Club Notes - March 4, 2020

We had 14 ladies show up for today's meeting and boy, were we busy.  Once Ellen finished her explanation on how to put the sides on the duffle bags, it was so quite all you could hear was the sound of sewing machines.  Ellen did a wonderful job cutting the pieces, serging the edges, and putting in the zippers. All we had to do was add the sides, which was challenging enough but a great learning experience.  I think 14 of the 16 we need were sewn together by the end of the meeting.  All that's left is to add the straps and name tags.  I gave Ellen some d-rings for the name tags and Mic is going to make the name tags on her embroidery machine.  Ellen will let me know the status of the straps before our next charity project meeting.

Show and Tell:

B.J. Herter made 2 cute dinosaur toys to hand in.

Bev Minnerly worked on some of her UFOs, finishing 2 microwave bowls and adding lace to the bottom on one of her too-short camisoles.

Laura Tomich got some fabric from a friend who gave up sewing and made 38 pillowcases.  (I pulled 16 of these to add to the Youth Ranch graduate's gifts.)

Deb Chapman showed a purse she made at her quilt chapter.

Alice Meunier showed a beautiful prayer quilt she made as a wedding gift.

Ellen Hein made appliqued Mickey and Minnie shirts for some kids she knows.

Mic Pickard finished the binding on 2 Cornerstone Hospice quilts that have been worked on by several people, and made a memory bear for a friend out of their loved one's shirt.

 

Pat Pipa finished her project bag and turned in a quilt top for our Youth Ranch effort.

 

Carol Thurston gave me a quilt top and back for me to finish too, but the photo of that one will appear when it's done.

Aieen Lee came late and turned in another Hospice quilt top, photo will appear when it is quilted and bound.

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We are making great progress with the project to give graduation gifts to the Sheriff's Youth Ranch kids.  As I said before there are 8 girls and 8 boys graduating this year. I am confident that we will be able to finish the 16 duffel bags in time.  Currently we have 6 completed twin size quilts, 2 ready for quilting, and 4 more tops turned in that I need to cut batting and backing for. Mic has another one in progress, so that makes 13.  That means we only need 3 more.  Laura Paulk is going to get some of our cut blocks from me next week to make another one.  I have some panels that can be turned into quilt tops pretty quickly if anyone would like to try for the last 2.  Let me know.  I will be busy quilting for the next few weeks. 

Reminder:  WE DO NOT HAVE ANY MEETING ROOM FOR THE REST OF MARCH.

Our next meeting will be on April 1st and we will be back in the Hula Lounge room.  From then on we go back to weekly meetings.

Club Notes - Feb 19, 2020

We had a very busy afternoon, but not much actual sewing.   A couple who have to move out of the house they are renting, because it has been sold, gave us several cartloads of craft items.  We spent much of the afternoon sorting through it all, deciding what we can use, what other clubs we know can use, and what any club members present could make use of.  I saved a few of the items left for fidget walker bags and the rest went in the trash. Sad, but we can't save everything.

Bev Minnerly gave a great explanation of how to make the kitchen towel scarf.


I gave a brief explanation of how to make a drawstring backpack.

Instructions for both are attached to my email.




Show and Tell:

Judy Mayer made 3 pillowcases for the Sheriff's Youth Ranch

 Donna Rissman made a large project bag and an ironing pad/cutting board tote for a small cutting board.




 She also made 2 border fabric table runners for Anne Knoff from fabric Anne gave her.

Aileen Lee finished a hospice quilt top.

Bev Minnerly made 2 adult bibs and 4 fidget walker bags.

Mic Pickard finished 3 quilts, 1 from hearts left over from another project, 

one from a panel donated, 

and the 3rd a hospice quilt.

Kiki Mitracos made 3 lovely pillow covers and 2 potholders.

Lu Karatzas introduced her granddaughter Sophie as her sewing partner for the afternoon.  She also showed her project carrier that is almost finished.

 I showed 3 quilts I finished from quilt tops that were turned in.  I know the pink one was Carol Thurston's creation, but I'm not sure about the other 2/

I think Suzanne Brown gave them to me, but if I am wrong please let me know so I can correct the attribution on our blog.




I also showed a sunflower bag I made, my first time sewing with cork fabric, and 2 hand sanitizer caddies to hook on a belt or purse that I made for our upcoming cruise.









