Blanketeer Delivery to the USO at DFW Airport

After lunch on Sunday, Rachel, Rhonda, Brandy, and my husband & I met at Macaroni Grill to form a convoy to deliver baby blankets and kid's books to the USO Reading Room at DFW Airport.
One of our Blanketeers made four little ducky hats to match four adorable ducky fleece blankets. We just couldn't resist trying them on.


Here we are with Yolanda, a USO volunteer, and all 80 blankets and 442 books. We totally filled up the USO storage room with blankets and books! We had a goal of 50 blankets and 100 books, but we blew through that like a hot knife through butter. The Blanketeers want to thank everyone who donated books, blankets and time to make this effort such a success!

Virginia's Yummy Pumpkin Roll Recipe

Virginia brought this pumpkin roll to the last Blanketeer Bee and was it ever good! She brought vanilla and pumpkin ice cream too, so we had it ala mode. Yum-oh! I would have taken a picture of it, but it disappeared too quickly - lol.

Pumpkin Roll
Serves 10

Cake:
¾ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional - the one we had at the bee had no nuts)

Filling:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
6 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 15-by-10-inch jellyroll pan; line with wax or parchment paper. Grease and flour paper. Sprinkle tea towel with powdered sugar; set aside.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt in small bowl. Beat eggs and sugar in a large bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Sprinkle with nuts.

Bake 13 to 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. Immediately loosen and turn cake onto sugared towel. Carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake and towel together. Cool on wire rack.

Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla in small bowl until smooth. Carefully unroll cake; remove towel. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Reroll cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

Notes:
I usually make 2 at a time and divide 1 can of pumpkin between them (this would be a heaping 2/3 cup). A tea towel is a towel that you used to use to dry dishes, but it is not knobby (it is like linen). I either use Watkin’s Vanilla or real Mexican vanilla. I think it adds more taste. When I didn’t have either, I doubled the amount of vanilla (but I have not tried that with this recipe). I prefer parchment paper to the waxed paper. I have never remembered to sprinkle the roll with powdered sugar, we are usually too busy cutting it for consumption.

Two Minkee Backed Quilts Completed

I just finished these two quilts yesterday. I tried the new style binding too, using single fold binding instead of double fold. The jury is still out on which I prefer, though the walking foot is a must with the Minkee.

Look how velvety soft the Minkee backing makes these two yummy quilts! They got even softer after I washed them.

There is so much more drag when pushing around the Minkee; I really needed all my upper body strength, but I was able to stipple much larger than usual because of it. Fortunately the quilts only took about an hour apiece to stipple, which is good because I have four more to go. I'm all out of the yellow Minkee, but I have some pink, pale green and turquoise left.

A Dolly from my Secret Pal gets a new Hairdo

I got a sweet little doll from my secret pal last month, only she was bald. She seemed... unhappy about this hairless state, so one of my missions in Houston was to find some hair for Sally Ann (the first dolly I've had in about 40 years, BTW). I had no idea I would have so many choices. A helpful vendor steered me to this lovely ragamuffin remnant, which for only a dollar, was able to provide her with a thorough coiffing. I dug out my hot glue gun, which had been resting for about 10 years, and voila! Sally Ann has a new 'do.



Another cool thing that happened in Houston was that I got to meet the daughter of Roxanne of Roxanne International Thimble fame. I had always wondered if the size 3 1/2 thimble I had purchased was too small for me since it's very snug. Roxanne's daughter fitted me for a thimble and assured me that I had purchased the correct size. She was very surprised because "Everyone who tries to fit themselves ends up getting too large a thimble." I told her that I was an engineer and followed the instructions "exactly". "Ah, an engineer", she said, "that explains it. They're the only ones who actually follow the instructions." 8)

October Completion - Quilted Ornament

Here is the little Christmas ornament I made for Vickie's pink & green Christmas tree. It's my October completion for the one project a month challenge.

This was my first attempt at working in miniature, which poses challenges all its own. I think it looks like a tiny little quilt... with beads 8) And at least I know that Vickie won't have another one like it despite her thousands of Christmas ornaments. And she's a tremendous crafter too, so I think she will appreciate it.

