Ellen Brittingham

The January Sew-N-Sews meeting featured a program by Heidi Pridemore of The Whimsical Workshop. Heidi presented a slide show explaining the steps she goes through to design a quilt pattern. She showed several examples of quilt patterns available in her store. One of her examples was a succulent pillow that resembles a succulent plant.

During Show and Tell time, some of our members displayed items they had recently made. These included a baby quilt, a jacket, a shirt, a wall hanging with several embroidered pieces, a collage wall hanging, and a hand-knitted sweater.

Pads4Paws had a busy December and completed 68 pads to be donated to the upcoming Veterans StandDown or local shelters. We support StandDowns all over the State of Arizona. We welcome volunteers to help at our monthly meetings, which are held on the third Friday at 1 p.m., and the following Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. If you have an extra hour to spare during those times, please join us in the Oakwood Sewing Room. There is no sewing involved. We cut fabric into small pieces to mix with fiberfill to be stuffed into pre-made covers for pet beds.

As we announced several months ago, the Sew-N-Sews board voted to group all of our charities that benefit children in need under the umbrella of a new name, Children’s Charities. That group is now thriving with lots of participation. Children’s Charities provides dolls with several outfits, race car tracks with cars, coloring books and crayons and reading books, and colorful and fun pillowcases. We have donated over 100 items in the past few months and will have lots more for donation soon. We are working towards having 50 Easter baskets ready for distribution. We appreciate the support of our Sew-N-Sews members and our Sun Lakes community. If you have any 18-inch dolls, coloring books, crayons, reading books, or children’s fabric to donate, please contact either Patty Hutson at 971-930-6370 or Phyllis Prysock at 503-559-3405.

Our next meeting will be Feb. 8 at 1 p.m. Lori from 35th Avenue Sew and Vac in Chandler will talk to us about how to shop for a new sewing machine.

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].