Club Notes - October 25, 2017

We had a fun party this afternoon. Good food and I think everyone had fun with the games.

First, a few announcements. 

Pat Pipa had an accident on Sunday and I understand her tibia is fractured. I expect she may be out of commission for awhile. I'll call her later in the week to find out what her doctor says.

We are going to have to rearrange our project schedule for the next few weeks.

Charlotte Cecilio is having hip replacement surgery on November 2nd.  Her demo of the "bra" purse that was scheduled for Nov 8 is being postponed, tentatively to February.

Bev Minnerly's demo of the Adult Lobster bib will also need to be postponed until March.  She is going to be away the next few weeks.

On the up side, we have 2 charity projects we can work on. 

 First, Kandie Stedman and I have purchased fabric to start the Veterans Hospice quilt project.  This was on the calendar for 11/15, but those who have signed up for this project can work on it over the next couple of weeks.  Kandie sent out the invites a few weeks ago.  Everyone who signs up for this will get a free t-shirt for participating in this grant project.  If you didn't get the invite and would like to participate, let Kandie know. 

Next, I sent a note out a few days ago about the request from the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranches for pillowcases for the kids.  As luck would have it, I received a donation of 2 boxes of fabric yardage (not scraps!) on Tuesday. We should be able to make a bunch of pillowcases out of this. I will have this fabric at the meeting next week for anyone who would prefer to work on this.

And, if neither of these projects interest you, that's OK too.  Come and sew what you like over the next 3 weeks.  It's all good - no restrictions, just come, socialize, have fun.

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Show and Tell:

Lu Karatzas showed a fidget muff she crocheted. She also made a walker bag for herself, since whe is going for knee replacement surgery next week.

Eileen DiSanto showed a pumpkin wall hanging which was her first quilting project.

Bev Minnerly made several stuffed animals and a cat door hanging.

Jane Motrinec made a couple of stuffed toy monkeys on her embroidery machine.

Mary Nazgiewicz Showed the stuffed cat she made and a Halloween costume she is making for her dog.

Ginny Piazza finished a wall hanging and an embroidered quilt.

Ellen Hein finished 2 teddy bears and a great NBA quilt (which she has donated to our hurricane relief effort).

Susie Pendry showed a Christmas tree wall hanging she just finished.

Carol Coyne showed 2 t-shirt quilt tops she just finished.

Pat Pipa sent her completed charity quilt and 3 stuffed bears to us.

I showed a completed charity quilt, my shark attempt from last week, 2 better stuffed animals and a set of little barnyard animals, with their barn, that I made on my embroidery machine.

Stuffed toys turned in so far

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We finished the afternoon with games. We started with a sewing trivia quiz.  I tried a tabletop bowling game, but there wasn't enough time to do more than test this out.  (I'll bring this back for a better chance at our Holiday Party.)

We finished with 4 rounds of Halloween Bingo.  Next time I'll have to remember to remind everyone to bring pennies.  Luckily, I brought a can of buttons.
This has been a long message.  If I have anything more I'll send it in separate emails, as always.  Hope to see you all for next week's sewing fun.

Club Notes - Oct 18, 2017

We had a lot of fun this afternoon attempting to make some stuffed toys. Some of our more experienced sewers did great and handed in some finished toys.  Those of us who have not done much of this struggled a bit with the patterns, but we had a lot of fun anyway.  I was one of those who tried to make a shark.  The mouth on mine turned out crooked and I think I sewed it on upside down, so I don't think I will be giving this to any unsuspecting child.  I plan to make some toys on my embroidery machine in the hope they will turn out better.  I did see that Linda Parr successfully made a shark, so there is hope for the pattern.

Thanks to Mary Naz, who brought in some simpler toy patterns.  I hope to try one of those soon.

A few of you have embroidery machines and asked whether you could make toys using embroidery machine patterns. The answer is a definite yes.

As an aside, I mentioned that a member of my quilting chapter passed away this year and left her husband with a Brother Dream Creator 5100 sewing and embroidery machine.  He would like to sell it and I understand the price is $3,000.   This is an excellent price.  I had this machine before I traded it for my Dream Machine (8500).  The 5100 is an excellent embroidery and quilting machine.  A used one would usually sell for at least $4,000 and a new one would be double that, so this is a very good deal. If anyone is interested, let me know and I will put you in contact with the seller.

Show and Tell:

We only had 3 entries for this week's show and tell.

Ellen Hein showed that she finished the quilt she was working on last week.

Nella Rose made several stuffed toys for our Christmas toy collection.

I showed 3 quilts.  The first was the one I entered in this year's row-by-row competition.  It has been on display at the Sewing Studio of Lady Lake since I completed it in June.

 

The 2nd was a quilt top that Bev Minerly brought in last week.  I provided the backing and quilting.  This one goes into our pile of quilts for Florida victims of Irma and Maria.

 

 The 3rd was one I started in August and put on hold once Irma arrived.  It is for the husband of one of my nieces.  I have been making quilts for all my nieces and nephews and this takes care of the youngest of my sister's children.

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Next week is our annual Halloween pot-luck.  Costumes are encouraged but optional.  I will bring the tablecloths, plates, plastic ware, and iced tea. Bring your favorite fall food, home made or store bought, its all OK.  If you can't bring anything, no problem.  There is always plenty of food to go around. Just come and have fun getting to know each other.

