October 26, 2016 - Halloween Party

What a fun time we had this afternoon.   For those you who would like a copy of any the pictures, I'll give you a little tech lesson.  If you right click on any photo on the blog, you can select an option to "Save image as" and save it to your computer.  Just make a note of where you save it.

We had a good turnout for the party and there was lots of food.   Nine of our members were brave enough to come in costume.

After having our fill of all the great food, we started show and tell:

 Diane Placek  finished her pumpkin applique as a place mat, adding a few nice leaves to the design.

Laura Tomich made two more walker caddies, using up the last of the fabric she choose from our supplies.  She also took a leap and made her first fidget quilts.  Great job!  Laura will be away from us for awhile, helping her son and daughter-in-law decorate their new home.  We look forward to her return in a few months.

Lu Karatzas made her first walker bag and her first dryer sheet blocks.  The dryer sheet blocks evoked discussion as usual.  Lu said she enjoyed making these as a quick project that can be done when there's no time for anything else.

She also showed her completed wreath wall hanging, in her house decor colors.

Ellen Hein completed a Halloween quilt she made from blocks donated last year, and added it to our charity donations.

Eileen DiSanto made a beautiful fidget quilt.

Chris Leedy showed a beautiful wall hanging and the lovely label she created for it.

I finished a honor flight quilt.  I made the top a fewmonths back and finally finished it for donation to the Spring flight.

We rounded out the party with some games. I first challenged the group with a Halloween vocabulary test.  Then we did a scavenger hunt and finished with several games of Halloween bingo.  I did goof by not adding more words to the default Halloween bingo list, so everyone won the cover all.  Luckily I had enough candy prizes for everyone :-))

We had a 50/50 this week to pay for some prizes for our Christmas party and raised $19. The consensus was that we should have a 50/50 every week between now and Christmas so we can get some nice prizes.  I will keep an accounting of the proceeds of this separate from our club supply replacement fund.

Thanks to everyone for the quick and efficient clean up.  I started putting things away and when I turned around the food table was clean and all the tablecloths were folded.  You are all the best!

I will be away next week and Lu will be running the meeting. She will be showing you all how to make a stand for your e-reader or phone.  The instructions are attached to this week's email.

I didn't formally assign anyone, but I hope someone will take pictures of next week's show and tell and send them to be with some notes for next week's blog.

Club Notes October 19, 2016

I saw a lot of great activity today, more dryer sheet blocks created, people working on fidget quilts, a Hospice Quilt, and I don't know what else.  It's all good because everyone seemed to be having fun.

I started with a few announcements, as always.  We have a first aid now and it is located in the top drawer of the little plastic cabinet we have by the ladder, on the right as you enter the storage closet. I hope you will all stay safe and no one will need it, but it's good for everyone to know where it is, just in case.

I got an email this morning saying that the estate sale I went to 2 weeks ago still has so much left that they are having another sale Oct 21-22.  Address is 5803 County Road 552, Bushnell, FL . Hours 9am-5pm. When I was there the last day of the previous sale, there was still a lot of fabric, especially fat quarters, but yardage as well. If you have the time it's worth the drive, 

Show and Tell

Laura Tomich has dived into our projects with both feet!  She came with 4 more walker bags and left with supplies to make a fidget quilt while she is away over the next couple of weeks.

Jane Swafford showed her finished fabric pumpkin.

Donna Rissman showed her special take on the fabric pumpkin, with a real stem. 

She also showed Candy Corn placemats, a BOO letter art wall hanging, and a cute purse.

Mary Nazgiewicz showed a folded fabric wreath she picked up at the craft show.  She thought we could do a demo on this in the future. Donna RIssman said she could teach it, so we will schedule this for the Spring.

Lu Karatzas took our pumpkin applique project in a different direction and appliqued a shirt for herself.

Raeann Piracci, only joined our club last week, but she has already joined our charity efforts and came with 3 walker bags.

