Club Notes - May 29, 2024

 The El Santiago rec center reopened this week, with most of the renovations complete. To be honest, I didn’t notice much difference. We were able to put most of our stuff back in the storage room and we actually were given another shelf to store things on.  The renovators still planned to wax the floors after hours tonight, so they are moving the bin and other stuff that we store under the cabinet.  They said they will put everything back after the work is done.

It was a small group of only 9 ladies today.  I received more fabric donations, so several ladies chipped in to sort through it.  The larger pieces were put in a bin that Mic will bring back for members to select. I took the smaller and ragged pieces to cut into squares.

I received feedback on 2 of our donations, both regarding ribbon.   First, I gave some of our toys to the nurse from Leesburg Hospital for their pediatric unit.  She loved them, but asked that any ribbons be stitched to the animal to secure it.  I know Ceal does this, but there may have been some that someone else added that weren’t stitched.  We will check that in the future.

The other comment was on ribbon added to a walker bag.  It seems that small ribbons came off easily on one.  We need to check that all decorations are securely attached.

 Show and Tell:

Ellen Hein made 12 matching sets of receiving blankets and burp pads.  

She also made 12 flannel quilt tops and handed them in with matching backing.

She finished the binding on a quilt Nilda Nicoletta made 

and handed in a hospice quilt top.

Louise Stem made 2 microwave bowl sets

and 6 pillowcases.

Eileen DiSanto is back sewing again after her hand surgery.  She is making dryer sheet blocks and putting them together for a quilt.

Mic Pickard found 8 nice rectangles and made a set of 4 reversible placemats.  She also brought 12 receiving blankets that were turned in to Busy Hands.  They are no longer donating them anywhere so we will give them to Leesburg Hospital.

Anne Knoff made 2 fidget quilts that she will donate through her quilt guild chapter.

Lynn Delgado showed items that she and Audrey Philips made for Operation Shoebox.

I used up a few of the scraps to make 5 zipper bags 

and 4 butterfly potholders.

Before she left, Nilda cut fabric for 2 walker bags.  She was able to finish one and I took the fabric to finish the 2nd (identical) one.   

After the meeting I gave 2 big bags of quilts to Ellen for binding. Mic and I went to storage to store some quilts and some sale items, and to pull out some large pieces of fabric that might become pillowcases.  I gave Mic 30 receiving blankets, 21 burp pads, and 16 bibs to donate to Leesburg.

Next week I will bring the supplies to make potholders again.  I hope we can have a good selection of these for the October Sale.

It occurred to me that we are overdue for a potluck party. Normally we would have had one at the beginning of April and then again in July.   Instead, we will have a potluck and games June 12^th.   I hope many of you will come out for the fun.

Club Notes - May 8, 2024

We had a small group of 10 ladies today. There were more toys to stuff and several ladies sat to stuff and chat.

Mic delivered the first load to the Leesburg hospital maternity ward on Monday.  I dropped off 18 walker bags for Helpertunity and 18 pillowcases for Case for Smiles after today’s meeting.

 

Show and Tell:  (https://sewingn-more.blogspot.com/)

Bev Minnerly made a walker bag.

Nilda Nicoletta turned in some animals to be stuffed.  She also spent the afternoon working on her first walker bag.   She finished one and handed it in at the end of the meeting.

Mary Ellen Boutin turned in several walker bags.

Ceal Pedersen came with another bag full of stuffed toys that she painted the eyes on.

Louise Stem made 2 microwave bowl sets and 5 pillowcases.

Mic Pickard made a small quilt from some of the big blocks in our stash.

I showed a quilt that Mary Ellen turned in, I quilted and bound.

 

Today I showed how to make a butterfly potholder.   This is a fun, easy project and very practical.  The butterfly body makes it easy to grasp, and these should be easy to sell at our October craft sale. I brought batting, Insul-bright and fusible so everyone could pick out some fabric and make some butterflies.  I’m hoping to see a bunch of them come back in a few weeks.  The instruction and templates are attached.

 

For the rest of the afternoon I saw ladies happily making all sort of things.  

For the next 2 weeks the rec center will be under renovation. The only thing we had to worry about was anything on the floor of the closet.  Mic and I took what we could home and moved a few things to the shelf.  For a while we couldn’t find the small plastic 3-drawer cabinet that we keep dog bed sleeves, the first aid kit, and a few other things in.  It turned out that the staff moved it up on the top shelf of one of the shelving units temporarily.

 

I will keep you informed on the rec center renovation schedule.  I hope we will be back on schedule 5/29.

Club Notes - May 1, 2024

There were 12 of us today and it was pretty low-key.   Several ladies brought toys to stuff and Suzette was busy stuffing them.  Ceal took home another bag full.

I let everyone know that we got enough of the items Freedom Pointe and the UF Leesburg Maternity unit requested.  Mic will deliver the items for the hospital, and I will bring the items Freedom Pointe requested. 

Show and Tell:

B.J. Herter sent 3 dinos with Bev.

Bev Minnerly made a cat and 6 walker bags.

Pat Pipa made a walker bag 

and 4 fidget quilts.

She also turned in some more 9-patch blocks.

Mary Ellen Boutin turned in a quilt top.

Ellen Hein made 10 receiving blankets and burp pad sets.  With the 2 we had from last week, that makes 12 sets that will be delivered.  

She also showed the quilts she completed the binding on this week. 

This one is the result of some of the 9-patch blocks that have been turned in.

I made this one from 3 1-yard fabrics that were donated as a matched set.

Anne Knoff made this quilt top.

I'm pretty sure this one came from Allamanda,

I made this one from a panel I found in my stash.

Lynn Delgado came a little late and brought a walker bag that her Mom Audrey Philips made.

**

Today was mostly a free-sew day.   I brought the bin of large pieces, the fat quarters, the big blocks, batting scraps, Wrap N Zap and Insul-Bright, so there was plenty for everyone to choose from.  Next week I will demonstrate how to make the butterfly potholder.  This is one of my favorites, and it would be great if we could have a bunch of these to sell in October.   I’m still hoping we can have potholders, place mats, and table runners to sell.  For those who are new, all the money from the sale goes to our charity fund and, if we have enough, we donate some to a couple of charities in November.

We still have 1 more week to meet before the rec center closes for renovations.  We haven’t had a party in a while, so I’m thinking we might have one in June.    I hope to see you next week and we can talk about it.