Many thanks to all the Quilters who completed dresses for the Circle K Kiwanis Club and donated many of their own. We've finished over 60 dresses! Hopefully, someone from Circle K will be at our February meeting to pick them up. Otherwise, JulieAnn will get them to Mike Malark, this year's Kiwanis Governor, to bring to their February meeting. Kiwanis will pay for shipping costs.

Who knows, someday you may be watching a documentary on Africa and say, "Hey, I know that dress." Thanks again. You'll get your reward in heaven.
Sue Reilly

We had 20 ladies yesterday! A big group with lots of talking. I passed around a piece of paper and asked everyone to tell me what they are putting in the quilt show. I can tell already that it's going to be another great show! Deb came yesterday with her surviving dog, Alya. Both of them are recovering from the loss of Debs' other dog. New member Elaine cut up the last of the musical fabrics for her quilt with a little help from Kathy O. I brought in a nametag for the raffle quilt and sewed that on. It took me the whole 2 hours because I kept getting interrupted! Deb wanted help picking out DVDs, Winnie needed a new author, Fran and Deb needed help with the copier, and we were out of mini-moos! What a day! Pat H. brought in some give-aways and I pulled out some fabric I had tucked away. What was left I gave to the Odyssey of the Mind kids who meet after our group. They were delighted! I might start giving them some scraps more often. Sue R. came in to pack away the little dresses for Africa. We won't be delivering them until Feb. 3rd, the night of the Village Quilters meeting so you still have time to make some. Sue said our 2 groups had made 60 dresses! She was thrilled! It was a fun project so I was glad that Sue suggested it to us.

Today 13 ladies attended. I pulled out the sewing machine so that I could sew the binding onto the raffle quilt. Fran is taking it home to sew down. Next week I'll put on a nametag: Made by Nimblefingers and it will be ready to go! Hallelujah! We've been working on it way too long. So maybe next week I can pull out some old projects we started and see where we left off. Winnie brought in a bunch of her quilts-in-progress to cut so that she can sew them. Elaine found some of the fabric she needed for her music quilt on ebay and ordered it. It's her first time ordering through ebay so she's hoping it works out well. Tina brought in her cro-hook to show Elaine. The cro-hook makes a nice, thick, two-sided blanket. Agnes was back from her trip to Kentucky and Texas to visit her children. She's back in time to have lunch with us a Daryl's on Thursday. Marie brought in pictures from her grandson's wedding in California. He married a Cambodian woman and they had an American wedding and a Cambodian wedding. The Cambodian wedding involves the wearing of very fancy clothes which you change a couple of times during the ceremony. Marie thinks very highly of both the bride and groom so we all joined her in wishing them much happiness.

14 ladies attended yesterday. All of our snowbirds have flown south so our group is a little smaller now. We may be smaller but we are not lacking in enthusiasm. Winnie came early: she has made a new year's resolution and is determined to finish her goal of making quilts for all of her grandchildren. She has to hurry because there are 3 more grandchildren expected soon! Kathy O. helped her cut her pieces so that she could go home and sew. Pat OR arrived desperate for a good book to read. I took her out to Joyce at the Reference desk and Pat returned happy and ready to go home and curl up with her new books. Tina, Kathy O. and newcomer Nina were happily knitting away. Tina had finished her maple leaf top and her flower pincushion and brought those in to show us. Cathy M. brought in 2 little dresses for Africa and Marguerite finished 3 previously started dresses. We are getting quite a collection of dresses now. We will keep adding to our collection until the end of January. Fran was working on a pattern she received 9 years ago. She decided it was time to finish it. Cathy M. was appliquing a flower block. June has started a new Fons and Porter wall hanging which she will hang in her sewing room. It is appliques of various sewing items including a dress form, iron, buttons, etc. It should be very cute. June enjoys handwork and so does a lot of applique quilts. Cathy M. says this flower quilt will be her last applique quilt for awhile. Marguerite and Rosemary were stitching away on their needlework projects. Daryl brought in a crustless pumpkin pie to celebrate (belatedly--her birthday was on 12/30) Winnie's birthday. Daryl, who is a glutton for punishment, also invited us all over for lunch on 1/13 at 12:30. If you need a ride come to the library at noon and we'll carpool.

9 ladies attended today. It was a small but happy group. I wasn't surprised that we were a small group with all of the snow out today. It's not nice weather for anyone with walking issues. Fran was the first to arrive. She had all of her Christmas fabric with her which she cut up to make pot-holders. Rosemary was next. She, Ethel, and Marguerite were all working on needlework projects. Tina is making one of Jean K.'s pincushions. Marie and Elaine were knitting. Cathy M. was appliquing flowers. And I was sewing buttons on a small wall hanging I am making. Cathy M. got a special Christmas present from her granddaughter--she had made a book of their photographs from their trip to China! Cathy shared that with us. What a clever thing to do with your travel photos! Marguerite brought in a finished dress for an African child. I gave her another partially finished dress that only needed the binding. Plus she took one Rosemary had started. Apparently Cathy M. and Fran both have some finished dresses at home. I plan to make some on Martin Luther King day when the Village quilters are having a sew-in at the library.

14 ladies attended today. Marguerite brought in some bracelets: 1 she purchased at a free-trade fair and was made from pull tabs from cans and 1 she made with ribbons and washers. She had seen a bracelet like this for sale at the Red Lion Inn and wanted to figure out how to make one. When she saw the pull tab bracelet at the sale she decided to buy it so she could figure it out for herself. They were both pretty neat looking. I don't know if I'm ready to start collecting pull tabs but the washer bracelet looked do-able and fun. Fran brought in a couple of projects she learned how to make at the last Delmar QUILT group meeting. One was a Japanese bag made from a 1/2 yard of fabric. The other was a table runner made from a tube of fabric. It looked easy and Fran said was very quick to make. I might have to go home and try that one while it's still fresh on my mind. Daryl was back from her travels to visit family. I was glad to see her because I had a lot of donated fabric to let her go through. She doesn't know it but I only showed her half of it today. I'll bring out the other half later. Agnes was making a clever cowboy tree skirt to give to her family in Texas. Ethel was making a grab bag present for her curling club. Winnie got some help from Agnes cutting out quilt blocks. She wants to make a quilt for each of her grandchildren. Elaine had a talk with Marie and decided she had at least two more projects she wanted to do this winter. She's afraid winter won't last long enough to get them done. Marguerite was binding her mile-a-minute lap quilt. I pulled out a sewing machine and started sewing together the upholstery squares that I had cut out to make schlep bags. I think I have enough strips for 2 bags. Agnes brought in some delicious brownies. Next week we will be having lunch at the Chuck Wagon Diner on Route 20. If you need a ride and want to carpool meet us here at the library at 12:00. Otherwise we'll see you at the restaurant!

17 ladies attended today. Marie is back from her trip to California and we were all happy to see her again. She was very happy to be home again too. Newcomer Nina came back again too. She's new in town and our group is just the place for newcomers to make friends. She brought her knitting and made herself at home. I had the childrens librarian, Joyce, come in and talk to her since she is a childrens librarian also and is looking for a job. Hopefully Joyce gave her some pointers on finding a job in the capital district. Rosemary was working on a needlepoint piece; Ethel a delicate white cross-stitch piece; Winnie was getting advice on making a quilt from some bird fabric she had purchased; Cathy M. was appliquing flowers; Elaine had determined how she wanted to arrange the blocks in her quilt and wanted to let Kathy O. know that she was still working on it; I brought in a wall hanging that I am sewing buttons onto; June is doing a redwork piece; Hattie is knitting a sweater; Marguerite laid out and tied her mile-a-minute lap quilt; and Linda cut up some more fabric for schlep bags. Kathy O. brought in a second version of the mystery quilt from fabrics that match her bedroom she made to cover a table. We were all very busy today.