Club Update - April 26, 2020

It seems like we are all weathering this isolation successfully.  Although I haven't heard from everyone, between those who have emailed me and those who I am connected with on Facebook, most club members seem to be doing ok.  Thank you for following the rules of social distancing, wearing masks when you go out, and otherwise staying safe.  We would not want to lose any one of you.

The only person I heard from after my last email was Pat Pipa.  She is doing fine, video conferencing with her daughters and keeping company with her dog Mia.

I am also in regular contact with Ellen Hein, Laura Tomich, and Bev Minnerly, who are busy making masks.   Ellen, Bev, Sue Campbell and I have also been decorating the plain white pillowcases  for the Sheriff's Youth Ranch summer camps.   I believe we now have 9-10 dozen done.  This has been a very easy job, taking less than a half hour per pillowcase.    Ellen and I are working on the last 2 dozen so I hope to deliver them in a week or 2.

As I sort through the boxes of donated fabric I am dividing it by size into the following piles:

• WOF pieces large enough for pillowcase cuffs for the Sheriff's Youth Ranch summer camps
• Pieces large enough for masks (going to whoever asks first)
• Pieces large enough to cut into squares for future quilts
• Strips for dryer Sheet (or similar) blocks
• Heavier fabrics large enough for drawstring backpacks or dog beds
• Flannels
• Smaller sturdy pieces for zipper bags
• Scraps for doggy beds (this includes sheer and other types I can't think of a use for)

I do have a couple of large pieces of sheer fabric like what is used for scarves.  If anyone wants them, let me know.

Also, if any one wants to make zipper bags, I can supply fabric and zippers.

Since I can only do so much fabric cutting before going into a stupor, I have tried to break things up a little.  I've decided to spend Saturdays and Sundays doing something more creative.  This weekend I started a charity quilt top with some of the 5" blocks and made another set of the Matryoshka Nesting Doll zipper bags.  I have the patterns for 6 different designs of these nesting doll bags, so If I make one set a week I can have examples of all of them by the end of May.  I also have an honor flight quilt top that Ellen made that is sandwiched and waiting for me to quilt it.  I'll post photos when these are finished.

If anyone want to play with some precut blocks, let me know and I will drop off whatever you want at your door.  I even have some of them sorted by color family.

8 inch blocks

10 inch blocks

6.5 inch blocks

6.5 inch blocks

5 inch blocks

5 inch blocks

4.5 inch blocks

4.5 inch blocks

3.5 inch blocks

3.5 inch blocks

I heard that the regional rec centers are opening in May, but El Santiago is a neighborhood rec center so we have to wait a bit longer.   Hope we will be able to get together again soon.

Club Update - April 20 2020

I received notes from several more members this week, telling me they are safe and well. Here are some update:

Lynn K:

I have been sewing masks and mailing them to friends and family in Ohio. I have done 145 so far. I am using Jenny Doan's pattern with ties and getting good feedback on the fit. I am not charging anything for the mask because I am using up my random fabrics. I still have plenty to use, but I am starting to see a dent in my scrap trays! I am asking that they reimburse the postage. They are ok with that. Before I started the masks I made 6 Cornerstone Quilts and I have put together three UFO quilt tops and have the blocks to a fourth on my design wall. Glad you are getting a chance to sort many of the donations that were stacking up.

Kiki Mitrakos and her son and daughter-in-law Michelle & Tommy:

We are doing fine over here. Kiki was making masks for neighbors. I inquired with CERT (hubby and I are members) about local donations and was told by our Commander that our hospitals are not overwhelmed so to hold off.

Mic Pickard:

Hey Lois it seems we're all making face masks like crazy--that's all I've been doing so far this month!!!  The good news is I'm making BIG dents in my fabric scraps!!!

Right now, I'm out of elastic and waiting on an order to arrive sometime this week to finish the ones my family have requested.  If I get all those finished, I'll let you know so I can help on this request. Thanks for keeping us all connected through this amazing time.

B.J. Herter:

I finished a baby girl quilt and decided it needed a toy to go with it so I made a pink check dinosaur to go with it and now making a blue quilt with a blue check dinosaur.  Still working on my granddaughter ️ goat collage for Christmas 🥰 I'm waiting for elastic to come in so I can make more masks. Stay safe and healthy.

