 and be at St.Johns Church and the regular night meeting will be at 6:30 at The First Christian Church. Hope to see you all there!

Apple Cake!

A few months back, guild member Adice F. shared her Apple Cake with us during break time at a night;y guild meeting. You may remember the tasty caramel topping the cake had! Here is a receipe that is very very close to the same one she shared! The recipe is quite old but I beleve the only difrence is how long you let the apples & sugar set before you make the cake!

Enjoy!

Apple Cake

4c.  Apples, pealed and chopped into very small pieces
2c.  Sugar

- mix the first to ingredients, cover and let set for 1 hour.
- preheat oven to 350 degrees

2          Eggs, beaten
2c.      Flour
2tsp.  Baking Soda
2tbl.  Cinnamon
1c.      Butter
1c.      Chopped Walnuts (optional)

- add EGGS to the APPLES and mix
- Add ALL OTHER INGREDIENTS and blend on medium speed
- Pour into a greased 9″x13″ cake pan
- Bake cake at 350 for 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean

Caramel Topping

1/2c. firm packed Brown Sugar
1/2c. White Sugar
1c. Water
4tbl. Flour

- Mix all ingredients together and cook over a Medium-Low flame until thickened.
- Pour over the cake while both cake & sauce are still hot.

Chocolate Brittle Surprise!

This past Monday the members of the Crossroads Quilters guild had our annual Christmas party! We ate a lot of food, had a gift exchange, and Secret Sisters for the 2011 year were reveled to all. And lets not forget to talk about the White Elephant Auction. This years Auction raised over $300.00 for charity! This year the selected Charity for the White Elephant Auction is The Oblong Children’s Christian Home. I am sure the money will be put to good use!

One of the many treats we sampled was called Chocolate Brittle Surprise. I got the recipe from fellow guild member Gwen O’Dell who could not be with us Monday night. A number of you asked for the recipe so here it is!

Chocolate Brittle Surprise

35 unsalted or low salt saltine crackers
1c. Butter
1c. Packed Brown Sugar
2c. Milk Chocolate Chips (11.5oz. pkg.)
1c. Chopped Pecans (optional)

- Preheat oven to 350degrees
- cover a 10″x15″ cookie sheet with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray
- place crackers on the sheet in rows 5 across & 7 down
- in a large microwave safe bowl, microwave the BUTTER for 2 MINUTES
- add the BROWN SUGAR to the now melted butter and microwave for 2 MINUTES,
stir the sugar, butter mix every 30 SECONDS
the mixture will bubble up so be sure to use a large microwave safe bowl!
- Pour hot mixture over the cracker and back for 17 minutes.
(should bubble NOT burn!)
- remove from oven, and sprinkle with CHOCOLATE CHIPS
once chips melt (2 minutes) spread the chips to cover the top of the crackers
- sprinkle on NUTS, if you wish.
- refrigerate for 1 hour, break into pieces & store in a air tight container.
- brittle can be frozen!

tips from Beth:

- when i melt the butter & sugar i use my large microwave safe 9c.
measuring cup! The spout comes in handy when you pour the mix over
the crackers!
- i place my hot brittle in the freezer to speed things up!
But if you want to put it in your refrigerator be sure to
protect your shelves with a couple of hot pads!

Guild Night October 17th 2011

This past October 17th the members of the Crossroads Quilters Guild meet for a Quilt Show meeting and for our Regular Guild Meeting that same night. At the show meeting we talked about, and started working on a to-do list for the quilt show. We sat down and did our best to list everything that needed to be done for the show and a general date of when said items needed to be started and or completed. I am sure we will be adding more to the list as the year goes on, hopefully by this time next year we will have a completed to-do list for the current members to refer to as well as to pass on to the next quilt show leaders. Other things talked about at the show meeting were possible themes for decorating the display area, changing time of the show, and the entry fee. A show meeting will be held on November 21, 2011, 1:00pm, at  St.Johns Church Effingham. We will be working on finalizing the Entry for for next years show. Any and all guild members are welcome to attend and voice your opinions.

At our regular nightly guild meeting lots of things were talked, debated, and finally agreed upon!

