March 15, 2017 Club Notes

What a fun meeting today!  Thanks to Suzanne for showing us how to make our very own fairy dolls and for bringing supplies for us to work with.

I started today's meeting with a few announcements.  In case you missed my prior emails, here's a recap:
Events this week:
- We have been invited to go to a sewing supplies garage sale a day before it is advertised to the public. 7-8 of us will be carpooling to go Thursday morning.
- Friday Sharky's is having a St. Patrick's Day end of bolt sale.30% off if you purchase everything left on a bolt. If you find a shamrock at the end of the bolt you get another 10% off.
-Saturday the Quilt Guild is having it's "Quilters Closet" sale at Savannah, ,8:30am-noon.

We have also received an invitation from OPIS Bayview Center in Tavares to attend a volunteer appreciation luncheon on April 25th at the Florida Elks Lodge, 2540 Dora Ave, Tavares .  This is a thank you for the Fidget quilts we have supplied them with.  If anyone is interested in going to represent our club, let me know asap, since I need to send an RSVP by April 7th.
I also mentioned the email I received asking if anyone would be willing to make items for cancer patients at the MD Anderson hospital.  I've included the list below.  If you do decide to make any of these items, they need to be turned it by our April 5th meeting.
-Saturday the Quilt Guild is having it's "Quilters Closet" sale at Savannah, ,8:30am-noon.

We have also received an invitation from OPIS Bayview Center in Tavares to attend a volunteer appreciation luncheon on April 25th at the Florida Elks Lodge, 2540 Dora Ave, Tavares .  This is a thank you for the Fidget quilts we have supplied them with.  If anyone is interested in going to represent our club, let me know asap, since I need to send an RSVP by April 7th saying how many will attend.

I also mentioned the email I received asking if anyone would be willing to make items for cancer patients at the MD Anderson hospital.  I've included the list below.  If you do decide to make any of these items, they need to be turned it by our April 5th meeting.

Soft fabrics and “Simply Soft” yarns are best suited for MD Anderson’s patients.

• Pillows - neck or heart-shaped

• Pillows - rectangular: approximate size 10 x 12 inches

• Quilts: approximate size 46 x 46 inches

• Hand-tied lap blankets: approximate size 46 x 46 inches

• Crocheted or knitted throws: approximate size 46 x 46 inches

• Crocheted or knitted shawls

• Crocheted or knitted caps - adult sizes accepted

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Show and Tell:

Carol Riggs started us off with her story of how a trip to Joann's turned into a job for her to make pillows for a lady she met there.  She also showed 2 t-shirts she embroidered as she learns to use her embroidery machine.

Brenda Severa showed the fabric covered plate she made for Easter and another one she made for her sewing room years ago.  She also showed some Easter place mats that her 7-year old grand-daughter made!

Kathy Jones and Joan Tillinger showed the string art pieces they completed.  

Kathy also made a fidget quilt.

 We welcomed Chris Leedy back on her first venture out since her foot surgery last November.  She explained that although she's anxious to get back to making quilts, she can't walk around enough to tackle that yet.  Instead she put her talents to making pillows for her 2 grandchildren.  

Mary Nazgiewicz sewed up a bunch of dog bed sleeves for us and filled several dog beds as well.

Ellen Hein showed 2 fidget quilts she finished.

Ellen is expecting a granddaughter in June, so she has been busy making baby clothes. She showed the ones she hasn't sent home with the expectant parents yet.

Donna Rissman did a quick demo on how to make a shamrock our of a square piece of fabric. It is not sewn so the shamrock can be put next to a dinner place setting and used as a napkin once it is unfolded.

Suzanne Brown showed an embroidered  DREAM wall hanging.









I made a fidget quilt, an iron caddy for our club irons, and a Cornerstone Hospice quilt.

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After Show and Tell Suzanne showed us how to make fairy dolls from pipe cleaners, specialty threads, fabric, and anything else we might want to decorate them with.  It was a lot of fun.
Our next meeting is March 29th, and that is the last time we will meet in the Beach Club room. Starting April 5th we will be back in the Hula Lounge room and meeting every week from then on to the end of the year.
Several people have been asking for the projects schedule.  Here is what we have scheduled so far:  You may notice I scheduled a Summer Pot Luck at the end of June.  I thought it would be fun to have a summer party.  I'd like to start the week;y 50-50 at the next meeting to raise money to buy game prizes.   We can do a bingo again with a summer theme.  If anyone has any other ideas for games, please let me know. 

