Hat Party Class

Today was the Hat Party class, and I think everyone had a good time! It was a dreary, rainy day in Sacramento, so what could be better than getting together with friends to sew?

Since I always like to make my classes as party-like as possible, today's class included a tea party.

Earl Gray and English Breakfast tea was served, as well as crustless sandwiches--tomato and avocado with cream cheese, cucumber with cream cheese and lemon pepper seasoning, egg salad with bacon crumbles, and pesto chicken salad with parmesan cheese and sliced almonds. Yum! We also had fresh strawberries, lemon cake, raspberry filled mini donuts, and almond cookies. One thing we didn't lack was food! Of course, with all the sewing going on, we needed to keep up our energy, right?!

Have you ever had clotted cream with jam on buns? Hubby and I had it at a B&B in West Vancouver several years ago and it's a wonderful treat! Well, I tried to make some for our tea, but it was a bust. First of all, I tried Alton Brown's clotted cream recipe, and 15 hours later I still had cream with very little clots. Of course, I didn't read the reviews ahead of time, but now that I have, I see that half the people loved it and half the people ended up with cream and few clots. Yep, I'm definitely in that second half! Then there were the buns. I have a little book of tea recipes and I followed the recipe to make the buns, but the dough was WAAAAAY dry. I had to add some additional milk to get it moist enough to where I could kneed it at all. Well, those didn't turn out too bad, but I don't think they were quite right. Needless to say, the clotted cream, jam, and buns failed to make a party appearance. Still, we hardly lacked for food! We even invited Bearpaws & Hollyhocks owner Lindy and her assistant, Carol, in for a little snack.

Our two new bloggers, Gran and Pam, were among my students. Victoria, Imelda, and Susie also made time in their busy weekends to come. One of the things I enjoy doing is having students bring show and tell--whether from a past class or just something they've made and want to share. Imelda brought her Spring! wallhanging from the last class and it turned out sooooo cute! My photography doesn't do it justice--I should have changed the camera setting to back lit but didn't. Imelda added a bow to her bunny and it was just darling.

Oh, and what's a party without party favors?

Here's what was in the bags--

Some paper and a pencil, so everyone could take notes, a seed packet, a ladybug eraser, a hat pincushion, and two shades of green wool (so my gals could get a start on making leaves for their hat quilts).

By the end of class everyone had made at least three hat blocks. Each of the gals used such different fabrics, the blocks were fun to see as they came together. Each time someone would finish a block, she'd hold it up so the rest of us could see and marvel at. And, of course, the great fun with these stack and slice patterns is sewing one block and revealing what the next combination of fabrics will look like.

The only drawback to the Hat Party? I'm really, really pooped tonight! Time to go to bed with a good book and get a restful night's sleep. I hope you're enjoying your weekend too!