Creating Art Quilts with Panels by Joyce Hughes

The ladies in my weekly quilt group love to work with preprinted panels. I have never thought seriously about buying a panel, even though I have seen some nice ones.

Until now. Now I can't wait to get my hands on some panels!

Creating Art Quilts with Panels by Joyce Hughes showed me how marvelous preprinted panels can be as the basis for art quilts. She embellishes the fabric with thread painting, sometimes replacing backgrounds or rearranging the elements to create a new image.

A friend recently took a class in thread painting in which they used a photo printed on fabric. Why not use a printed panel?

typical preprinted panels from Creating Art Quilts with Panels

Joyce Hughes came to use panels while teaching as a time saver so students could jump into technique.

In her book, we learn how to select a good panel.  Joyce covers all the supplies needed including sewing machine needles and feet, threads, fusible, batting, rulers and marking tools. She shows us how to prepare the panel including rearranging elements with fusible applique.

details of thread painting from Creating Art Quilts

Then she shows us the techniques for free motion quilting and thread painting with detailed photos and complete instructions and hints.

using an overlay from Creating Art Quilts from Panels

creating a new background for a panel from Creating Art Quilts with Panels

Other techniques covered include trapunto, use of an overlay, three-D effects, bobbin work, couching, and embellishments. Finally, she shows how to add a border, block and bind off the quilt, and add a sleeve.

landscape panel with quilting in colored threads from Creating Art Quilts with Panels

I was stunned by the finished quilts.

a finished panel art quilt from Creating Art Quilts with Panels

Joyce offers six projects: a flower, embellished tree, flag, a landscape, winter birds, and the heron seen above.

Last of all there is an inspiration gallery of art panel quilts of all types, from pillows to wall hangings.

The detail in the book is fantastic. Between the photos and instructions, I feel I could tackle my own project with success. What needle to use for different techniques, how to layer threads by color, how to fuse large pieces with less fusible--there are so many things I will take into my projects.

Now...its time to go shopping for panels!

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Creating Art Quilts with Panels: Easy Thread Painting and Embellishing Techniques to Create Your Own Colorful Piece of Art From Panels
by Joyce Hughes
Fox Chapel Publishing
Pub Date 10 Dec 2018 
ISBN: 9781947163164
Paperback: $24.99 (USD)

Michelle & Me

I am one of the 175,000 people who bought Becoming Michelle Obama in its first week of publication. I am not going to review the book--it feels unnecessary. But I am going to talk about my personal reaction.

My interest in the book is part of a long-held interest in the First Ladies dating to the creation of my redwork quilt Remember the Ladies. I read books on the president's wives and individual biographies and memoirs while developing my patterns. I find the role of First Lady fascinating and at times even familiar.

Remember the Ladies by Nancy A. Bekofske

The president's spouse is thrust into the limelight. The layers of expectations and the deluge of attention and isolation, criticism and idolation, are unsought and unwelcome. The president's spouse is not elected and garners no salary and yet is expected to represent the country as an ambassador, hostess, and representative. The president's spouse cannot choose the family's home. Their spouse works long hours and travels a lot.

Michelle honed telling her story on the campaign trail, a way to forge bonds with diverse groups of people. On the surface, Michelle has nothing in common with people like me. But I felt a connection over and over.

Michelle's dad was a blue-collar city employee with MS. My dad was an auto mechanic who worked in his dad's gas station. He lucked into a job in the auto industry as an experimental mechanic. My mom was crippled with Psoriatic Arthritis.

Michelle grew up in a multi-family home, shared with her aunt and uncle. I grew up in a multi-family home, shared with my father's siblings and his parents. When I was five my grandmother moved in with my family. Michelle shared a bedroom with her brother, separated by a wall and enclosed with folding doors. My grandmother and I had side by side bedrooms, once a larger room that was divided, and enclosed with folding doors!

Michelle had piano lessons. So did I. She has a brother. So do I.

Michelle had children in her thirties. I had my son in my thirties.

