Meet Stash Dasher Dolly Hale...

 

Each month we feature one of our wonderful "Stash Dashers" and this month it's Stash Dasher Dolly Hale. Dolly is a wonder! We all joke that she must quilt 23 hours of the day! She's a little like the 'energizer bunny' of quilters. Each month Dolly brings in a load of quilts that she has quilted, she's amazing!!


Dolly has been quilting, 'seriously' she says, for a little over three years. Dolly was more able to focus on her quilting after she retired from teaching. Dolly was a teacher for 43 years! During her last several years of teaching Dolly made approximately 25 rag quilts of her students hand prints. I can imagine how wonderful it would have been to be one of Dolly's students and to receive such a charming gift! Dolly shared with us how fun it is to run into the parents of those students now.

Dolly's generosity knows no bounds! Since she's always quilting, she has loads of projects to share. She has made several quilts for soldiers at Christmas, made several quilts for auctions and makes many, many baby quilts for Hugs, a quilting group that collects quilts for children.

Dolly's oldest quilt that she has yet to finish is about 45 years old.  It is a king size cross stitch. She recently found it and hopes to finish it some day. 

If Dolly doesn't have a sewing machine near her, she always has her embroidery handy. She's always working on something. To say she truly enjoys quilting is an understatement! As I said before, Dolly is a wonder and we are blessed to have her as part of our community of quilters!!

Here are some of Dolly's favorite works...

 

 

 

Doesn't she do lovely work! We hope that you are inspired by our Stash Dash ladies, we are!! Happy stitching and may your bobbin always be full!

What's Cookin' Wednesday... Quickest Scones ever!

Each third Sunday of the month we host a tea party at our Hand Embroidery Club. One of the standards of our menu is this super quick scone recipe! OK ladies, here it is!! Enjoy!

For this recipe you will need...

2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbsp of baking powder
1 1/4 cups of Heavy Cream (note: it only works with HEAVY cream, not whipping cream)


In a mixing bowl mix your dry ingredients until everything is evenly distributed. Then add your cream. The key to any scone or biscuit recipe is to NOT OVER mix. When the dough begins to come together squeeze it with your hands to form a ball.

Once you get your dough into a ball pat it into a round and start cutting wedges. 

For the tea party I make two rounds out of each batch to make smaller scones. I then take some cream to brush over the dough and dust with sugar and bake. I bake them on parchment at 425 for 12 minutes. Just keep an eye on them since every oven is different. This recipe is so versatile you can add anything you'd like from sweet to savory. Enjoy!

Happy stitching! May your bobbin always be full!

Yellow Brick Road Quilt...

Have you ever wanted to do something to use up some of those fat quarter? I do, so that way I can make room for MORE!! This quilt goes together so quickly you could do it in just a few short hours! When you purchase the pattern it includes dimensions from a crib size to a king and it really showcases prints that you love.

This is the season for babies, graduations and all sorts of reasons you may need a quick gift. I found myself in just this predicament, so this was the perfect quilt to whip together. I made mine out of our lovely Rose Cottage fabric line by Clothworks.

For the size I'm making you need 12 fat quarters... You begin with cutting all your fat quarters into strips, 2 at 6 1/2" x 21 and 2 at 3 1/2" x 21 mixing them up as you go. Then you sew the 6" ones to the 3" ones and sub cut.

 

 

You continue sewing and sub cutting until you get your final blocks. You will end up with 3 sets.

 

 

 



Once you have your 3 sets, you just lay them out turning each block as you go. When you get them the way you like them sew the rows together! That's it! I'm adding borders to mine and then I'll be done. So easy and fun!

Happy stitching and may your bobbin always be full!

What's Cookin' Wednesday...Easy Chicken Salad!

Now that spring is finally here... well today it felt more like summer (80 degrees at my house), I'm always looking for quick and easy meals that won't heat up my house! Today's 'What's Cookin' Wednesday' meal fits the bill. I love the magazine Eating Well! They have great healthy meals that are quick and most of the time all my family likes them. Even this meal, all but one child ate this salad. I call that success!!

I changed up the recipe a bit, due to the ingredient I had on hand. Here's what I did!

First I chopped up the lettuce, I used iceberg since that's what I had. Then chopped up the tomatoes, cucumber, olives and chicken. I omitted the red onion since I have picky eaters and I wanted them to at least try it! Then sprinkled the cheese, made up the dressing and tossed! Voila, there you have it a great quick dinner for a warm summer day!!! If you have cooked chicken on hand you could whip this up in minutes!! Click here for the full recipe...

A great quick meal so you can get back to sewing!! Happy stitching and may your bobbin always be full!!

Misty Fuse...

Here at the Parish we are always trying new products that will make life easier and get us the best finished product. Well, recently we've been force to change fusible products due to some issues with the makers of Steam-a-Seam. We've tried a couple, but the one we love is called Misty Fuse.

