Club Notes - November 12, 2025

There were 16 of us at today’s meeting.   The first order of business was to report the results of the vote I requested on how to distribute the excess charity funds.   The choices were:

A.   $200. Each to Project S.O.S., Christian Care Center, Wildwood Soup Kitchen, and $100 to Hands of Mercy Everywhere

B.  $700 to the Wildwood Soup Kitchen 

C. $500 to the Wildwood Soup Kitchen and $200 to Project S.O.S.

20 members responded, with 3 votes for A, 5 votes for B and 12 votes for C.  So I will be sending $500 to the Wildwood Soup Kitchen and $200 to Project S.O.S.

Mic and I also talked about the new process of donating items to Advent Watermans Hospital.  Everything goes to a central receiving area where they sanitize everything and distribute to the appropriate departments.  The maternity ward and the pediatric ward are close and we may get requests for items for both.

Mic is having an open house on Sunday to help a friend give away fabric from her mother’s stash. The fabric will be free with the caveat that it is to be used to make items for donation, and not for personal use.  I will send out a separate email with the information.

Show and Tell: 

Carolyn Grasso made a couple of dinosaur bodies, to be stuffed, 

and a refrigerator door handle cover.

Louise Stem finished the last of the reusable menstrual kits she has been working on. 

Each kit contains 8 pads, 2 pair of underwear, and drying strings, all fitted in a small pouch.

Ceal Pedersen showed the latest batch of stuffed toys she painted 

Pat Pipa showed a Christmas wall hanging she made in a recent Allamanda member to member class.

Kathryn Jeter showed a glasses case she made.

We received 2 donations of finished quilts today.  

There are 7 from Kris Loffler, through Allamanda Quilters. 

and 3 from Moyer Citrus Quilters.  

2 of these quilts are close to twin size and will be put aside as possible choices for the Sheriffs Youth Ranch graduates.

 

Most of the ladies brought their sewing machines today and worked on the project.   Even those who could not bring a machine picked out fabric to bring home.  I look forward to seeing some finished cornucopias next week.

 

That’s all for today. . Hope to see you next week.

 

Lois

Club Notes - November 5, 2025

There were 18 of us at today’s meeting. Our agenda was a little different this afternoon.  We had a visitor, Judy Lindquist, who represents the Friends of SOZO Kids.  She came to pick up some things we are donating to the organization and spent a few minutes talking to the group about what SOZO Kids does for the children who live in the Ocala forest.

Mic brought all the items that were left over from the craft sale and we made decisions regarding what to do with it all.  Some items will be given to the Sheriff’s Youth Ranch Thrift shop, some others will go to the Villages Hospital thrift shop (Ye Olde Thrift Shop). Items that we felt were useful for poor families will be given to the Christian Care Center. 

We also gave everyone at today’s meeting the opportunity to buy any of the leftover items at a deeply discounted price.  We collected $90 from these sales, and that amount has been added to our charity fund.

Anything that we didn’t feel could be donated to any of the above organizations will be given to Goodwill.

Next week -11/12 is Project day – Sew a fabric cornucopia.  Pick fabric from our stash or bring your own. You can use 2 fat quarters – one for the outside and one for the lining.    The actual size of the fabrics needed are 10” x 18” for the small one that came with the pattern and 14” x 21” for the pattern I enlarged.  We have a bolt of muslin and batting scraps to complete the needed supplies. I’m hoping everyone who can will bring their sewing machine next week so we can make these during the meeting.  If you don’t want it for yourself we will donate them to a local assisted living facility.

 

Show and Tell: 

Eileen St Clair showed 2 quilts, one that is finished 

and one quilt top. 

She also showed a bear that her aunt made.  She used to give these to the local police and fire departments.

Bev Minnerly made 2 potholders 

and a doll body. 

She also finished a purse for herself.

Kathryn Jeter showed some turkey hangings she made with her embroidery machine.

Ceal Pedersen showed the latest batch of stuffed toys she painted 

Carolyn Grasso turned in several more 9-patch blocks.

New member, Nancy Miller, made a stack of pillowcases.

Ellen Hein made another tote bag for transporting quilts and other completed items.

 

That’s all for today. . Hope to see you next week.

Club Notes - October 29, 2025

There were 20 of us enjoying our Halloween pot-luck party today.  The food was plentiful and scrumptious. A few of us were brave enough to come in costume, but it was not required.

I talked briefly about the Giving Expo that we participated in last Saturday.  We connected with a couple of charities that we can add to our list.  Up until now we had been giving dog beds to 3 shelters – Marion County Animal Services, Marian County Humane Society, and Humane Society of Lake County.  We will now be adding Leesburg Humane Society to our delivery schedule.

We had suspended donations to Project S.O.S. (Support our Soldiers) at their request, but after a conversation with their Executive Director on Saturday, we will resume giving them quilts, pillowcases, drawstring backpacks, and possibly some small duffle bags.

