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

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

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:

Louise Stem made several pillowcases and took fabric to make more.

Bev Minnerly made 3 walker bags and showed 6 doll bodies ready for stuffing.

Ellen Hein showed a zipper bag 

and finished the 2 duffle bags for the Ranch graduates.

Carolyn Grasso made a scaredy cat and handed stuffed elephant parts to Ceal for finishing.

I made 3 walker bags.

During the meeting, Donna Rissman completed her first walker bag.

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

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

See you next week.

Lois

Club Notes - March 5, 2025

There were 14 of us at the rec center today.  We were lucky in that the downpour of rain finished before 12:30 and the rest of the afternoon had clear skies.  After our last meeting Mic delivered 58 stuffed toys to the Villages Hospital and another 30 to VITAS.  Both organizations were very appreciative.

Show and Tell:

Ceal Pedersen brought the latest stuffed toys that were handed to her for face painting.

Bev Minnerly showed a pillowcase she made and 2 “flat” cats needing stuffing.

Ernestine Vawter showed some pillowcases she made for children in her family.

The 2nd one has football on one side and baseball on the other.

Ellen Hein showed a bunch of quilts that she finished the binding on and several Veteran’s Hospice quilts

The following 3 quilt tops were made by Lorraine Manz

 

I made the following 4 from panels:

Anne handed these 2 in:

Ellen made these 2 large quilts.

Ellen also turned in 1 finished Hospice Veteran's quilt 

and 4 that need to be quilted.

After show and tell Mic and Anne got to work putting together kits for making  walker bags.  I gave a demonstration of how to make a walker bag, using the Helpertunity pattern.

Last Saturday, Allamanda had several tables at the Quilter’s Closet sale.  I saw a couple of you shopping there.  Any fabric that didn’t sell was given to me at the end.   This afternoon I brought all of that to  our meeting for you to choose from for any charity project.  I was happy to see that the 4 bins and 1 box were reduced down to 3 bins at the end of the afternoon.

Since Freedom Point Rehab requested 20 walker bags, I am hoping to see a lot of these finished for next week.  We will bring the kits again and other fabric in case we don’t get enough.

 

See you next week.

Lois