When Michelle's husband went into politics it meant he was away much of the time, leaving her to juggle a career, running the home, and raising their kids. My husband took a job where he spent four hours a day commuting and was home only a few hours a day. He frequently traveled across the states and several times a year was abroad. I juggled the homefront and raised our son.

Michelle's husband's career left her with difficult choices between stability for the family and being together. She found herself thrust into the spotlight, but also in his shadow with her own accomplishments sidelined to her role as Barack's wife. My husband's career as a minister meant frequent moves, some dictated, with no choice of the house we lived in or the school district our child was in. At gatherings, people surrounded him and ignored me. It was expected that I attend events and take on leadership and act as a figurehead. I often did not meet expectations as I tried to be true to myself.

When Michelle wrote that she and her husband had always been sounding boards for each other and how Barack had perfected the ability to set boundaries between work and family, being fully present even when they "lived above the shop" my respect grew deeper than ever. Living in a church-owned home with a husband on-call 24-7, parishioners' happiness dictating housing needs and raises, it was hard to have boundaries between our family life and my husband's career. When churches were in crisis it affected us all deeply.

Michelle Robinson Obama may strike you as someone charmed and glamorous.  But, I related to her. I got it.

After all, she grew up in a divided bedroom with folding doors.

Recipes From My Mother-in-law: Cakes

My mother-in-law Laura Bekofske's cookbook had a thick section under Pies and Cakes. Many of the Cake recipes were collected from friends. They are 'easy' and include prepacked, boxed, or canned goods. I have not tried these recipes.

Apple Cake

1 1/2 cups oil
2 cups sugar
2 beaten eggs
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup chopped dates
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups peeled, diced apples

Mix oil, sugar, and eggs. Sift flour, soda, salt, and cinnamon. Fold all together. Add apples, nuts, and vanilla. Pour into a greased 9" x 13 " pan. Bake 1 hour at 325 degrees.

Cake Frosting

Laura noted this recipe was from June Cole

1 cup milk
1 package vanilla pudding
8 oz of Dream Whip
Mix

Chop Suey Cake

Laura noted this recipe was from Judy Connors

2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
2 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup coconut
1 cup walnuts
12 oz can crushed pineapple, juice included
Grease and flour bundt pan
Mix and bake 40 minutes at 350 degrees
Test doneness by sticking in a knife and if it comes out clean it's done. Don't bake over 50 mins.

Cherry Crunch

Laura noted this recipe was from Mary Himrod

2 cans Cherry Pie Filling
1 box Duncan Hines Cake Mix, yellow or white
1 cup pecans
1 1/4 stick oleo
Spread dry cake mix over pie filling, spread pecans on top, cup butter into squares over the top. Bake at 325 degrees until brown.

Orange Date Nut Cake (Christmas Cake)

Laura noted this recipe was from Pattie Boone

4 cups flour
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1 1/3 cup buttermilk
1 tbsp orange rind grated
1 tsp baking soda
4 eggs
1 cup nuts
1 lb chopped dates

Mix, spread into a ring pan, and bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.
Mix together:
1 3/4 c sugar
1 3/4 cup orange juice
1 tbsp or more of grated orange rind

Let stand while baking the cake. Stir occasionally. Poke holes in the baked cake and pour this mix over the hot cake, gradually as cake absorbs it.

Rhubarb Cake

Laura noted this recipe was from Clarice Norrise

Cream together:
1/2 cup oleo
1 1/2 cup brown sugar

Beat in 1 egg

Add:
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk

Fold in:
2 cups of uncooked, finely chopped rhubarb
Bake in pan for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

Sprinkle 1/2 cup sugar with 1/2 tsp cinnamon over the top.

Quilt Big: Bigger Blocks for Faster Finishes

In her new book Quilt Big, Jemima Fiendt enlarges traditional quilt blocks to 15", 18" and 24" size. The resulting quilts not only work up quickly, but they also have a Modern vibe suitable for today's home decor trends. Another plus is that the larger blocks are great for bigger and bolder prints!

The book includes 22 quilt block patterns and 17 quilt designs.

What I especially liked about the book is how Fiendt explains how to resize quilt blocks based on their grid. She explains how to enlarge each unit (four-patch, three-patch, and sixteen patch blocks) to create a larger block. 

