Weekly Update - September 26, 2015

Hi All - September Salads - wow! what a hit those were!!  We'll do salads theme again during "high season" for all our ladies coming back to town.  It is always fun to see faces return, this week hellos to JoAnn Colin, Mary Naz, Joan Galantha.  Welcome to couple ladies who have been "under the weather" - Helen Lawrie and Bev Minnery (I'm sorry Bev but I'm not spelling your last name completely right and I left the sign-in sheets at SeaBreeze... darn, I really need that prop!).  Can't not start weekly update without saying how great it was to see Cheryl Minieri at the meeting this week!   We had several sisters tables happening around the room!  Our Tennessee Boosters Jane Swafford and Sue Campbell were sporting their colors with very orange shirts... and it looked like UT was going to beat FL Gators finally... but the game went "south" at the end... Sorry, ladies - better luck next week.  Hey, my NFL Team - The Ravens - are starting their season off very poorly with an unbelievable O and 3 - first time ever!!  Fans are thinking it's going to be a loooong season.  And my ever faithful sons who hold season tickets, scramble a lot of weekends to travel to games ... are probably planning to do less scrambling this year - especially since older son Scott is little league soccer coach in Suffolk, VA, and younger son Cory is having major knee repair surgery mid-October.  I'm working on a T-Shirt Quilt for him (finally!!) and doing the sashings and borders in Ravens print... hopefully something will turn their season around.   I should have it done for next week's show and tell... got to get it in the mail then.

Well Central FL weather let us down last night and we didn't have good skies to see Harvest aka Blood aka Blue aka Total Eclipse Moon... but there sure are some awesome pictures from around the country floating around Facebook.    That's it for this beautiful sight until 2033.

Big Thank YOU! to Pat Pipa for her demo of 10 Minute Table Runner.  PDF instructions are attached.  This is a valuable pattern and project to have around in order to whip up for ourselves or to give as a gift to someone special - definitely opportunity to highlight a holiday or event.   

Oct. 3 - Owl Crafting - Audrey Philips has purchased the owls we need for this fun crafting time - we've got lots of embellishing ideas and supplies already on the shelves, but please feel free to fashion you own Owl up with supplies you bring in - I was thinking of Raggedy Ann and Andy Owl Duo or maybe Parrot Head Owl since I have a funny Parrot Head story to tell... another day!    What about a Mardi Gras owl - we all have those beads around.  There are those necklaces with batteries that blink, etc. that would work well with these creations - or earrings!

Oct. 10 - We've got to show some of the newbies what to do with those tops we've got ladies making with squares - we started last month - so it will be a "how to sandwich" day and "how to baste" day and how to do some easy peasy beginner type quilting and then some maybe a little fancier - free motion stuff.  I'll even bring in the little bro embroidery machine to show how one of those machines can help get the job done as well.   But - let's share October, November and December quick craft ideas, too!!  There's always new ones turning up on the internet and in the magazines, but there sure are a lot of oldie but goodies around.  Feel like digging some out to share... please bring them in.  You'll see pretty wallhanging from BJ Herter she shared in Show & Tell this week - that's what I mean!

Oct. 17 - I'm going to do a snippets demo for anyone who wants to see a quick way to do some fusing fun to make a wallhanging or other project.  These can be done with very little "artistic" training.  Again - we'll continue our quest to get quilts made for charity for Holiday giving.  We're looking at ways to enhance these quilts by making totes and drawstring bags to "give them in" along with maybe a little stuffy or fabric or Golden Book - or any other fun items that turn up.  

Oct. 24 - Lunch & Learn - TBD

As always... there's the option to just come to sit and sew in sewing social time during our meetings.  We always start with show and tell and the good news is that it' OPEN crafting time at SeaBreeze from 4 PM on - so you don't have to quick pack up and get out the door.  Speaking of that - special thanks to Joan Thomas, Eileen DiSanto and Carol Riggs for sticking around with me to repack the shelves - you ladies made it (and me) got together brilliantly!!   

