Now What Am I Forgetting?

 There are around 12 of us that meet

in a little quilt group in Mesa once a month.

We each sign up to provide lunch 

for our gathering,

and January was my month.

 I knew exactly what I wanted to cook for

 these wonderful ladies.

My friend Cindy Harris

shared a recipe

Thai Coconut Chicken Soup

on her cooking blog

Everyday Insanity

I think I sang out load

the first time I tasted it.

I've made it 3 times in the last month

for various gatherings.

 Yum Yum Yum Yum Yum!

It's a 30 minute meal that is easy to make

with ingredients available in most grocery stores.

You can find the recipe

HERE

on Cindy's blog.

 Because our group meets in a church

I needed to bring everything with me to fix the meal.

I thought I was 

so prepared.

I was ready for 

PRESENTATION!

All of the ingredients were chopped in advance.

I brought every utensil 

I could think of.

But, as I walked out the door,

this little feeling kept popping up.

Now What Am I Forgetting?

I went through my list twice.

Check

Check 

 The Mandarin Orange and Green Salad was all made.

Check

 The Cherry Comfort Bars were baked,

(another delicious recipe from Cindy)

and I even remembered a spatula.

Hmmmm....

That feeling kept pestering away...

The ladies arrived,

chatting happily

 and began commenting on the wonderful smells 

wafting from the kitchen.

I smiled.

I was ready for 

PRESENTATION!

Then I looked down and 

noticed I was still wearing 

my old worn out

frumpy

 house slippers.

(Tell me I'm not the only one who has done this)

Ideal Seam Guide

 I'm always on the lookout for 

new quilting notions

that help with accuracy

while working on a 

project.

 While perusing the Vendor Mall at the

Tucson Quilters Guild Quilt Show

I watched a demonstration

for the

Ideal Seam Guide

and bought a few 

of their products to play with.

 First you start with the 

Ideal Seam Gauge

and drop the needle into the desired 

seam width hole.

I used the 1/4th inch hole for quilting.
*notice they even have a marking for a scant 1/4th inch*

 Next, line the 

Ideal Seam Guide 

vertically next to the Seam Gauge.

Once the Seam Guide is pressed in position, 

the Gauge can be removed.

The Seam Guide has a rubber backing 

that adheres firmly to the sewing table, 

and can be easily removed

by lifting up on the end.

The guide can be repositioned up to 1,000 times!

When the backing gets "linty"

it can be washed with warm soapy water.

The Seam Guide is available in 4 different sizes.  

I purchased the 10", which fits nicely on my machine.

I've been binding a lot of quilts lately,

and the guide has been especially helpful 

with accuracy as I've fed bulky

fabrics along it's edge.

To find out more about the

Ideal Seam Guide

go to 

www.sewverysmooth.com

Nimble Thimbles January Show and Tell

 I always get so many ideas from 

Show and Tell.

It really is one of my favorite parts of attending a guild meeting.

I love to see what others are making

and come home inspired to pull out my fabrics

and get quilting.

Below is a small sampling

from The Nimble Thimbles this month.

 Love this version of a 

Snails Trail

 A great way to use up scraps.

 A fun owl quilt one member made for her grand daughter.

 A baby quilt awaiting the birth of a new grand child.

The names and dates will be filled in on the banners.

When our group first looked at this quilt we wondered if the center

was Broderie Perse,

(a french word for Persian applique)

but it's actually a panel :)

I really liked her use of 16 patch blocks for the inner borders.

Crazy Cow Ladies Quilt

 What do you do if 

your local quilt shop hosts a

Challenge Quilt Contest

and you are given fabric like this to work with?

 Seriously?

All I see are Crazy Cow Ladies 

dressed up in costumes, 

with a smattering of pink ribbons round about.

Odd

  Very odd fabric.

 But if you are 

Connie Keyt

you don't let the fabric limit your imagination.

 Connie can turn the more bizarre fabric

into a work of stunning beauty.

 Cows doing the can-can

become gorgeous ruched flowers.

 Each year Connie buys a few yards 

of her local quilt store's challenge fabric,

like Kitchen Bouquet

 And turns them into the most 

beautiful baskets.

 All hand pieced and hand quilted

 with 3-D flowers

 that match any garden in creativity.

 I wanted to touch every piece.

Fall Flowers

 turn into Fall Baskets

Many thanks to 

Connie Keyt

for coming to our Nimble Thimbles guild and

presenting her inspirational trunk show.

Now when I look at Challenge fabrics

I will think of Connie

and realize that

even the ugliest and outlandish of fabrics 

has unlimited potential.

There ought to be a life lesson in there.

Fireworks Basket Quilt

 We enjoyed the most wonderful 

featured artist/ trunk show at our

Nimble Thimbles

meeting this month.

 One of our guild members asked her mother

Connie Keyt

of Iowa

if she would bring some of her 

Challenge Quilts

created from fabrics

provided by a local quilt shop.

 When we entered the room, we saw the backs of the quilts,

showing the Challenge Fabric Connie had to work with.

 Some of the fabrics were not too bad,

like this bright red, white and blue.

 Connie wins First Place Ribbons

each year with the Quilt Store and 

State Fair.

Once she turned over her quilts

we could see why!

 From the simplest of fabrics,

Connie creates the most beautiful hand appliqued baskets!
She named this one
Fireworks Basket

 Connie says she gathers inspiration from

Ellie Sienkiewicz Baltimore Album quilt books

and flower folding books.

 The lighting was poor in the room where we meet, 

and truly, my camera does not do justice to

the intricate hand work.

 Some years the quilt shop

uses the most garish fabrics for their Challenge.

How could a person possibly create something beautiful from this?

 Leave it up to Connie to come up with another 

stunning Basket Quilt.

 All hand pieced and hand quilted.

 Complete with ruched flowers.

Connie brought several more quilts.

I will share with you tomorrow 

a continuation of her very creative work.

A Little More Show and Tell

 The rest of January's

Show and Tell

from 

The Phoenix Modern Quilt Guild

Enjoy!

 Andee

Limbania's

 Kirsten's

 Tracy's Christmas Tree Skirt