29-Mar   Charity Projects Lois Rose Hula Room 5-Apr     Chenille Bunny Kathy Jones 12-Apr   Charity Projects Lois Rose 19-Apr   Zip Bag Totes Lu Karatzas 26-Apr   Folded Fabric Coasters Kathy Nichols 3-May   Thread Catcher Lois Rose 10-May   Folded Fabric Wreath Donna Rissman 17-May    Placemats Mary Nazgiewicz 24-May    How to prepare a t-shirt quilt project Donna Rissman 31-May     Charity Projects   7-Jun     Car Trash Bag Lois Rose 14-Jun     Flag Pin Cushion Lois Rose 21-Jun     Summer Pot Luck   28-Jun     Charity Projects

Club Notes - March 1, 2017

We had a small turnout today, but a lot of fun, even if it was a bit noisy.  I made a few announcements.

First, Mark your calendars for the Quilters Closet & Notions Sale on Saturday, March 18, 2017 at Savannah Center.  this is basically a sewing garage sale and you never know what you might find.

Second, Paul Farineau dropped off 5 more of the center blocks for Hospice quilts.  If anyone would like to make one, please see me at the next meeting.

Third: Carol Riggs has found out that the new quilt shop on 441,  A Quilting Palette, is a new local drop off point for the pillowcases for Case for Smiles, the organization that provides pillowcase to children in the hospital. (formerly called ConKerr).  From now on, if we get pillowcase fabric with child-friendly patterns we will give them to Carol to for Case for Smiles.  Adult pattern pillowcases will still go to the Ocala Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Shelter.

After show and tell Kathy Nichols gave a great demo on how to take a simple design and turn it into a beautiful string-art. Those who decided to take the challenge picked up their hammers and made a beautiful noise.  Once again, I'm looking forward to seeing the results come back for a future week's show and tell.


Show and Tell:

Kathy Jones started us off with 2 dog beds, a fidget quilt, and a backpack for our Christmas gift effort.

Eileen Navikas also brought in a couple of dog beds (and thankfully put them directly into my GEM, so I didn't have to carry them out again)  and a baby blanket for the shelter.

Jane Swafford made 2 beautiful pillow cases for the shelter.











Kathy Nichols showed how she finished the backs of her 2 fabric plates, with sandpaper, paint, and spray polyurethane.

 Carol Riggs showed a quilt she finished, a mesh mahjong mat, and the painted scarf she made at the class last week.

I showed the dog bed I made out of an old black sweater, a fidget quilt, a couple of walker bags, and a little zipper bag shaped like a whale that I made on my embroidery machine.








Suzanne Brown will be leading our next project - making fairy dolls. She brought in 2 examples for us to see.   I'll send out the supply list next week.

One last note.  At another club I belong to, I was reminded that some people don't want their photos or photos of their projects placed on the internet. That is fine.  We may tease you a little, but anyone who does not want their photo on this blog only has to tell me and I won't put it out here.  I already know of one person who will let me take photos of her projects, but not of her and I respect that.

For those who are a little apprehensive about showing their completed projects at our show and tell, I want you to know there is nothing to fear.  We never judge at Sewing N More.  We celebrate each person's attempt at creativity and do not look for perfection (although we may oh and ah at some exceptional results).  This club is meant to be a safe place to try new things, experiment and learn from each other.  We learn from mistakes as well as from success.  You will find that my own work is far from expert, and I will always share with you all the things I do wrong and what I've done to fix or camouflage my mistakes.  I hope you all will also be able to share your efforts with this in mind.

Sewing 'N More Notes Feb 15th

What a great time we had yesterday.  Those of you who didn't make it missed out on a lot of fun.  A few of the ladies said it felt like Christmas, going through all the boxes of fabric and supplies I brought in.   I want to give a big thank you to all the ladies who helped me get my van load of boxes into our meeting room, consolidating supplies at the end to create fewer boxes, and loading it all back in my van at the end of the meeting.  On Friday I will put it all back into storage until next time.

We were happy to welcome Nita Hand back to the group.  She has been recovering from a fall for several months, and we are happy to see her back out and about.
I took away several completed fidget quilts, a backpack, a couple of walker bags, a pillowcase, a Hospice quilt, some dog beds, and 2 stacks of dryer sheet blocks organized into rows ready to sew together.  Plus many of the ladies (including myself) took home supplies for projects they plan to work on.  I'll put photos on the blog.
I also circulated a thank you card my husband wrote to the group.  I'll scan that and put it on the blog too.