Fiendt shows how to construct each block with easy piecing techniques. The quilt projects include quilts of various sizes, pillows, and table runners. She believes in making the quilt back look interesting, too, and explains how to make pieced backings with extra blocks and fabrics.

Chapters include:

• Quilting Basics & Why We Make It
• Upsizing Quilts and Quilt Blocks
• Quilt Blocks
• Quilts and Home Décor Projects
• Quilt Backings

The book is available in softcover and digital download.

Fiendt's previous book is Weekend Quilting.

Learn more about Fiendt and her quilts at her website Tied with a Ribbon

http://www.tiedwitharibbon.com/

Instagram page

https://www.instagram.com/tiedwitharibbon/

and at her Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/Tiedwitharibbon

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Quilt Big

by Jemima Fiendt

The Quilting Company

Publication: December 4, 2018

ISBN 13 9781440248542

Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

I love the First Look Book Club from Penguin Random House. Every week I receive daily emails with the beginning of a book. When Once Upon a River was shared, I fell in love with the enchanting story-telling. When I didn't win a copy from the FLBC I tried again when it was a Bookish choice. With Bookish you read an excerpt and write a first impression for the chance to win a book. My review disappeared--twice--and I missed a chance to win an ARC! Finally, I requested an egalley from NetGalley and was thankful that Atria books granted me access to a galley!

I was determined to read this book!

Setterfield's story is a blend of fairy tale and mystery, set in a village on the Thames River in the mid-19th c. It is a time when scientific advances and superstition live side by side.

The Swan Inn was the place where people gathered to tell stories; one bitterly cold night, the inn's doors open and a man staggers in, carrying a bundle, and they become the story. As the townsfolk gather to help the battered and nearly frozen man, they discover he holds a girl he found in the river. The child is pronounced dead, but in a while the innkeeper's son alerts that the girl breathes.

The speechless girl has a magnetic draw. Mrs. Vaughen is sure the girl is her child who was kidnapped several years ago. Mr. Armstrong believes she is his grandchild abandoned by his wayward son. Lily White fears it is the sister who drowned when they were girls. And others like Rita and Mr. Daunt long to keep her with them.

As the Thames reaches a record flood stage, the mystery unfolds and backstories are revealed, Setterfield explores the complexity of human nature as the characters confront their past decisions and open to new possibilities.

Setterfield is a magical storyteller. I loved this book.

I received a free ebook from the publisher in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Once Upon a River: A Novel
by Diane Setterfield
Atria Books
Pub Date 04 Dec 2018 
ISBN 9780743298070
PRICE $28.00 (USD)

Twisted Tales: Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller and Siracusa by Delia Ephron

On Halloween, I started Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller. It was described as atmospheric and was compared to Daphne du Maurier's classic Gothic romance/psychological thriller Rebecca.

I had to set the novel aside for a day because I was having trouble with my vision. Meanwhile, we took a trip across state and while driving we listened to the audiobook Siracusa by Delia Ephron. I have been waiting for this chance to listen to it ever since I won the audiobook from First Look Book Club several years ago!

The novel is told in four voices so an audiobook was a terrific way to 'read' the book. Talia Balsam, Katie Finneran, Darren Goldstein, and John Slattery were the readers. They did a great job! Each character was distinct in personality.

Two couples take a joint vacation trip to Italy including Siracusa. New Yorkers Michael (a Pulitzer-winning playwright) and Lizzie (a magazine writer) and Taylor and Finn, Lizzie's ex-boyfriend who runs a restaurant in Portland, Maine, and their beautiful and strange daughter Snow.

The relationships are revealed to all be troubled. Taylor has boundary issues with her daughter and has frozen Finn out. Michael is a natural charmer (and womanizer) whose attention to Snow results in a crush. Lizzie loves Michael but feels he is married to his work.

Creepy! Addictive! And I had to laugh out loud as these characters reveal their pettiness and limited self-understanding and lack of understanding of their partners. The foreshadowing was quite strong and we had a hunch about the ending, which turned out to be on target and quite shocking.

