Sewing-N-More: 2025

Wednesday, April 9, 2025

Club Notes - April 9, 2025

There were 12 of us at Saddlebrook today, including 3 who came in for only part of the afternoon. In addition to the 5” squares I promised, I brought 3 large bags of scraps and several small boxes of new fabric donations.

As a reminder, we only have one more meeting at Saddlebrook on 4/23. There will be no meeting on 4/16 or 4/30. We will be back at El Santiago in May.

Show and Tell:

Diane Placek came with several zipper bags that she made.

Mic Pickard took an orphan panel a while back and today showed how she turned it into a lovely tote bag.

Eileen DiSanto showed a cat she cut, waiting to be stuffed.

Louise Stem turned in 6 pillowcases.

Carolyn Grasso made a couple of tea bag holders and showed a started crochet project of a Stitch doll.

Mary Ellen Boutin stopped in briefly and dropped off some zipper bags she made..

After show and tell, I did a quick demo of how to make a draw string backpack, using 24 five inch squares and a lining fabric. Several ladies selected squares to take home and make the outside panels of backpacks. The instructions are attached to my email.

Several ladies sorted through the new fabric donation. There were several panels found, which I put aside. I filled 3 dog beds from the bags of scraps. Mic and Candy took over with the remaining bag of scraps.

No meeting next week. I will see you all the following week.

Lois

Thursday, April 3, 2025

Club Notes - April 2, 2025

The 9 of us gathered at Saddlebrook Rec Center for the meeting yesterday spent the first few minutes catching up on news and sharing the good news that Pat pipa has been moved to Chatham Glen for rehab after her accident. We also reviewed the dates for our April meetings.

We skipped doing 50/50 and moved onto Show and Tell:

Bev Minnerly turned in a Walker bag she showed last week and finished up for Freedom Pointe.
Diane Saculla showed a bag of animals she stuffed and sewed up and readied for Ceal Pedersen to paint faces.
Mic Pickard showed 3 zipper bags made from the trivets that had not sold at the Fall craft fair.
Ellen Hein finished two quilt tops from her scraps to move out more of her fabric stash.
Donna Bordian finished two walker bags and took home more material to do some more as she will be with us until the end of April.
Mary Ellen Boutin turned in 3 zipper bags for Sheriff’s Youth Ranch.

Mic sends thanks to everyone who helped unload and load her car and for everyone’s patience with her mask to keep from spreading germs.

Next week we will meet at Saddlebrook again and I will show you how to make a drawstring backpack using pre-cut squares. The Sheriffs Youth Ranch is looking for these for their summer camp program.

Lois

Wednesday, March 26, 2025

Club Notes March 26, 2025

There were 12 of us at El Santiago today. We received another fabric donation this morning so I added that to the fabric I brought last week.

I reminded everyone that the club meets at Saddlebrook on 4/2, 4/9, and 4/23. There will be no meeting on 4/16 or 4/30. We will be back at El Santiago in May.

Diane Saculla went to visit Suzzette last week and gave her the quilt that was made for her. She showed a photo of Suzzette with the quilt. Diane said, although she looks frail, she is very lucid.

Show and Tell:

Ceal Pedersen brought back 2 stuffed giraffes that she painted the faces on,

and gave us 8 10” blocks and a sewn set of half square triangles that were in her stash, but unused. I will put them in with our big blocks.

Diane Placek showed a couple of bunny treat bags that she made.

Bev Minnerly showed some doll clothes

and 2 walker bags.

Louise Stem turned in 7 pillowcases.

(2 like this)

Donna Rissman gave us some quilts made with her Citrus Quilters quilt chapter.

Donna also showed a little Christmas tree that we might be able to sell in the fall.

Donna Bordian showed a walker bag she made.

After show and tell, I did a quick demo of how to make a zipper bag. I also talked about how to make a drawstring backpack. These are 2 items that have been requested for the Sheriffs’ Youth Ranch summer camp kids. Patterns for the 2 variations I talked about are attached to my email. Wayne Witczak, the ranch Director of Development, will be stopping by my house on April 9^th to pick up the graduation gifts. I will give him any zipper bags and backpacks that we have at the same time. He comes to The Villages once a month to attend the Villages Friends Group social at Rohan, so I can still give him more in May if we make more.

Thanks for the walker bags that have come in. I think we now have about 17. I will try to get these to Freedom point later this week.

Next week I won’t be able to join you at Saddlebrook, so Mic Pickard will be running the meeting. I took a small ironing board, 1 iron, a large cutting mat, our rotary cutters, our scissors, the toy patterns, freezer paper, and a few other things out of El Santiago today and will give these to Mic over the weekend. She will bring them and the fiber fill to next week’s meeting. The room at Saddlebrook is the card room. It is a large room and there are outlets in the walls on all sides, so bringing your sewing machine will not be a problem. The tables are card tables, so smaller than what we usually have, but you can put 2 together, as long as they get put back at the end of the meeting. It should be a good substitute location.

I will see you all the following week.

Lois

Wednesday, March 19, 2025

Club Notes - March 19, 2025

There were 11 of us plus one guest in today’s meeting. I brought back the 2 bins of fabric from last week, plus a bag of recent donations. There were no new announcements today.

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

Bev Minnerly made 2 more walker bags and a small dog bed.

Carolyn Grasso made some stuffed toys

and showed a painted fabric kit she completed.

She also showed 2 sets of pillowcases that Louise Stem made for the Youth Ranch graduates. (Louise is sick this week and couldn’t join us.)

Ceal Pedersen brought back another bag full of stuffed toys that she painted the faces on.

Ernestine showed a pillowcase she made.

Donna Bordian showed a small purse she made.

Mic Pickard explained the yo-yos she makes every week.

Donna Rissman couldn’t join us this week, but she sent 3 walker bags that she made.

Ann Knoff brought 2 quilts made by a member of Khaki Quilters.

After show and tell, Mic showed 4 quilts we selected for the Youth Ranch graduates. As a group, we selected the 2 quilts to use for this year’s 2 graduates. The other 2 will be saved for next year. We put a quilt, 2 pillowcases, and 2 zipper bags in each duffel. I will contact the coordinator and he will pick them up from my house.

We still need more walker bags if anyone can make some. We still have kits.

We could also use some zipper bags. I postponed the demo this week but will give a demo on how to make one next week, for anyone who wants a refresher lessen.

See you next week.

Lois

Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Club Notes - March 12, 2025

15 ladies participated in today’s meeting, including one guest. I brought 2 bins of large fabric and 3 medium size fabric bins. Enough went out so that we eliminated one box.

I had 2 announcements today. First, the room we currently meet in will be closed the entire month of April for HVAC work. I contacted the recreation department and they offered me the card room in Saddlebrook for 4/2, 4/9, and 4/23. The room is booked for the other 2 Wednesdays, so we won’t have meetings those 2 weeks. I plan to go check out the room the first chance I get.

The 2^nd info was an update on Suzzette. I spoke to her son this morning. Suzzette is still in Shands in Gainesville. They are ready to release her to a nursing facility in Lady Lake, but there is a complication. Her son had very high blood pressure and wound up in the hospital in Ocala. He can’t get to Gainesville to arrange for her release. Since there aren’t any other close relatives, she is stuck for the moment, unless they can find someone to be her advocate.

Show and Tell: