Hello all, Mary Ellen here.

Yay! It’s raining! I can hear my lawn saying “AAH! That feels great.”

Nice guild meeting last night. Here are a few random thoughts.

1. Had a few questions last night about supply lists for seminar . Everyone will get printed copies of the supply list(s) for their seminar class(es) in the mail in early August. The supply lists for our national teachers are available at their websites if you would like them early (see your registration form or our guild blog for addresses). You do not need any proof of registration to get them; they are available for everyone. We have the lists for the majority of our local teachers now posted at our website as well; the rest will be added as we get them. If you know of a friend, who does not have internet access, who would like a national teacher’s supply list prior to receiving our mailing, have them contact me. I would be happy to send them what they need.

2. Please make sure that the shop(s), guild(s), friend(s) of yours who share your quilting interest are aware of our seminar. If you are a liaison or just a helpful member, let us know if you need flyers or bookmarks to pass around. Glad to have your assistance in publicizing.

3. I was so pleased last evening when Helen Slominski gave me a copy of Anita Murphy’s Drunkard’s Path book. You might remember reading my post about Anita’s work earlier this summer. I sat right down with a beverage to start through the book. Even the introductory basic information was fun to read. Anita has a droll way with words. Let me quote a paragraph to you that rang true with me. Sometimes I spend hours trying to find just the right fabric combination for a project when I should just PICK SOMETHING, darn it! and get to the machine. Here’s what Anita has to say.

“Now if you have trouble deciding or selecting fabric, you might want to try a method that I have found helps me especially when I should have made the project last week. I can fuss and dream and visit with my fabrics and lose half a day. But when the deadline is drawing near, I set the timer on my oven to 30 minutes and when the timer goes off, I use what I have. And truly it goes together remarkably well. I even get compliments on my color selections. Try this timing trick and see if it doesn’t help you get through a decision quickly.”

I’m going to try it the next time I am stuck, and may even use it before that just to make myself learn to “get on with it , for Pete’s sake”. There are many more humorous tips in Anita’s book, that I’ll share now and again. And thanks once more to Helen. I promise to give this book a place of honor on my shelves, and I promise to make a project to share with you all–but I can’t promise when that will be ready to show!

4. Last night I brought a cookie to share for snack time. They went fast, which I hope means you liked them. It’s a recipe I got from one of my students really early in my career before I got gun-shy about eating things the kids made themselves. (If you know middle schoolers, you probably know what I’m talking about.) This is my go-to recipe for cookies which do not need the oven. Everywhere I take them, they are a hit. Add this winner to your recipe box.

Amy’s cookies

Melt together in a double boiler (or nowadays in the microwave) one 11 oz. bag of butterscotch chips and 1/2 cup of peanut butter. Add 5 cups of corn flakes and stir until all coated. Drop by teaspoonful onto wax paper and let cool/harden. You can speed it up in the frig if you have the room. That’s all there is to it. The hardest part is keeping everyone from eating them before they harden. (The crumbs or broken cookies make great topping for ice cream.)

Have a great weekend.