April 19, 2023 Notes

We had fun this afternoon making toys for the hospital auxiliary. I brought all the toy patterns I could find and the ladies had fun looking through the instructions and picking out the ones they want to make.  A few of us cut fabric for the dinos and bears that we like.  Mic sewed them together, I clipped the corners and Mary Ellen stuffed.

Show and Tell:

Deb Chapman showed a quilt top she made with dryer sheet blocks.

Bev Minnerly made several backpacks for young mothers

and some walker bags

Louise Stem made some pillowcases.

Mic Pickard embroidered the name tags for this year’s Youth Ranch graduates 

and made a child’s walker bag.

Pat Pipa made 2 baby quilts.

Ceal Pedersen showed 2 baby quilts 

and some stuffed toys she made.

Jean Peters turned in 6 cute stuffed giraffes.

Audrey Phillips made a quilt top from squares she got from our stash last week.  She put them together using her serger.

She also turned in one she made a few years ago.

Mary Ellen Boutin turned in several dryer sheet blocks 

and 2 quilt tops.

Ernestine Vawter showed her first completed walker bag.

I showed a purse I made in a class at Allamanda, using cork fabric.

Ellen Hein made several tote bags 

and some zipper bags using the same fabric as one of the smaller ones.

 She also completed the 2^nd duffle bag for the Sheriff’s Youth Ranch graduates.

Ellen completed the binding on 2 of our assembly line quilts.

I'm not sure who created this quilt top.

I made the orange and black quilt from our 5 inch squares.

Ellen and Mic showed the quilts that we selected to give to the Ranch.  The 2 graduates will each get a quilt, 2 pillowcases, and 3 zipper bags in a duffle bag with their name tag. 

 We also selected 2 quilts for employees retiring from the Ranch, each delivered in one of the lovely mondo bags that Anne Knoff turned in. 

Mic delivered all of these, plus 100 zipper bags for the summer camp kids, to Skip after the meeting.  I forwarded his thank you note earlier

 

Next week we will make potholders.   I will bring some different shape ideas that might work for our fall craft sale, as well as some insulbright and batting scraps.   If you have any fall/winter seasonal fabric that you can spare, bring it.  I will look through what I have as well.

 

Hope to see you all next week.

Club Notes - April 12, 2023

Fifteen ladies gathered this afternoon to socialize, sew, and share.   I showed a photo of potholders shaped like leaves (or hearts depending on the colors used), and suggested making some of these to sell at the October guild craft show.  People visiting our table last year seemed to be looking for items with Autumn, Thanksgiving, or Christmas / Hanukkah themes, so I suggested we concentrate on potholders, placemats, mug rugs, and table runners with those themes/colors.  Baby quilts and purses or totes may also sell.

I drew patterns for the 2 potholder designs, estimating the correct size.  The photo I showed used strips, but a single piece of fabric on each side is fine too. Two halves should be made for each pattern for the top of the potholder, stitching the fabric onto a piece of batting.  Then the 2 pieces are sewn together to make a nice fold.  Another option would be to cut one piece of fabric on the fold, then quilting it later. The top can then be sewn onto a piece of Insul-Brite and the backing.  BIas tape binding can then be added to finish the potholder, making a loop at the top for hanging.  The drawings are attached.

Show and Tell:

Ceal Pedersen showed her latest baby quilt.

Carol Riggs made some microwave bowls for a friend, using fabric that represents her friend’s interests.

Deb Chapman finished her Easter Egg placemat and showed a Flamingo she is working on.

Diane Placek’s life is calming down and she is back to sewing.  She showed 2 potholders.

Mary Ellen Boutin finished 2 Easter Egg placemats.

Lisa Johnson showed some curtains that she is giving away.  Carol Riggs said she knows someone who could use them.

Ellen Hein showed a zipper bag 

and a baby quilt top, with coordinated backing to hand in.

Bev Minnerly made 2 larger backpacks for young mothers.

Audrey Phillips first showed a purse and zipper bag she picked up at a recent show. 

She then showed  set of 4 Easter Egg placemats and some bunny napkin rings she made.  The napkin rings are from a free embroidery pattern, which I forwarded.

Lastly, she showed an Easter bowl she made last year.

After show and tell I showed some of the ladies who haven’t done it before how to use dryer sheets as a base for rectangular quilt blocks.  Mary Ellen had 4 completed before the end of the afternoon.

 Ceal and Ellen helped Audrey lay out a quilt top from the 5 inch squares I brought. Before I finished compiling this email, Audrey texted a photo of the progress she made so far. She is putting this quilt top together using a serger.

It’s been a while since we have made stuffed toys, so I thought we could do some next week.   I even have a new pattern that you might like.  

See you next week.

Lois

Club Notes - April 5, 2023

 We had fun today, seeing what our friends have created and sewing our own creations.  I received some donations yesterday which consisted mainly of fabric strips.  They were available for today's project and will also work for next week's project.   

I also brought a box of panels that have been donated over the years.  I challenged club members to take a panel and create a lap quilt for one of our charities.  Six ladies took me up on the challenge. I will bring these again next week.

Show and Tell:

Bev Minnerly made 2 back packs and a dog bed.

Kathyrn Jeter has gone north but she gave Brenda a walker bag she completed to hand in.

Brenda Severa started by showing the egg placemat her granddaughter made when she was only 7 years old. (She is now 13).  

She then showed an embroidered Easter pillow wrap 

and an Easter table runner.

Mary Ellen Boutin made a couple of tote bags.

Ceal Pedersen showed 2 baby quilts 

and a quilt she made for a college student, using the college colors.  She explained that you can now purchase fabric from most colleges to get their correct college colors.

Diane Placek showed a couple of bunny bags she made,

Eileen DiSanto showed a quilt she made for her great-grand niece.

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Today I showed my Easter Egg placemat and explained how to make one using a fat quarter for the baking, some batting scraps sewed to the desired size, and fabric strips in Easter colors.

We have a lot of fabric strips in various lengths, so next week we will get out the dryer sheets and make some dryer sheet blocks.  This is similar to the 10 inch blocks some of you have been making for Ellen to put together, only on a smaller scale. When you make these, please DO NOT trim them.  We will trim the blocks that are turned in, to a standard size to make them easier to work into quilts.