Club Notes - February 18, 2025

We were a smaller group today, only 12 in attendance.  The main news was about Suzzette.  When Diane and Ernestine tried to visit her last week, they discovered she was no longer in The Club.  After a little research, I was able to find a telephone number for her son and left a message.  He called me back during the meeting.  She was getting worse so The Club sent her back to The Villages Hospital.  From there she was sent to Shands in Gainesville.   She has had a couple of surgeries, and is now in good hands.  Her son has arranged for home nurse care for her when she is released from the hospital.  He will let me know when she is home.

 Show and Tell:

Ceal Pedersen some of the stuffed toys she painted the faces on.

Carolyn Grasso showed some toys she made.

Diane Saculla found some pretty pink fabric in our donations that didn’t seem appropriate for our other projects, so she made 2 pillows, one for Ceal and the other for Ernestine.

Louise finished some blocks for our Puzzle quilt project, and made some pillow cases.

Lenora Holze showed her first dinosaur.

Ellen Hein handed in 5 baby quilt tops. 

I showed the quilt I made for Allamanda’s 2025 challenge, to make a quilt representing my birth month flower.  My flowers are Larkspurs (front) and water lilies (backing).

Since I decided to keep this quilt, I had to hand in a substitute for donation.  I am including a photo of the substitute quilt.

 

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Today Mic and I brought some pieces of fabric to choose from in making more toys.  I also brought the fiber fill.  

 I also brought the kits for the green and white puzzle quilt, the pre-printed doll fabric, and the center blocks for hospice quilts. 

Next week we will have a week off, since the building will be closed for quarterly cleaning.  I hope to see you back on March 5^th.

Lois

Club Notes - February 12, 2025

There were 21 of us at El Santiago this afternoon.     Mic brought several boxes of preprinted fabric given to us by the Abundance of Love club.   Most of these will make large stuffed toys, but there are also some with other patterns such as aprons.  Rita worked to sort these, putting like fabrics in the same pile.  A few ladies took one to cut and sew.  I was also given a couple that ladies cut and bagged for someone else to sew, if you are interested.

 Last week I said the Sheriffs’ Youth Ranch is looking for pillowcases, with their logo embroidered on the cuff.  It turns out, that is optional.  I am trying to get a digitized copy of the logo, just in case, but have not been successful yet.

Show and Tell: 

Mic Pickard showed some zipper bags and snap bags she made as gifts.

Eileen DiSanto showed a receiving blanket she made.

Ceal Pedersen made a Veterans Hospice quilt top 

and showed some of the stuffed toys she painted the faces on.

Deb Chapman showed 2 baby changing pads she made for her granddaughter who is scheduled to arrive in July.

Lisa Strahs-Lorenc showed some hearts for Abundance of Love, Some doll clothing, and a “scaredy cat”.

Donna Rissman showed a scrappy quilt top and a failed microwave bowl class result.

Carolyn Grasso made some critters needing stuffing.

Diane Saculla showed the quilt for Suzzette, quilted and bound by Mic.  She passed a card around and is brining this to Suzzette after today’s meeting.

Diane Placek made a potholder 

and a tea bag caddy as gifts.

Bev Minnerly showed some doll clothes 

and 3 pillowcases.

Audrey Philips showed 2 Valentine pillows.

Ellen Hein made some pillowcases and zipper bags.  

She also showed 6 quilts that she added the binding to for us.  

Two were ‘cheater” quilts that I made.  (For those unfamiliar with the term, a “cheater quilt” is a fabric that is already printed to look like it is made of quilt blocks, when it is actually one solid piece of fabric.  It only needs batting, backing, and to be quilted as is.) This was a long piece of fabric that I was able to cut into 3 quilts.  Ellen finished the first 2 this week and I gave her the 3rd to work on today.

  The rest were baby quilts that Anne turned in. 

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Last week Linda Greenbaum showed a folded fabric Christmas Star she made.  This week she showed us how it is made, by simply folding fabric strips. No sewing is required.  Here is a link to a YouTube if you want to try it:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bjx16Gf3TsE

I brought a fresh box of fiber fill so several ladies were busy stuffing some more toys.

Mary Ellen turned in a couple of completed blocks for our latest group quilt and I handed out a few more kits. I will have these kits available each week, for anyone who wants to sew a few.   Once we have enough, I will sew them into a quilt top, like we have done with other group projects.

Next week we will have some of our fabric donations available for anyone wanting to make more toys.   On Feb 26^th, we will have a week off, since the building will be closed for quarterly cleaning.  I will remind you of this after our next meeting.

Lois

Club Notes - February 5, 2025

There were 17 of us at El Santiago this afternoon.  I talked a little about the new charity we are going  to be donating to – Vitas.   Mic brought in the latest fabric donation and everyone had a chance to look through it.  We heard that the Sheriffs’ Youth Ranch is looking for pillowcases, but they are specifically requesting that their logo is embroidered on the cuff.  The Embroidery club has the pattern and will be taking care of that.

Show and Tell: 

Pat Pipa showed a toy horse she made.

B.J. is going to a Super Bowl party and she made some chenille potholders for the hosts.

Lisa Strahs-Lorenc showed a port pillow for people going through chemo therapy.  This is being done through Abundance of Love.   She also showed a fabric heart.

Linda Greenbaum showed a folded fabric Christmas Star she made.  She will give a demo on how to make this next week.

Diane Saculla showed a quilt top a friend gave her.  She has the batting and backing, and asked if anyone could finish it by next week so she could give it to Suzzette.

Mary Ellen Boutin showed 2 quilt tops she made.  

The 2^nd one used a large block from our “big block box”

Diane Placek showed a quilt top she made for her church prayer group.

Ellen Hein made 25 infant hats and 2 receiving blanket and burp pad sets for the Leesburg maternity ward.

 

Donna Rissman couldn't join us today but she sent some scardy cats and a Halloween quilt.

I brought a group quilt project today called the Puzzle Box quilt.  Several ladies went to work sewing strips and cutting the 4.5” strips required for the blocks.  We now have baggies with sets of strips to create the required 8” blocks.   The instructions for the blocks are attached to this email.  I am hoping that club members will take a bag or 2, complete the blocks, and bring them back to the club.   Once we have enough I will sew them into a quilt top, like we have done with other group projects.

I am also attaching the instruction on how to make a pillow case, for the benefit of new members.

 

Lois