Club Notes - November 16, 2016

I am constantly amazed at the generosity of all my friends.  I brought home bags and bags of items for donation Wednesday afternoon.  I sorted it by where each item needs to go but have only inventoried the items for Ocala because I wanted to deliver them today.  We delivered 18 dog beds to the Marion County Animal Shelter and then drove to the Ocala Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse Center and delivered the following:

2 large afghans, 1 baby afghan, 3 large quilts, 1 quillow, 6 baby quilts, 8 pillowcases,3 small totes (made from wine bags), a chalk board mat,  4 travel drink cups, some Christmas wrapping paper, various toiletries, and an envelope of grocery coupons.

I still have to inventory the items for the Life Stream foster children and will let you know what we wind up with.  Anyone who is working on items for these kids, please bring them to the Nov 30th meeting.   A Daily Sun reporter will stop in to see what we've collected, and I plan to bring back all the items we have already so she can see all of the things we are donating.  Then I hope to deliver it all on December 1st.

As I told the ladies who were able to come this week, I did a little research on this organization.  When I couldn't find anything about them on the Life Stream pages on the internet, I called and talked to them.  The reason we couldn't find them is that they were called the "Children's Home Society" until this past July, when they were incorporated under the Life Stream organization.  Since they have been working on this organizational transition, they got a late start on their toy drive, so they are concerned that they may not have enough.  I know Busy Hands, Happy Hearts has donated quite a bit as well, and I'm hoping what we provide will help fill the gap.  I am now on their mailing list so we will be informed of their needs.  If we make any children's items through next year we can provide them for next Christmas.

Show and Tell: 

Mary Nazgiewicz started us off showing a fidget quilt and some place mats she made for her grandchildren.

Lu Karatzas was very busy this past week. 

 She made a chalkboard place mat with an attached chalk bag, a denim skirt purse,a scrap tote bag, a pillowcase and donated some stuffed toys.

Pat Pipa made several pretty purses for our children's charity.

Eileen Navikas brought in 3 doggie beds.

Shirley Minier showed the lovely table runner she completed.

Brenda Severa showed her embroidered landscape bag and several towels embroidered with Thanksgiving word art.

Ellen Hein took some tulle fabric that was donated last week and made some cute tutus for little girls.  She also finished a quillow (quilt in a pillow, and made a bunch of children's t-shirts.

Bev Minnerly Made a small purse for a granddaughter.

Eileen DiSanto brought in a baby blanket and 5 pillow cases.










I began by showing the shirt I embroidered with a fun zen tangle elephant and a baby blanket that I finished.  Roberta put the top together, I just quilted it and folded the backing around for the binding.

Next I showed my embroidered landscape purse and a messenger bag I was hoping could be one of our charity projects.  It came out OK, but proved too complex to make these quickly.  

Instead I made an simple backpack that can be made up quickly.

Last, I showed a set of embroidered playhouse dress-up animals that I have been working on over the past 6 months.  

Marty Rhyne and Susan Morris helped me with this project by making embroidered outfits for these.  I asked for suggestions on how to finish these and decided to make a pocket on the back of each one to hold the outfits.  

After Show and Tell I gave a quick demo of how to make the backpacks, but I'm afraid it was too quick and I confused a few people.  I hope anyone trying these will refer to the instructions I gave out.   It is important to make sure you attach the drawstring channels to the top of the bag, in between the outer fabric and lining and the small loops a few inches above the bottom edge. 

Everyone was busy for the rest of the afternoon making things for this organization's foster kids.  I saw several people come in to see what we were up to and marvel at the level of activity.  

Remember, there is no meeting next week.  If you have time to make or finish a few more gifts for the kids, bring them in on the 30th. Hope to see you all then.