Wednesday, October 27, 2021

Club Notes for 2021 Halloween Pot Luck Party

 

We had 15 ladies at our Halloween party this afternoon, and lots of fun.  I asked Doug to take our group picture and it will be on the blog.

We had a couple of side conversations at the beginning, so here are the answers to a few of the questions we were pondering.
In the Harry Potter books, the mascot of Hufflepuff is the badger.  Like the house it represents, the badger is often underestimated and deemed non-threatening because it is not generally aggressive unless provoked, at which point it can and will viciously fight off threats even larger than itself.
The other houses' mascots are more obvious - Gryffindor has the lion, Ravenclaw has the raven, and Slytherin has the snake.

The other thing that came up is whether Frankenstein's assistant was Egor or Igor.  Frankenstein's assistant was Igor.  The hunchback of Notre Dame was Egor.
 
Pat Pipa gave me an update on Eileen DiSanto.  She has been cleared to fly back home and should be back with us soon.

We had lots of great food and an amazingly equal distribution of main courses and desserts.   After lunch we started Show and Tell.
 
 
Carole Lamb made a play mat for her grandson and a tote bag to keep it in. 
 



Deb Chapman made some mug rugs to cheer a friend who just had surgery.  She also finished some winter place mats that were donated to the Bee's partially finished.
 
 




Pat Pipa made a quilt top from some of her leftover fabric.

 

Karen Komp is one of our members who lives in The Villages part time.  While away over the past year she made a bunch of walker bags, zipper bags, and totes, and handed them all in today.



 

Charlotte Cecilio came with 2 dinosaurs.


 
Mic Pickard showed some placemats and napkins for her daughter.

 
 
Sue Campbell wasn't able to join us for a long time while she followed Covid restrictions, taking care of her sister, and dealing with her own health issues, but she is now back.  I didn't get a picture of them, but Sue took some fabric from our stash and made the valances for the new cabin at the Sheriff's Youth Ranch and handed them in today.

Laura Tomich also made some of the needed valances and left them at the rec center for me.  
I delivered the ones from Sue and Laura to Skip after today's meeting so he can bring them with him when he goes to the ranch tomorrow.  Bev Minnerly also made a set for the cabin and gave them to Skip last week.

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After Show and Tell we played games.  I gave everyone a Halloween Trivia quiz and Karen Komp got the most right answers.  Halloween Halloween Bingo was next and I think we played 9 games.

Thanks to everyone for the quick, efficient cleanup.

Next week we get back to normal.  I will be showing you how to make a fabric cornucopia. The original pattern I have was small so I have enlarged it. 
Here are photos of my samples.  The original was 8" long and 6" high.  My modified version is 10" x 8", and I think that is easier to make and enough for a small fruit and nut display

  I will send a supply list in a separate email.



See you next week.

Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Club Notes - Oct 13, 2021

Thanks to everyone who came out this afternoon to sort through the latest fabric donation.  Mic and Deb went through the small pieces to iron some that can be cut into squares and cut the unusable pieces for dog bed fill.  I offered the larger pieces to anyone who could use some of it and actually went home with one less box than I came with.  That's a good day.

A lady came in with a donation of some thread and a lot of buttons.  Bev and I spent some time sorting through.  I took the buttons home and will place matched buttons in separate little baggies so we can find what we need easier.

Show and Tell:
 

Deb Chapman showed her latest block of the month.



Mic Pickard found a piano themed vest in a Busy Hands donation and added a musical fabric lining.




Bev Minnerly made a drawstring backpack.  She also showed a folding greeting card she made with her church group.
 
 
 
 



Brenda Severa showed two jewelry trays she made.  
 
 
 
 
 
She also showed a border fabric table runner and 2 seasonal wall hangings.






Brenda showed a caserole potholder she made with her embroidery maachine.



Jean Piccirillo showed a raggedy Zebra doll she made.
 
 

Mary Ellen Boutin showed the jewelry tray she made.








 
Judy Mayer showed a bed runner she made with paper pieced block designs.


 
Ceal Pedersen showed her latest quilt top.



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There was no demo this week but I saw several ladies teaching others on various projects. 

There won't be a meeting next week.  The El Santiago rec center will be closed for cleaning.  The following week will be our Halloween party and pot luck.  More info later.


Wednesday, October 6, 2021

Club Notes - Oct 6, 2021

We welcomed 14 members (including one new member) and 1 guest this afternoon. We were happy to see one of our snowbirds, Brenda Severa, back with us. Our sales total from the craft sale increased with a few more sales between Saturday and today. Although I am pleased that we did so well, I think we may have done better than some of the other tables. This evening I responded to a survey from the craft festival organizers and told them how disappointed we were with the advertising efforts. They reported only 475 people came through the event. I think this is a pitiful turnout when there are over 100,000 residents in The Villages. Hopefully, this feedback will affect this planning for the 2022 craft sale. 

