Weekly Update - May 30, 2015

Hi Ladies from sunny Florida, yes, good to be home here!!  But wait, gotta take off again for grandson sitting time - one week in VA and then 4 weeks here in FL - yippers, I get to go up there to dig in for a week of fun there and then I'll be bringing Anthony and Reed back here with me for fun in the sun vacation time with G'Mom and G'Pop.  The boys are 12 and 10 so won't be many more years they'll be able to come down for extended stays with us, so for that I'm happy.  But!  son and daughter-in-law did not get their dates firmed up soon enough that I was able to go online and get a whole big bunch of Camp Villages tickets!!!  I count on Camp Villages activities... and so far only able to sign the boys up for 6 of the activities over the 4 weeks they're here.  Long story short - if anyone hears about Grandparents trying to sell Camp Villages tickets due to change of plans, etc., - please, pretty please - remember this plea and email me or call me  - I would love to pick up the tickets.  No kidding stuff like outdoor soccer, basketball, the Friday swimming relays, scavenger hunts - all sold out already!!!  That's going to be a lot of kids around town!!!  It's always hard to get the smaller venue items like SHE scrapbooks MineCraft and things like that - but the larger ones like the outdoor activities - whew!!  

Last Saturday could really tell that summer is here and our seasonal and snowbirds have "flown the coop" again!   Ladies, please know that we think about you, miss you, love hearing from you whenever you write (for any reason!) and we especially anticipate the fall and winter when we'll see you back with all the fantastic and wonderful stuff you bring to show and tell.  Have a wonderful summer everywhere you are and just know that "we'll keep the light on" for your return.  

The next two Saturdays one of my favorite ladies in the whole wide world is here from England and will be spending her Saturday afternoons with us at SeaBreeze - yes, Hilary Miles is back for their two weeks vacation over here - yesterday when they got in and Hilary came in the door, it was like she's always here - she's just one of those people, warm, smiling and instantly a friend.  Hilary has become a fairly active crafting teacher over in merry old England herself, teaching her dolls and other cute stuffies in several quilt shops near and around her home town.   These are Hiliary's own patterns that she designs and teaches.   She is showing us her little owls and giving us the pattern to make these.  Hilary gets stuffing down to a "T"!   I have such cute dolls and a bunny or two she's given me over the years.  New ladies will find her pretty amazing and fun to meet along with our long-time members who are here during this time of year.  

Welcome to Nancy Thomas,  Sandy Lynch, and Ellen Stoltz - Three new ladies came in last Saturday - 5th Sat. of May! of all weeks - it's always exciting when newbies come in and it's one of the things about our club that keeps it always fresh and fun.  We all know "we have no track" - and we get into just about anything fabric, fiber, thread, and yarn and beyond!!  Show & Tell alone takes us off in different directions each week - mini demos happen, lots of creative information and mostly always very inspiring.   Typical of The Villages:  Nancy is just in from Nashville, visiting to check it out here, and traveling around now with her "Welcome to The Villages" tote bag (wow, I've always wanted one of those bags... but they started them after we came for our visits!!!), Sandy has been a villager now for one year, and Ellen they are still in a rental waiting for their new home down in Dunedin to be finished.   Each and every one of us can relate to and have stories exactly like these three ladies and it is never dull listening to each and every one - don't you agree!?!  It's like when  you meet someone knew you already in your brain wonder what, how, when, where, why and so there's always a conversation starter waiting to happen.  

Ellen talked about SoldiersAngels.org and the various hand-made items that organization makes and gives to soldiers deployed or home, especially supporting wounded and disabled men and women.  I went to the website and the work they do is very worthwhile and rewarding for sure.  I'll print out the list of items they make and see if you all want to do something as a group on behalf of the organization.  

Show & Tell:

Marty Rhyne - jelly roll quilt tops made in the wind outside at Key West!!  Marty joined the jelly roll strips (2 1/2 inch strips width of fabric about 40-42 inches) in two different ways/patterns, one with little squares and one using the 45 degree angle (mitered) method.  We had a brief discussion on both seaming methods and as always with some other "methods and patterns" of Fabric Fun Ladies, it comes down to "personal preference".  Marty's "Tell" part was her usual funny story!   And our dear sweetheart, Alice Meunier, was in top form with a couple one-liners!!  BTW, so long to Alice now until fall as she's gone back to RI for summer.

