Club Notes - October 8, 2025

There were 16 of us at El Santiago this afternoon, including 4 guests/new members.  On the announcements I reminded everyone of the events  for October, as follows:

Busy Hands/Happy Hearts is holding their fall sale Monday, 10/13 at Colony Cottage rec center, noon-2PM

10/15 regular meetings, finalize items for craft sale.

10/18 QGOTV Craft Sale at Savannah.  Three members have signed up for the morning and I have a couple of volunteers from the Allamanda quilt chapter in the afternoon, If anyone else can spare an hour anytime between 9am-2pm, your help would be appreciated.

10/22 regular meeting, report on craft sale results

10/25 Giving Expo, Everglades rec center

10/29 Halloween potluck party, costumes optional

 

Show and Tell: 

Bev Minnerly made 2 potholders using the pattern demoed last week.

Louise Stem made 2 pillowcases for the Sheriffs Youth Ranch graduates. She also showed the final elements for the girl’s sanitary supplies, the pouch for the wet pads.

Ceal Pedersen showed the latest batch of completed stuffed toys.

Carolyn Grasso was given some fabric by a woman who stopped at her craft table last weekend. The lady only asked for a doll back so Carolyn made her first attempt at doll making.  She is looking for help to learn how to make clothes for the doll.

Diane Placek showed a Scotty dog she made, using small squares. The corners linking the sides to the gusset were very difficult to sew., but the dog came out great.

Shirley Fiorentino showed some aprons she made as gifts for some friends.

Jean Peters made some clothing protectors.  She will be selling these at the Busy Hands sale on Monday.

I made 3 potholders using the pattern demoed last week 

and embroidered some black rowels with an embossed cat for Halloween. 

I also showed a mouse I made from a free pattern I found.  I’m attaching that pattern to my email in case anyone else wants to try it.

 

There was lots of activity for the rest of the afternoon, especially as the new members asked questions and learned a little of what we do.

I hope to see you next week.

 

Lois

Club Notes - October 1, 2025

There were 14 of us at El Santiago this afternoon including 3 guests.  The announcements involved events for October, as follows:

The Villages Craft Sale will be held on October 4 at four locations: Colony Cottage, La Hacienda, Laurel Manor, and Rohan Recreation Centers, from 9 AM to 2 PM.   Two of our members have tables at this event – Ceal Pedersen will be at Colony and Carolyn Grasso will be at Laurel Manor.

10/8 & 10/15 regular meetings, finalize items for craft sale.

10/18 QGOTV Craft Sale at Savannah.  Three members have signed up for the morning but we can still use volunteers for an hour or 2 in the afternoon, any time between noon and 2:40.  . Please let me know if you can help.

10/22 regular meeting, report on craft sale results

10/25 Giving Expo, Everglades rec center

10/29 Halloween potluck party, costumes optional

This week B.J. and Pat showed  a different and easy way to make a potholder.  Everyone enjoyed the demo.  The instructions are attached to my email.

Show and Tell: 

Pat Pipa showed a twister pumpkin wall hanging she made a while back.

Ceal Pedersen showed the latest batch of completed stuffed toys.

Bev Minnerly showed some doll bodies and doll clothes she made.

Eileen DiSanto showed some critters needing stuffing.

Lenora Holze made a pink pig.

I showed some towels I embroidered with an embossed pumpkin pattern.

 

That’s all for today. . Hope to see you next week.

 

Lois

Club Notes - September 24, 2025

There were 13 of us at El Santiago this afternoon.  I was surprised to be the first one to arrive, even though I thought I was late. 

 

This week I put out the 4.5” squares and the 5” squares, just to mix it up a little.  I also put out the larger fabric scraps for everyone to choose from.

Normally, we have 4 pot-luck parties each year – winter, spring, summer and fall.   This year my life got a bit crazy and I missed scheduling the spring and summer parties.   Now I hope to get back on schedule with a Halloween potluck on Oct. 29^th.   It will be a good time to take a break after the craft sale and Giving Showcase.  I hope many of you will be able to join the fun.  I will send reminders closer to the date.

Next week B.J. and Pat will be demonstrating a very different way to make a potholder.  I will send out the supply list in a separate email.

So, here is the list of important dates for October:

10/1  Potholder demo.

10/8 & 10/15 regular meetings, finalize items for craft sale.

10/18 Craft Sale at Savannah.  Volunteers still needed to help out.

10/22 regular meeting, report on craft sale results

10/25 Giving Expo, Everglades rec center

10/29 Halloween potluck party, costumes optional

 

Show and Tell:

Ellen Hein started us out with a big pile of fleece blankets.

New member Eileen St. Clair brought a tote bag full of items she has made.

Ceal Pedersen showed the latest batch of completed stuffed toys.

Eileen DiSanto showed a zipper bag, 

a fleece blanket,

and some critters needing stuffing.

Donna Rissman showed a witch door hanging.  No photos of this because she hopes to make some to sell.

I showed 2 quilt tops I sewed.

The first one is from some of our 5" squares

and the second is a pattern from a 3 yard quilt pattern book.

That’s all for today. . Hope to see you next week.

 

Lois

Club Notes - September 17, 2025

There were 13 of us at El Santiago this afternoon, including one new member. We received another donation of fabric, mostly fat quarters, but some larger pieces.   I put out all the 5 inch squares, new fabric pieces, plus the rest of the fabric pieces we have in the closet.

Please keep Anne Knoff and Brenda Severa in your thoughts and prayers.  Both have been diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer.  As a survivor myself, I can attest to this being very beatable. This is a reminder that we need to have our mammograms and be aware of any changes in our bodies.  Brenda will be staying in Wisconsin for the next few months, and may not be returning to The Villages until December.

I put out the sign-up sheet for the Oct. 18^th Guild Craft sale and the Oct 25^th Giving Showcase again. Thanks to those who have signed up.  We could use a few more volunteers for each of these events.  If you can spare an hour or 2 for either event, just let me know.

Show and Tell: 

Carolyn Grasso made several 9-patch blocks and a pillow sham.

Louise Stem made 2 pillow cases and showed the process of making reusable menstrual pads for Operation Christmas Child.

Pat Pipa made 2 pillowcases.

Lenora Holze made 2 dinosaurs.

Bev Minnerly turned in 26 dolls to Dolls from the Heart last week and is now working on 3 more.

Diane Placek made some zipper bags for our charities and some pencil cases for her church and for Operation Christmas Child.

Ceal Pedersen turned in another bag of stuffed toys that she painted the faces on.

Donna Rissman made 2 black cat wall hangings 

and showed a quilt top she is working on for a friend of her grandson. 

She also showed some Chipmunk fabric that she plans to turn into
pillows for her grandson.

Eileen DiSanto made a pig and a bunch of dinosaurs, waiting to be stuffed.

New member Shirley Fiorentino showed a silk shirt, skirt and shorts set she made.

I made another project carrier for my never ending UFOs.

Lynn DelGado arrived a little late and brought a completed duffle bag for one of the Sheriffs Youth Ranch 2026 graduates.

For the rest of the afternoon we each worked on whatever we wanted and chatted   I was happy to see a lot of the fabric I brought today go out.  What was left fit nicely into the 2 bins of fabric we are keeping in the rec center.

I have received word that Mic Pickard and Ellen Hein may be back with us next week.  As we move into Autumn, we hope to see some of our snowbirds returning as well.  It’s always good to welcome friends back.

Hope to see you next week.

 

Lois