Weekly Update - April 11, 2015

Fabric Fun Ladies:  Change to calendar - next week - April 18th - Lois Rose will be presenting her Fractured Art Demo.  We will be sending out supply list in separate email, and yes, this is when you want to bring your machines if you want to start your own art project using this sewing technique.  No special stitches needed, just cut, seam, cut, seam and Lois will be happy to lead you thru the process steps. 

Saturday - April 25th - Lunch & Learn - Lunch Menu is open... no RSVPs required - Learn - cheesy fun... that is cheesecloth. 

Yesterday's fun - several ladies were able to drop in but not stay because of various reasons - we always say, "It's The Villages... and you just can't do it all!"  That is evermore true every day with our "growth" and latest count - there are now over 2300 clubs here in The Villages - that's on top of all the recreational and just fun living stuff that is part of our every day lives.  So the fact that you all join in our club activities, donate so much to the club's charitable efforts, and just share and learn our sewing crafting fun together, well, big thanks for being the best of 2300!!

Our drop ins were:

 

Edie Cave - to deliver 6 cat hammocks she made - but please remember our sweet Edie in your thoughts this week as she prepares for 2nd cataract eye surgery and she is dealing with increased glaucoma condition. 

Kandie Stedman - to deliver very nice thank you note from her son, Matt, for the chair backpacks we made to supply his class this year.  Kandie couldn't stay because she had company in the car (again!) - they are social bunnies for sure or just have lots of out of town family and friends!!  Fun stuff!!

Mary Kahlow - to deliver a stuffed and ready for paws to cuddle in doggie bed... and I don't remember which direction Mary was headed from her stop in. 

Ladies enjoyed a very nice assortment of "faux chenille" projects that Kathy Jones spread out on the center table for her demonstration.  After show and tell, Kathy gave her pretty inspiring demo - little to big, it's a fantastic technique to know and try.  There were two handouts and they are both attached to today's newsletter.  The bunny pattern was project from last year and there is a cat template version, too.  Ladies can trace the two templates on freezer paper to go with the written instructions.  And second handout was new describing how to make a faux chenille potholder.  Kathy displayed several of her own styled potholders using the faux chenille with borders and other finishing and they are very nicely done. 

Thanks again to Kathy for her demo.  If you've missed this demo by Kathy, what's really cool is that she keeps a booklet sewing crafting diary of projects and I'm sure she'll be happy to share info with you at meetings.  I really admire her booklet and think that alone is terrific resource for ladies to do with this club and other clubs.  I actually have meant to highlight Kathy's booklet other times... get off track ha ha!!  Not today though, so we just might think about something along this lines - maybe in the fall.  

 

Kathy also showed a charity quilt she is working on.  Can't wait to see the finished product.

Yesterday, I had out the "FOOT BOOK" - just had to do CAPS because it is one of my favorite resources.  Last week I was reviewing buttonholes on my Bernina 730 machine and never really made a foot book sample page of them.  So I got that started and want to make same page for my Viking 875 now, too.  It's helpful to have stitched out samples handy to reference when you're thinking about making or using a foot/stitch you don't regularly use on your machines.  Much better to have a visual you can hold in your hand and look at the back, etc., not just instructions with a photo. 

Show & Tell:

Lu Karatzas - Gave a mini-demo and genealogy talk when she presented her awesome (first time quilt, too!) Photo Memory Quilt she made for her parents - pretty amazing how from what she started it has been updated backwards and forwards to include grandparents and great-grand-children.  Lu also shared an assortment of different photo ready fabric pages that she has used which JoAnns does sell a very good assortment to pick from.  FYI:  I've attached "21 Tips to Print Photos" that comes from Quiltmaker Magazine - the tips are in FAQ's form and give good basic info like cropping, photo definition, etc.  (I'm adding this as a new page in the Foot Book Book!)  But let's face it... photos of old - our memory type photos - there wasn't this high-def, low-def resolution - usually black and white, some color if we're lucky - off center, faded, whatever we can get.  Please see Lu's picture on the blog and you'll be amazed at the quality she got and beautiful arrangement she made.