Eileen DiSanto showed the 1-hour basket she made at the Alamanda Quilt Chapter Tuesday. The chapter has picked this and 2 other projects as this year's fund-raisers.  This is another easy project and we will do a demo on this next year as well.

Kathy Nichols showed her completed Prairie Point wreath, made into a lovely Christmas pillow.

Bev Minnerly continued her wonderful productivity and came with 8 walker bags.

Linda Parr was inspired by Susan Morris' thread catcher last week, so she made one for herself. I think we should schedule this as another project for next year.

I showed a baby quilt I picked up at the estate sale 2 weeks ago. It was sandwiched and pinned when I bought it so I only had to add some easy quilting and binding.


I also showed the first of the completed Hospice quilts made from our red, white and blue dryer sheet blocks. I have another waiting for me to quilt it and enough blocks for 1, maybe 2 more.

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After show and tell we dived into all the boxes of supplies I dragged out of storage for our charity work.   Many thanks to Kathy Nichols for undertaking the effort to put some order to the supply chaos.  I made an attempt to sort quilt squares by size in the hope that maybe we can get a quilt out of them eventually.  

While we worked, Joan Testa of the Villages Homeowners Association came to accept the 2 quilts we have made from dryer sheets and scraps of fabric.  She was very happy to receive these quilts for the Country Western Hoedown they are planning for February at the Polo Field. The quilts will be auctioned and the proceeds will go to Helping Hands.

Next week is our Halloween party. No projects, just fun.  I will send out a reminder  in a few days, along with a revised project schedule.  

Club Notes - October 12, 2016

This week we welcomed Ellen Hein back into the Villages.  She and her husband have sold their north home and are now living here full time.  It's great to have you with us.

Also, we had a member drop out so we were able to welcome Carol Wolfwagen as a new member and Gee Amato as a new prospective member.. It's great to have you both join us.

I started the meeting with a few announcements. First, I requested that, as a courtesy to the rest of the group there be no sewing machines running until after show and tell.  There are several club members who have hearing difficulty and a couple who have trouble speaking loudly, so this policy allows everyone to share their accomplishments and hear what everyone else has done.  I also asked anyone who is not interested in any particular demo to keep peripheral conversations low volume so everyone who is interested in the demo can hear.  We all appreciate your cooperation on this.

Next I talked about the estate sale from last weekend. In addition to all the fabric I bought for myself,  I picked up a box full of home decor fabric and a small folding wooden ironing board for the club. The club members present proposed that I be reimbursed for these purchases.  The box of fabric was $18 and the ironing board was $2, so I will be taking $20 from the club funds to pay for these.  I also found a baby quilt that was sandwiched and pinned and I will be finishing it as a charity donation.

I also requested permission to use club funds to purchase a first aid kit for the club and received unanimous approval.  Although the rec center has one, it sometimes takes a while to find someone to get it and it will be good to have our own in easy reach.

Finally, I talked about our Oct 26th Halloween potluck.  Costumes are optional. The agenda will be lunch, show n tell, a short project demo, and then a couple of games.  We will also have a 50-50.  The proceeds will be used to purchase a few small prizes for games at our Christmas party.

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Show and Tell:

Diana Gosselin showed her first fidget quilt, with a animals on the front and an eagle on the back.

Mary Nazgiewicz showed her finished pumpkin and 2 beautiful sunflower wall hangings.

Bev Minnerly made a doll outfit and 4 walker bags.

Diane Placek showed her pumpkin and a lovely prayer quilt she made for her church group.  It has strings hanging from it and the idea is that people tie a knot in one of the strings and say a prayer for the person who will get the quilt.

Lu Karatzas not only made one pumpkin, she made a whole family of pumpkins.

Eileen DiSanto finished a quilt with a matching pillow case  and her pumpkin.

Laura Tomich made 2 pumpkins and 1 tuxedo bottle covers.

