Weekly Update, Show & Tell - January 10, 2015

Fabric Fun Ladies, thank you so much for positive response and enthusiasm for the kitty hammocks for Marion County Shelters.  We've got over 40 of these cat comforts made up, and many of you are working on more at home this week.  Lois and I will be delivering our club's first donations on Tuesday to the Marion County Shelter.  We'll let you know how that goes.  We will be delivering doggie beds, too.  Fabric Fun philosophy is no scrap gets left behind!  

(I dropped off 42 cat hammocks, 10 doggie beds, 2 kitchen garbage bags full of old towels, and a bag of newspapers Tuesday afternoon. The staff was very excited to receive these donations.  I took these photos of 2 cats sleeping in a cage in the front office. As you can see, the one in the top cage was very comfortable in a hammock.  Thank you ladies.  Lois)

Next Saturday, we'll begin another charitable effort for the year making pillowcases that go to ConKerr Case For Smiles, Tampa Chapter.  These are cheerful pillowcases given to children who have life threatening illnesses when they come into the hospital for their critical care treatments.  These pillowcases are given to help put hugs and smiles on their faces.  Attached (see email) are 3 pillowcase patterns comically called 1-Micki's Favorite, 2-Micki's Other Favorite, and 3-Burrito Pattern-a majority favorite.  I don't see it, lot of effort and still requires another seam after turned, but hey! I'm fair minded, so it is always included in our pattern options.  I will demo #1 and #2, and there will be pre-cut fabrics ready to sew up on Saturday and/or take home to sew up. 

The pre-cut fabric sets are for the charitable effort.  They are a good way to practice these patterns before you go out and buy your own fabrics to make special pillowcases for ones you love and yourself.  These make wonderful gifts for grandchildren, nieces, nephews, young-old alike, especially for holiday special times.  One fun idea, there's zodiac fabrics available and you buy the one for your grandchild(ren).  The kids love these a lot.

Buritto Pattern Lovers:  hopefully one of you will be happy to demo that pillowcase construction for the newer ladies.  I'll have fabric there for demo-ing this pattern. 

Pillowcases will be the 2nd demo for Saturday.  The 1st demo will be Crazy Quilt Blocks made using dryer sheets!  Lois Rose will be doing this fun demonstration for us.  It really fits in with the club's "initiation project" which is a crazy patchwork pieced project.  Sound hard - no, it is not.  It is just straight seam sewing, very easy to follow, and variations are encouraged!  This is a new twist to sewing and Lois will be leading us thru the fun.

Looking ahead - January 24th - Lunch & Learn - Heart Healthy Fare this month.  Learn - Valentine Postcards and other goodies. 

January 31st - Very Special Project Day - Chair Pockets for Barringer Academic Center, a public school in Charlotte, NC.  One of our members, Kandie Stedman, is making these self-designed chair pockets for her son's class that has some physically challenged kids.  The desks in the classroom do not have storage space for the student's books and belongings and are placed on the floor and you know how that's going to go...  So Mom Kandie has made a pattern and started making these chair cover pockets for her son's class.  We'll be using the upholstery pieces recently donated to the club and Kandie will lead us thru the very easy process to complete each of these chair pockets.  Ladies, it's a very quick sew, ingenious really, so you will find this pretty inspiring for other uses. 

February 7th Lois Rose will demonstrate the microwave bowls that are ever so popular and always good to have new ones around.  We'll have fabric requirements, etc. sent out so you'll be able to have what you need.  These sew up in an afternoon meeting, too. 

Show & Tell:

 Micki started us off by showing 2 wraps she made out of old t-shirts.  The neck opening becomes one sleeve, a sleeve opening becomes the neck and the bottom becomes an open side for the other arm.  Very cute and embellished with the couching Micki loves.

She also showed the Advent calendar she made for her grandsons.

Lois Rose - Ruler Bag - awesome embroidered Lion. (sic Tiger) FYI this is a bag totally designed by Lois to organize and carry her rulers and tools to/from classes and meetings.  Dog beds completed - these cuties are triangular sized.  Of course, we all laughed and said what are these for bad dogs to go sit in the corner, time-out beds.

Ruth Campbell - completed and donated cat hammocks - very nice quilted versions

 

 

Carol Riggs - Shared beautiful quilt project and an apron made for her M&M loving friend. 

Lu K - Doggie Bed donation

Betty Neary - Two throw pillows she made; one highlights Michigan her home town and one highlights Florida her new town.   We all relate to this!!

 

Linda Lynch - Cat Hammocks and Linda shared her learned process and highlighted need for reinforcing the corners.

Pat Pipa - Donated 3 Hammocks and 2 Doggie Beds she completed during the week even while she was not feeling totally terrific - Get all better, Pat!

 Mary Nazyiowicz showed off her completed cat hammocks.

 Maureen Wilson - 4 cat hammocks completed and donated!  Maureen also had a "tell" about doggie bed construction.  She made one for a friend's 4 legged canine and the sweetie got sick over the pillow.  Maureen's friend was able to clean the doggie bed by deconstructing, washing, and reconstructing.  So Maureen suggests when making special doggie beds for our own pets and friends, make an inner lining form that gets stuffed with the fabric scraps and then the outside form.  Makes sense, thus when doggie gets dirty or possibly sick, make it easy to launder and make fresh. (Sorry Maureen, for some reason I didn't get your photo this time.)

 Jeri "Whatshamacallit" Ceriello - Infinity Scarf and tote shopping bag she made using 2 placemats. 

Infinity Scarf Demo by Jeri - Thank you so much for this quick, fun, scarf demo.  It is a fantastic project and Jeri carefully showed each of the steps to construct.  These scarves are perfect for this time of the year, are attractive, and whether you have a short or long neck - works nicely and always look stylish.   We are writing up Jeri's instructions to put in pdf form and have some for hand-out on Sat. 

Meanwhile, attached is a similar idea scarf pattern called "Cowl Neck" that sews up pretty much the way Jeri's Infinity Scarf.  I've attached that pdf,

Ladies, please send out your prayers including our good fellow sewing crafter Sue Campbell for speedy recovery from disk in back of her knee.  We really miss your smiling face on Saturday afternoons.  Get better!

That's it for now, please let me know if you have any questions or comments.  It's always great to hear from ladies here and there. 

As always, be good, take care and God bless everyone,

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(¸.·´ (¸.·'      Micki MacCumbee

Club Leader, Fabric Fun Arts & Crafts