Weekly update - April 25, 2015

Hi Fabric Fun Ladies - say goodbye for April 2015 and hello May... a month that starts very busy time for lots of families and mine is one of them.  We  have our son's wedding at  Naval Academy in Annapolis on May 17th, then we'll be grand-dog-sitting the whole next week for their honeymoon away, when we arrive back to The Villages our wonderful fun time with Hilary and Barry from England starts for two weeks, followed by then a 5-week (+?) grandsons visit to stay part of summer here with G'Mom & G'Pop.  Thru all of that though, I'm counting on this club's fun to anchor me in some sort of organization and sanity.  And maybe, just maybe, by August... what started a very different year for me last August will come full circle.  I'd like that and have some regular old normal stuff on the timeline.  I know many of you can relate to this, but I will admit that I'm not complaining in any way... overall I've had a "busy fun" cloud over my head.  And I know that some of you have had the opposite - those dreaded "black" clouds over yours.  For you, I continually send out thoughts and prayers and just want you to know that this club will keep chugging along with inspiration and fun sewing crafting and look forward to those times when time allows and you make it to our Saturdays at SeaBreeze. 

I want to mention that we're from Baltimore, Maryland and I'm sure you see what's going on there in the news.  This is incredible to us and lots of family still lives there, brothers, sisters, cousins, nieces, nephews, friends and neighbors.  I remember very well the 1968 riots after Martin Luther King's assassination because at the time I drove to work in Baltimore City every day and had a carpool of 3 other ladies in my little 1967 red Mustang.  We had to drive straight up Gay Street, across 25th to Belair Rd.  Some of that got pretty tense, keeping eyes forward, stopping for nothing, couple times running red lights so not to get stuck at a corner.  We were young and too stupid to be too afraid, I remember my Dad giving me instructions on what to do "if", and most of all I remember just thinking faith would be with me. 

Watching the current news coverage - 24 hr cycle is brutal - it is hard to find faith again in the situation going on - but there are bits and pieces to grasp at and one I want you all to take notice of is the courageous mother in her yellow dress who sees her son in the protestors, pulls him out in front of everyone - keeps yanking the hoodie off his head, yells at him to "get over here, you want to be part of this" and does not give up even when he throws a punch or two at her.  She gets my vote for "Mother of the Year"!  My prayer will be constant that somehow this woman/mother becomes a hero - a superstar - and one who other women and mothers follow suit.  And these people tweeting or facebook saying, oh she shouldn't hit her son or shout at him with those words like that - Shut Up!  It's because we're supposed not to spank children, be kinder, gentler that kids are running rampant and showing less and less respect for superiors and parents and thinking they are invincible like in video games.  Political Correctness is the real crime in America!

Back to sewing crafting fun - it's fantastic the many crafting balls in the air that our club has going on any given week.  We each bring something to the party for sure.  Talk about something at a party, Lois Rose bought Spinach Manicotti that everyone loved!  Lois sent me the link to get to this receipe and that you find below.  We got to lunch and started show and tell and then the drop-ins began, too.  All in all, just tried to keep on track and that didn't happen too well for me, so when I got to learn, exhaustion was setting in, and I kind of presented the ideas of two projects on the go in my house for photo-memory fun.  I started with an inspiration/idea or two, and thru the process of gathering the pictures and materials to use, my projects morphed into their final forms.  I love that process more than I do getting to the final completed piece.  I'm attaching a couple pdf's that give a couple examples of easy photo memory ideas that can be as elaborate or as simple as your skill level or desires take you.  Whether using fabric or cardstock, or some of both, it's always very rewarding to put together memories to keep or give away. 

Show and Tell:

Nancy Cartlidge - pillowcases and blankets for grandchildren - some for boys, some for girls - with the "Frozen sisters, of course".  Beautiful work that Nancy is happily sending along home with the grandkids when they leave again.   Great ideas here!

 Lu Karatzas - was first to show off her fractured art piece - Lu finished her creation as a pillow - very pretty.  And Lu took her tablerunner theme fabric from last week a step further by creating a beautiful wallhanging piece of art with hanging pocket and all.  Not having a specific place for this finished lovely piece, Lu offered it around.  And Kathy Nichols has the perfect little lady - her granddaughter who is Chinese named Zilin, and she graduates  high school this  year - very cool gifting forward from Lu to Kathy to Zilin.

Marie Bray - we are saying goodbye to Marie now for her return to England and all her family and friends over there.  Marie is just such a solid lady, lots of fun - great sense of British humor - and I'll miss her a lot.  Marie handed in her final dog bed for the season - thank you, safe journies...

 

BJ Herter - first - big thanks to BJ for replenishing all the paper products for the club's lunch & learn eating fun.  BJ, too, completed a beautiful fractured art wallhanging piece. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carol Riggs - shared the bedrunner topper she made - it's stunning - and pillowcases to complement.  Carol gave us all an update on little girl from Wildwood with all the syndromes and illnesses and diseases going against  her.  She is being treated fairly successfully in Ohio, was able to come back to FL and attend her high school prom, but this young lady. Bexlie has so much to battle - her spirit and love of life does not seem to be deterred.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ruth Campbell - we say goodbye to Ruth now for a few months as she returns to Indiana and her home up there.  Ruth finished a couple more kitty hammocks for Marion County.