I forgot to show the project caddy I finished because it was already full of fabric for the drawstring backpacks. Here it is anyway.

There is no meeting next week.  Our next meeting is March 4th.  Ellen Hein will be bringing partially made duffle bags and will show us how to finish them.  Last year we gave all the graduates from the Sheriff's Youth Ranch a duffle bag and a quilt, and I am hoping we can do the same for this year's graduates.  I have heard their may be 18 graduates.  So far I have 6 completed quilts put aside and a few more waiting to be quilted.  If you can help with the duffle bags or can make a twin size quilt for these kids who are going out on their own for the first time, it would be greatly appreciated. If you would like fabric to work with, let me know.  I have cut blocks, panels, and miscellaneous fabric leftovers that can be turned into lovely quilts with a little imagination.

Thank you for all you do.  Hope to see you in 2 weeks.

Club Notes - Feb 5, 2020

As always a great afternoon.  Our presence at the Giving Expo last Saturday was a success, not only in attracting new members, but also in the opportunity to network with other craft clubs.  We have a few overlaps but some of the items we can't use we can give to other clubs and they sometimes yet things they can't use and we can.  It's all good when we know who needs what.

Thanks to Mic Pickard, Lu Karatzas, Carol Thurston, Carolyn Grasso, and Diane Placek for coming out to help staff the table and talk to guests.

We welcomed several new members today and expect to welcome a few more next week.  I know I can count on you all to make them feel at home.

Donna gave an updated demo on how to make the sewing project carrier, including an interesting "burrito" zipper demo.  I expect to see a few of these come back finished over the next few weeks. The original project instructions and a photo of Donna's zipper instruction are attached to my email.

Show and Tell:

Mic Pickard showed 2 quilts.  The first is a Cornerstone Hospice quilt that was a collaborative effort.  I think Pat Pipa made the top, Mic and Ann Knoff matched the batting and backing and quilted it,  I added the label and Mic and Ann finished it.  

The second is a panel that she is working on turning into a full quilt.  Last week I gave Mic her first lesson in edge-to-edge embroidery quilting and she completed the quilting on this panel.  

Pat Pipa showed the purse and wallet she made for Allamanda Quilter's crayon challenge.  (Each person in the chapter pulled 3 random crayons from a bag and had to make something with those 3 colors or shades of them and no other colors.) Pat got the challenging colors of Tangerine, Raspberry, and Red, and did a great job putting them together, Her  project was voted the 3rd place winner.

Bev Minnerly made a couple of adult clothing protectors and a bunch of doll clothes for Giving Dolls.

Eileen Di Santo made a pillowcase and showed her crayon challenge project, a small purse. I believe her colors were Tangerine, Green, and Denim.

Linda Marshall made a couple of pillowcases.

Charlotte Cecilio turned in 2 more sets of red, white and blue dryer sheet block sets.

Donna Rissman showed a panel quilt she made to teach a class, an adorable stuffed critter, and a heart table runner.

  She also talked about the spray she uses on the back of her rulers to keep them from slipping The product name is Odif Grippy Non-slip Coating.  

Ellen Hein made a flannel baby quilt top, a Hospice Veteran's quilt top and 5 pillowcases.

Aileen Lee made 2 Hospice Quilts.

I showed a crumb quilt that I quilted and bound.  I believe Judy Mayer handed in this quilt top at the last meeting.

I found kits for chenille butterfly mug rugs at the Quilters Marketplace and finished them last week.

I also showed a train quilt I made.  The fabric has been waiting in my stash and in my mind for several years.

The 3rd quilt I showed was my crayon challenge.  I drew yellow, gold and blue crayons.

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There is no meeting net week, as we do not have a room  Our next meeting is February 19th. Bev will be showing us how to make a kitchen towel scarf.  I will send out a reminder a few days before.

I mentioned at the beginning of the meeting that last year we gave quilts and duffle bags to the graduates of the Sheriff's Youth Ranch.  A number of us contributed quilts, and a few ladies helped cutting the duffle bags, but Ellen Hein did the majority of the work sewing them together.  This year there may be double the number of graduates and we need some other volunteers to sew these together.  At our March 4th meeting, Ellen will show us what is involved. I hope a few of you can help with this project.

See you all in 2 weeks.