Welcome Gail Wax to The Parish

Gail Wax is our newest addition to The Parish. Gail is such an accomplished Quilt Artists we wanted to share some of Gail's talents. Watch The Parish calendar for Gail's upcoming classes.

Gail Wax 

Quilt Artist

Creativity was a regular social experience in my family, so I don’t remember a time that I wasn’t involved in something artistic, including drawing, collage, painting, sculpture, sewing, knitting, crochet, and much more. My friends and family and I constructed high school dance decorations in our garage and built homecoming floats in our living room, all while listening to my brother's rock band practice in the den!


My current passion for art quilting began a decade ago when I attended a local guild meeting and met a wonderful group of characters that called themselves “The Art Focus Group.” Imagine my joy when I saw them use not only fabric, paint, but also yarns, threads, beads, metals and more. Art quilting breaks the sewing boundaries while still forcing me to constantly improve my sewing and quilting skills.


My body of work is a testament to both my love of learning (and teaching) and my inherently short attention span. One of my first art quilts, "Busy Bee", was juried into New Quilts of Northern California during the Pacific International Quilt Festival in Santa Clara, California, and has won both a judge's ribbon and show ribbon. The offbeat work shown above is part of a cape design that was also accepted by PIQF and won second place in a garments category.

While I still do traditional quilting, vintage quilt restoration and fabric hoarding as both work and hobbies, you will most often find me viewing, photographing or working on an art quilt.


I am pleased to now be affiliated with the Parkland Parish Quilt Shop in Tacoma, Washington, and hope to meet you there soon! In addition, we will be hosting art quilting classes for beginners, and I can assure you, no "talent" or "training" is required… just comfortable clothes and a desire to play with fabric. You can do that, right?

Getting Ready...

With Shop Hop just 5 weeks away, sewing tables have been busy! Some times when you get to spend lots of time sewing you get inspired with new ideas! Tracey has done just that, hence our new "Block Exchange" called Quilting Sister Blocks. May is our kick off month so there's plenty of time to get in on the fun! If you don't live in town we'd be happy to send them to where you are!! So please don't let distance stop you.

Here's the scoop...

Each month you participate you pay $8 and receive a focus fabric, theme and pattern. You may use the fabric any where in the block that you would like. To complete the block you can use things from your stash or you may purchase fabrics. You will make 10 of the same block and get them back to us by the end of the month. At the beginning of the following month you will receive an assortment of 10 blocks that you can then use to make a quilt or other project.

It's a great way to use up some of your stash and get a quilt made fast with the help of your 'quilting sisters'!! Here is a sample of our first months block.

If you're interested in joining in on the fun call 253.531.4309 or email parklandparish@gmail.com the shop and we can take care of you!!

Here are some other things we've been working on...

Happy stitching and may your bobbin always be full!!

Aprons!

Are you an apron person? Some people find them old fashion, but they can be cute and make great hostess gifts, etc. With Valentines day just around the corner an apron may be a great thing to give your Valentine. You may also want a new one for that Super Bowl game or that nice Easter dinner coming up. I know we just had Christmas and Easter may seem like a ways off, but if you get it done now you'll be all ready!

Here at the Parish we all wear aprons when we are working in the shop and this year will be changing our aprons each quarter. I will be posting the pattern here with a quickie tutorial. For the full directions call the shop and we can set you up! Here's this quarters apron.

It's a 1920's reproduction and has a feminine scalloped edge.

One of the girls made pattern pieces from the pattern. It made it much easier to lay out.

Once I got everything cut out... just need to begin putting the pieces together. I goes pretty quickly.

I first put the pockets and ties together and pinned them to the body.

Then sewed the scalloped border together and attach it to the body. Now just sew, sew, sew!

Once you have all the pieces on, all that is left to do is the top stitching and your done!

Here are a couple other versions, including a child's one. Enjoy! May your bobbin always be full!

Reflections of Santa's Workshop...

Last Sunday we had a fun day a of sewing at our Santa's Workshop. We made lots of fun projects and there's still time if you need a little stocking stuffer. Some of them I will be doing as tutorials over the next few days, so you can get them done for those special people in your life.

It was a fun day! We still have some kits available so give us a call and we can help you!

Happy stitching and may your bobbins always be full!

You CAN Quilt!

Have you ever walked into a quilt shop and just admired all the lovely projects displayed on the wall? All your creative juices are running and yet you feel overwhelmed by the number of possibilities? There are so many ladies out there just like you! However at the Parish, the ladies are there to help you. Our Parish Academy series is starting up again in September. Whether you're a newbie or an experienced quilter who needs to brush up on their skills, these informative classes can help!

Here is a quilt done by one our by one of Parish Academy graduates. She's only been quilting since January 2012 and began with Spring Fling, the first of the Academy series. Look at the wonderful job she's done with this quilt top! She shared with us that she was, "completely intimidated by so many of the blocks in the quilts she'd seen," but now she's well on her way to creating up a storm!

This quilt is from our Thimbleberries Series. This class meets each month with a fun project and a sweet treat.

We are hoping to feature some of our customer and student quilts in upcoming posts! We're hoping that it will inspire you and if you've been dreaming of quilting 'some day', maybe you'll find the confidence to give it a try! So stay tuned to your Parish Piece to see what your fellow quilters have been up too!

Have a wonderful day and many your bobbins always be full!!

PS  Don't forget to become a follower so you don't miss a post! :)

Taste of Autumn...

Autumn is just around the corner and you can begin to feel that nip in the air. Our days are getting shorter and kids will heading back to the class room. Every where you look you can see the signs. Apples are falling from the trees and black berries are ripening everywhere. That being the case we thought we'd share a lovely autumn dessert to grace your table.

Apple & Blackberry Cobbler

4 small/medium apples      2 cups of blackberries

2 Tbsp instant tapioca        2 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp melted butter

 

Shortcake Topping

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour                    2 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup packed brown sugar                   1/4 cup melted butter (4 Tbsp)

1/2 cup heavy cream

 

Preheat oven to 425. Grease a 3qt casserole and set aside. Peel and slice the apples and then place them in the casserole. After washing the berries place them in a medium/large mixing bowl and gentle toss with the sugar and tapioca. Pour the berries over the apples, then drizzle with melted butter. In another bowl whisk the dry ingredients together for the topping. When dry ingredients are evenly distributed add the cream and melted butter. Mix into a stiff dough. Spoon dough on the fruit in a 'cobbled' fashion. Bake at 425 for 25 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Enjoy!

Leave us a comment or stop in the shop and let us know how it turned out. In the event you need to make a new runner to grace your table to accompany this yummy dessert! We have some wonderful fall prints waiting for you! You can even shop from the convince of your own home! Click here to check out what's new! Dessert and shopping how can you beat that! Enjoy!