 




Lu Karatzas - shared a tote bag made from one of the sample books - the blocks of fabrics from sample pack was useful rectangles, so her tote is very pretty, and very useful to carry her sewing items of crochet around with.  And, Lu used the sample sewing kit to make a "travel crochet kit" for all her needles, and other notions she uses when crocheting on the road, and Lu shared a couple crochet items - washclothes and drain "mat" - I love Lu's crochet fun because she creates as she goes along - that's awesome!!  It's like her brain is always working along with her hands and she sees the end result when it happens.  Pretty cool!    Here's a PS Cool!!:  fabric sample books - you know how we cut off the glued paper ends to use the great little fabric squares or rectangles - well fuse two glued paper fabric ends together and walla ... you make a terrific bookmark - just like that - and then we went on to explore those various alterations to sides, embellishings, you know the routine!!   So long to Lu for couple months as they gone back to New Hampshire for summer. 

Eileen Navikas - Showed and demo'd how to make the "New Cat Bed" pattern that was turned in to us couple Saturdays ago.  We talked about a bunch of ways and ideas to make the bed using just a little change here or there in the pattern or sewing.  If you ever want to have some fun on the computer, go to Pinterest and search pet beds - there are tons of ideas and "New Cat Bed" is one from that website.  I printed out and showed a couple additional pictures of cat/dog beds made from sweatshirts and sweathers - stuffing the arms and wrapping them around the middle of the bed that can be stuffed in the "body" of sweatshirt with poly fill or a pillow form.

Alice Munier showed a lovely patchwork quilt.



Donna Rismann - shared her 60 degrees border fabric table runner and placemat patterns she's been making.  She got to meeting and set up demo in back of room because she was hoping to see Edie Cave at the meeting who  had asked her to show that pattern technique.  FYI in course of meeting time, Donna finished the tablerunner top!!  Yes, by making several cuts with a 60 degrees ruler, using border fabric of choice, you then piece the triangles back together in one, two, three, etc. fashion and in Donna's case you'll then have a beautifully made top with bugs and ants twirling around the top.  Very pretty fabric, buggy as can be - great fun - Thanks Donna!

Marty and group also shared how to make the useful 'cool neck" scarves that so many of us employ this time of year!  - I'll be sending out a couple pdf attachments later with that pattern - so easy to sew up - definitely Marty's group cautions to only use 1 tsp of the water pellets that go in each scarf!!   

FYI - it's always convenient to members to put a couple tables together to "baste" larger projects - that's something that Eileen Navikas and Alice Meunier both did last Saturday.  Please know that is always an option ladies, and even during the months when our room gets pretty full, we're always able to have the rec. center personnel get out a couple more tables for us and set them up in the back or front of room.  I say this because we all know how nice the wonderful personel at SeaBreeze are each week, we hardly ever both them, and so they are always very happy to address our needs on "spare of the moment" basis.    Eileen spread out a large block quilt top that she just made with 2 inch square borders and got ideas for quilting the quilt top with the large center of blocks just sitting there with endless possibilities,  Alice spread out to baste a new Atkinson Designs "Yellow Brick Road" quil she has pieced together.  New Quilters:  the Atkinson Designs are always user friendly/beginner patterns that provide great information for picking fabrics, cutting large strips and squares to sub-cut, and efficient piecing techniques.  Yellow Brick Road is one of those patterns that is liked by everyone who has used/made one.   If you ever go over to Quilt Shop of Deland, you will see at least 4 or 5 different Yellow Brick Road quilts hanging up around the shop and embellished in very beautiful and creative ways  Terrific pattern to work thru. 

June is a normal calendar month for us - We'll be seeing and exploring make & take quick sew up items that work wonderfully as stocking stuffers or hostess gifts for upcoming - and they always come faster than we want - fall and winter holidays.  And 4th Saturday of month will be Lunch & Learn!   

Marty was our picture taker last week as Lois Rose was away - she emailed me the pictures and I'll send them along to Lois to upload on the blog - thank you ladies - you are all so nice and great!!

As always, have fun, be good, pray for our Police and Fire personnel (our First Responders!!) all around this great nation and pray for our troops - they need our support more than ever, God bless,  

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(¸.·´ (¸.·'      Micki MacCumbee

Club Leader, Fabric Fun Arts & Crafts