We had another great meeting this afternoon. 20 ladies attended,including 1 guest. 10 more members paid their dues, so we are now only $23.24 in the red against the supplies we bought last week. 3 more members and we will be in the black. After that, new member dues will be held in reserve in case we have to purchase anything else, like replacement rotary blades, irons, etc. Unless some unforeseen expenses come up, we may be able to stick with this one-time membership fee, but as I have said before, we will reassess our finances in January to determine whether this plan is sustainable.

Several people brought newspapers. Thank you. I brought these over to the St Vincent dePaul collection point after the meeting. In the future, you can leave them in your car and just let me tell me you have them. Then we can transfer them directly from your car to mine instead of carrying them in and out of the rec center.

New club members, please look at the blog post titled "Sewing N More Kick-off Meeting" for info on the club's objectives and how we will function.

Kathy Franklin brought in 4 dog beds and a bag full of cat hammocks. I also found some shampoo and soap for the Ocala Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse Shelter. They are currently most in need of bottled water, juice boxes, kitchen bags and laundry pods for the shelter. Whatever anyone can bring, I will deliver. I sent out their wish lists in a prior email, but have posted the lists on the blog so you can easily reference it.

We had 5 show and tell entries today, but they were great.

Pap Pipa and Eileen DiSanto both showed the fractured art blocks they created during a demo I gave Tuesday afternoon at the Alamanda Quilt chapter. I was happy to see that they both were able to finish these in time to show them today.

Kathy Jones showed an apron she made from a man's shirt. Kathy has made lots of these and the group agreed that they would like to do this project, so we are adding this to the schedule.

Jane Swafford brought a set of pretty place mats for a round table.

I showed a patriotic Heart "dangler" that I made in an embroidery club. This project can easily be made with a regular sewing machine, so the group asked for this to be a project before July 4th. I will create a pattern and send out a supply list for us to do this next week.

I also showed a little "holster" I designed and made for my husband to keep a small tube of sun lotion hooked to his belt when he is out in the sun for long periods of time. As I mentioned, he volunteers to mow the grass at Silver Springs State Park on Wednesdays. Today he was out on the riding mower for almost 7 hours in the hot sun, and I want to be sure he does not burn! This was a challenging project for me because it has 2 layers of fabric, a plastic inside lining, and is open at the bottom so the lotion can be dispensed without taking the tube out of the holster. It took me 3 tries to get it right!

After Show & Tell we went on to talk about putting binding on a project. Today's project was to make a place mat, but the binding processes we talked about could be applied to any size project. There are at least 4 different methods to bind a project. I was prepared to talk about 3, but was very happy that, when we began the discussion, several other members chimed in with their variations and hints. Donna RIssman talked about how she sets the corners and joins the binding ends; Kathy Nichols demonstrated how to use the binding tool, and Diane Placek brought a set of instructions on McCalls method of joining the ends. Everyone joined in the discussion, either with questions or hints. It was a wonderful sharing.

Once we had answered all the questions, everyone set to work making their place mats. Throughout the afternoon I saw lots of evidence of the more experienced sewers helping the rest. I am really proud of all of you! You are making this club what I hoped it would be.

We have a few changes to the project schedule. Here is the revised schedule:

The tentative project schedule for the next few weeks is as follows:

June 29 – Patriotic Heart Dangler, led by Lois. Supply list and pattern will be sent out in a few days once I convert the embroidery pattern to a regular sewing machine project.

July 6 – tea caddy led by Eileen DiSanto

July 13 – Pillow Cases. Lois will bring 3 different patterns and we will talk about each one.

July 20 – Lois can’t be at this meeting – Kathy Jones has volunteered to lead the meeting. Project will be Neck Pillows led by Kathy Nichols

July 27 – Man's shirt aprons led by Kathy Jones
Aug 3rd - iron caddy – TBD