Great Links from the Houston Festival Vendors

I didn't buy too much in Houston last weekend, but I picked up lots of information on merchandise that intrigued me. I've been checking out their websites since I got home and here are some of the best ones:

Laga Handbags & Travel Bags - I seriously LOVED these. Each Laga handbag is handmade by, and sustains, a tsunami survivor. Their website is awesome; be sure to check out the video. I'm considering getting a travel bag and a purse. They would also make wonderful Christmas gifts. Get this, they're made on foot-powered sewing machines.

Great Ruler - I wanted to buy one of these, but we couldn't find the booth the next day when we went back. There were SO many vendors and all the rows looked pretty much alike. lol I think I'll get one on-line.

Joy's Fabrics & Quilts - My favorite purveyor of great hand-dyed fabrics. She's a local (Godley, TX) so I see her at every show. I never fail to buy something. Her pastel fat quarter collection is the greatest! I branched out into her Earthy Greens/Golds FQs this time, 8 for $20. Not bad!

High Fashion Fabrics - I finally broke down and bought a yard of that naughty shirtless cowboy fabric. (It's getting hard to find!). I think there's a very special pillowcase in my future. Also a great source for cuddly velour.

Splinters & Threads - Great redwork embroidery for my Bernina. I'm thinking about doing a BOM Christmas quilt next year (from last month's shop hop) with embroidery blocks mixed in.

Pincushion Boutique - Excellent source of fat quarter collections called "Sweet Treats". I bought the "Freshly Fallen Snow" collection of 8 FQs for next year's Christmas quilt for $21.95. It's 8 white on whites, no two alike. I may need more 8-).

DbarJ Quilts etc - Cool source for a square up ruler that really caught my eye.

Dutch Quilter - I had never heard of hot ribbon before. It's a no-sew technique that provides a very nice finish for rough edged applique. Sweet!

French Connections - Great source for french and african fabric and baskets.

Meg Hannan Rag Sky Art Studio - Very interesting fabric "jewels". I had never seen anything like this before. Pretty cool.

Pin Peddlers - OK, I just love pins. And they make great little gifts too. Very nice website.

Sewing Machine Cases - Bags to fit every possible sewing machine; accessory bags too.


And would you believe these people don't have websites yet? Come on, people, it's almost 2010 already!

Sew Steady Portable Tables - I really liked their portable sewing tables with the bendable light. Nice looking, solid acrylic. Supposedly you order by the model number of your machine (from Featherweights on up, sergers too.) The biggest one is 2 feet square.
Email: dream@dreamworld-inc.com, phone: 1-800-837-3261 Ext. 5.

Make your Own Quilt Labels - I watched this woman make the prettiest label for several minutes. I believe you purchase a book of traceable patterns, which you transfer to your label material, then finish off with Pigma Pen painting. Very delicate and lovely. Almost bought the book. Would have, but nearly all my quilts are donated to the USO and don't need a personalized label. 8(
Email: kchurbuck@aol.com, phone (563) 324-8128

Houston Quilt Show in Detail

Larry and I went to Houston for the Quilt Festival this past weekend. Wow. It was incredible. I was awed by the quilting and artistry that was on display. It was very humbling.

We took MANY pictures of probably 10% of the quilts. I took multiple detailed pictures of many of the quilts. I'm going to be making multiple slideshows so people don't have to slog through hundreds of pictures because I hate that! Here goes:

Tribute to Tolkien by Sue McCarty of Roy Utah. Congratulations on winning the Pfaff Master Award for Machine Artistry ($5000) AND the Viewers' Choice Award ($500).

A Tribute to Jane by Patricia T. Mayer and Karen Watts. The only Dear Jane quilt in the entire show that I could find, and then, not in one of the judged venues, but rather, in the Texas Guilds' Award-Winning Traditional Quilts display area. It is a fine example of the Dear Jane traditional style, with the triangles being done whole-cloth style in muslin, with the original patterns quilted into the cloth. Very very nice!

Best of Show - "On the Wings of a Dream" by Caryl Bryer Fallert of Paducah, Kentucky. Congratulations on winning the Handi Quilter Best of Show Award ($10,000). Ms. Fallert also had four other quilts in the show, one of which, "Watch Master" won First Place in Digital Imagery ($1000). I don't have a picture of that one or "Adelpho", but I do have pictures of her other two entries.