Phyllis Rice - made two gorgeous and wonderfully patriotic fidget quilts - oh but wait... there was one more - she wasn't as happy with it for some reason, but for life of me, I don't know why... it's absolutely beautiful, too!

 

Marie Bray - made a fidget quilt - "Barnyard Party" - that's title I've given it because it's a beautiful fun barnyard scene with ducks and chicks dancing underneath - very creative!

Alice Meunier - shared a loverly scrappy quilt she made and said that she spent 12 hours doing the stippling quilting.  And all the while during meeting, Alice had another quilt spread across two tables in the back and she "pinned" it to prepare for her quilting process.  It's a beautiful black and white quilt, square white blocks with black prints hexagon clusters in middle.  Can't wait to see how she quilts this one. 

Nancy Cartlidge - (Pat Pipa will be proud of Nancy keeping up the charitable assortments array in her absence while Pat's away to see her grandchildren!)  Nancy shared cat hammocks, dog bed and pillowcase!!! 

 

 JoAnn Colin (bye for the summer!) shared wine caddy and tissue holder she made from ones she purchased at craft fair.  FYI - remember the "Christmas in July" handout Mary Kondrad left with us I mentioned last week... both these projects are in that handout! -- Ladies, these are fun, habit-forming, assembly line, quickies that come in so handy around holidays when you "just want something to give" someone or add in special.  we're doing the whole Christmas in July routine - in July!!

Ruth Campbell - not Elaine Kriese - made another pillowcase this week.  Wow, that's a lot easier than last week's endless count.  I kid both Ruth and Elaine and they give it right back to me - that's great!!  Those two are fun to see sitting across the table from one another - you now they have a lot of sewing crafting knowledge in their brains already, and yet they come in and just love seeing and doing the new stuff.  But each week I never know who is going to be sitting on which side of the table... and thus, sometimes I see Ruth & Elaine, the next week I look over and it's Elaine (to my left) and Ruth (to my right)... so I do what comes naturally to me... mix up their names.  You're both great and I love you both... so sorry about mix up but sometimes I get in these grooves and just stay there.

 Lois finished up our show and tell this week with her normal wow-ing assortment - still I want to know when this lady sleeps!?!  She made a beautiful set of blocks in machine embroidery club (it's Tues. mornings at Big Cypress - great bunch of ladies-machines-and-designs!!!

) that she made into a drawstring bag instead of the wallhanging project they were designed for.  Lois is very good at adapting what she wants to sew to a finished project that is usually pretty darn useful - check it out on the blog!  Lois also shared a quilt made using a specialty ruler called Quick Curve Ruler.  The website "Sew Kind of Wonderful" has 3 short and very informative videos on how to use the ruler, make the cuts, and sew the blocks back together.  Curve piecing is one of those "feared" techniques for quilters, so this is one of the useful gadgets that have come along to take the fear and put more fun into these beautiful seams to do.  I have the ruler, too, and made the free table runner pattern that comes with it.  It's one of those things I got while up in VA last fall.  So if ladies are interested in playing with the ruler and curve seam sewing, we can probably put-together a meeting of fun with it.  The website has free patterns and provides templates that can be printed out to use instead of actually purchasing the $30 ruler.  In fact, all of the patterns on the website come with paper template versions of the curve ruler so that it is not necessary to buy the ruler to purchase and use the patterns.  Just more FYI...

(In case anyone missed it, Micki was working on a charity quilt over on the side as well.  She gave us a quick demo of how to spray baste a quilt instead of pinning.  ed.)

So - I'll be sending out another email yet this week - woo - you're thinking "double prizes" - Lois will be providing supply information for Fractured Art.  And as always for ladies away, we'll be sure to include pdfs of the instructions for you that come in hand-out form. 

Stay cool and enjoy our warmer temps!

As always, God bless you,  *´¨)
 ¸.·´¸.·*´¨) ¸.·*¨)
(¸.·´ (¸.·'      Micki MacCumbee

Club Leader, Fabric Fun Arts & Crafts