Club Notes - May 29, 2019

Today was one of those days when I brought lots and lots of boxes of supplies in.  Thanks to the ladies who helped me consolidate and pack it all back up at the end of the day, we were able to eliminate 2 boxes.

Show and Tell:

B.J. Herter had fun with the Frog pattern we shared a few weeks ago.  She brought in 4 frogs for our collection.

Bev Minnerly made a barrel duffle bag and 9 more zipper pouches.

Carolyn Grasso completed a zipper bag, a pillowcase and a purse.  

She also brought us a row-by row quilt that needs to be quilted.  We will have to find a good home for it.

Diane Placek made 2 zipper pouches and a drawstring backpack.

Deb Chapman made some zipper bags.

Judy Mayer showed her first pillowcase and a zipper bag.

Laura Tomich Showed 3 zipper bags and a tote.

Ellen Hein finished a Hospice quilt with a great star backing.

Mic Pickard made a stack of zipper bags.

I made 5 zipper bags and a quilt from some of our 4 inch blocks.

  I also completed one of the quilts Roberta Kelsey donated.

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Today I showed the group how to make a fidget walker bag and distributed pre-cut kits for the basic bags.  Each person only had to choose the embellishments of their choice.  I am looking forward to seeing what comes back next week.

We have lots and lots of heavy fabric and several of us worked to separate the pieces by size for walker bag front and backs, walker bag pockets, zipper bags, and larger pieces that can be backpacks, duffle bags or cut up for zipper bags. 

Next week we will be doing a rerun project - mesh tote bags.  Donna Rissman will be leading that demo.  I may be obtain some mesh for us to use, but I won't know for sure until next Tuesday afternoon.  If you want to make this for yourself or a gift and want a specific color you should probably get your own mesh and fabric.  If you want to just try this and donate the resulting bag to our charities, you can use our fabric supplies wait and see what mesh I get.

I looked up the directions from the first time we did this, and have included them in my weekly email.

Hope to see you next Wednesday.

Club Notes - May 22, 2019

Thanks to everyone who came out this afternoon. We have 18 completed zipper bags for the Youth Ranch summer camp kids and several ladies took fabric home to make more.  Since each group of kids spends a week at the camp and there are camps throughout the summer, there can be as many as 1500 kids at these camps each summer.  Everyone of these kids does not need one of these bags for their toothbrush, comb, etc.,  but if we can make a bunch of these, It will help and be much better than zip lock bags.

Show and Tell:

Lu Karatzas showed that she finished 4 microwave bowls.

Ellen Hein finished 2 more fleece blankets and made 2 cute sun dresses for her granddaughter.

FYI, Ellen's 2 yr old granddaughter Sophie has been dealing with some serious medical issues since birth.  They have recently discovered that she was born without a fibula bone in her leg. She needs all our prayers as the doctors try to deal with this so she will someday be able to walk.

Donna Rissman showed a purse she made and asked for advise on making the zipper set correctly.

Carolyn  Grasso (one of our new members) showed a microwave bowl she made.

Laura Tomich showed her first attempt at making a simple backpack bag and asked for help on adding the straps.

I showed an Honor flight quilt I made from a patriotic panel and some dryer sheet blocks from our stash.

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Ellen led the demo on how to make zipper bags.  We had plenty of sturdy fabric and zippers.  Each bag started with a piece of fabric 10" x 12", a 7" zipper, and scrap fabric for tabs on the ends of the zippers.  She also showed an easy way to square off the bottoms so the bag will stand.  This is a great use of some of the sturdy fabric we have in our stash.  I will have more of these supplies available next week for anyone who would like to make more of these.

Next week's project is Fidget Walker bags.  Helpertunity says they are very low on these, so it would help if we could make a few.  I will bring all the supplies needed, so all you need is your sewing machine.  If you can't bring a machine but are willing to do some hand sewing, you can sew some of the fidget items onto the bags.  For anyone who hasn't seen these, I will show you how to make these.

Hope to see you all next week.

Club Notes - May 15, 2019

Today we repeated a demo we've done before, but there were enough ladies who hadn't made the microwave bowl caddies before.  Before the afternoon was over we saw a bunch of them completed.  

Show and Tell:

Mic Pickard took the incomplete frogs from last week home and finished them, plus made a few more.  She is now the self-appointed official frog-butt closer.  With the addition of 2 from Charlotte Cecilio and 2 from me, she handed over 23 completed frogs at the end of the afternoon.  

Ellen Hein completed 2 more fleece blankets.

