Club Update for May 10, 2020

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there. Another week has passed and (knock on wood), I don't believe any of our club members have contracted the COVID-19 virus.  You all seen to be staying safe and following the rules.   Last week we heard about the antigen tests that are now available to see if you have ever been exposed to the virus. Since Ray and I had been on a cruise at the end of February and came home with colds, we asked our doctor to order the tests for us.  The results were back the very next morning and were negative.   I think Florida is doing pretty good over all.  I have been tracking the statistics and, since Florida and several other states started opening up a bit last Monday, only 3,104 new cases (2% of the total number in the US) have been in Florida.  Most of these are still in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.   Of the 40,0001 total cases in Florida, only 590 are in our tri-county area.

I know many of you are keeping busy finishing UFO's and doing house cleaning that may have been put off before.   If you would like a sewing diversion, my offer to drop a bag of supplies at your door is always available.  As I mentioned in my previous email, I brought home all the fabric we had at El Santiago last week.  I went through the pillowcase fabric box and was able to cut and match up 34 pillowcase sets.  So if you like making pillowcases, I can give you some of these to sew.

I am continuing to sort through the numerous boxes of donated fabric that have accumulated over the past year.  I told you that I have been giving pieces of fabric suitable for making masks to several members who requested tham.  Laura Tomich reported that her church group was able to make 165 masks from the fabric we gave them.  Ellen Hein has also been making masks for many people in The Villages.  I don't know how many but it is definitely a lot.

Mic Picard is making a t-shirt quilt for her granddaughter.

Eileen DiSanto has been busy attacking her UFOs.  She has completed 23 chair backs for Busy Hands, a few stuffed toys (minus the stuffing), and has been working on a quilt for her stepson and his wife.  She also has been making masks for her neighbor's daughter who is a surgeon at the Villages Hospital, and for a friend and her associates who work for a physician.

Charlotte Cecilio has continued to work on the red, white and blue drier sheet blocks.  This week she came by my house to drop off a honor flight quilt top and pick up more fabric strips so she can make another one.  I had a few of these blocks that had been turned in by other club members and gave them to he to work into the next quilt.

Carolyn Grasso has two doggie beds completed, but I am asking her (and anyone else who has some) to hold onto them for now.  I have at least 50 of them piled up in my living room and we are not ready to go to the animal shelters to deliver them quite yet.  Carolyn also asked if anyone wants the free sewing machine she picked up a couple of months ago.  She says she can't figure it out.  The machine  says  Taylor Professional and has a little serger attacher.  If anyone would like to play with it, let Carolyn know.  You might be able to find a manual online.

I have 8 dozen of the pillowcases for the Sheriff's Youth Ranch Summer Camps in hand.  Ellen has a dozen more to get to me and then I will pick up the 2 dozen from Sue Campbell and a dozen from Bev Minnerly and deliver them all to Skip.

I am continuing to cut more fabric into squares. I have 2 more boxes to work through here at my house and then I will go see what I have in storage.  To break up the monotony and give myself a chance to sit, I have made a couple of quilt tops.  I finished one quilt last week with a combination of 10" and 5" yellow and gold squares.  With the leftover yellow and gold 5" squares I was able to put another quilt top together.  Then a friend from Allamanda quilt chapter brought be a bag of her leftover fabric and scraps.  In it was a large number of 7" x 9" pieces of fabric in two coordinated prints, so I quickly sewed another quilt top together with them.  Yesterday I sandwiched and pinned them and the quilt from Charlotte, and they are all waiting for me to quilt them this week..

Yesterday I received a note from the people who print the Florida Register.  Due to the virus, the are not able to print the May/June issue, but you can read it online at www.TheRegisterWeb.com.  When you get to their web page, look at the menu on the left and click on Read The Paper Online.  It will send you to a page where you can select the Florida Register or any of the other 7 area newspapers. 

So far I have heard from 4 club members who are planning to come out to our limited meeting on May 20th and several others who don't feel comfortable going out yet.  That is fine.  If anyone else wants to join us, please let me know.  It will be show and tell only.  As I said in my prior message, there are 9 tables with one chair per table set up to maintain the 6 ft distancing and masks are required.   

Stay safe and keep emailing me to let everyone know how you are doing.  Stay safe.