Last Three Mystery Quilt Blocks Available Now....

No, I haven't forgotten. I was just overtaken by life and a huge pile of quilt patterns. Needless to say, I fell over, so to speak.

But I'm upright again and have posted the last three Odessa Quilt Guild Mystery Quilt blocks on the Craftsy site.

# 7 - Ohio Star

#8 - Bear Claw

# 9 - Snail Trail or Monkey Wrench

These are the last three quilts in the 9-block quilt pattern. We have been teaching "quilt-as-you-go" in our guild, so that all of our members know they can have a finished, hand or free-motion-quilted quilt without having to go to a professional quilter.

Don't get me wrong. We have nothing against our long-arm helpers. It's just that some quilters have real difficulty finding funds for the service and, consequently, have produced tied quilts only. This is our effort to help those quilters.

Here is a very good tutorial on the blog, Quilt Matters, for this technique. We will be doing a demonstration of the technique in our December Quilt College session here in Odessa, WA, on December 19th at 7 PM at the Quilt Barn (north entrance to the museum).

Our chosen technique makes a very narrow sashing. This photo is from Quilt Matters.

By January 31st, we hope to have our quilts done. The deadline for submitting them to the Odessa Quilt Show is April 1st. You can obtain an entry form here about March 1st, 2017. We accept quilts from out-of-towners, so please participate, if you can. Instructions for shipping, etc., are on the form.

Additionally, there are excellent tutorials online for hand quilting and free-motion machine quilting. I'll let you search those out. Just GOOGLE "quilt as you go hand quilting" or "quilt as you go free-motion machine quilting".

You'll find some real inspiration in these techniques.

Ta-ta for now. Thanks for stopping by!

For the Holiday......shhhhhhhh! It's a cover-up.....

.....just in time to keep you clean and tidy while you roll out the holiday spirit! It takes a lot of work: picking up, sweeping, dusting, waxing, decorating. Then, there's the mixing, flouring, rolling, mulling, stirring, steaming, cooking side of it. A person can get down-right messy trying to roll out the holiday.

Well, here's something that's just in time for all that stuff we have to do every December. It takes about 3 hours to make. No buttons or ties. Just slips on right over your head. You can find the pattern at Etsy and Craftsy, as well as, here, in Odessa, WA, at Experience Quilts!

Here are a bunch of different color ideas for this apron.....

My grandmother introduced me to this shift-style apron. She liked it because it covered her house dresses, well, had pockets and straps that didn't give her a headache. Here's a page from the pattern:

She said the "around the neck" apron bothered her neck and gave her a headache.

This is a pretty good gift or stocking stuffer for your stitching friend.

Or, made up, altogether, in a pretty box, tied with a red ribbon!

It's a pattern from the 1880's, I've been told. You can make it any length you like and it fits women sized small to plus whatever.

Before cutting the fabric, you can fit this. The length of the straps determine the size of the apron; so, you can lengthen or shorten the straps accordingly.

Here's the pocket. It's lined and done up with applique', which you can sew on your machine or do by hand.

That's about it for today. Oh, the pattern costs $9 retail. I'm making some up for myself this winter. You can never have too many aprons. Keeps my clothes nice underneath, no matter how messy the chore!

Lazy Days of Summer are Gone!

I know, you thought we were just lying around the cottage drinking frappe's and munching on scones.

Well, we weren't. We've been busy, and here are the results.

!!!!!!  13 New Wall Hanging Patterns  !!!!!!

 "Bison of the Plains" Wall Hanging Pattern makes a piece about 11" x 11"

We promised Palouse Divide Lodge, a dealer in wools for quilters, in Princeton, ID, that we would design some patterns especially for them. Hence, all the small pieces here which can be done in cotton, flannel, wool, satin, velvet, etc.

"Cuddles" Wall Hanging Pattern makes a piece about 7" x 8".

Instructions in the patterns are for freezer paper applique' with special techniques for woolens and cotton, both.

 This trio of Halloween/Autumn patterns is being re-introduced in a new set of colors. I don't have samples of all my patterns, yet, but these three are done. My dear friend, Joan Kowano, over at Moose Stash Quilting made these samples for us.

This one is called "Harvest Ghost" and finishes at about 36" x 36".