At the Doo-Rag sew day around 10 guild members attended to make doo-rags for donation to our local cancer center. Some members took fabric home to work on and some stayed to sew with the group. Together around 100+ doo-rags were completed! Thanks ladies for all your hard work! If anyone would like to help out by making a doo-rag for donation to the cancer center and is in need of a pattern, ask at the next guild meeting and we will do our best to get one to you.

Joyce C. sharing some of the doo-rags she made at home.

A quick talk about a retreat to the Threads and Beds retreat center in Danville, IL. took place, lots of sewing, giggling, and eating of some great food took place! It sounded like the ladies had another great couple of days together! Threads of Time Quilt Shop can be found on the Web & on Facebook! 

On October 15th a special Project Linus sew day was held in the memory of our late guild member Geri G. A good turn out of guild members were there to represent our group, and around 28 completed quilts were turned in. These quilts were labeled not only with the Project Linus labels but with a special label for Geri as well. Geri’s family were not able to attend due to family obligations but have said they would like to attend another sew day to help out. Project Linus was a organization that was very rooted in Geri’s heart and she supported it in any way she could. If you were not able to attend the special sew day but would like to donate a quilt in Geri’s memory, juct complete a quilt and turn it in at our next guild meeting letting Project Linus chairman Sharon S. know the quilt is being donated in the memory of Geri G.

For our December meeting/Christmas Party, a speaker has been scheduled to entertain us, Debra G. Henninger owner of three Illinois quilt shops and author of the book ”Hobo Quilts“. She will talk about the Hobo life and the symbols that are claimed to have been used along the Hobo’s trails.  A video from the tv show “Sewing with Nancy“ featuring Debra can bee seen here: http://video.iptv.org/video/1539400096  Also during the December meeting our annual White Elephant Sale will take place, so please start thinking about bringing any of your new or gently used items to the December meeting to donate for the auction. Money raised from the auction will be donated to a local charity so bring some great items, bid often, and bid a lot! A catered dinner will also take place. Due to the busy schedule for our December meeting a slightly earlier start time of 6:00pm has been decided upon so we have time to fit everything in!. (i could not find a website for Debra H., if anyone has this info can you please leave it in a comment to this post?! thanks!)

The guild challenge for next year was talked over for just a few minutes, with a promise of a informational handout and sign up list at our November meeting. Next years challenge project will indeed be a true challenge so get ready to think and work hard! If you sign up to participate the due date for completion will be… the 2012 quilt show! This past year we had a very nice display of challenge items and it would be great if we could have another large turnout of guild members quilting skills on display in 2012!

A short break for refreshments, provided by Adice F.and Connie T. (thanks girls!) and then on to the nights nights program!

Carol B. was once again in charge of the nights program. She hared with us a method to add piping to quilt binding totally by machine. She showed us a couple of handouts and one of her videos, the method of the video to help teach us worked well as we were all able to see the screen and what was going on. Also oddly enough when the video was going it was the quietest i think i have ever heard it at a guild meeting! If you need or want some more help on the program given, talk  to Carol B. at our next guild meeting!

Carol B. sharing with us the nights program on a Piped Binding

Closeup of Carol B.'s first attempt at the Piped Binding!

A couple of Guild members shared some projects during the nights Show And Tell!

Marilyn S. (right) showed us her quilt that she has been working on for a "few" years now!

Joyce C. (hiding behind her quilt!) showing one of many Donation quilts she finished!

Remember, Guild sew day at The First Christian Church is held the 2nd Tuesday of each month from 9:00am to 3:00pm. Feel free to bring your lunch with you or you can leave to get soem lunch at one of the many resturants in town!

The next guild night meeting will take place on November 21st, 6:30pm at The First Christian Church, Effingham. Refreshments will be provided by Karen R., Colette F., and LeAnn S. Harvy G. will be telling us a bit about The Oblong Children’s Christian Home and the nights program will be given by Harvy G. on Crazy Quilting. If you owuld like to take part in doing some hand work you will need to bring along the following supplies:

- a square of flannel at least 14″x14″
- Fabrics to stitch down, any type of fabrics will work well
- Embroidery Hoop
- Embroidery threads
- Embroidery needles
- Sewing Needles
- Sewing thread