Club Notes - September 27, 2023

We had 11 members attend today.  I brought the wrap N zap for anyone who wanted to make microwave bowls and batting scraps for those who might want to make something else.  We got another fabric donation yesterday.  It contained mostly pre-cut squares, but there were also a few larger pieces. I also brought out the boxes of 3.4” squares in case anyone wanted to make some 9-patch blocks.

There were a few announcements today. First, we no longer have a liaison with the 4-H sewing club, so we may not receive as much fabric from their leftovers as we had in the past.  Most other sewing clubs in The Villages know us however, so I am sure we will still get fabric from other sources.

Second, we now have a new contact with the Compassionate Care Hospice.  I spoke to her yesterday and she sent me their crafter wish list.  See attached.

Next, we now have a new way of interacting with the Sheriff’s’ Youth Ranch. Skip Bryan has retired as The Villages Friends of Sheriffs’ Youth Ranch. There is another person who has stepped up to coordinate events, but our donations will now go directly to the ranch via the Director of Development, Wayne Witczak.  He makes frequent visits to The Villages and will pick up our donations whenever I let him know we have some.  He stopped by my house this morning to pick up some zipper bags and drawstring backpacks.  These will be used for the summer camp kids.  These are the current needs, but he will let me know if there is anything else we can make for them.

Show and Tell:

Deb Chapman brought a quilt top from The Bees 

and also showed the placemat she is almost done with.

Ceal Pederesen handed in some 9-patch  squares and showed the doll she got from one of our donations and completed.  She made the clothes, added yarn hair, painted the face (including thread eyelashes 😊) and even added a heart!  Great work.

Bev Minnerly handed in a small dog bed 

and showed a quilt square she made as a sample to perfect the technique.

Pat Pipa handed in 3 folding fabric boxes for our sale. 

Carolyn Grasso made some Christmas ornaments – 2 sizes Christmas trees

 and some lace ornaments.

Ellen Hein handed in a baby quilt for me to quilt 

and showed 2 quilts she finished the binding on.

I made this one by adding borders to a panel and quilting it with my embroidery machine.

I think Anne Knoff made this one.

I showed the Christmas placemats I made from last week’s pattern.

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Next week Mic will bring back the sale items so we can put price tag s on each item.  The smaller items will go in separate boxes with the price on the box.  The rest of the meeting will be free sew.  If there is anything you want me to bring (wrap n zap, stuffing, specific size squares, etc.) please email me by next Tuesday. 

FYI, the only supplies stored in the closet are :

3.5” squares

Big blocks

Buttons

Zippers

Zipper bag fabric

Toy patterns

Freezer Paper

A bag of bags, incase you want to bring any supplies home to work on.

 

That’s all for now.  See you next week.

 

Lois

Club Notes - September 20, 2023

We had 14 members attend today, including a new member, Candy Dodge, and 2 members who have been away (Deb Chapman and Eileen DiSanto). This is the time of year when the snowbirds start to return, so I’m looking forward to seeing some other friends return over the next few weeks.

Show and Tell

We had a short show and tell list today.

Ceal Pedersen showed the stuffed animals that she painted the faces on this week,

 and a baby quilt.

Diane Placek showed a braid placemat 

and a placemat that turned into a table centerpiece when she used larger triangles.

 

I showed some mug rugs I made from some martini fabric I found on sale.

Today’s demo was on how to make a placemat from a pattern that can be adapted for any season or holiday. I showed some tricks on how to make the half-square triangles and how to trim the resulting square so that the triangles are even.   My version of the pattern is attached to this week's email.

 

Next week I am going to show you how to sew a reverse applique. You can use this technique on mug rugs, placemats, table runners, wall hangings, or anything else you can think of.   I am going to show it on a mug rug to keep it small and simple.

 

See you next week.

 

Lois

Club Notes - September 13, 2023

This was a different kind of meeting.  Mic and I got together early and pulled everything marked as “sale” out of storage so we could inventory and set tentative prices. The list of what we found and the prices we assigned is attached to this email.   We seem to be missing a bag of items and I am still looking for them.  Mic and I double checked storage after the meeting and I checked my spare room at home, with no luck.  I still have a few places to check, so haven’t given up yet.

Take a look at the list attached to the email.  The items we are lowest on are microwave bowls, potato bags, purses or fabric boxes. If you can make more of any of these within the next 4 weeks, that would be great.  I will bring the Wrap N Zap batting next week.

If you want to make any other items on the list and don’t have a pattern, email me and I will help you out.  Right now, we are low on large pieces of fabric, but I will bring some of our smaller pieces.  You might be able to piece some fun matches.

 

Show and Tell:

Carolyn Grasso made a Christmas Tree Wall Hanging 

and a book pattern tote.

Louise Stem made 3 pillow cases.

Ceal Pedersen showed 2 baby quilts, 

with the same fun backing.

 

I am looking at my file of patterns to see if three is something fun we can do for Halloween or Thanksgiving for ourselves.  I will send a separate email with the details.

See you next week.

Club Notes - September 6, 2023

The one week we had off seemed like forever.  I’m glad the hurricane passed us by, but am sad for the areas northwest of here that got hit hard.   I am keeping an eye out for what we can do to help.

There were 11 of us this afternoon, including one new member, Ruth Nelson. I brought the 4.5” squares and a roll of stiffener for today’s project.  A special thanks to the ladies who volunteered to press the quilt backs I brought so I can pin and quilt this next set of quilts.  .Ellen is going to be gone again for the next 2 weeks so I have time towork on them before she gets back.

 

Show and Tell:

Ruth Nelson showed a quilt she made for an Eagle Scout relative,

 and a quilt top for a little girl.

Pat Pipa made a fidget walker bag

 and a couple of plastic bag holders.

Ceal Pederssen painted the faces on a bunch of dinos

 and showed a quilt she made.

(the back is shown below.)

Carolyn Grasso made a couple of nine-patch squares from our 3.5” squares,  several stuffed animals

 and showed the giraffe purse she made. (Anyone who is interested in the pattern can email me.)

Anne Knoff showed a Halloween quilt top she made.  

She also provided the batting and backing from her quilt chapter (Khaki).

Patty Woodruff took home a bunch of tough fabric and zippers 2 weeks ago and came back today with a stack of zipper bags.

I made 3 tote bags from a sea panel.

Ellen Hein showed a bunch of quilts that she completed the binding for.  She also showed several quilt tops and backs that she is handing off to me for quilting.

I made this quilt starting with the rose squares in one of our donations.

The blocks and pattern for this were donated and I put it together.

Carolyn Grasso made this one starting with one of our donated panels.

Deb Chapman handed in these 2 quilt tops.

Mary Ellen Boutin handed in this one.

I believe Ellen gave me the rest of these quilt tops.  If any of you think one of these is your work,let me know.

After showing the quilts she did the binding on, she gave me the following, with backings, to quilt.

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This afternoon I showed how to make a small folding fabric box.  The instructions are attached.   This one is the right size for scraps as you are sewing, but if you want to make a larger one, the math is easy.  The pattern is for a 4” x 4” box, using pieces 4.5” x 16.5”.  If you want a 6” square box you would multiply 6 x 4 sides and add .5” seam allowance to get 6.5” x 24.5” strips and a 6.5” square base. The stitch lines would be calculated to make a full side, a side divided in half, another full side, and the 4^th side divided in half again.  This should make sense once you read the attached instruction.

Next week I hope Mic and I will be able to pick up the sale items and bring them to the club meeting to be inventoried and priced.  I hope you will be able to be there to help.

Have a great week.