What we love about this product is how sheer and soft it is. It makes the projects you use it in much more supple and nice. Here's some photos of a project I'm working on and you can see what you think.

See how fine it is. When you use this product you will need either a pressing sheet or parchment paper. You place the Misty Fuse on your fabric and I make a sandwich with my applique pressing sheet and fuse the product to my fabric.

You should be using a dry iron. Let it the fabric cool for a second or two before removing the pressing sheet.

Your fabric will now have a shine to the wrong side of the fabric. This isn't the greatest photo, but believe me it does.

You will do all your tracing on your parchment paper and you can reuse your tracing several times. I love that part!! The fusible will pick up your drawing. I just used a number 2 pencil.

I put the fabric on the pressing sheet with the fusible facing up. I put the parchment with the drawing facing down, sandwich the pressing sheet over the top and press.

You can now either: cut the piece out with the paper in place. This makes it like Steam-a-Seam. Or you can peel the paper off and cut out your shape on the lines left on the fusible. Then your scissor never has to cut paper.

Once you get all your pieces cut you place and fuse as normal, however they are not tacky. You can use the tip of your iron to tack them down if you need to and then fuse them when you get everything placed how you like it. I think you get a much crisper edge not cutting with the paper on. REMEMBER you always using a dry iron with this product.

This is a block I'm working on from my new Block of the Month called Autumn Evening. It begins Monday, June 17th and runs for 5 months. So you'll have it done in the autumn to adorn your home! Call the shop if you're interested 253.531.4309.

I hope you try this product and love it as much as we do!! Let us know what your favorite products are, share your comments below. We'd love to hear from you! Happy stitching and may your bobbin always be full!!

What's Cookin' Wednesday... Pretzels!

IN THE KITCHEN today we made homemade pretzels! They are the best! All my kids love making them and especially eating them!  It was great fun. What a great way to spend a wet day, by playing with dough you can eat!

Here's the recipe:

1 pkg dry yeast 4 cups flour
1 1/4 cup warm water 1/4 cup melted butter
1 tsp salt 1 beaten egg
1 Tbsp sugar

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Then add the sugar and salt, stir with a wooden spoon to combine. Then add the flour and melted butter. Stir until it starts to become stiff and then move to the counter and kneed until elastic. Divide dough into small equal pieces. Roll into "snakes" and twist. Place them on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Brush with egg wash and add coarse salt (if desired) and bake at 375 for 15 minutes, until golden.

A great snack for a day of sewing! Enjoy!

Happy stitching! May your bobbin always be full!

Friendship Star Block

In our new 'Quilting Sisters' Block Exchange we will be featuring a new block each month. May's block was our 'Friendship Star Block'. Here's a tutorial if you'd like to quilt along. If you'd like to join our exchange just email me at parklandparish@gmail.com or call us at the shop (253) 531-4309.

Our finish blocks measure 12 1/2 x 12 1/2 so make as many as you'd like to make your quilt the size you'd like.

To make one block you will need:

1  4 1/2" square
4  4 1/2" half square triangle
4  4 1/2" four patches

To make your four patches. Cut two 2 1/2" strips and sew them together; press open.

Then sub cut your strips into 2 1/2" strips. Nest your seams and sew.

Once you have your four patches sewn and pressed. Make your half square triangles. Take two 4 7/8 squares right sides together. Mark your 1/4" seam, sew, cut and press open.

Once you have your units pressed, square them up to 4 1/2". Now you can build your stars. They are easy to put together.

Here are some other color ways for you to consider. Happy stitching and may your bobbin always be full!

What's Cookin' Wednesday... Luscious Lemon Curd

If you follow us on Facebook or are a frequent patron at our shop you'd know we have a Hand Embroidery Club Tea each month. So today for What's Cookin' Wednesday, I'm sharing my luscious lemon curd recipe. I love lemon curd and often give it at Christmas time. It's my sunshine in a jar gift.

For this recipe you will need:

6 Tbsp of room temp butter (NOT margarine)
1 cup sugar
2 whole eggs (room temp)
2 egg yolks (room temp)
2/3 fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp lemon zest


First take your butter and cream it with your sugar until it's smooth.

Next add your eggs and yolks one at a time, beating each one in. You will end up with a lovely creamy mixture.

Finally add in your lemon juice. This will make your creamy mixture look curdled. This is just fine. It will all be taken care of when it cooks.

 

 

Now take your mixture to the stove and on a low heat cook this mixture, stirring constantly. As this cooks it will thicken (approx. 15 minutes).

Once your curd has thickened and hangs on to the back of your spoon, remove from heat and add in the lemon zest. Stir in well and then pour into jars. It will continue to thicken as it cools.

This will last in the fridge for a couple of weeks or one month in the freezer. There you have it, Diane's 'Sunshine in a Jar'. Enjoy!

Happy stitching and may your bobbin always be full!