We will have games and prizes.  Also, as usual, show and tell is encouraged.

Hope to see a good turnout for fun next week.

Club Notes - Oct 11, 2017

We had a great presentation this afternoon by Sheila Hubble on the Wemyss School of Needlework.  This is a wonderful school which was established in the 1800's to teach women a skill so they could earn some money for support.  They have created needlework for the Queen of England and other affluent families in Europe.  

Before the presentation, we had our usual Show and Tell:

Jane Motrinec came back to us, despite her recent move to the Village of Fenney.  She showed a beautiful circles quilt she completed.

Linda Parr showed a cloth book she made for her 4 year old grandson.

Pat Pipa finished a fidget walker bag and a Hospice Veterans quilt.

Lu Karatzas showed a photo of a Mummy Doll she and her granddaughter made together.

Bev Minnerly made a stack of fidget quilts, a backpack coin purse (from last week's demo), and some kitchen hand towels with hanging sections attached. (the towels will be a 2018 demo).   She also showed 2 quilt tops, one for our charity quilt drive and one she is planning on finishing for herself.

Donna Rissman showed a purse she made and a wall hanging that will be shown at a future toys tcraft show.

Ellen Hein made a stack of pillowcases and showed  a quilt top made from the shirts of a friend who passed away.  This quilt will be given to the man's widow.

Nella Rose showed a quilt top which she will finish in future weeks.

I  showed 3 quilts.  The first quilt top was sewn together by Nella Rose. 

 The second was sewn together by Bev Minnerly.  I finished the quilting on these 2.  The third I put together from pieces of a quilt which was started but never finished.  I matched up the blocks and added some of my own sashing to complete this quilt.

The third I put together from pieces of a quilt which was started but never finished.  I matched up the blocks and added some of my own sashing to complete this quilt.

All three of these will be added to our donation of quilts to Hurricane Irma victims.  So far I have 12 quilts, with at least 6 more expected to be completed by the end of October.

(FYI - I also delivered 22 doggie beds to the South Lake Animal League last week and about 20 to the Lake County Humane Society the week before.  The next delivery will be to the Marion COunty Animal Services, once I get a similar number. They also accept cat hammocks, if anyone wants to make some.)

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After the presentation we enjoyed some shortbread cookies our guest provided and sorted some more of our scrap quilt blocks.  I brought home a stack of 8" blocks arranged to make a quilt and a large stack of 3.5" blocks sorted into sets of 4..  We are slowly getting blocks organized to create quilts out of our donated scraps.  I love watching these leftovers turn into useable products!

Next week we will have a workshop on making stuffed toys to give to the foster children for Christmas.  I will send out several pattern and you can choose which one you want to work on.  I will bring fiber fill and  our larger fabric scraps and hope we can pull enough together to make some fun toys.  You will also have the patterns to work on at home if you like.  I'd iike to see any toys for the foster kids finished by Thanksgiving so they can get to the kids on time for Christmas.

Hope to see you next week.

Club Notes for Oct 4, 2017

We had 19 members come to the meeting today plus 2 guests.  Diana Gosselin gave the demo on how to make a cute little backpack change purse. and I saw a couple in progress.  

Kathy Franklin actually finished hers by the end of the meeting.  Way to go Kathy!

Show and Tell:

We welcomed Brenda Severa back from her summer up north. She came with a stack of table runners she made as Christmas gifts.  

Ellen Hein took some time off of making baby stuff this week and came with a stack of completed pillowcases. She also showed one of several pajama bottoms she made for the girl scouts.

Nella Rose will be celebrating her birthday on Saturday, so she made a birthday quilt.  Each block in the quilt represents something in her life.  What a great idea!.

It turns out one of our newer members, Lynn Kluczynski, shares Nella's birthday. 

Diana Gosselin showed a great Halloween Shadows embroidery.  It turns out her birthday was yesterday.  Her sister Doreen was here with her today, visiting to celebrate Diana's Birthday.

Joanne Sheahan showed a beautiful scrappy bargello quilt.  She did a beautiful job on the backing as well.

Mary Nazgiewicz made some pillowcases this week.  She also showed the beginnings of a quilt top she and Charlotte Cecillio made using the web method I showed a few weeks ago. 

Pat Pipa showed the needle case she finished from last week's demo.  Great job.

I saw a couple more of these still being worked this week.  I love to see these projects getting completed.

Carol Coyne finished the fidget walker bag she has been working on for a relative in a nursing home.  Great job Carol.

I showed 2 charity quilts I finished this week. The first one is a complete quilt top that came in as a donation.  Carol Riggs helped me pin this one last week so I was able to make quick work of it once I got it home.  The second one was a quilt I've been fighting with for months. The donated fabrics finally came together with some of my odds and ends fabrics.  Carol helped me by ironing the top and back last week so I was able to finish this one over the weekend.

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We spent the rest of the meeting on free sew and fabric sorting. We now have a pile of fabric that can be cut into larger blocks.  I was also able to cut enough 8 inch blocks to organize another quilt.  I hope to continue cutting up the massive amounts of fabric into usable pieces.

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NEXT WEEK

We will have a special guest next week.  Sheila Hubble, from the Wemyss School of Needlework in Scotland, will be coming to tell us about the school.  This should be a very interesting presentation on this 140 year old school and I hope you all will be able to come out to hear our guest.