And a fine time was had by all !! Just thought I would begin with the ending for a change. Thank you all for your prayers for Kathy Wickham; she was at the meeting Tuesday night and said she had been better, but looked to be doing well. There was a fine meeting with members and several guests, some visiting for a second time.

Those who brought their last month’s BOM’s stood and showed those – good work, ladies ! Tina showed us the blocks for next month – gulp – and passed out directions for making them. Fingers crossed here !

Then it was Show & Tell, once again displaying the many talents of our ladies. Such beautiful work, ladies ! Baby blankets, embroidery, applique, pieced quilts, candle rings, oh, my.

Then it was time for our guest speakers, Pat Lingle and Gayla Heath. They showed us a great variety of quick and easy (and inexpensive) gifts to make for ourselves and to give others. There was an iron (or any) cord holder, made with an outer piece of fabric measuring 9.5″x3.25″ with batting and lining measuring 9.5″x 2.75.” Theirs was dressed up with rickrack down each side and velcro as a closer. Clever. There was also a very practical thing for sewers – a machine bra !! It is made with a 2.5″x 5.25″ section, stuffed with polyfil, add straps, and a 1.25″x 4.25″ piece of template plastic to keep the pins from scratching your machine. Clever. And, not to be left out is a thumb pin cushion made from a 4″ square, folded on the diagonal, edges sewn. Slit a little hole in the long edge and stuff with polyfil, trying to keep the stuffing in the middle and not much on the 2 ends which will be tacked together. Stitch the hole closed when stuffing complete and stitch the 2 ends together. Surprisingly enough, it will easily fit over your thumb and you will find it very handy when you have a project where you will need multiple pins conveniently. There were burp cloths made up of 6-ply cloth diapers with cute fabrics sewn over the center strip of the diaper. Quick and easy. Pair those up with a simple baby blanket and you have a perfect gift for a newborn. Also among their clever ideas was bookmarks made of soft half-inch elastic covered with colorful fabrics with ends joined to make a circle. And (watch out Dollar Store), you can do so many clever things with those $1 hot pads with the loop on the side. Oh, yeah. You can sew small plastic zip bags down the center, some facing left and some facing right, to make a clever small parts carrier; sew a pocket into it with a seam down the middle to hold any manner of items; sew 2 pockets into it (one down each side) and it can hold coupons and all sorts of items. Use a button on the outside edge for the loop to go over as a closure and you are all set. And, next time you visit GoodWill or Salvation Army thrift store, pick up a sweater ! You can cut off the sleeves and make up sleeves for those hot (or cold) beverages. And, you can cut the body to make small zipper pouches. Very clever. Whew !!

There was also a variety of fabrics and kits available for sale. It was moved and seconded that the Guild purchase some of that fabric to be used in the construction and completion of our Community Quilts project.

And, Tina also told us a bit about next month’s meeting topic – Regretsy !! What ?? Something about bringing items in your possession that you “regret” having acquired. There will be some interesting stories told about those regrets, I am sure.  Stay tuned for further information!

I probably left out a few things, and for that, I apologize. But it was a good meeting, enjoyed by all. Hope to see you all next month!

ps. When is the next Board Meeting scheduled?