Club Notes - October 28, 2026

 Today we had our Halloween potluck.  The date proved a conflict for several of our regular members, so there were only 9 of us to enjoy the food and games.  We did welcome a possible new member. She was looking for Happy Stitchers, who meet in Lake Miona at the same time, but came to El Santiago instead. We invited her to stay for food and games and she said she might come back next week.

Show and Tell: 

Carolyn Grasso showed the quilt she finished for her step great granddaughter.  It incorporated the child’s baby clothes.

Louise Stem showed more of the menstrual pad kits she completed. She has completed 96 of these for Operation Christmas Child.

Ceal Pedersen painted the face on a toy dog that Eileen DiSanto handed in last week 

and made 2 more dogs herself.

Our guest, Kening Mason, is a member of the Oriental Dance group in The Villages and she showed the opera costume that she made (by hand).

I showed the 2 placemats I made with fabric leftover from the Halloween quilt I showed last week.

  I also made 3 little owl toys and painted the faces on these myself,

After show and tell we began out games.  Instead of a regular trivia game, I gave out a list of phobia names to match with what they are a fear of.  It was a challenging list.  Out of 25 phobias, the winner (Ceal) guessed 8 correctly.  As usual, we also played several games of Halloween Bingo.

Next week we will be back to our normal activities.  I received several bags of scraps from Allamanda on Tuesday, so I will bring them, as well as some of other fabrics I have for you to select.

I have received a few requests for an accounting of how many items we have donated this year.  The following lists our main donations and does not include one-offs.  I will update this to show all our donations at the end of the year,

Donations 2026

142 Dog beds

 52 Drawstring backpacks

159 Holiday Stockings

 13 Hospice quilts

 10 Kennel quilts

167 Pillowcases

161 Quilts

    90 for Christian Care Center

    54 Advent Waterman's Hospital

29  Receiving blankets

49  burp pads

 

See you next week.

Lois

Club Notes - October 21, 2026

There were 14 of us in attendance today. The first of our snowbirds, Rita Massa, is back with us. She came with a bag of squares and several pillowcases.  I brought a bin of panels for everyone to look through, and most of the ladies took at least one to work on.

A gentleman who plays cards in the next room purchased 4 baby quilts from us, adding to our charity supply fund.  We also started the 50/50 again since there were enough in attendance to make it worthwhile.

We reminded everyone that there will be another fabric open house at Mic’s house this weekend.  All fabric is free for use in charity projects.  The event is on October 24^th, 2pm-4pm, and October 25^th, 10am-2pm.  The address is 2490 Five Forks Trail, in the villages of Tall Trees.

 

Show and Tell:

Louise Stem showed some of the menstrual pad kits she completed.

Ceal Pedersen showed this week’s stuffed animals.

Eileen DiSanto made a toy dog.

Ellen Hein made 25 receiving blanket and burp pad sets, 

plus another 6 burp pads.  

There was a fabric donation from one of the nurses at Advent Waterman’s Hospital, where we send these, and Ellen put it to good use.

She also showed an autumn table runner she made.

Pat Pipa showed 2 children’s sweaters that she knitted for the Busy Hands craft sale.

I showed a Halloween owl quilt I made.

Eileen St Clair showed one finished quilt 

and 2 quilt tops.

Everyone was busy as usual for the rest of the afternoon.

Next week is our Halloween party/potluck.  Put it on your calendar. Bring a dish to share, if you can. If not, come anyway.  There is always plenty to go around.   As always, costumes are optional but encouraged.   Also, bring 25 pennies, buttons, or anything else you have to mark your bingo cards, and a pen or pencil for the current quiz.

See you next week.

Lois

October 14, 2026 Club Notes

 Sorry I missed last week's meeting.  From the reports I received, you had a good time. I understand that Ken Severa stopped by, asking for help sorting and pricing Brenda's fabric and machines. I hope a few of you plan to help. Let me know.  I wish I could.

For those concerned, I went to Urgent Care on Thursday. They x-rayed my hip, sent me for a CAT scan of my abdomen on Friday, and gave me a prescription for a muscle relaxer. The prescription gave me a lot of relief so I plan to be back next week.  I'll get the results of the tests on Saturday.  

Thanks to Mic for running the meeting on short notice and Carolyn for taking pictures.

Show and Tell:

Eileen DiSanto made some pig toys 

and a tote.

Ceal Pedersen showed this week's toy animals.

Bev Minnerly showed doll clothes.

Donna Rissman made animals

Caroline Grasso made a dinosaur.

Pat Pipa made some kennel quilts.

Ellen Hein showed the latest batch of quilts she added the binding to.

I have a bin full of panels and I plan to bring them next week. I'm hoping a few of you will take one or two, add borders, and give them back to me for quilting.  

See you Wednesday.

Lois

Club Notes - October 7, 2026

 

Thirteen of us weathered the rain today.  It was good to see Mic Pickard, Anne Knoff, and Donna Rissman back. Even Candy Dodge managed to join us later in the afternoon.  I spent a lot of time sorting and cutting a large bag of scraps last week, and was able to add squares to the 3.5”, 4.5”, 5”, 6/5” and 8.6” bins. I also brought some of the larger pieces uncut, for anyone to choose.  We purchased another box of stuffing, and found room to leave the Wrap N Zap batting in the closet too.

 

Show and Tell:

Bev Minnerly showed 2 pillow jackets she finished from her UFOs

Ceal Pedersen showed this week’s stuffed animals.

Eileen DiSanto made 3 bowl cozies for the Salvation Army

Pat Pipa made 5 bowl cozies for the Salvation Army

Anne Knoff showed a twin size quilt for the Sheriffs’ Youth Ranch, made by someone in Khaki Quilters.

Ellen Hein showed the quilts she finished the binding on this week.

I believe these baby quilts were made by someone in the Allamanda quilt chapter.. 

Ellen Hein made this one.

Donna Rissman showed 3 items she made – an apron,🧾

 an ornament, 4

and a new style microwave bowl that folds flat. 

(We've hoping for a demo on this)

I showed a Christmas stocking and a toy owl pattern.

Plastic templates for the stocking and the owl have been placed in our toy pattern box.

 

After show and tell, Ceal demonstrated how to paint the faces on stuffed toys, and had a few heads for anyone who wanted to practice.

Everyone was busy as usual for the rest of the afternoon.

A lady from the Girl Scout Alumni club came in to tell us about their annual pajama collection for underprivileged kids on the tri-county area.  There will be fewer collection boxes around The Villages 9this year because they are making room for other holiday collections.  The pajama collection boxes will only be in 10 rec centers.  If you want to contribute to the pajama collection, you can bring them to me, and I will get them to a collection point. They particularly need pajamas for 8 to 12 year old boys.

There will be another fabric open house at Mic’s house on October 24^th, 2pm-4pm, and October 25^th, 10am-2pm.  All fabric is free for use in charity projects.  If you would like to help unpack the fabric and set it out, you can come to Mic’s house between 10am and 2pm on the 24^th.

On Oct. 28^th we will have our Halloween party/potluck.  Put it on your calendar. As always, costumes are optional but encouraged.

 

See you next week.

Lois