How-to-Quilt.com

September 2006 Newsletter

This issue includes:

1) A Tidbit of History – Cotton Prints or Calico Prints

2) Tools, Tricks and Quilting Tips – Clever Fabric Hideaways

3) What's in a Name? – Learn about a traditional patchwork quilt block that has many different names.

4) Recipe for Quilters – Rocky Road Marshmallows

5) Newsletter News – Electric Quilt

6) DVD Coming Soon – Robin’s Nest

How-To-Quilt.com Newsletter Archive online – Many issues of the How-to-Quilt.com Newsletter from the beginning of 2005 are available online at:

http://www.how-to-quilt.com/newsletter/archive/index.shtml

Do you enjoy this newsletter? If you do, please feel free to forward it to one or many friends and encourage them to join the group!

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1) A Tidbit of History – Cotton Prints or Calico Prints

From the 1882 edition of The Dictionary of Needlewoork comes a definition of Cotton Prints or Calico Prints:

“Calico cloths printed in various colours and patterns to serve for dresses. Specimens of cotton fabrics sent out of the country, from Manchester alone, have shown upwards of 1,500 different kinds, varying in strength and pattern, from coarse cloths to the finest muslins, and from the richest chintz to the plain white.”

2) Tools, Tricks, and Quilt Tips – Clever Fabric Hideaways

This comes from Quiltmaking Tips and Techniques, a Rodale Quilt Book. These are creative storage spots designed to hide fabric from anyone who doesn’t understand why you need it at all!

• A box labeled “Christmas ornaments” or “baby clothes”
• In the freezer wrapped in butcher paper and labeled “meat loaf”
• Go shopping with a friend, trade bags before you get home, then declare “This isn’t mine, I’m just holding it for a friend”
• The trunk of your car
• A wire hanger covered by a dress or blouse – this is good for about 2 yards
• In plain sight – on an open shelf, neatly folded and color coordinated to your room décor

It’s all in fun! Although I will admit to spreading my fabric in various places all around the house. Somehow, if it’s a little in a bunch of different spots, it doesn’t look like you have “that much.”

3) What's in a Name?

Early in the 1900s, as more women became interested in quilting and wanted to expand the variety of blocks they used in their quilts, they would write to magazines and newspapers for ideas. Publications would list the requests in one issue then publish the answers in the next issue. The blocks would be published with instructions and a picture. Often the blocks were renamed to sound more current or to give credit to a city or state, and one block would end up having several different names.

This month's quilt block uses the fabrics from the brand new Robin's Nest Quilt Block - available soon in DVD and book format.

Rocky Road Square upon Square

Click on either the picture of the quilt block or the name of the block that is highlighted in blue and underlined, and a file will open that has a colored quilt block picture, templates for the pattern, and (in some cases) rotary cutting instructions. The pattern page has links for these block patterns as well.

Thanks to Maggie Malone's book 5,500 Quilt Block Designs for this information.

4) Recipes for Quilters – Rocky Road Marshmallows

In my early 20s, I decided that I wanted to explore making food that normal people just bought in the grocery store. I made hamburger buns from scratch (including ones with the onions on top), wheat thins, bagels, and marshmallows.

Most of these explorations were one time events, since I discovered that there was a real reason that most people bought the stuff – it was easier, and it usually tasted better anyway!

When I settled on the Rocky Road quilt block to feature this month, I re-discovered my recipe for Rocky Road Marshmallows. I remember trying to talk the kids into making marshmallows when they were very young, as a kind of special, fun activity. Somehow they just weren’t interested. Now that they are in their 20s, maybe it’s time to try again as a Christmas activity. Possibly some Rocky Road Marshmallows would make nice stepping stones on the path to their Gingerbread House, even if they don’t get eaten. I’ve got an idea, though, that many will get eaten before they hit the road!

Enjoy!

Rocky Road Marshmallows:

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate (6 ounces, 170g) broken into 1-inch (2.5cm) pieces; or 1 cup (6 ounces, 170g) chocolate chips
1 cup salted peanuts (4½ ounces, 130g)
2 cups shredded coconut (7 ounces, 200g)

In a food processor, coarsely chop the chocolate with the metal blade, about 9 pulses. Reserve. Coarsely chop the peanuts with the metal blade, about 7 pulses. Reserve.

Preheat oven to 350° F (175° C). Spread the shredded coconut on a baking sheet and bake in the center of the preheated oven for 10 minutes, turning occasionally, until the coconut is toasted golden brown.

Prepare the marshmallows according to the Basic Recipe, using only 1 teaspoon each of confectioners sugar and corn starch to coat the prepared pan.

Sprinkle 1 cup (1¾ ounces. 50g) of the toasted coconut on the bottom of the pan. Fold the chopped chocolate or chocolate chips, and chopped peanuts into the marshmallow mixture. Proceed according to the Basic Recipe inverting the mixture onto a board sprinkled with the remaining coconut.

