1H12 HV-ASG Community Service Projects

Dear Friends,

It is just amazing how many of us volunteer in various ways as well as utilizing our sewing skills in projects that benefit our local communities!  Some of these activities are ones that our Neighborhood Groups are involved with directly, and some are not.  But I would like to share with you some of the details compiled by our 2nd Vice President, Peggy Norton as she prepared the most recent report sent to American Sewing Guild National for our first six months in 2012:

Projects = 1 lap robe (local VA hospital), 6 pair of curtains to replace those destroyed by Irene damage (church), nursing home bed pads, clothing repairs (school), drainage bag holder for cancer patient, 224 chemo caps (hospitals & individuals), 23 quilts of various sizes (local family shelters), 22 small tote bags/8 large tote bags(local family shelters), and 150 surgical pillows (hospitals),

Total hours spent = 1680

Aren't these just awesome numbers?? Each participant should recognize how much their efforts, no matter how large or small, helps to make our community a better place for everyone.  Many kudos to each of you!!

If anyone is interested in knowing more about some of the on-going projects, check out the Neighborhood Groups link at the top of the page,  for a group near you.  Also, Charity Chics meet on a regular basis with their sole focus on community service projects.
Can't make a regular meeting?.....ask about projects you can work on at home.

A typical walker bag

A few "Sew-phisti-cuts" were around for last evening's meeting - not all of us are on vacation yet!  Our agenda for the night was community service, and although we had originally planned to do lap blankets, we had decided at a previous meeting that we would do pillowcases instead as there was more local need for those.  Upon further research, Connie found that there was even more need for walker bags, a small tote that fastens over the bar of a walker, enabling the user to carry things along more easily.  So, flexible as we are, we switched gears to make them.
Thanks to some ladies who did prep work, we had a large stack of pre-cut fabric ready to sew.  This helped much, since only five of us were able to make it to the meeting.  After a little tutorial for those not familiar with the pattern, we sat down to sew.  Averaging almost two bags per person, we ended up with nine complete bags in about an hour and a half.  I forgot to take pictures, but here's a picture from the pattern directions of what we made.

We had a brief show and tell, and saw a lovely wedding quilt from Mary, a couple of pillowcases from Sue, some shirts and shorts from Maura, and a bolero-style shrug from Peggy.


There is no meeting next month due to our usual August break.  Like the old song says....see you in September......when we start thinking of Christmas and gift-giving with our program of sharing quick gift patterns/ideas for the holildays.  Bring samples!

Charity Chics and Quilting schedule for July

 

Thursdays in July:   (all meetings will start at approx. 9:30am)

5th -- Quilting Group at Fishkill Town Hall - bring your own project cancelled due to holiday

12th -- Charity Chics at Hughsonville Firehouse - project tbd

19th -- Quilt Group at Fishkill Town Hall - bring your own project

26th -- Charity Chics at Fishkill Town Hall - project tbd cutting knits and woven fabrics for banadana chemo caps...contact Mary DuBois (me21dubois@aol.com) if you plan to attend
                                                                                   

Please contact Andrea Diamond (adiamond625@aol.com) if you plan to attend any of these meetings.  (Due to summer schedules & vacations, there could be last minute changes.)

Sewing Room Tour and Potluck

Enjoying a delicious dessert after our meeting

About four years ago the Sewphisticuts started a tradition of holding their June meeting at a member's house for a dinner meeting and tour of the sewing room.  Each person volunteers to bring something for the dinner, from appetizers to desserts.  We have all had a great time sharing our creative spaces, showing off home-dec projects that could only be shared in photos, and enjoying our culinary efforts.  Yesterday's meeting was held at Maura's; after a brief business meeting, we sat down to a tasty dinner with home-made strawberry ice-cream and cheesecake for dessert.  Delicious!

We discussed Make-A-Difference-Day plans for this October 27th.  Maura will contact Kim at the Poughkeepsie Plaza to see if we can get a space reserved for our group to sew there as we did last year.  The plan is to make hats, scarves and possibly mittens as well out of fleece to donate to the homeless shelters.

Our next meeting is in July, and although originally we had planned to participate in The Blanket Project, we realized there was not a strong local need for lap blankets.  We decided to sew pillowcases again, since we know of a local shelter that will always put them to good use.

Mary's quilt

Upcoming meetings: September will be a sort of Christmas gift exchange, with each person bringing a sample of an easy-to-sew gift along with copies of the directions to share with everyone.  So everyone will go home with directions for a number of new gift projects.  Our October meeting will be used to prepare for MADD, cutting fabric, perhaps partially sewing some items, etc.  November's meeting will be a tutorial on proper pressing techniques, and December will be our traditional holiday dinner meeting.

The points look offset but really do all meet in the center!

Spring is apparently not a productive time for many of us sewists - maybe gardening and just the nicer weather keeps us away from our machines.  However, a few people had brought along some show-and-tell items.  Judy had completed a number of home-dec projects and brought along pictures of the valances and chair seats she had worked on.  Mary brought a quilt that showcased an interesting technique for cutting and sewing triangles so that they look like offset centers, but aren't!   And Connie showed her completed quilt top from a block-of-the-month club that she started at the Quilted Bear Den - absolutely fabulous! I was so busy admiring it that I forgot to take a picture, darn it!