Thanks specially to BJ for circulating the "get well wishes" around the room, too!  And she's taking care of getting those wishes in the mail for us.  We are sending thoughts and prayers out to our Brit friend Barry (and Hilary), Audrey Philips who has battled a "bug" recently, and as always, our Centurian member Kay Flanagan who now resides in Citrus Nursing and Rehab facility.  

Ladies, you are all so creative and I encourage you to step forward to share and demo those projects special to you,, or just any project that you find fun to do.  It's the variety of ladies and talents and variety of projects that are so important to our club and how it just keeps every single Saturday a new adventure in sewing crafting.  

Show & Tell: 

 Pat Pipa - Charity Quilt and one-hour fabric basket

















BJ Herter - Charity quilt, one hour baskets, fractured fabric art and a re-showing of an Autumn wallhanging she made last year. You might not be able to see the detail of gold thread BJ used to sew the veins in the leaves - Beautiful.  Gold thread and especially the earlier ones on the market used to be "challenging" to sew with... they've come a long, long way to easier and a beginner sewer can no longer fear using them... but metalllics take some special tweaking for success.  I urge you to try them and whatever the brand you buy to use, go to that website and use their hints and advice on how to sew with that special thread.  For instance, Sulky, Superior Threads, they all provide information on threads and needles.   I always recommend using Topstitch needles for all sewing, and just depends on size of needle you would be using, i.e., 70, 80, 90, 100 etc.

 

 Joan Thomas - crochet afghan, utility grocery bag for golf cart, MSQ magazine (more on this below).  Yes, you read that right... Joan sewed her own golf cart grocery bag customized from scratch!!  Pretty impressive.  I'll tell you something else that will be impressive... we've been watching her Double Vision project step by step and she is getting close to completion of her Monet Picture Landscape.  She is now in the quilt and framing process... so be on the look out for future pictures.  Joan's away this week... but it's coming along!!

 Lois Rose - 2 charity quilts - 4 charity fabric books - and basket!! 

 JoAnn Colin - 2 pillowcases and Halloween Bag!! - great drawstring bag that is so so sew cool to make and can be so very handy.  They cute!!!

 Carol Riggs - quilt and baby items - done in Carol's usual impeccable ways.

Eileen DiSanto - quilt front sewing from squares - nicely put together

Joan Galantha - our member who was an art teacher wow'd us again with a new fabric collage - I'm trying to twist this lady's arm to give us a first hand view of her artful process with just a small project - maybe 8 x 10 something we could make in a few hours to get ladies started with the layering and placing that she does.

 Mary Nazgiewicz (say that in one breath... that's why I always say Mary Naz) - shared the completed rag Turtle quilt!!!  Check it out.  The club has 5 or 6 patterns for anyone to use - newbies, it is a project that once you learn how to do can be very fun and enthusiastic - there's a bear, cat, butterfly... more.  Someone want to to do one of these cuties for a warm quilt to give away to charity or love one.  It is perfect to make with two flannel (one for top and one for bottom, fluffing occurs because of the faux chennille rag quilting process).

 Helen Lawrie - A fidget quilt, stuffed fabric doll, Doggie and kittie beds - adorable creations for fluffy comfort and she took home a bag or two full of scraps to make and stuff some more up!

 Marty Rhyne - shared a "tell" on for our shy member Susie Q of the Susie and Kathy Sister Duo, that besides the scores of kitty hammocks she's made for us, Susie sewed up 136 stockings for Operation Shoebox for their annual Christmas sending of stockings stuffed with goodies for our troops deployed to keep our country safe and make sure the horror and terror comes to our shores.  Awesome work and sacrifice by our men and women in the military and, Susie, wonderful work that you do and all of Operation Shoebox so that those great men and women know that WE all actually care and ARE a grateful nation.

 Micki shared 2 of her quilts before we broke for our demo of the week.