Brenda Severa:

We are still doing good but getting very antsy.  We hope to leave for WI on May 2 so wont get to see you before leaving.  We eill quarantine for 2 weeks but they are Safer at Home until May 26.  We want to be clear by that time as we still have a cottage also to take care of.  I am still getting old projects done.  Didn't realize how out of control my ufos are.  I'm sure you saw my 1999 quilt on Facebook.  I attached photo if you want to share with group.  Stay healthy. (photo on the blog)

Mary Kahlow:

Les and I are doing fine.  Working together, we finished that Starry Night Santa wall hanging.

This has 32 tiles with an average of 30k stitches each. Some Allamanda and MEQ gals are making them, so it has been fun to compare notes.

In between, I've made and mailed masks.  My house is clean, the closets are seeing daylight, the shrubs are replanted and I've done far too much cooking and baking.  That pattern Laura found looks better than the pleated variety.

Laura Tomich:

I am working with my church group to make masks for some assisted living facilities.  They requested 300! (Laura was the first to respond to my offer of fabric for masks, so I gave her the pile I sorted out of yesterday's fabric donation box,  I have more boxes to go through, so will offer the next ones I find to others who have shown an interest.)

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I have also heard from Ellen Hein and Bev Minnerly.  They are also making masks and waiting for more of the elusive elastic.

I have decided to spend as much time as I can stand sorting through the multitude of fabric donations that have accumulated.  I am making progress, but have a long way to go.  I did take time to make 2 quilts before I started this task.  I had stitched out a set of blocks with a set of train patterns over the past 6 months in order to make a quilt for my husband.  This quarantine gave me the chance to put them together and finish the quilt.  

 

The second quilt I worked on is for me.  Last year I went on a shop hop that offered an owl block pattern at each shop.  I put them together with some other owls I found and completed that quilt. 

That's all I have for this week.  Stay safe and keep in touch.

Making Masks? Need Fabric?

For the past week I have been going through boxes and bags of donated fabric scraps - ironing, sorting and cutting scraps into squares for future charity quilts  There are a lot of pieces that are large enough to make one or more face masks.  If you are still making masks and are running out fabric, please let me know and I will give you some.  I can drop a bag off by your front door or, if you let me know when you are coming, I can leave a bag by my front door with your name on it. (I don't have any elastic or I'd make some myself))

I have accumulated a large number of cut blocks - 3.5" 4", 4.5", 5", 6.5", 8" and 10".  I truly believe, without exaggeration, that we have enough to make a hundred quilts, and I still have more boxes to go through.  I have been sorting everything by type of fabric and size.  In addition to the fabric I am cutting into quilt squares, I have put aside sturdier fabrics for dog bed sleeves, draw-string backpacks, and zipper bags, and wide WOF cottons for cuffs on the pillowcases for summer camp.  With the flimsy fabrics and scraps from cutting, I have already filled 5 dog beds. Having to stay home has given me a great opportunity to catch up, even though I am still finding anonymous  bags of donated fabric by my front door.

As before, I'd like to hear what you have been up to and to know you are safe and well.  If you haven't already, drop me a note directly to let me know you are OK.

Lois Rose, Sewing N More Club Leader

Member Activity - April 11, 2020

I have heard from a few of you, telling me how you are spending your time at home. Some you you have even sent photos.

Laura Tomich:   finished all the materials I had to make zipper bags, total 5.  I have made about 10 or 12 masks for family and friends who have contracted the virus, shopped for them and now I am going to paint some of my outdoor frogs that need to be refurbished out by my pond and waterfall.

Maybe then I will think about making a pool robe or cover up if we ever get to go back to the pool.

Still being positive and have not had any signs or symptoms of virus for which I thank God.  Hope the same goes for the Sewing & More Group.

Brenda Severa:  staying home but really missing my kids/grandkids.  We didn't get any visitors this year with this virus.  My husband helped me sort through all my fabric.  I don't know how this much fabric got down here but I guess a bin or two over the last 8 years really adds up plus what I bought down here.  He folded everything on 6.5" ruler, I sorted and got two rows of fabric in each bin with folded side up so I can see all the fabric.  Labeled each bin and did take a picture of each open bin.