 

 Show and Tell:

 Bev Minnerly brought a drawstring backpack 

 

 and 2 walker bags. 

 



Brenda Severa showed a pumpkin hanging decoration 

 

 

 

 

 

and 3 quilt tops she made from 3-yard quilt top patterns. 



She also brought the 3-yard pattern books for everyone to look through.

 


 Ellen Hein showed the charity quilts she finished the binding on this week. 

 

I made the tops for 2 of them from our orphan 7.5 inch squares,


 

Deb Chapman made the top for the next, 

 

 


 

and Ceal Pedersen made the tops for the last 2. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New member Evelyn Bowman showed a tree skirt 

 

 

 

 

and a t-shirt quilt she made. Although she claims to be a self-taught beginner, she did a beautiful job on both.




B.J. Herter showed a lovely quilt she made for her daughter. 

 



Deb Chapman started by showing the project from 2 years ago.

 

 

She also took a bunch of Christmas fabric from our stash and is still working on a quilt, but showed a table runner she made from some of the extras.



 I showed 2 drawstring backpacks I embroidered. These were UOFs that I finished during the afternoon. 

 

 

 

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 The demo for this afternoon was for a travel tray to keep your jewelry, change, etc. from getting lost when you stay in a hotel overnight. You can make this any size you want. I made one 9.5" square this afternoon. You can also use snaps or magnets instead of the velcro in the pattern. I recommend that you attach your fasteners to the inside fabric BEFORE you sew the 3 pieces together so they don't show through the outside fabric, but that is just my preference. In addition to being a handy travel accessory, this can be a nice stocking stuffier gift for anyone who travels. I brought 2 boxes of fabric that was donated recently for everyone to look through, plus the large squares in our donation stash. (7.5, 8.5, and 10 inch squares) Since we had a little space in the closet, I left these on our shelf in the closet for next week. That means I can bring some different size squares next week. If you have a preference (6.5", 5", 4.5" or 3.5"), let me know before next week.

  I will send another reminder later, but I strongly encourage you to attend Gary Kudow's talk at the Allamanda rec center next Tuesday at 1PM. He will be talking about one of the charities we support - Project Support our Soldiers. If you want to understand where the items you create go and what is needed, this is a must. Rather than have 2 separate talks, we have invited members of Allamanda Quilters and Sewing 'N More to attend this talk. For anyone concerned about COVID, this is a large room and seating has been arranged to leave space between seats so we are not crowded together. I hope some of you will attend. 

Next week there is no demo. It will be a free sewing day to work on whatever you desire. I received another 5 bags of fabric this afternoon that I have transferred into boxes for easier transport. There are a lot of large pieces in these boxes. I will bring them next week with the hope that you will help me sort the fabric. I will send an email later explaining how the fabric needs to be sorted to make it most usable for our efforts. Hope to see you next Tuesday and Wednesday. Lois


Saturday, October 2, 2021

Results of Oct 2nd Craft Sale

 

Thanks to everyone who came out to help with the craft sale today.  A special thanks to Ceal Pedersen for bringing her craft show shelves.  They attached perfectly to the back of the table and allowed us to show so much more of our items than we could have if we just had the table.

At the end of the day, we made $331.   Our Charity fund now totals $532. That is enough to buy another bolt of batting when we need it and possibly some fabric for children's pillowcases for Case for Smiles. 
We seem to get enough other scrappy donations for walker bags, drawstring backpacks and items such as tote bags, zipper bags, and scrappy quilts, So I am not concerned about our ability to make those smaller items.

For future reference, here is a list of the items that sold:
Aprons
Bags, Christmas Gift
Bags, Large Tote
Centerpieces
Coasters-Round Tuit
Fabric Boxes
Gift Tags
Giraffe
Hot Pads, Hexi
Microwave Bowl Sets of 3 sizes
Mug Rugs
Oven Mitts, Long
Pink Quilt (child's)
Potholders (Pumpkin)
Potholders (Square)
Pouch, Cosmetic
Pumpkin, stuffed
purse
Reading Pillow
Sweater
Wall Hangings
Zipper bags

In the future, I hope we can concentrate on a smaller variety of items, especially items that are unique. 

The items that did not generate a lot of interest were:
Bags, small Tote
Book, Soft
Candy Corn
Cards, Note
Coasters
Coasters, Denim
Coasters, Wine
Eyeglass Case
Fabric Boxes - Large
Hot Pads - singles or sets under 4
Jar Ornaments
Lanyards, for masks or glasses
Knit caps
Microwave bowls - singles
Mug Rugs set of 2 or less
Ornaments, Large
Placemats
Stocking, Christmas
Table Cloths, Round

I will send another email with next week's agenda.  Hope to see you then.