Club Notes - Nov 29, 2023

We had a nice group of 14 ladies this afternoon. I brought some fabric and scraps that showed up at Allamanda on Tuesday.  Mic and Anne cut up some of it and some that Anne brought to make some dog bed sleeves.  Several ladies took these home to sew and bring back for us to stuff with scraps.  They also measured some larger pieces for me to place in the backing stash.  Anne and Eileen also helped me sort through the scraps and pull out some usable pieces.

Show and Tell

Ruth Nelson showed a quilt top that she made. It started out small and she added to it until she got to the size she wanted.

Lorraine Manz was busy making catheter bags, walker bags, some pocket hearts, and 2 bears.

Bev Minnerly showed a cat and 2 pillow covers she made.

Ceal Pedersen brought back a big pile of stuffed toys that she painted the faces on and a baby quilt she hand quilted.

B.J. Herter showed a wall hanging she made for her daughter.

Mary Ellen Boutin showed several 9-patch blocks and 2 quilt tops

Diane Placek made a tote bag and a bunch of tissue covers as stocking stuffers.

Mic Pickard talked about the catheter covers that Compassionate Care requested. She found 26 of these in storage at Busy Hands, Happy Hearts and will be donating them.

I put some of the 9-patch blocks that were turned in together with black sashing to make a quilt top. Thanks to Lorraine for pressing the sashing seams for me.

I also showed a fractured fabric art project that I’ve wanted to do for a long time and finally finished.

 

The schedule for the next couple of weeks is going to be very casual.  I know most of you are busy with holiday plans and don’t need extra projects. I invite you each to use our meetings to take a break, sew on your own projects and socialize.  

The 3.5 inch squares are being stored in the rec center closet, so you can take some to make 9-patch blocks if you are looking for something to sew and we still have plenty of pocket hearts ready to sew.  If you want me to bring anything else, let me know.

Club Notes - Nov 15, 2023

There were 15 ladies at today’s meeting.  As a reminder, since next week is Thanksgiving, we won’t have a meeting.  Our next meeting will be on November 29^th.

I gave Allamanda a check for $800 and received the 4 $200 checks for our chosen charities in return.  This morning I delivered 22 quilts, 8 placemats, 22 totes, 11 purses, and 1 phone bag, plus the check foe $200, to the Christian Care Center in Leesburg. One of the quilts will be reported as a Khaki donation and another will be reported for the Bees.

 Mic will be delivering a load of dog beds to the Humane Society of Lake County on Friday, and I will send the $200 check for them with her.

Mic will deliver the $200 checks to Project S.O.S. this week and will take the quilts, totes, etc. for him to pick up later along with items from Busy Hands.  The check for the Marion County Humane Society will go with the next delivery of dog beds to them, in a few weeks.

 

Show and Tell:

Bev Minnerly made 5 pillow cases.

Pat Pipa made a bunch of stuffed animals.

Deb Chapman showed a block she made as a table decoration for her daughter's upcomping wedding, 

and made some 9-patch squares.

Lorraine Manz made several catheter bags.

Someone started to make a man's shirt, had all the pieces cut out, and donated it unfinished.  Lorraine finished it so we can give it to one of our charities.

Lorraine also took a fabric print of a teddy bear home, sewed it together, and brought it back to be stuffed.

Ellen Hein showed a zipper bag she made as a Christmas gift.

Ceil Pedersen painted faces on several toys we gave her last week.  

She also made a hex hotplate 

and 2 baby quilts.

Today we talked about 2 of the items requested by Compassionate Care Hospice.  Last week we talked about the catheter covers.  I had  2 patterns, and I checked with the Hospice rep to confirm which one they wanted.  The one demoed last week is the one they want.   So this is easy, made from a fat quarter. I will send an email with the instructions for this.

The other items requested were pocket hearts. These are small felt hearts stuffed with a little fiberfill and hand stitched around the edges. I got a donation of felt yesterday so I cut some out on my Go-Cutter.  Several ladies took up the task and enjoyed stitching some of these during the afternoon.  I plan to cut lots more hearts and bring them to each meeting for anyone who wants to stitch a few of there.

We also got a large donation of cotton fabric yesterday.  The ladies sorted through it and took what they could use.  I’m looking forward to some lovely charity items coming back in a few weeks. I took the smaller pieces to cut into squares, along with a few other pieces left behind. The mid-size pieces that were left went into the bin that Mic keeps for us. 

 

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving.  See you in 2 weeks.

Club Notes - Nov 8, 2023

We had a small group of 9 ladies today.  I talked about the now-closed Ocala Domestic Violence shelter.  My contact there is now working for the Marion County Services. She is using a church as her base, but I don’t know which one yet.  I will now have to make an appointment to drop off any donations, once I confirm what they need.

Big Brothers/Big Sisters reached out to the Villages Quilt Guild.  They would like to give a quilt to each child when they are matched with an adult.  Since we have so many, I gave them 5 and am adding them to the list of charities we support.

Today we talked about the list of items on Compassionate Care Hospice’s wish list.  I did an internet search and found some patterns we can use. I will send some out in separate emails, but here is a summary:

Patriotic blankets and quilts – we have already been making these.  For this group, they can be any size.