Innovative Artistry - "Clam Session" by Karen Stone of Beaumont, Texas won the Maywood Studio Master Award for Innovative Artistry ($5000). I was fortunate to meet Ms. Stone who graciously posed for a picture with her fabulous quilt and winning ribbon. She calls this a "one patch", ladies!

World of Beauty Award - "Hearts and Garlands" by Liz Jones of Leominster, Herefordshire, UK won the World of Beauty Award ($7500). Ms. Jones was answering questions for the crowd. She claimed that "Hearts and Garlands" took her only 10 months to complete, because she "works very quickly". I'll say! Congratulations, Ms. Jones, on winning the festival's second highest award for your magnificent quilt.

Art - People, Portraits and Figures - This category had four quilts that really caught my attention, including "Bailout" by Liz Joe of Dallas, TX that I featured in my slideshow on the Dallas Quilt Celebration. Another standout is the Australian Entry by Jocelyne Leath of Perth, which won first place ($1000). Congratulations Ms. Leath!

Boston's Fenway Park a group quilt by Bobbie Sullivan, Lynn Conover, Betty Crowell, Ann Marcin, Sandy Gregg, Geri Barr, and Penny Myles of Scituate, MA. Congratulations on your third place finish in the Group quilt category.

Wearable Art - Incredible fashions! I took LOTS of pictures of the 14 entries in this category.

International Siggy Swap - The Summer Haul

I didn't initiate any swapping this summer, so I was lucky to be chosen by the following four ladies as a swap partner. Here is Inge Slaats' siggy from the Netherlands. I love the bright yellow fabric combined with the little appliqued dutch doll.


Poor Silke in Germany had to wait forever for my return siggy; she caught me at a really busy time! I couldn't even remember if I had sent her a siggy at all. Fortunately a quick email exchange cleared that up. Isn't the giraffe cute? It looks like a pretty postage stamp for kids to me. This was the only one of the four I got this summer that wasn't made of bright fabric. I love the delicate blue plaid.

I had to look at this one closely to understand what I was seeing. My eyes just did not want to read two tiny little mice sitting down to a delicious cheese dinner. lol Tini from the Netherlands sent me this one. I really like the batik she has chosen; I bet no two of her siggies look alike.

This little teddy bear is from Sieglinde in Germany. She has feather stitched the little bear in place and hand-embroidered a leafy box in variagated thread as a frame to the applique. That's a silly blue bit of thread laying on the bear, not a nasty pen stroke or anything bad! I really like the orange fabric; this is not a great picture of it. The fabric is actually bright orange and the little branches blend into the fabric instead of standing out. They aren't really pink either. I really should get a new camera. 8-)

Fall Giveaway at Bitty Bits & Pieces

Kim is having a Fall Giveaway over at Bitty Bits & Pieces that is well worth visiting. She's giving away a beautiful Dresden plate charger that I would dearly love to win! Go take a look and see for yourself. I've had Bitty's as a blog link on my sidebar for nigh on FOREVER, so I'm not sure if I'll get the extra points for adding it; here's hoping I do!

Here's a fantastic tutorial for the charger, as well as several other coordinating items. Check out the fabulous table runner!

Quilted Xmas Tree Ornament - the next steps

I'm still working on the pink & green Christmas ornaments. Last night I paper-pieced the side sash pieces, because I really didn't want to deal with 1/4" square cornerstones by themselves. Here you can see the two rows of blocks next to the pre-made sashing.

This sashing was really easy to make by paper piecing because I just measured it out on graph paper and luckily all the seams fell on grid lines. You can see I labeled the paper "P" for pink and "G" for green. It's surprisingly easy to get messed up, even on a simple thing like this!

I may have gone over the legal limit for pins per inch here. It took 12 pins for less than 5 linear inches of seam - and I had to do it four times over.

It ended up being much more accurate than it would otherwise have been without the pins though.
Now I just have to figure out what to do next. Do I bead or do I make my tiny little quilt sandwich and quilt it, then bead it? Any hints? I'm afraid if I bead it first (and I plan on LOTS of beads) then I won't be able to quilt it without running into the beads, even with my 1/4" foot. It's a worry; I guess I'll sleep on it. 8-)