Ellen Brittingham

The Sew-N-Sews members have been busy with holiday sewing and are now ready to start a new year of activities related to sewing.

A machine repair afternoon in November was very successful. Our helpful mechanic Jose Hernandez cleaned and oiled 14 sewing machines for our members. He also took home the machines from our Sewing Room to clean and oil them. All the machines are now purring smoothly.

Two recent classes were led by our president Phyllis Prysock. Attendees learned to explore their sewing machine’s decorative stitches in one class and how to make rolled hems using their serger machines in a second class.

In the spirit of the holiday, our Children’s Charity group will be delivering pillowcases; handmade teddy bears with books; dolls with five outfits, baby bottle, and blanket; and coloring totes with crayons, coloring book, and a book to read. These items will be delivered to the Chandler Police Department to be distributed where the need is greatest.

We celebrated Christmas with a luncheon of croissant sandwiches and dessert on Dec. 14. Luncheon tables were decorated with beautiful centerpieces. The Yo-Yo trees were created by a team of volunteers led by Connie Hogan and given as favors to each attendee. Entertainment for the day was by Hosanna who sang many seasonal favorites. We also had a surprise visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus. A special thank you to Eileen Turner, aka Mrs. Claus, and Wesley Turner, aka Santa Claus, for arriving to take pictures and videos with our members. Thank you to Judy Waltz for heading up another wonderful luncheon.

During Show and Tell time, several members displayed items they had recently made. Some holiday creations were already in the mail to their lucky recipients.

Our next meeting will be Jan. 11 at 1 p.m. January’s speaker will be Heidi Pridemore, owner of Whimsical Workshop. The online shop has bright, fun quilt patterns, fabric, quilt kits, notions, and books.

Guests are welcome to join us for two meetings before joining. New member fee is $25, which includes a name badge. Membership is open to all Sun Lakes residents. We meet the second Wednesday of each month in the Navajo Room at Sun Lakes Country Club, at 1 p.m.

If you would like more information, please email [email protected].