1) I finished one 2009 Hoop Sister embroidered quilt.  All embroidery was done back then but had to do front and back sashing to put blocks together.  I hand stitched all the backing strips.  Not proud of it but it is done.

2)  Did face masks for us and for kids and families.

3)   Finished a simple serger class bag with zipper and flange but ruined 2 zippers trying to do with serger.  Took it apart and finished on sewing machine minus flange that too much got cut off with serger and no more fabric as was a kit.  It is DONE.

4)  Put binding on 3 fall table runners. Have one more tablerunner that needs to be quilted with edge to edge and binding put on (haven't found the binding yet).  Hope to quilt today.

5)  Cut binding for my first quilt ever from 1999--queen size.  Sent out to long armer but working too many hours and didn't get back to for several years but no binding.  Figured I would come across but never did.  Plain navy binding will have to do.  

6)  Embroidered an Easter pillow wrap.

7) Made 7 book pillows for charity.  Kindergarten classes in Fruitland Park and Wildwood.

I have been sewing couple times a week with 10 year old grand daughter on Kid Chat.  So glad she shares my love of sewing.  She is working on her third quilt (second string quilt).  She is my pride and joy!!  She has my mom's old Kenmore machine that sews beautiful.

 







 

 








 

 




   







 

Lu Karatzas: has been making masks just for me and my husband and a few neighbors.

EIleen DiSanto:  I am helping a neighbor sewing face masks for her mother who is a surgeon at the Villages Hosp.  I've already given 2 away to my friends.

Charlotte Cecilio: I have also been making masks for her family.  Three of them are R.N.s and working around the clock. We pray that everyone stays well and safe.

Lynn Kluczynski:  I have made 96 masks that were mailed to 27 people back in Ohio. I used Jenny Doan's pattern. It has taken me all week.

I gave Ellen Hein and Sue Campbell: 24 of the white pillowcases each.  Sue reported that she has finished putting cuffs on her batch.

I put cuffs on 12 the other day.  Yesterday I switched to sorting through a box of fabric donations, separating out WOF pieces that are wide enough for cuffs and cutting the smaller pieces into squares 3.5", 4", 5", 6.5", 8" or 10". (Those are the sizes of the dies I have for my Go Cutter).  

Today I needed something different, so I made a set of Matryoshka Nesting Bags on my embroidery machine.

 

Tomorrow I'll get back to putting cuffs on some more pillowcases.

Anyone else want to tell us what you've been up to?  We'd all like to hear what is keeping you occupied and that you are doing ok.

Stay Safe.

Lois Rose, Sewing N More Club Leader

Club Notes for April 8, 2020

Another week has gone by.  I hope everyone is well and keeping busy while staying home. 

As I told you a few days ago we delivered all the items we made for the Sheriff's Youth Ranch to Skip last week.  He turned them over to a representative of the Ranch on Friday.  Yesterday, I received a call from a man named Arvid who works for the ranch.  He asked me to convey their thanks to all of you for the generous contribution and for caring so much about these kids. At some point when things get back to normal he would like to come speak to our group.

Now for member updates:

Last year some time Ellen Hein made a quilt for a friend out of her husband's shirts.  She had some shirt fabric left over and made a tote bag for her out of them. 

A few weeks ago I gave Laura Paulk a bag of fabric and yesterday she returned the bag with 12 backpacks and 2 zipper bags.

I'm hearing that a number of you are working making masks for relative, friends, and some for donations.  So far I've heard Anne Knoff, B.J. Herter, Bev Minnerly, Diane Placek, Donna Rissman, Laura Paulk, Nita Hand, and Suzanne Browne.  I have made a few, but mostly for Ray and me and a few neighbors.

After finishing the Youth Ranch quilts, I started working on some of my UFO's  So far I have finished 2 of my own quilts and have started 2 more.  One of these is for a nephew and the other is a charity quilt.   I will not post photos of these since they are not going anywhere, you'll have to wait until the next time we get together for show and tell.

The rest of you, please email me and let me know what you have been working on or how you are passing the time at home.  Besides sharing it lets us know you are safe and well. You can choose to respond or email me directly and I will consolidate the messages into one so we don't overload everyone's email. 

