Tuesday, March 23, 2010

April 2010 Newsletter:



Class Schedule:

Stash Pot Pie - Thursday, April 8, 4-8pm
Civil War Tribute Block of the Month - Saturday, April 10, 10-11am
Advanced Beginner - Tuesdays, April 13, 20, 27 and May 4, 5-7pm
Wool Applique Block of the Month - Thursday, April 15, 6-8pm
Cobblestone Lane Block of the Month - Saturday, April 17, 10-11am
Sweet Pickin’s Club - Saturday, April 17, 11am-12pm

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Remember, if your name shows up in the newsletter (whether it is used in an appropriate manner or not) you get a free FQ!!!!!

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Coming Up:
A Block of the Month in May (3rd Saturday of the Month) will be replacing Cobblestone Lane. It is fusible applique and it’s called “Back Home”. Laura Lignell and I are making the blocks for the sample. This will be a hands-on block of the month, meaning that we will actually be working on them during the classes. Laura and I will share with you the tricks to make machine applique look the way you want it to look!



April 29 - May 2, Thursday - Sunday --- Quilt Camp!!!!!!!

We are having quilt camp at Camp Chicagami. If you are already signed up and have not sent in your deposit, it is $50. The cost of camp will be $160 for Thursday-Sunday, $125 for Friday-Sunday, with the evening meal of the day you come the first meal included. Day campers will be $35 per day (which includes meals). We still have openings available! We will be working on UFO’s. There will be more on www.quiltshopofchisholm.blogspot.com later on this month, Sue Walker.



STASH POT PIE - I found out why Karen Johnson doesn’t say anything during stash pot pie class. It’s not because she is hiding something - it’s because if she talks, she can’t listen to the 3 or 4 conversations going on around her. As she told me, “I might miss something!” In March, Karl could not make the pies, so I made Banana Pudding and Chocolate Candy Bar Pie, using instant pudding mix (the recipes were on the boxes) Cool Whip and pre-made pie crusts. I will not tell you how much I ate, but I was in a sugar coma the next day, overslept and did not get to the shop to open until 10:30. Karl will be back this month with pies that are not so deadly.



CIVIL WAR TRIBUTE - We learned several things last month in this class: First, when quilt blocks are squared up and sewn together, there will be some points that are “cut off”, Judie Gustafson. This is inevitable. Even samples sent from the pattern company are not perfect. Secondly, quilters who insist on a “scant quarter inch” seam allowance and get down to 3/16 of an inch are neurotic. Now, I’m just telling you what was discussed. The word “neurotic” came right from the lips of a woman who has spent her entire life in the field of psychology. AND “The Mother of All Quilters”, the only woman who I know that has ever pieced, quilted and bound the “Dear Jane” quilt (with the scary snow cone border), agreed with her. So I snuck over and changed the scant ¼” setting on my machine before anyone could notice.



ADVANCED BEGINNER - Karen Skraba will be teaching this class at the request of her beginner quilters. It is a sampler quilt and we have a sample made up in the shop. If you are a novice seamstress, Pattie Schleicher, but are new to quilting or if you have had the beginner class and want to learn something new, this is the class for you. Four classes, $60 class fee, supply list available at shop when you sign up, homework will be given!!!!!!!!!



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My niece in Baltimore has recently had a baby. Her second child. A BOY. So far, her oldest child (who is only a year old) has been a sweet, angelic, patient, smiling girl. I would like to tell my niece that life, as she knows it, is over. But I won’t. Because she only has one boy. He may be that rare exceptional case that is inquisitive, yet careful. Fearless, yet careful. Energetic, yet careful. Why, my niece may ask, do I keep saying “careful”? Because all boys are inquisitive, fearless and energetic, but none of them care about the consequences - and therefore aren’t careful. Now, let’s say your little darling is the exception to the rule and your precious daughter tries to keep close tabs on him for the next few years (oh, boy, WILL she.) Then you will go and do something absolutely insane and have another child and if it’s a boy - then I’ll tell you that your life is over and you are going to need something much stronger than herbal tea to make it through the next year - make that the next 25 years. Because “boys” are different than girls. One boy is bad enough, but from the moment that second boy is brought home from the hospital, the horror begins. Here is my theory on “boys”. When more than one are together, you take the lowest IQ score from the group and divide it by the number of boys in the group, and the whole group’s actions will reflect that IQ score. Think about it. No, my dear niece, don’t think about it. You will have enough to think about over the next few years. But somewhere in the back of your brain you will remember this advice when he’s 4 years old and playing with his cousins and they have set fire to your house. Or when he pries or peals the letters off your car and brings them in the house to you. (You didn’t tell him NOT to.) That’s the problem with boys. There are infinite things that you “didn’t tell him not to do” because you, as a mother, would not in your wildest dreams think he might do it. His father will have thought of them, and may even be doing them with him. Even if you try to train yourself to think about aberrant behavior, you won’t be able to foresee tablecloth tents in your large tree in the front yard, the 3 foot hole dug right by your back porch, hammer marks in your coffee table, batteries wrapped in copper wire melting crayons on your kitchen counter. Then when he’s older, driving a 4 wheeler straight up a hill with his friends (remember the IQ theory) AND THEN DOING IT AGAIN after he rolls. It doesn’t have to be a 4 wheeler and a hill. It could be trying to ride his bike up an oak tree, and when he falls, he tries again, over and over. Then when he is an older teen, and the police come to your house at 8:00 in the morning because his car is (a) buried in a snow bank, (b) abandoned on the side of the road or (c ) skid marks lead into your driveway or (d) all of the above. I don’t know when boys become real people. I could go on and on, but I’m too depressed to tell you any more. Just get a big bottle of Jack Daniels and keep it in your basement so you can go down there to “do the laundry”. Trust me, no one will follow you.



Mary