But what a perfect book for an eight-hour car trip across back country roads and expressways in November. It was entertaining and had us discussing the characters and plot.

Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller 

Back home, I picked up Bitter Orange again. I ended up reading half the book in one evening. Yes, I stayed up too late but had to finish it.

On her deathbed, Frances Jellico believes she is being pressured by a Vicar to tell the truth of what really happened over a hot summer in 1969 when she was hired to evaluate the gardens of a crumbling 1740s c. English country house.

At thirty-nine. Frances had led a narrow life caring for her incapacitated, critical, and recently deceased mother. Grateful for the work, Frances arrived at the house to discover a man about her age and a younger women already staying there. Peter was hired to evaluate the house and furnishings. His companion Cara is beautiful and emotionally unstable. Frances is curious about their lives.

"I know of course right from wrong. My father, Luther Jellico, had instilled it into me before he left and then Mother had continued in her way: payment will always be due for any wrongdoing, don't lie or steal, don't talk to strange men, don't speak unless spoken to, don't look your mother in the eye, don't drink, don't smoke, don't expect anything from life." from Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller

The house showed abuse and destruction from the soldiers stationed there during WWII, rooms empty and everything in disrepair. Strange things happen in the house, including the interactions between a protective Peter and volatile Cara.

Peter and Cara draw Frances into their carefree existence, setting aside their work for picnics with wine and smoking cigarettes and even a nude swim. Cara tells Frances her tragic story while Peter asks Frances to help him keep tabs on the mercurial Cara.

The local Vicar warns Frances to escape their influence.

It is too late, for these people are caught in a web of lies and fantasy that unravels with fatal consequences.  And Frances accepts that "Payment will always be due."

Read an article by Fuller on Haunted Houses in fiction at
https://clairefuller.co.uk/2018/10/31/a-spine-tingling-reading-list-of-haunted-house-novels/

Recipes From My Mother-in-Law: Pies

My mother-in-law Laura Grace O'Dell Bekofske prided herself on her cooking and baking skills. When we came to visit she always had cookies in a jar and pies cooling and often had baked rolls.

Laura and Herman Bekofske. The Christmas Cactus was in Laura's family for 100 years

When Laura died my husband kept her recipe book.

The binder was covered in contact paper, perhaps in the 1970s judging by the print.

The pages are stained and tattered. She included typed and handwritten recipes and clippings from newspapers and magazines, and booklets of recipes.

It always amazed me that all this cooking and baking was carried on in a small galley kitchen with very little counter space, a small wall oven, and a stovetop with only a sliver of counter between them. No dishwasher, either!

 When her youngest was in school she took a job cooking in the Grand Blanc high school kitchen.

Laura gave me the recipe for her Never Fail Pie Crust soon after I was part of the family. I have never had a problem making pies! Here is the recipe as she wrote it:

Never Fail Pie Crust

3 c flour
1 1/2 c shortening
1 tsp salt
1 egg well beaten
5 TB water
1 TB vinegar

This makes five pie crusts for a 10" pie.

Here are some of Laura's pie recipes.

Pecan Pie
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 TB flour
1/4 tp salt
1/4 c melted butter
3/4 cup dark corn syrup
3 large eggs
3/4 cup pecan halves

Beat together with rotary mixer sugar, flour, salt, butter, corn syrup, and eggs. Mix in pecan halves. Put into pastry-lined pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes until set and pastry is nicely browned. Spread on top of apples and bake at 400 degrees.

Fruit Pie
Laura noted this recipe came from her niece Harriet Marie O'Dell Beardslee Gregson

1 1/2 cup sugar
3 TB flour
1 1/2 c rhubarb
1 1/2 cup cranberries, halved
1 1/2 cup apples, chopped
Place into pastry in pie pan. Bake 40-45 minutes at 450 degrees

$50 Apple Pie

Spray pie pan
Mix:
6 tart apples, peeled and sliced
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup nuts
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins
dash nutmeg
Place into a greased pie pan.

Mix:
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 beaten egg
1 stick of softened oleo

Spread on top of the pie filling.

Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes.