January 2012 Recipe of the Month!

We are doing something new (and exciting and tasty!) for all of you with our Recipes of the Month!

Starting on Monday, January 2nd we will have our Recipes of the Month in the shop for you to sample! The recipes will arrive at 1:00 pm, so come visit us on the first Monday of every month to try out our recipes! 

For January, we will have Peanut Butter M&M Cookies!

If these cookies don't look delicious and tempting, then I don't know what does!

A Fun and Easy Treat!

Are you having a New Year's party with lots of friends and family? Well these candies are quick, simple, and fun to make! 

You only need three things:

A bag of Snyder's of Hanover Pretzels (the square ones)

A bag of Hershey's Hugs, Peppermint Kisses, or Plain Kisses

A bag of M&Ms

Preheat the oven to 175 F. Place the pretzels on the cookie sheet. Place an unwrapped hug or kiss on top of them. Bake for 5-6 minutes. Pull them out of the oven and place an M&M into the middle of the hug or kiss and push down. Sprinkle with red and green (or other coordinating colors) if desired.

Chill and enjoy!

Fun Ways to Reuse Wrapping Paper Tubes!

Well it seems as if the Holiday Season is upon us! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know I did! My family came into town and we spent the entire Thanksgiving weekend enjoying being together. It seems it was only minutes after Thanksgiving dinner was over that talk of Christmas started to push through our conversation. And now Christmas is just 18 days away!

With all of the wrapping of gifts that is bound to happen, you will be left with tons of empty wrapping paper tubes. Typically, or I would imagine, you would just throw them out like I do. However, I came upon this website that has fun and creative ideas for re-using your wrapping paper tubes!
Things like making a tribal kazoo, an instant megaphone, maracas, and many more fun craft ideas to do with your kids or your grandkids can be found on the website. Click here for the link.

My niece will be with my family for Christmas and at the time she will be almost 2. So I know I'm going to sit down and cut up an old wrapping paper tube, and make a kazoo! I'll post pictures of our amazingly fun times with kazoos later.

And for some fun ideas on how to make beautiful holiday decor out of these empty tubes, click here.

With the holiday season on my mind, I just want to say how much I love this season! People are so friendly, kind, warm, and wrapped up in the spirit of giving. There almost seems to be a tangible happiness floating in the air, that if you merely think about the holidays, it wraps you up tightly. It's almost as if you are wrapped up in a warm, cozy blanket with a cup of hot chocolate. I have often thought how wonderful it would be to have this feeling all year! Amanda Bradley, a very successful poet and Literature professor shares my same feelings!

She said, "Celebrate the happiness that friends are always giving, make every day a holiday and celebrate just living!"

So once the holiday season of 2011 is gone, and the new year of 2012 is upon us, lets make sure that we celebrate every day as if it were a holiday, and carry a warm and kind spirit with us wherever we go!

May your bobbin always be full,

Taylor

December Recipe of the Month!

I know... this is the second cheesecake recipe... in a row. Can you tell I like cheesecake? 

Well for this month we have a delicious recipe from Food Network as our recipe of the month! 

Chocolate Cheesecake Candy Cane Bars

Don't those look DELICIOUS?! Well, they are. Trust me.

Visit our website and click on the button that says, "Click here for your FREE recipe for Chocolate Cheesecake Candy Cane Bars".

May your bobbin (and stomachs) always be full!

Taylor

Unique Nursery Wall Decor

Are you or a loved one expecting a baby any time soon? Are they scratching their heads trying to figure out how to decorate the nursery? Well, here is a fun and easy idea to give the nursery a sweet and vintage look.

Fabric Swatch Portrait Wall Hangings

Do you have any vintage fabric laying around? Maybe a dress you wore when you were little, a shirt, or a pair of pants. Maybe you have a handkerchief from your grandmother or an old plaid shirt from from your grandfather. Use those historic, meaningful pieces for the nursery wall of a sweet baby or grand-baby.

To make one portrait you will need:

A square of fabric at least 2 inches wider than your hoop in all directions

A wooden embroidery hoop in any size

Elmer's glue or fabric glue

Fabric scissors

Instructions

1. Place fabric in the hoop and pull taught.

2. Turn to wrong side, run a small line of glue around inside of hoop just next to the fabric.

3. Press fabric into glue all the way around.

4. Allow glue to dry.

5. Trim fabric to edge of hoop.

And voila! You're done.

These adorable fabric portraits are so easy to make, perfect for using up pieces from your stash or pieces that have more meaning. They look beautiful on the walls of any room, and create the perfect customized yet stylish look.

Project idea from http://www.purlbee.com/swatch-portraits/.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cheesecake

The November Recipe of the Month is here!

This recipe is for a delicious cheesecake that is perfect for the holidays if you have a family member who does not enjoy the traditional holiday dessert: pie. 

With rich chocolate, a perfectly pumpkin spice flavor, and a chocolate crust, this cheesecake is one that everyone will enjoy! Click here to get the recipe.

Fun Frankenstein Rice Krispie Treats!

With Halloween coming up soon it puts me in the mood to make some fun, creative, and easy halloween treats. While browsing the internet looking for ideas I stumbled upon this recipe and it looks absolutely adorable! And quite delicious. 

Frankenstein Rice Krispie Treats

These cute little guys are SO easy to make, and fun to eat! It is the perfect after-school project with your kids or grand kids!

To make Frankenstein, you will need: 

Kellogg's Apple Jack's Cereal

Kellogg's Rice Krispie Treats (or you can make yours from scratch)

Icing tinted green with food coloring

Icing, tinted black with food coloring

White circular candies for eyes

Lollipop sticks

Zip top Plastic Bags

Wax Paper

Icing Connectors (available at craft stores)

Icing Tips:

#2 (round)

#46 (flat edge for nose and eyebrows)

#233 (for hair) with connectors

To start making this Halloween recipe for your kids, insert lollipop sticks into the bottom of your Rice Krispie Treats. Prepare your icing. Gel food coloring works best. Trim the corners of your zip top bags. Insert an icing connector (available at craft stores) in the corner hole you cut, spoon in your icing and attach your icing tip to the outside of the bag.

Using the #46 icing tip and green icing, pipe one long eyebrow and a shorter flat nose. Using the #2 icing tip and green icing, pipe two dots for the eyes. Add candies. And pipe a squiggly mouth, a scar, and two dots on the sides for his bolts. The attach his Apple Jack's bolts.

Using the #233 icing tip and black icing, pipe on Frankenstein's hair. You can use the #2 tip for this too, it will just take a bit longer.


If you want to dress him up a bit, cut a green and white paper straw in half and insert the lollipop stick into it before displaying your treats in little orange candies.

I think these would be PERFECT for your Halloween celebration! And we hope you have a very Happy Halloween!

Love, All the Ladies at The Parish

P.S. For more fun Halloween ideas, click on the following links:

Pumpkin Patch Tarts

Tombstone Brownies

5 Halloween Party Ideas and More!

This recipe came from Snackpicks.com.

Glacier Star Quilt Class

Glacier Star is the most stunning quilt in Judy Niemeyer’s collection of paper-pieced quilt patterns.  We are excited to be featuring certified instructor Linda Tellesbo to teach this Technique-of-the-Month class! 
Each month, for six months, you will learn a specific technique featured in this masterpiece quilt, making it easy enough to create for even the beginner!  This class will familiarize you with Judy’s paper-piecing technique and process, and you will have the confidence and skills to make many more of Judy Niemeyer’s beautiful quilt patterns!

Featured Teacher!

Linda Tellesbo is a Judy Niemeyer Quilting Certified Instructor originally from Washington's Skagit Valley. Her quilts have won prestigious awards in almost every major quilt show event in the Pacific Northwest Region! These events include the Association of Pacific Northwest Quilter's Quiltfest, Quilters Anonymous, Block Party, and the Busy Bees shows. In 2008, her quilts were showcased at the LaConner Quilt Museum, where she was the featured artist. In 2010, she received the honor of being selected as the Featured Artist for the Quilter’s Anonymous show!

We are so excited to have Linda teaching at our shop! 

Facebook Photo Contest!

We are having a contest on our Facebook page!

Take a picture of your latest quilting project and upload it to our Facebook page! Not sure how to do that? Click here for an instruction sheet with easy to follow steps. 

When the picture is uploaded, tell all of your friends about it so they can help you win a prize! They will need to go to our Facebook page, "Like" our business, and then "Like" the picture that you uploaded! Your picture, once posted on the wall, will be put into an album titled "September Photo Contest" and your name will be in the caption of the photo. 

The photo with the most "Likes" by September 30th will win a basket full of beautiful and fun holiday fabrics put together by The Ladies at The Parish! So hurry and post your pictures to our Facebook page and get your friends to "Like" your picture!

Fun Pillowcase Idea!

As I was perusing the internet the other day for fun and easy craft ideas, I stumbled upon this idea from Martha Stewart's website that I absolutely love! They look so cute, and it seems very simple!

They're called Napkin Folded Pillowcases, and they can brighten outdoor spaces or bring a fun splash of life to any room!

Here are the instructions from Martha Stewart:

Lay a 20-inch square cloth napkin face down, positioning it to resemble a diamond. Center a 12- or 14-inch square pillow form on napkin. Fold in 2 side points of napkin to middle, then fold up bottom point. Hand-stitch through all 3 pieces of fabric along upside-down V, about 2 inches down on each side. Stitch a button to bottom flap near point. Fold down top flap; sew a loop of cord to underside of fabric as a button holder, ensuring it fits snugly around button when closed.

And now for some exciting news...

We are having a photo contest on our Facebook page!

If you have been busy quilting lately, we would love to see it! Share a photo of your latest creation with us on our Facebook page. Once your photo is uploaded tell all of your friends about it and have them go to our business page and "Like" your photo. Whichever photo gets the most "Likes" will win a Fabric Bundle Basket put together by Kathy and the Ladies at The Parish! 

The contest begins September 1st (that's TOMORROW!), so get those pictures taken, uploaded, and spread the word to all of your friends!!!