Club Notes - February 18, 2026

There were 17 of us at today’s meeting including 2 new members.  We put out the 2 bins of fabric pieces, the 5” squares, and the 6.5” squares.  I also had several walker bag kits available for anyone who wanted to make one.  Last week I mentioned that we have a 2^nd place to regularly donate toys, so I am hoping to increase the number that we make.  There were quite a few ready for stuffing today, so much that we used up our stuffing.  We will get more before the next meeting.

Normally we would have had a winter potluck party in January, but I couldn’t get it together until now.  We will have our winter potluck party next week! Bring a dish to share if you can, but don’t worry if you can’t.  There is always lots of food.  I will bring the plates, plasticware, etc., as usual.  Bring your own drink and 25 pennies, buttons or other items to mark your bingo cards.  As usual, we will eat, then have show and tell, then a multiple-choice quiz, and finally bingo.

The next events that I am aware of are the following:

March 7^th  - Quilter’s Closet & Notions Sale at La Hacienda. 8:30am-12:30pm. I will be looking for a few volunteers to help for an hour or two.  Caroline Grasso and Isabella O’Brien have volunteered to help.  If anyone else can spare an hour or 2 to help, let me know.

March 1-April30 All Florida Shop Hop.  Purchase the magazine at one of our local shops to get free patterns and the official passport needed to register for prizes. There are prizes given at the shops plus regional and all Florida prizes. This is a fun way to get to know the shops.

Show and Tell: (https://sewingn-more.blogspot.com/)new

B.J. Herter brought in 7 dinos to be stuffed.

Ceal Pedersen showed some more stuffed toys that she painted the faces on to finish them for us.

Louise Stem made 4 more pillowcases for the Youth Ranch graduates.

Lisa Strahs-Lorenc showed a doll for Dolls from the Heart and some doll medical gowns.

Pat Pipa brought animals to be stuffed

Eileen DiSanto made a bunch of animals to be stuffed.

Cats

Dinos

Pigs

and another dino.

Ellen Hein showed all the quilts that were handed to her to complete the binding.  

This one came in as a quilt top in a donation.  Ceal did some minor repairs and found it had been paper-pieced on newspaper from the 1920's.  We plan to donate this one to the Friends of the Sheriffs Youth Ranches for their Spring auction,

In the same donation, we found a stack of fan blocks.  Lorraine Manz took these and turned them into several quilt tops.

There is one more of these that I am still working on quilting.

The donation also included some star blocks,  Lorraine turned these into quilt tops too.

We don't remember who handed this one in.  It has been in my pile of to-be-done for at least 2 months.  If you created this, let me know and I will update this blog.

Ellen also handed in several Cornerstone Hospice quilts.

This one is complete and ready to go.

The rest of these are tops and backs that I need to add batting to and quilt.

We convinced Ann Knoff to show this quilt that Khaki Quilters sent.

Lorraine Manz also made this one.

We talked about saving these for the Youth Ranch graduates, either this year or next.  We'll decide in a few weeks.

Since the beginning of the year, we have donated 24 toys to The Villages hospital, 42 toys to Project Hope, 11 walker bags to Freedom Pointe, 38 quilts and 13 pillowcases to the Christian  Care Center, and 13 quilts and 20 pillowcases to Advent Health Waterman.  You all make this possible!!

Hope to see you next week for food and games.

Lois

Club Notes - Feb 11, 2026

There were 14 of us at today’s meeting.  I told everyone a little about our experience at thr Giving Showcase last Saturday.  This is a unique opportunity to network with other charitable groups within the Villages. Thanks to Lisa, Carolyn and Brenda for helping.   We may have picked up a new group to donate to – Isaiah 117.  They can use small quilts and drawstring backpacks for children transitioning into foster care.

I did a quick explanation of how to sew a zipper into a small zipper bag, Thanks to everyone who contributed to the discussion.  I’m afraid I was not on my A game today. As I have mentioned in the past, I do not function well early in the morning, and I had to wake up at 4AM this morning to take my husband to the hospital for an outpatient procedure.  All went well and I had him back home by 11AM.