Donna Rissman made a stack of pillowcases.  She also showed her previous attempt at making a microwave bowl, that didn't turn out quite the way it was supposed to.  (After today's demo, and with a little help from Ellen, she was more successful today.)

Bev Minnerly  brought some doll clothes. 2 dog beds, 4 fidget quits, and a diddy bag. 

Lu Karatzas showed a seat belt adjuster she made.

Laura Tomich brought a dog bed and 2 pilowcases.

Roberta Kelsey made a pillowcase.  She also brought me a bin full of quilt UFO's, which I will finish over the next few months.

I showed 2 quilts.  The first was a donated quilt top that I finished.  The second is one I made from donated fabric strips.

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After the meeting I drove by the hospital and dropped off the remaining 23 frogs.  They were very happy to get them.  I asked how often they needed  more and they said they had already given out the 11 we gave them last week and they could use more every  6-8 weeks!!  So if anyone wants to make more frogs or any other stuffed toys, I will hold onto any that come in and deliver them every other month.  If we don't get enough I'll schedule another stuffed toy sewing day.

The Friends of the Sheriff's Youth Ranch requested ditty bags for the summer camp kids, so that is what we will be working on next week.  Ellen and Bev made samples, so they will be giving the demo next week.  Ellen will bring the zippers and I will bring the fabric, so you only need to bring your sewing machines and thread.  For those without sewing machines there will be cutting and sorting, as usual.  

When I got home this afternoon I received a call from the woman who distributed the fidget quilts and walker bags.  She is going to be running a workshop tomorrow morning (10:30-noon) at the Sewing Studio at Lady Lake.  If anyone is interested in participating, just go to the shop tomorrow.

We will also be making fidget walker bags in 2 weeks.  For that meeting I will bring all the required supplies.

Here is the tentative schedule for the next few weeks.  As always, if someone comes up with a better idea, plans can be changed.

22-May-19	Ditty bags (for Youth Ranch)
29-May-19	Charity Projects - Fidget Walker Bags
05-Jun-19	Flag Pillow
12-Jun-19	Origami Fun
19-Jun-19	Handle Cover/Seat Belt Clasp
26-Jun-19	Charity Projects - Hospice Veterans Quilt

Hope to see you next week.

Club Notes - May 8, 2019

We had a small but very productive group today.  In response to the request from the Villages Regional Hospital Auxiliary, our project today was to make stuffed frogs for them to give to children in distress coming into the hospital.  We finished 11 frogs, which I delivered to the hospital on my way home, and several ladies took some home to finish.  If anyone would like to make these or any other stuffed toys for the hospital auxiliary, just bring them to any of our meetings and I will see that they get delivered.

Show and Tell:

Pat Pipa showed a bag she made.  It was made with tubes stuffed with batting and she said it was difficult to sew, but it came out lovely. She also finished a frog before the meeting and a couple more during.

Ellen Hein made 3 more sleep sacks for her grandchildren.

Donna Rossman wasn't here but she sent 2 frogs she made.

Alice Meunier made 3 pillowcases.

I made a frog and a purse.  The purse was from the "Paris Bag" pattern and the instructions were ok until I got to the point where it was time to put the zipper in and put it together.  The instructions for this were very confusing and I wound up making up my own way to finish it by adding binding-like pieces to the top to sandwich the zipper between.

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A couple of our group made it to the Sheriff's Youth Ranch ice cream social on Sunday and brought back some info.  It seems that, in addition to the kids that live there, they hold week-long summer camps for kids all through the summer.  One thing they need is ditty bags for these kids to but their things (like toothbrush, comb,, etc.) in.  We have some sturdy sample fabric pieces that are the right size for these and Ellen is going to make a sample and show us how in 2 weeks.   

I had a request for a repeat of the microwave bowl pattern, so that will be our project for next week.  It's a good time to make a bunch of these to have on hand as gifts.  Remember, you need 100% cotton thread and fabric for these.  I have a bolt of the correct batting (Wrap N Zap), so if you don't have any you can buy some from me for $2 a 12" square.  The pattern I have is for a cereal/soup bowl, but you can make these for any shape or size bowl you put in the microwave.  If you have a different size bowl you want to make one for, bring it next week and I'll show you how to adjust the pattern.

Before today's meeting I received a call from a Daily Sun reported.  She is to do a write-up on our club.  This will be in the section where they do short profiles of 7 clubs activities during the past week and I believe it runs in Saturday's paper, so look for it.

Hope to see you all next week.