Show and Tell:

Donna Rissman started us off with a WOW t-shirt quilt.  Someone had asked her to make a quilt out of ALL their military memorabilia t-shirts and use every inch that had anything written or printed on it.  Most of us would have shied away from this one, but not Donna.  She made a beautiful 2-sided quilt so that all the memories could be captured.





Kim Hart had to follow that, but she did so showing her beautifully done Fabric squares wreath.

Pat Pipa made a couple of dog beds and a fidget quilt with a cooking theme.

Lu Karazas made 2 dog beds and her finished Mod Podge bowl.  To cover the outside of the bowl where the back of the fabric showed, she used paint.  She and Ellen Hein also used the techniques learned to cover a cookie can to use for our 50-50 drawings.

Jane Swafford showed her completed Mod Podge plates and a lovely pillowcase made from a lace edged fabric.

Carol Riggs made pillow cases for her home, a Bento Box Block she made at the Allamanda quilting chapter meeting, and showed a sample of the painted scarves that she is organizing a class for next Wednesday morning.  Email or call Carol if you want to join this class. (Cost is $20)

She also showed the 4 lb Janome sewing machine she bought at the new quilt shop on 441 (near Oakwood BBQ).

Sue Campbell came with a great fidget quilt.

Mary Nazgiewicz showed a Disney quilt she made for a little relative and her finished hand-embroidered needle case.

Linda Parr showed her finished Hospice Quilt.

Kathy Jones showed a test piece of chenille she made to practice using her chenille cutter and talked a little about this project that we will be doing at the beginning of April. 

Eileen Navikas (glad to see you back with us) showed a quilt top she put together from scraps.

 I showed the Mod Podge I finished on a plastic tray with some embroidered dragonflies placed between the fabric and the plastic.  I covered the back with another piece of the same fabric right-side out and finished it with  a polycrylic coating on the back.



I also showed the Penguin quilt I made for my niece from different penguin fabrics and kits I picked up here and there on my shop hops.

Before the charity project fun began I did a quick demo of how to make a great dog bed out of an old sweater or sweatshirt (as seen on Facebook).  I'm hoping to finish one of these before the next meeting.

On March 1st Kathy Nichols will be showing us how to do string art.  I will send a separate email about that in a few days.

One final note - I've attached a flyer to the email telling you about the "Quilter' Closet & Notions Sale" coming up on March 18th at Savanah Center.  Mark your calendars.  There will be a lot of great stuff available.

Club Notes - Feb. 1, 2017

First I want to thank you all for the kind words and prayers for my husband.  As those who were there yesterday know, I had to leave the meeting early to take Ray to the doctor.  He has an abdominal aortic aneurysm and they have him on lots of meds to keep his blood pressure down to give it a chance to heal on its own.  However, his blood pressure was going down lower than I thought good so we wanted to have the doctor take another look.  They did a thorough job of testing him yesterday afternoon, and as a result they stopped one of his meds.  Although not nearly 100%, he is doing better so far today.  This is something that will take months to heal, so please bear with me.   He is encouraging me to get out, so I will be at all my normal meetings unless I have to take him to any of the doctors.

We did have a nice turnout of about 20 ladies for yesterday's project.  Kathy Nichols did a great job of explaining the process and I'm looking forward to seeing your completed creations in 2 weeks.

Show and Tell:

I started by showing a purse with an appliquéd lighthouse motif I made for my sister on my embroidery machine.

Diane Placek showed a quilt top she made using the sdryer sheet method we all love.

Donna Rissman showed us that she really can do hand sewing ;)).  She completed her needle holder project from our hand embroidery session.

Lu Karatzas made a stack of about 7 microwave bowl potholders to give as gifts.

Carol Riggs Made a cute Chick-a-dee book for her granddaughter, and an apron. She also showed a cute Valentine table runner she picked up at the quilt show last weekend.

Bev Minnerly was busy as usual.  She showed 3 walker bags, a back pack, a wheel chair quilt, and her hand embroidered needle holder.

Kathy Nichols brought her completed Valentines wreath

Linda Parr showed her Cornerstone Hospice Quilt.

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Our next meeting is on Feb 15th and we will be working on charity projects.  I will bring in all the donated fabric and accessories for you to choose from.  See you then.