Club Notes - September 9, 2020

We started this afternoon with a reporter from the Daily Sun visiting.  He asked a lot of questions, took a bunch of pictures, and I think he spent time talking to each of us.  Of course there were only 4 of us there today, so it was easy for him to work his way around the room, seeing what each of us was working on.

I brought in a box of something that looked like pockets that someone never finished and asked for opinions.  We finally decided they were aborted attempts at wine bottle caddies.  Some were glued and all were with home decor fabric, so not salvageable. Mic Pickard spent the afternoon cutting them up and filling a dog bed. Bev Minnerly went through another bag of odd fabric, sorted and ironed the very long pieces so I can get them through my Go-cutter.  Ellen Hein sewed borders on several quilt tops that I brought in and ironed them.  I spent the afternoon pinning 4 quilts.

Show and Tell:

Bev came in with several more drawstring backpacks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ellen brought in the latest finished quilts in our assembly line.

Ellen took on this challenge.

I had fun designing this around 2 Oriental bird panels.

This is the 2nd one made from 3.5" squares.  Deb Chapman sewed these 9-patch blocks and I added the sashing.

Bev and Dev designed this during one of our afternoon meetings.

Last week I forgot to mention the big bag of zipper bags Ann Knoff left in my car, that her friend Cindy made. There were 33 more bags of various sizes, and I didn't get a chance to inventory them until a few days later.  We now have about 80 zipper bags or totes. They are all beautiful.  Since they are such high quality and the youth Ranch has fewer kids due to their funding cuts, we have been thinking about having a garage sale and donating the proceeds to the ranch to help them out.  We might be able to sell some of the quilts and pillowcases as well.  Maybe even a few stuffed toys since I have been unable to bring them to the hospital. No decision yet but we are looking into it.

That's all for now.  Hope to see you next week.

Club Notes - September 2, 2020

 There were 6 of us meeting today.  I spent the afternoon pinning 2 very large and 1 small quilt.  Mic Pickard brought in a bin of donated fabric to be sorted and Deb Chapman helped with that.  Diane Placek brought back a pile of pink 9-patch squares.  Bev Minnerly and Ellen Hein worked with her to add other squares from our stash to complete the quilt design.

The group split into 2 teams and laid out a couple more quilt designs before the end of the afternoon.

Show and Tell:

 

Bev was very busy this week.  She came with several walker bags,

some draw-string back packs,

 

some doll clothes,

and a cute Halloween tote.

 

Diane Placek has been busy making face masks with the plastic inserts for people who need to show their lips for lip readers.

 

 

Ellen made a tote bag to carry the quilts we are working on.  

 

 

 

 

She brought in 4 of the quilts I gave her for binding. 

Three were pink ones that I designed and Diana Gosselin sewed together. 

  This green one was the first result of my request for 9-patch blocks to be sewn out of our stash of 3.5"squares.  Pat Pipa turned in a stack of green 9-patches.  I added the combo green and white components.  

I gave Ellen 8 more quilts to work on and she brought me a stack of quilt tops. 

Laura Tomich left 5 zipper bags and some dog bed stuffing in my cart.

Ann Knoff left several dog beds and a bunch of bags of fabric scraps in my trunk.  I sorted through some of this when I got home and filled 1 very large and 2 regular size dog beds after pulling out a small pile of usable pieces.  

Next week's meeting will continue with a similar agenda. Hope to see you then.

Club Notes - August 19, 2020

 This was the largest group we've had in a while - a whole 8 of us!!  We are allowed up to 24 but I'd prefer a limit of 12, 1 per table.  That seems safe for now.  I have been watching the COVID stats and it appears that Florida hit a peak in July .  It looks like it is trending down a bit now.  I am praying this is true.

Today I did a repeat demo on how to pin a quilt top, batting and binding by rolling the layers onto  pool noodles with PVC or curtain rod inserts for stability.  Marti Rhyne worked with me to learn this method.  By the end of the afternoon I pinned 4 quilts.  I hope to have them all quilted and turned over to Ellen for binding by next week.

Bev Minnerly and Diane Placek sorted through a box of fabric that came from the Pillowcase dress ladies.  

Ellen Hein and Debbie Chapman got to work laying out 8" squares into quilt designs.  They completed 3 and Ellen took them home to sew the tops.

Deb McCuliston helped B.J. Herter pin her Baltimore quilt.  After working on this for a very long time, she is now close to completing it. She was planning to enter this quilt in the 2021 Quilt Show, but the show has been cancelled.  Hopefully she will be able to enter it in 2023.

Show and Tell:

 

Bev showed some more completed doll clothes 

 

and a bunch of completed drawstring backpacks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Ellen took home the box of 6.5" squares last week and turned in 3 quilt tops today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Ellen also showed the dust mop she made from leftover fleece.

 

 

I took a break from charity quilts and finished my 2020 row by row quilt.  Since COVID has put a damper on shop hops I looked at all the quilt shop patterns around the country and decided to order row kits from Alaska.  I showed the finished quilt.

 

 

 

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I gave 4 quilts to Ellen for binding today, so we'll probably see them completed next week. 

 

 

Last week  I attempted to inventory all the items I have in storage waiting to be donated. I counted 15 throw quilts and 31 that are about twin size. There were 8 drawstring backpacks, 10 stuffed toys, 45 zipper bags of various sizes.  I didn't get a count of pillowcases but know there are 2 bags full in storage plus 7 that are matched to large quilts.  This doesn't count what was turned in today. There are at least a dozen more quilts in progress. I am still waiting to find out what the Sheriff's Youth Ranch needs but I have faith that we will find places to donate all of them.

Hope to see you next week.

Lois Rose

Club Notes - Aug. 12, 2020

 We were happy to welcome Ellen Hein back to the club this afternoon.  She and her husband both tested negative on Monday, so she is able to be out and about again.  Ellen told us she spoke to B.J. Herter and B.J. has also received a negative test result.  It's great to know our 2 friends are well again.

Show and Tell:

 

Charlotte Cecilio left a bag by my door on Monday.  In addition to the patriotic dryer sheet blocks (a photo of which was included last week), she made a bunch of masks.

 

 

Bev Minnerly was busy this week.  First she showed a bunch of patriotic dryer sheet blocks she made.

 

 

 

Next she showed her latest batch of doll cloths.

 

Finally, she completed a bunch of drawstring backpacks with outside pockets.

 

 

 

Mic Pickard has been busy working on a t-shirt quilt and pillow for her granddaughter.  She finally finished them and was able to join us and show the results.

 

 

Ellen Hein attacked her supply of fleece again and completed 12 of them.  She brought one to show us.

 

 

 

I brought the latest completed quilts. 

 The first 6 are ones I designed and Diana Gosselin sewed the tops for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We found a bunch of star and half star embroidered blocks in the donations.  Deb Chapman put them together in this lovely quilt/

Deb also put this one together and donated it to our charity effort.

A few weeks ago this quilt was designed at one of our meetings, using 10" squares from our donation stash.

We found a bunch of blue and white 9-patch blocks in the donations, but there weren't enough for a quilt. I matched up some more blue and white 3.5" squares and gave some sets to Diana and some to Deb to make more.  I found 4 classic art squares of the same size and incorporated them into the design.

 

I quilted them all and Ellen added the binding for all of them.

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For the rest of the afternoon we worked on various charity efforts.  I had 2 dryer sheet quilt tops that were 40" x 48".  Since the Honor Flight committee is asking for 40" x 60", we need to add another row.  Ellen took the blocks I got from Charlotte and added them to one of the quilt tops.   When she was done with that she laid out the design for a quilt top from the 6.5" squares and took the whole box of 6.5" squares home to work with.

Mic brought in a box of fabric scraps from Busy Hands and Deb Chapman sorted through them to find what we can use.

Bev Minnerly went through the boxes of red and blue strips to find some for more dryer sheet blocks.  She also pulled out any that were 2.5" wide for Ellen to use on quilt bindings.

I worked on cutting and sewing together fabric for a couple of quilt backs.  Mic ironed them and another quilt top and back I had.

It was another very productive day.