Susan Morris showed a thread catcher she made.

Carol RIggs showed the Christmas stocking she made for her granddaughter.

I showed the ironing board cover I made for the little ironing board I got at the estate sale, and a vinyl lined bag I made to hold things in my LSV cart.  This was adapted from a pattern for a car or golf cart trash bag.  (There was interest in making these,so I'll schedule this as a project next year.)

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Today's demo was on applique.  I talked about how to use any brand of double sided fusible (Wonder Under, Steam-a-Seam, Heat N Bond, etc.), and what kinds of stitches are usually used to complete the applique so it doesn't come off in the wash.  I also talked about needle turn applique, and Nita Hand shared how she does this.

We diverted a little into hints on what people pack when they travel.  The suggested items were:

a strip of Stitch Witchery for emergency hem repairs

a clothes pin to close a hotel curtain

straws or contact lens holder to hold small amounts of lotion

a night light

a small flashlight

a fold-out flat jewelry tray (we can make these next year.)

After the demo, everyone took their pumpkin applique patterns and began their creations.  I look forward to seeing the results next week.

Club Notes - October 5, 2016

What can I say- great fun meeting as always. 

First and foremost - everybody stay safe this weekend.  It looks like a hurricane is coming our way, so make sure you have food, water, charged cell phones, an evacuation plan and anything that wind could pick up and throw at your windows secured.  If you don't know what to do, check out the hurricane guide at http://thevillagesdailysun.com/app/hurricane_2016/

Lots of advertisements in there, but also some good info if you page through it.

Now that that's out of the way, the fun stuff:

During announcements, I suggested that we might have a pot-luck lunch and optional Halloween costume dress up on October 26th.  The majority in the room approved of this, so that is the plan.  I will send a reminder the week before.

Show and Tell

Donna Rissman showed another of her wreath wall hangings, a fabric bowl that converts to a place mat, and an embroidered purse she picked up on her travels.

Chris Leedy showed a framed chicken embroidery, and a 2-sided 60 degree  table runner with all but the binding complete.  Chris will be having foot surgery Nov 22nd, so she is preparing a bunch of projects that will require hand sewing to complete while she is off her feet.

Nita Hand showed her completed table runner

Eileen Navikas brought another cute fidget quilt.

Bev Minnerly made 3 walker bags, a wheelchair bag, and a fidget quilt

Lu Karatzas made 4 potato bags and a cute snow 60 degree table runner

Laura Tomich showed 4 walker bags, and a purse she made by modifying the lazy girl runaround bag pattern to add pockets. Of course, the bag matched her outfit.

Eileen DiSanto showed her finished 60 degree table runner.

Sharon McKiney showed several of the 10 Minute table runners she has made. (we'll do this pattern next Spring)

I made 3 potato bags and a pumpkin table runner.  This runner will be the basis for next week's applique demo.

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Everyone seemed to be having fun with this week's project.  Almost everyone was trying to cut out their fabric circles before Pat Pipa had a chance to show how to do the project.  Once she finally got her chance to explain the different ways you can make fabric pumpkins, she had everyone's attention.  I saw a lot of finished pumpkins this afternoon.  It would be nice if you could all bring your pumpkins back next week and we could get a picture of all of them together.

Also, I have to thank Donna RIssman for helping me today.  I had the first charity quilt we made from the drier sheet blocks together and quilted - all it needed to finish it was to sew on the binding.  I had made the binding and was planning to start sewing it on during our meeting today.  Binding is not my favorite part of quilting, but Donna says she likes doing it, so we made a trade.  She sewed the binding on the quilt and I wrapped the yarn around her pumpkin. Win Win.

It was also nice to have a non-sewing machine project today because we only had to move 1 table at the end of the day during clean-up.  I got home much earlier than usual.  Maybe we should schedule a non-sewing machine project once a month on a regular basis  

Hope to see you all next week.  As usual, project info will be sent out in a separate email.