10 Minute Table Runner instructions are attached (to email)- it is as simple as it sounds... don't let it be confusing... don't over think it... two fabrics, one 1/3 yard (front) and 1/2 yard (border and backing), Right Sides Together (RST) sew both seams down sides that create a "tube" effect, press out and so the "borders" form, sew the ends horizontally across and when the runner gets turned right side out... the pointed ends then form - it happens magically and naturally.  Key-when sewing sides or ends, leave an "opening" for turning the runner RSO... pattern instructions call for leaving the opening on one end and that is how Pat did the demo... my preference is to leave the opening down one of the side seams since I always finish this tablerunner off with fancy stitch top stitching down and across the seams and thus that opening gets sewed over in that process and by sewing both ends across in the same way it just seams (seems) like both ends will "lay" in the same way and be symmetrical (to me).   Again, the patterned instructions instruct to leave opening in one end and that is how most people construct these tablerunners.

Couple ladies said they did not receive the One Hour Basket Tutorial pdf so I'm attaching that again here for your convenience.  Please check out all the pretty baskets that got made up from this fun demo by Becky Chinese!! 

I'm also attaching a couple "rag quilting" projects - one is a fairly easy "snowball block pattern" for baby quilt, another is rag quilting baby bibs, and then there's the fiberfill bunny and bear stuffies - that can be done either "envelope" sewing or rag quilt sewing (leaving the seams RSO and snipped to create faux chenille effect.  If you do these stuffies that way... you must snip seams and send thru wash/dry cycle several times BEFORE you do the stuffing and sew opening closed.  I send these along because you might have some scraps around, take a few extra minutes to cut one, two, three of these out, sew up, and stuff and they can be given away with the little quilts, books, totes/bags, etc., we're sewing up for Christmas give away to a charity.  Don't have any stuffing... no worries... I do and I would love to give to you for just this use!!  Stuffing can be almost as fun as cutting up scraps for doggie beds!!

Personal Note of Farewell to Jean Brewer, Line Dance Teacher - When we moved here to The Villages in 2008, Mac and I took Jean's "Ultra Beginner Line Dance Class" at The Villages Learning College.  That got us on our way to line dancing here and then the Patterned Partner dancing that we really enjoy so much.  It was a "prerequisite" to our moving here that Mac had to join with me in this fun and exercising activity if we were going to move and live here in FLorida.  Jean has been an "institution" all in herself as a line dance teacher here for years and she and her husband are now moving to be closer to family in North Carolina, though they are keeping their house here in The Villages to rent.  More important to me... Jean is a true American Patriot and inspiration.  She begins every single line dance class and social with one dance to one song - "My Name is America" by Todd Allen Herendeen.  It is a powerful song/anthem to America.  It is a wonderful song and truly a thrill to line dance to as well.  I've copy and pasted this song's lyrics into a pdf that I'm attaching for you to read.   I'm going to miss Jean at the patriotic events and rallies around here, but I'm so grateful for this woman's inspiration and sharing to me and so many people.  We will all miss Jean for a long time, but we know that wherever she is she'll still be standing tall for America. 

Just a word about Patterned Partners - this is line dancing that is choreographed for couples and you progress around a circle - it is not two-step and it is not square dancing.  You started out in "ultra beginner" steps and dances and continue learning for how ever far you want to go all the way up to intermediate dances that have more steps and turns.  Lola and Bob Miller teach Patterned Partner dancing with Ultra Beginner and Beginner Plus classes thru the Lifelong Learning College.  They are so giving and wonderful as teachers.  These classes are small and very personal instruction given to even the basic beginner who does not know one step to begin with.  Then after the classes, you can join in all the weekly opportunities to dance with the Patterned Partners - especially the Tuesday nights at SeaBreeze Rec.  Lola and Bob hold weekly practice sessions and monthly workshop nights for refreshers and teaching new dances.  If you are looking for an activity to do as a couple, I really recommend this one.  I'm not a golfer, so I need physical activity that is not over stressful for my Fibromyalgia - this is what I've found works for me.  Certainly I love other things - and we have so many options and opportunities here - Tai Chi comes right to mind - water aerobics, too.  But I gotta say... for me personally, line dancing individually inspires me and the Patterned Partner (as a couple) is keeping us active together.

Time to end this thing... as always, God bless you and God bless America,

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(¸.·´ (¸.·'      Micki MacCumbee

Club Leader, Fabric Fun Arts & Crafts