"Harvest Kitty" about 30" x 30"

 "Harvest Mice" about 30" x 30"

" Lamb Totem" finishes about 10" x 15"

 "Quail Run" finishes about 10" x 14"

"Snowman Bell Ringer" finishes about 6" x 12"

"Squirrel" finishes about 15" x 15"

 "Woolie Owl" finishes about 7" x 9"

 "Yule Glow" finishes about 7" x 10"

 "Sioux Baby finishes about 8" x 13"

"Tweedy Trio" by my friend Shari Wilson finishes about 12" x 18" 

Buy our patterns at Etsy, Craftsy, Experience Quilts in Odessa, WA; Palouse Divide Lodge, in Princeton, ID, and Grammy G's Quilt Shop in Palouse, WA

CLEARANCE SALE - UP TO 40% OFF SELECTED PATTERNS

THESE PATTERNS AND MANY MORE ARE ON SALE NOW AT ETSY!

Don't miss out on a great sale!

Midnight Feast Wall Hanging

Dashing

Bless this House

Winter Skate

Market Day Sue

Prairie Sweethearts

Flowerbasket Sue

Valentine Banner

CHECK IT OUT!

GAD ZUKES! THEY'VE RETURNED! And, a New Mystery Quilt Block!

Every year, they return, as we, barricaded in our kitchens, link arms together in an effort to surround and control them....the dreaded zucchinis!

Actually, we love them. It's just that....there are so many of them. And we try so hard to help them to be useful to Mankind.

Here's one of my favorite ways of helping the zucchini to be useful to Mankind:

Italian Zucchini Pancakes

I call these "Italian" because they have Parmesan and Oregano in them. This is an old  recipe given to me by my mother who must have collected it sometime in the 1960's.

It takes some time to bake them, about 2 minutes per side and it's important to let your griddle come all the way back up to temp before beginning a new batch (High heat setting).

My daughter eats these with butter and syrup, sometimes. Lately, she's been putting a new avocado/cilantro salad dressing on them.

My favorite topping is sour cream. Serve these with a salad for a light summer meal. I always make a big batch and freeze them for later. Frozen, 3 minutes in the microwave will make them hot and ready to eat. Yum.

Italian Zucchini Pancakes

(I had 6 medium zucchinis, which made about 6 cups of grated zucchini. Consequently, I made six times the recipe amount given here.)

Beat well:

2 Eggs

2 T. Mayonnaise

Mix together in a large mixing bowl:

1 c. Zucchini, grated and drained*

2 T. Onion, chopped fine

1/4 c. Parmesan Cheese, grated**

1/4 c. All-Purpose Flour

1/4 t. Oregano Leaves, crushed

1 t. Smoky Paprika (optional)

1 clove Garlic, crushed (optional)

Salt & Pepper to taste

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just mixed. Bake on a hot griddle (400 degrees F.) 2 to 2 1/2 minutes per side. (You can spray the griddle with non-stick spray but a well-seasoned, coated griddle will work fine without being greased.) Keep warm until all are baked, then serve with your choice of toppings: sour cream, or salad dressing or, Heaven forbid, butter and syrup. Can be frozen up to three months. Keeps 3 days in the refrigerator.

*I put the grated zucchini in a colander lined with 3 layers of paper towels and covered with the same on top. I pressed firmly all over the top until the towels were wet. There's no liquid in this recipe except the eggs, so salting and draining is really not necessary.

**Believe it or not, Kraft Parmesan in the green container works best for this recipe because it's very dry. Fresh Parmesan is too wet.

Now, for the new Mystery Quilt Block: The Whirlwind or Twin Sister

Instructions for making this with a quick and easy trick are included in my Craftsy pattern.

Katrina - All Grown Up!

What is this clicky, blinky thing, anyway? Oh, the camera!

Make-up!!!!!

Okay, I'm ready. But, oh, are you going to read to me?

Come on. You know you wanna read to me!

That was a good story.....I think I dozed off for a minute.

What else are we doing today? Yup, the table. I'm lying on the table. So what?

It's a great place for a quick bath.....

or a......ribbon.....

.......play with the ribbon.

Okay, this is getting boring.....

...no comment.....end of interview.

Bye. (Does this blog make my thighs look fat?)

And later that same day.....

Is it time for another photo-shoot? I'm ready. How's this? Does this floor make my thighs look fat?