Pocket Hearts – These are small felt hearts.  They appear to be only about 2” x 2”.  The instruction has 2 pieces of felt sewn together with a blanket or whipstitch around the edges and stuffed with fiber fill. The idea is for them to give one to someone who needs a little love. I think we could also make them from different fabrics.

Palm Grip contracture cushions – I couldn’t find a pattern for these but I did find photos of ones for sale.  They are simple rectangular cushions, about 3”-4” x 2”, with an elastic strap to hold it on the hand.

Neck Support Pillows – We have a pattern for travel neck pillows and I think this is the same. Busy Hands has some of these in their inventory that they will give us to donate.

Clothing Protectors – Busy Hands makes these so we’ll skip this one.

Walker Bags – They will be happy with simpler ones than we make for Helpertunity so I will try to find alternate patterns for anyone who would prefer a simpler project.

Stuffed Animals – We have this one covered.

Catheter Covers –I  sent out the pattern I received from Compassionate Care on Sept.29^th.  We also looked at a pattern Jean Peters has used.  They seem similar, the only difference is the size.

 

Show and Tell:

Bev Minnerly came with 2 finished stuffed cats and 3 more waiting to be stuffed. She also showed a gnome fabric she is going to make into a pillow for her husband.

Mic Pickard took some donated Aida cloth and embroidered some cute ornament patterns on it.  She asked for help on how to use some round frames and several of us gave her ideas.

Ceal Pedersen brought back a stuffed cat, dino, and 2 dogs with faces painted. 

 She also showed 2 quilts she made.

Louise Stem showed a special project she has been working on – washable/reusable menstrual pads for girls in poor areas of the world.  She is putting kits together with several pads, a pouch to hold a wet pad, and a bag to hold it all. 

Carolyn Grasso made several toys waiting for stuffing.

After show and tell Mic talked about how to make a catheter bag cover. I said I would try to make one as a sample for next week.   I brought out all the 9 patch blocks that have been turned in so far and laid them out for a quilt.  I also brought out the boxes of 3.5” squares and several ladies took some to make for 9 patch blocks.

This was a laid back week.  We finished earlier than usual.  Mic and I took some unsold items and the display stands to storage.  I gave Mic all the unsold Christmas items to try to sell at the Busy Hands craft sale this Saturday.  We will split the profits on anything sold there.

 

Well, that’s more than enough for this note.  See you next week.

Club Notes - Nov 1, 2023

 Fifteen ladies attended today’s meeting.  As our first order of business, we talked about which organizations to donate to this year.  My suggestions of $200 each to the Christian Care Center in Leesburg and Project S.O.S. (Support our Soldiers) was approved.   I asked for nominations from the floor for the 3^rd recipient organization and the Humane society was suggested.  We currently donate beds to the Marion County Humane Society and the Lake County Humane Society, so I suggested that we split the remaining funds between these 2 and this was agreed.  I originally said this would be $100 to each.  However, when I got home tonight and reviewed the accounting spreadsheet, I found an error in 2 of the cell formulas. We actually have more money in the charity fund than I reported, so I propose that we give each Humane society $200.   That still leaves $384.50 in the charity fund.

I am sorting through the unsold items to see what we can donate.  Any Christmas or seasonal items left I am going to give to Mic to sell at the Busy Hands/Happy Hearts Sale.  This will be at the Coconut Cove Rec Center on Nov 13^th,  We will split the profits on any items sold there.

Show and Tell:

Mic Pickard showed a fabric Christmas tree that showed up in one of our donations.  She sewed and stitched it, then found some lovely gold pins that made perfect ornaments.  She was going to sell it at the busy hands sale, but one of our members bought it on the spot.

Deb Chapman showed a quilt top from the Quilting Bees Chapter

Mary Ellen Boutin showed the quilt top she made from one of the  panels I gave out in the Spring.

Ceal Pedersen showed some trivets 

and a stuffed cat.

Anne Knoff showed a quilt she made for herself 

and a table topper.

On Tuesday we received a very large donation of fabric and batting from a lady who is moving away from The Villages. Today a lady who saw our table at the Giving Showcase last Saturday brought a bag of fabic too.   A big thank you to Anne and Mic for sorting the fabric and measuring all the large backing pieces.  We have a large supply of backings so I can match up almost any quilt top you bring me.  In addition to the fabric there were 3 large bins of batting still in my car.  Mic and I put the bins of batting in storage for now.  I separated some medium size pieces of fabric for pillow cases and put them on our closet shelf.  I took the backings and small pieces of fabric home. 

A few weeks ago I sent out the list of crafting needs that Compassionate Care Hospice sent us.  Mic has a pattern for the catheter Covers and will show us how to make them next week.

The other items on Compassionate Care’s wish list are:

Patriotic blankets and quilts,

Pocket hearts

Palm grip contracture cushions

Neck Support Pillows

Clothing Protectors

Stuffed Animals

Catheter Covers.

We already know how to make quilts and stuffed toys, so we will try to find patterns for the other items, starting with the catheter covers next week.

 See you next week.