I brought the squares back in and Mic brought in a bunch of zippers and other notions.  The stuffing and fabric scraps were available in the closet.

The next events that I am aware of are the following:

March 7^th  - Quilter’s Closet & Notions Sale at La Hacienda. 8:30am-12:30pm. I will be looking for a few volunteers to help for an hour or two.

March 1-April 30 – All Florida Shop Hop.  Purchase the magazine at one of our local shops to get free patterns and the official passport needed to register for prizes. There are prizes given at the shops plus regional and all Florida prizes. This is a fun way to get to know the shops.

Show and Tell: 

Louise Stem made 4 more pillowcases for the Youth Ranch graduates.

Ceal Pedersen showed some more stuffed toys that she painted the faces on to finish them for us.

(Linda Greenbaum made these bears)

Nancy Miller has been busy making 30 drawstring backpacks.

Linda Greenbaum is making port pillows for mastectomy patients.

Mary Ellen Boutin has been very busy making tote bags

 and several quilt tops.

Eileen DiSanto made another dino.

Diane Placek made a couple of zipper bags.

Bev Minnerly made a backpack, 

doll clothes and a bunch of doll bodies.

A few weeks ago, I showed 2 quilt tops. Today I showed the finished quilts,

As always, everyone spent the rest of the afternoon selecting fabric, sewing stuffing toys and socializing.  

It has been a while since we had a party, so I am working on that.  It won’t be next week, but sometime soon.  I will let you know.

Hope to see you all next week.

Club Notes - February 4, 2026

There were 18 of us at today’s meeting. I brought out our medium size fabric pieces and several ladies sorted through the boxes to find or cut fat quarters that we can sell. Slightly smaller pieces were available for making toys or other projects. The 5” squares and 6.5” squares were also available for anyone who wanted to work with them.

Here is a recoup of upcoming events: 

Feb 7^th Giving Showcase 10am-2pm at Lake Miona.  Lisa, Brenda and Carolyn volunteered to help.  Stop by to check out all the wonderful organizations in The Villages.

March 7^th  - Quilter’s Closet & Notions Sale at La Hacienda. 8:30am-12:30pm. I will be looking for a few volunteers to help for an hour or two.

March 1-April 30 – All Florida Shop Hop.  Purchase the magazine at one of our local shops to get free patterns and the official passport needed to register for prizes. There are prizes given at the shops plus regional and all Florida prizes. This is a fun way to get to know the shops.

Show and Tell: (https://sewingn-more.blogspot.com/)new

Donna Rissman handed in a dog bed

and a bunch of receiving blanket made by members of her quilt chapter. 

She also showed some apron shaped potholders she made for her chapter’s retreat, 

and some heart shaped trivets.

Ceal Pedersen showed some more stuffed toys that she painted the faces on to finish them for us,

 and two quilts. She is keeping the first quilt for herself. 

The second one goes to a nephew.

Bev Minnerly made 3 cats that she gave to Ceal for face painting. 

She also made 10 pillowcases 

and 3 walker bags.

 

Lisa Strahs-Lorenc showed some doll clothes and a doll for “Dolls From the Heart”.

Diane Placek showed the paper piecing sample she completed and talked about the challenge this was for her since she is left-handed.

Eileen St Clair showed a table runner she made using paper piecing.

Louise Stem made 2 more pillowcases for the Youth Ranch graduates.

Linda Greenbaum made 5 teddy bears to be stuffed

 and 6 clothing protectors.

 

The 5” squares continue to live in my car, so they will be back again next week. We have room for 2 bins in the closet, so the pieces for toys are staying there.  We also keep the 3.5: squares and 4” squares in the closet for anyone who would like to make some 9-patch blocks. 

My husband is having an out-patient procedure done next Wednesday morning, so I may be late getting to our meeting and will not have time to bring anything that is not already in my car.  If I am late Mic should be able to start the meeting.   In either case, you can come to sew and socialize. I plan to send out an email before noon to let everyone know what is happening.

 Hope to see you next week.