Coat the marshmallows with toasted coconut and dry on a wire rack.

Basic Marshmallow Recipe:

¼ cup confectioners (powdered) sugar (1 ounce, 30g)
¼ cup corn starch (1 ounce, 30g)
1 cup granulated sugar (7½ ounces, 210g)
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2/3 cup water (160 ml)
1½ envelopes unflavored gelatin (1/3 ounce, 10g)
¼ cup cold water (60ml)
3 large egg whites
¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Lightly butter a 9” by 9” by 2” (23cm by 23cm by 5cm) square pan. Sift together the confectioners sugar and corn starch. Use about 1 tablespoon of this mixture to coat the pan and reserve the remainder.

Place the granulated sugar, corn syrup and 2/3 cup water in a 1 ½ quart saucepan and boil over medium-high heat until it reaches the soft ball stage, 250° F (120° C) on a candy thermometer. This will take about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the gelatin and cold water in a 1 quart saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally until the gelatin is dissolved. Keep warm until needed. Use an electric mixer to beat the egg whites in a large mixing bowl until stiff.

Beat continuously while slowly pouring in the hot sugar syrup. Pour the warm gelatin into the beaten egg whites. Add the vanilla and continue to beat until the mixture is cool and stiff, 8 to 10 minutes. Pour the mixture immediately into the prepared pan and smooth the surface. Let stand in a cool dry place until set, about 2 hours.

Use a knife to loosen the marshmallow mixture from the pan and invert onto a board sprinkled with the reserved sugar-corn starch mixture. Use a wet knife or scissors (but not your quilting scissors!) to cut the marshmallow mixture into 7 equal strips. Then make 7 crosswise cuts through the strips. Turn the marshmallows to coat with the reserved sugar-corn starch mixture. Dry the marshmallows on a wire rack for at least 1 hour.

Marshmallows should be stored in a cool, dry place and will keep, covered, for 3 – 4 weeks.

5) Newsletter Special– EQ5 – computer software for designing quilts

Expand your quilting horizons using this easy-to-use computer software to design your quilt blocks and quilts. It took me years to make the leap and purchase computer software for designing – even just coloring traditional quilt blocks.

It’s just like purchasing my first rotary cutter. I said to myself “What do I need that for? Scissors work just fine.” I’m sure many of you can relate to that. Now I couldn’t live without my rotary cutter.

This software is jam-packed with traditional quilt blocks, so you save time and aggravation scouring through books to find the pattern you are looking for. Find the pattern, open it up onto a worktable, then have fun picking from their fabrics, or use your own, to color in the patches in the block.

When you have settled on a color scheme, convert the blocks into a quilt – with or without sashing; pick the size and number of borders you want – then tell the program how big you want the blocks, and it will:

• Tell you how much of each fabric to buy
• Show you how to cut the strips and pieces using a rotary cutter
• Give you templates for all of the pieces you need
• Provide foundation patterns for those of you who love paper piecing
• Give you both a quilt block pattern and a full quilt pattern to guide your quiltmaking

Monday, September 4 is the deadline to purchase this fabulous software.
Here’s the full scoop:

http://www.how-to-quilt.com/eq5.shtml

6) DVD Update - Coming Soon

The survey was in, and you said you wanted a Step-by-Step DVD. This has been quite a fun and interesting project. Last month I reported that the movie files were at the video shop being duplicated. The following week, I called them, fully expecting to have a date I could pick them up, only to find out that their software was different from mine, and they couldn’t help.

Two video shops later, I found someone who could walk me through the process. Then I discovered that I needed a new computer in order to handle the huge files associated with video. Well, now the new computer is set up, and progress is being made. In the meantime, I have been working on the book, and gathering other quilting goodies to go in the pack.

It’s a simple 9 patch block, using squares, half square triangles, and a flying goose (or maybe flying geese) patch. You will get the 4 DVDs, plus a CD of the Beginner’s Guide to Quilting, Vol. II – Robin’s Nest Quilt Block, plus a raft of bonuses that I am putting together right now.

Watch for more details, coming soon.

Have a fabulous Month!

Happy Quilting!

Penny Halgren
www.How-to-Quilt.com
Inspiration and Education for Beginning Quilters

www.Rag-Quilt-Instructions.com
Fast, Fun and Funky Quilts

www.Fabric-Postcards.com
Quilt Mail Across the Miles

Do you enjoy this newsletter? If you do, why not forward it to one or many friends and encourage them to join the group!

You are welcome to post this newsletter on a website or submit it to an e-zine. If you do, please credit the source to How-to-Quilt.com, and include the copyright and contact information. We would also love to hear about it, if it is posted.

©How-to-Quilt.com 2006