Club Notes - May 13, 2026

There were 13 of us this afternoon.  Ceal reminded everyone to fill out the forms she gave out or email her your list of service providers you use.  She is compiling a list that she will share with everyone, so we will have an idea of who we trust to work for us.

I initiated a discussion on how we should proceed to provide duffle bags for future year Sheriffs Youth Ranch graduates.  The quilts are not a problem since many of our members contribute, but the duffels are currently made by Ellen Hein, with help from Lynn DelGado. In most years there are only 3-6 graduat4es, but this year there were 14. That was a huge amount of work for 2 people.  I suggested that we might be able to purchase duffle bags and just concentrate on making the quilts, pillowcases and zipper bags.  Ellen confirmed that she still has enough fabric and is willing to continue making the duffels, as long as she can. I will try to get the number of graduates as early as possible.  If anyone is willing to help with this annual project, please talk to Ellen.

 

Show and Tell: 

Carolyn Grasso showed a toy horse she made.  I gave her a panel with several horse toys and this is the first to be completed.

Eileen St. Clair showed a baby quilt she made.

(front and back)

Isabella O’brien made some coasters from squares, 

2 heart quilts, a baby size and one larger.

Mic Pickard made an apron and matching potholders for a friend.      

                       

     

Mic is also working on setting up yo-yos as button covers for a nursing home activity.

Diane Placek made a backpack and some zipper bags.

Eileen DeSanto showed a quilt top she made.

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Today I brought a bag containing all the border strips I have been saving.  I offered first choice to Anne Knoff for the baby quilts her quilt chapter makes.  The rest were available for anyone to work with.  The little that was left was put with the rest of our fabric pieces for future use.  I was happy to see that I could go home with an empty bag!!

Next week I hope to bring in another box of fabric for everyone to look through.

Hope to see you next week.

Lois

 

Club Notes - May 6, 2026

There were 11 of us this afternoon.  It was great to see all the items we have made over the past few months.  Thanks to everyone for sorting and packing up everything for donation.

For the 14 Sheriffs Youth Ranch graduates, we packed 14 duffels with a twin size quilt, 2 pillowcases and 2 zipper bags each, for an estimated value of $5,983.   Tomorrow I will count the draw string backpacks for the summer camp kids and will report the total and value next week.  These will all be delivered on Friday.

For the Christian Care Center in Leesburg, we will be donating 25 quilts valued at $4,035 and 9 zipper bags valued at $66.

For Advent Watermans’ Hospital pediatric unit, we will be donating 7 quilts valued at $609 and 30 pillowcases valued at $450.

We will be sending 52 pillowcases to Case for Smiles, valued at $624.  These get delivered to the Sewing Studio at Lady Lake.  The walker bags for Helpertunity also go to the Sewing Studio, so I will count them tomorrow and add them to this delivery.

This means that the total value of everything we sorted today is $11.787. A Daily Sun reporter also visited us this afternoon to see the work we are doing.

Amazing work ladies.

 

Show and Tell:

Louise Stem made 2 more pillowcases.

Mic Pickard showed a quilt and baby hat for her new great-great granddaughter,

Pat Pipa made 4 boy themed drawstring backpacks.

Ceal Pedersen brought another bag full of critters with faces complete.

Ellen Hein and Eileen St. Clair showed 5 quilts that they completed the binding on.

Eileen made this one and the next one.

I made this one to use up some charm packs I've had sitting in my stash for years.

We're not sure who made this one.

This one was partially made by a lady from Allamanda.  I finished it.

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I did not put any other fabric out today.  We had enough going on to keep us busy all afternoon. Next week we will be back to selecting fabric, making stuffed toys, walker bags, quilts, pillowcases, etc. to give to those in need.

Hope to see you next week.

Lois

 

Club Notes - April 29, 2026

There were 14 of us this afternoon.  The cabinet replacement in our meeting room is finally complete.  The funny thing is, it looks the same as it did before, as if they just put the old cabinets back.

We were happy to see Mic Pickard back with us.  B.J. Herter was also with us again.  So good to see you both

I brought in all the stuffed toys we have made over the past few weeks so I could count them and give them to Mic for delivery.  I counted 27 dinos, 16 cats, and an assortment of 22other critters, for a total of 65 toys. They are now off to The Villages UF Health hospital auxiliary.

Show and Tell:

Pat Pipa made 3 boy themed drawstring backpacks.

Bev showed a doll pajama and matching pillowcase.

Isabella O’Brien showed a small purse she made with lots of pockets.  She is going to give a demo on how to make this in a few weeks.

Eileen DiSanto made a dozen toys, which were stuffed during the afternoon.

Ceal Pedersen brought a bunch of cats and one dino, with faces complete.

Louise Stem made 2 more pillowcases.

Ellen Hein and Eileen St. Clair showed 7 quilts that they completed the binding on.

Isabella made this one

Not sure who handed this one in.

Eileen St. Clair made this one.

Isabella and Eileen worked together on this one.

Not sure who handed this one in.

Isabella and Eileen worked together on this one.

Eileen made this one.

I showed a patriotic place mat I made on my embroidery machine. (Land of the free because of the brave)

Anne Knoff gave a couple of Sketchers bags to a friend. The friend covered the logo with some fun fabric and turned them into backpacks.

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The same bin of 6.5” squares was out today.   I added a few pieces to the bin of fabric.  We have more in the closet that we can get out whenever anyone asks. I also replenished the bag of fiber fill.

Mic and I went to storage after the meeting.  We pulled out all the quilts and one more box of fabric yardage.  These are either solids or subtle prints.  There is still a bin of 2 and 3 yard print pieces that we will get out another time.

Next week we will pack the duffels for the 14 graduates and sort the rest of the items that have accumulated so they can be delivered. It should be fun to see everything.  

Hope to see you next week.

Lois

Club Notes - April 22, 2026

There were 13 of us this afternoon.  We had hoped the cabinet replacement would be done, but no such luck.  Instead of getting it done in 2 days as they promised, they showed up at 1pm Monday and again on Tuesday, and barely got it half done.  New cabinets are up but without shelves or doors and the kitchen sink isn’t even attached.  Needless to say, the rec center staff are frustrated.  The saga continues.

We were happy to see Lynn Delgado and mom Audrey Phillips join us today.  It’s good to know Audrey is recovered enough to be out and about.

I reminded everyone that we will be filling the duffels for the Sheriffs’ Youth Ranch graduates on May 6^th.  I plan to bring “all” the items that have not been delivered to that meeting so we can sort it all out and send everything on its way.  If you have any drawstring backpacks in progress, it would be great if you could bring them in next week (4/29) or 5/6.  I’d like to send these off at the same time as we deliver the graduate gifts.

Show and Tell:

Eileen DiSanto made a litter of cats and one dinosaur, all needing stuffing.

Pat Pipa made 2 drawstring backpacks.

Ellen Hein completed the binding on an alphabet quilt I made.  

She also showed a cushion she is covering for a friend.  This was a different shape, so she had to make the pattern as well.

Ceal Pedersen didn’t get any critters from us last week, so she made a herd of dinosaurs herself.

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I put out a bin of 5” squares, a bin of 6.5” squares and one bin of fabric pieces for everyone to choose from.  We also found a bunch of Christmas dolls that have all the pieces printed on fabric but just need to be sewn together and stuffed.  I asked anyone who wanted, to take them, or I would trash them.  A few went out during the afternoon, and Carolyn Grasso took the rest home to check out.  One less thing in our closet space.

Hope to see you next week.

Lois