As I mentioned in a previous message, I picked up a box of the white pillowcases for the Youth Ranch summer camps last week.  I found out later that Bev Minnerly already had another 48, so that means we have 168 to decorate.  Ellen Hein and Sue Campbell each took 2 dozen and I am working on some as well.  This task is easy.  All you need to do is sew a strip of fabric on the cuff to brighten up the plain white pillowcase.   They are institutional pillowcases and at Bev's suggestion, I washed them all to soften them up.  If you would like to work on some, let me know.  Even if you just want to try 1, that is fine.  Every little bit helps.  We don't have to return any until the end of May, and can continue to drop off more later as these 1 week camps run all summer.  I will drop the pillowcases you request in a bag by your door so there is no actual contact per the rules in place.

If you want to learn about the summer camps, go to https://www.youthranches.org/our-services/summer-camps.

By the way, I promised to send you some craft ideas while we are stuck at home.  One of the things I was going to talk about at a future meeting is how to make things like trivets or a message board out of wine corks.  You can get lots of design ideas on Pinterest, but the trick is in how to prepare the corks for cutting.   The trick is to cook them!

Bring a pot of water to a boil.

1. Place corks in a steamer pan or metal colander and let them steam for about 15 minutes.
2. Remove the cork with care- it will be hot- and place on a cutting board.
3. Use a serrated knife or, preferably, a hacksaw to cut the cork in half, slices, or designs.

You must work with the corks soon after taking them out of the pot because once they dry out again they will be back to their original crumbly state.  Lay out your design, then glue the corks together.  For a message board, you can arrange them inside a picture frame.   I challenge some of you to have fun and try this.  Just PLEASE be careful with the knife.

Stay safe and hope to see you all in May.

Lois Rose, Sewing 'N More Club Leader

Donations to the Sheriff's Youth Ranch - April 2020

Ellen and I spent Thursday afternoon filling the duffel bags for the graduates.  We forgot to take pictures, so I did it when I was unloading my van and handing everything over to Skip.  Here are the pictures I took:

In addition to to gifts for the graduates, we gave a bunch of stuff for the younger kids, as you can see by how full my van was:

Thank you all for making this a reality.

Club Notes - April 1, 2020

I hope you all are staying safe.   As of Thursday night the official order from Gov. DeSantis to stay indoors goes into effect.  It will be at least another month before this situation gets any better,but I will continue to communicate with you and let you know what is going on.

I've heard from several more of our members regarding the projects that are keeping them busy. 

Lynn Kluczynski has been very busy.  She made 100 lined drawstring bags for Beads of Courage, and 6 Veteran's Hospice quilts.

In addition to the duffel bags and quilts she has been working on, Ellen Hein dropped off 20 masks at Joanne's.  I've seen on Facebook that Suzanne Browne has also been busy making lots of masks.

B.J. Herter made 3 dinosaurs.
Laura Tomich made a bunch of zipper bags for the Youth Ranch kids.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that Charlotte Cecilio made an Honor Flight quilt top.  Here's the photo:

On Wednesday I stopped by Anne Knoff's house and picked up 6 completed quilts (made by members of Khaki Quilters), a bag full of zipper bags (made by her friend Cindy), a couple of dinosaurs(the ones BJ made), and a bunch of dog bed scraps.

Mic Pickard has finished the embroidered name tags for the Sheriff's Youth Ranch graduates.  We were short 2 pillowcases for the grads, so I made the last two.  We now have everything to give each graduated a duffel bag, a quilt, 2 pillowcases, and 2 zipper bags.  The extra zipper bags and smaller quilts we've accumulated will also be given to the Youth Ranch.  Ellen and I will get together within the next couple of days to fill the duffel bags and get them to Skip Bryan for delivery to the Ranch. Ellen and I have been in contact as we worked to finish the quilts over the past month.  By limiting the effort to just the 2 of us I hope to keep the social-distancing effort. 

I will update the previous blog post with photos of the quilts I just received and the 32 pillowcases going to the graduates.  Please continue to write to me and tell me what you have been doing while we have to stay home and stay away from each other.