Suzanne Brown - yea! she was off a day from Sharkys - shared a sneak peak at the Row by Row Fabric Hop challenge this year that Sharky's vac and sew is participating in.  It starts June 21st - so we'll have more detail on this fun event.  There is a website as well - Row by Row and 85 FL stores are participating.  Theme this year is "The Sea" fits perfect for Sharky's!!  Suzanne designed the "row" to make.  (It's really perfect - shark applique panel between two "Storm at Sea" blocks!)  Be sure to watch Sharkys for the upcoming classes this summer that Suzanne is teaching.  There will be a pdf flyer soon to list everything, dates and times - some classes planned are Fun & Done, Paper Piecing, Beginner Quilt Sampler, Dresden Plate Block.  FYI, the store currently stocks 82 bolts of 108" wide "backing" fabric.  Ladies, that is (I bet) 10-20-30-40-50 times more than any other quilting/fabric store you can go into - even internet stores!!!!!!  No kidding that is huge.  Here's an extra reason for that... Al Lawson, Sharkys owner, once told me that he considers 108" wide fabric a "better deal" - in other words, you (the buyer) gets more bang for your buck.  And it's true when you think about all the advantages of fabric that wide, price, and amount of cuts you get from one yard versus buying two yards of 42" wide fabric.  More evidence of integrity of this businessman and philosophy of selling you find at his store. 

 

 

Donna Rissman - made her fractured art piece with Donna Dewberry fabric - beautiful artist - beautiful "painted" look fabric - beautiful finished fractured art piece. 

 Lu, Donna, BJ... they all came in the door singing "I've Got A Girl Crush" (ha ha), well really not singing Little Big Town's current smash hit song... But all three ladies showing off their beautifully finished Fractured Art pieces definitely expressed thanks and praises to Lois Rose for her demo, tutorial hand-out, and inspiring their fun creativity along. 

 

We had more drop-ins this week as usual and they all were ladies bringing us donation fabrics.  I don't always get a chance to write down names, etc., but for some reason this week started with first one.  They all deserve recognition and thanks expressed in this update:  Janet White bought us nice big bag of fleece, flannel and fake fur scrapes leftover from the teddy bears she makes for charity.  Chris Moore of Village of Hillsboro went to JoAnn's and bought us two really big pieces of fleece to donate.  Carol Bonebrake bought us in a big bag of fleece scraps leftover from the "Huggy Pillows" she makes and donates to everyone who can use one, patterned after the breast cancer curve (heart) pillows,, they can be used for nursing mothers, people with sprains/breaks, after heart surgery, just very very soft, great size for many needs, and the gentle curve shape is key.   Carol gave us a pillow to keep and show in case anyone we know has a need for one.  We'll keep that on our shelf and display each week, too.  Here is her email address if you want to write directly to Carol - db1171@sbcglobal.net.  Carol also takes donations, especially fleece fabric.  So when we get larger pieces of really nice fleece fabric donated to us, I plan to pass some along to Carol for her work as well.  She plans to continue to keep her scraps that make excellent stuffing in the doggie beds.  In that light... Charlotte from the Pillowcase Dresses Club - they do such excellent work on behalf of Doctors Without Borders and other international doctors groups - comes just about every other week in when our club meetings are over after 4 pm and brings us a bag or two of the scraps from pillowcases, t-shirts that they use to make the britches, and anything else they cannot use for their needs.  This week that included a bag full of larger fabric pieces that will work wonderfully for doggie bed outer forms.  Over the past couple years, Fabric Fun has donated lots of laces, ribbons, elastics to the Pillowcase Dresses Club for their use as well.  And check the BlogSpot to see picture of the beautifully made "Girls Britches"  That club has taken the original patterns downloaded from "Sewing With Nancy" Zieman's website and made them even better!!  I hope that they pass their knowledge and story along to Sewing With Nancy because they could really be one of her "human interest" segments that she includes in most of her Sewing With Nancy segments shown weekly on PBS stations - any you can watch them via the internet as well from her website! 

Paula Deen's Spinach Manicotti Recipe:

http://headhappenings.blogspot.com/2011/05/paula-deens-slow-cooker-spinach.html

Sharky's Vac & Sew website:

http://www.sharkyssewnvac.com/

Sewing With Nancy website:

http://www.nancyzieman.com/blog/

 This one got a little longer than usual... hope that it didn't bore you... because most of all, this information is sent to keep everyone in touch with the inspiration and creations going on by all you wonderful ladies of this club and our wonderful world around us. 

 Character must count again!!  God bless all of  us,

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(¸.·´ (¸.·'      Micki MacCumbee

Club Leader, Fabric Fun Arts & Crafts