We received an inquiry from a ministry called Hope127, which brings needed items to poor communities in Liberia.  They asked if we could provide some small toys for the children.  I contacted the CEO and she said she will be going again in January, and could use 40 toys to give to the local elementary school.   I think this will be easy to accomplish, so I am challenging you to make more dinos, cats, pigs, or other small toys between now and mid December.

I also spoke to Friends of SOZO kids.  Previously I thought they were getting enough from other groups, but they told me they can always use quilts, pillowcases, drawstring backpacks, and possibly some small duffle bags too.  I think, if we give them quilts, they should be made without batting.

Here is the schedule for the next few weeks:

11/5 Regular meeting. I will bring the 8.5” squares again.  We will also bring in all the items leftover from the craft sale so we can decide what to do with them.  This is also a chance to  decide which charities to donate money to this year.  I propose that we give $200 each to Project S.O.S. and The Christian Care Center.  I would like to suggest the 3^rd $200 gift go to Hands of Mercy Everywhere. They usually don’t need the things we sew, but are more in need of money to support the work they do with teen mothers and girls at risk of sex trafficking.

11/12  Project day – Sew a fabric cornucopia.  Pick fabric from our stash or bring your own.  We have muslin and batting scraps to complete the needed supplies. I’m hoping everyone who can will bring their sewing machine on that day so we can make these during the meeting.  If you don’t want it for yourself we will donate them to a local assisted living facility.

Show and Tell: 

Mic Pickard showed a hanging zipper bag she made using 5” squares.

Ceal Pedersen showed the latest batch of stuffed toys she made.  

Diane Placek made Autumn themed coasters for some guests and showed us the last two that were left.

Louise Stem showed a couple more final sets for the  girl’s sanitary supplies for project Christmas Child.  This includes 2 sizes panties, several washable pads, bag to carry spares, and a device to hang them to dry.

The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to fun and games.  I gave out a Halloween trivia quiz and next we played Halloween bingo.  Everyone had fun playing and nibbling on the food.

That’s all for today. . Hope to see you next week.

 

Lois

Club Notes - October 22, 2025

There were 16 of us at El Santiago this afternoon, including one prospective new member who I met at the craft sale last Saturday.

This week I put out the 3.5”, 4.5”, and 8.5” squares.  I also put out the box of orphan big blocks and large fabric pieces.  Mic couldn’t jpin us this week but she sent a large bag of fiber-fill for us.

Here us the schedule for the next few weeks:

10/25 Giving Expo, Everglades rec center, 10AM -2PM.  This is a good opportunity to see some of the charitable groups working in The Villages.   If you can spare a little time to sit at our table and help me talk to people about Sewing N More, let me know.

10/29 Halloween potluck party, costumes optional.  Bring a dish to share if you can, but don’t worry if you can’t.  There is always plenty to go around.  Bring your own drink and 25 pennies, buttons, or anything else that will serve to mark your bingo cards.

11/5 Regular meeting

11/12  Project day – Sew a fabric cornucopia.  Pick fabric from our stash or bring your own.  If you don’t want it for yourself we will donate them to a local assisted living facility.

 

Show and Tell:

Louise Stem showed the final items in the girl’s sanitary supplies for project Christmas Child.  

This includes 2 sizes panties, several washable pads, bag to carry spares, and a device to hang them to dry.

Ceal Pedersen showed some stuffed toys she made.

 Last week Rita Massa brought in a bunch of hand basted blocks, paper pieced on newspaper from 1928.  Ceal took them home, pulled out the newspaper, and resewed 15 of the blocks into a quilt top!  It came home with me for quilting.

There was another quilt top in the pile Rita got from an estate and she handed that in for me to quilt as well.

Eileen DiSanto made a couple of critters waiting for stuffing 

and showed 2 Halloween crafts she made years ago.

Carolyn Grasso showed some Angels she made.  

Ceal took the dolls Carolyn showed last week and painted faces on them.

Prospective new member, Nancy Miller, gave us several pillowcases.

 Ellen brought the latest batch of quilts  that she finished the binding on.  I have tried to identify the person who made each quilt top, but there are a few I can't remember.  If you made one that I haven't identified, let me know and I will update this entry.

Diane Placek made this quilt for Honor Flight.

i

Ellen made this one, with Betty Boop fabric.

The next 3 came from Khaki Quilters.

Donna Rissman made this one from a soft book found in our donations.

Ellen made these 2.

Over the past year or so, club members made 9-patch blocks using blue and white 3.5" squares. I finally sewed them together and quilted it, and Ellen finished the binding.  This is an example of what we can do assembly line.

For the rest of the afternoon ladies selected fabric and chatted.   As always, I look forward to seeing the finished items that come back.   I brought the 9-patch squares using 3.5” squares,  that have been handed in so far. I laid them out and enlisted Ellen’s help to organize the variety of colors into a quilt top.  With some sashing, I will make it work.

That’s all for today. . Hope to see you next week at our pot-luck.

Lois