2013 Christmas Party & Challenge

Well, I think it goes without saying that our end of the year Christmas Party and the culmination of Jamie's 2 x 4 x 8 Challenge was a huge success.  There were over 40 members and guests in attendance and I must admit I was slack in my counting -- probably closer to 50+ people there!  For starters, we had some great, freebie door prizes in the form of these tape measures.  Steve M. donated the labels for them so Sin City Woodworkers group now has our own, private label tape measures.  There they are, hope you were able to get your own in your favorite color.
   

The festivities started as many of our meetings do, people catching up with whatever happened during the month and just talking and sharing some good times together.  There were three, huge differences though --- Food, Wine, and Sangria!  Thanks to all who either brought in the goodies for us to share and also to those who set it all up.  We had quite a spread which really added to the festive mood of the night.  There were fourteen entries in the challenge which were placed around the room on tables.  Each entry had a numbered tag on it to identify the project.  Great selection of pieces and I think the quality of the projects indicate the talents we have in our group.  After about an hour, Jamie announced that it was time for the voting to begin.  This was done on the honor system with a clip board showing the numbers of the projects.  We all put one tally mark next to the number of the project of our choice …………… and the winner is:

Pete, his table and gift certificate -- Congrats!!

Pete Hauser with his beautiful table.  He decided to use a construction grade piece of Redwood.  He won a $100.00 gift card from Lee Valley.

Mike Cook, Second Place Carving --- Congrats!!

Mike Cook came in second place after the votes were tallied.  He created this beautiful carving and used Redwood too.  The small easel on the table was made and carved from the remnants of his 2 x 4.

John Eugster,  Third Place Stool  -- Congrats !!

   



The project that came in third place was my stool.  This was made from a 2x4 of Douglas Fir.  The top was woven from Hong Kong Seagrass and the mortise and tenon joints are pegged with Chakte Kok dowels.



All of the work was so nicely done that everyone wanted to get a bit of the "back story" on their creation.

Nutcracker:  2x4 was resawn into thirds, features movable jaw, lighted eyes, and dowel arms.

Ned's hand cut Dovetailed box featuring a wooden hinge.

Ken with his dog bed, notice the dog bone posts!

Jim's Lantern, he used Vellum as a substitute for  traditional rice paper

Jamie made these during a "hungry moment"  The platter was laminated, force dried, and turned within 2 hours!

Neal's' candle holders with a Christmas/winter motif

Set of puzzle blocks made by Ed

Lupe's wooden gourmet kitchen assortment

Lupe, being the overachiever that she is, also made a second project which Norm created the decals for.  The dead flat black flocking generated a lot of interest so here is a LINK to her supplier.

Magical!

Richard's Wine Presentation Box

This wine presentation box that features finger joints and a sliding lid brought quite a few positive comments from Jamie who coerced him, eh I mean suggested that it should be added to the raffle table.  Being a good sport Richard added it to the already full table of donated items.

Donated Items for the Raffle which brought about $150.00 to the club.

Seems like whenever we have a raffle during one of our meetings one person is the lucky one and their tickets get drawn several times.  Russ was the "chosen one" that night and not only did he win the wine box, his numbers were called several times.  With a nod to the season, he re-donated items so that others of us had an opportunity to take home something.  His attitude was contagious and several others followed suit.  Makes our group great doesn't it?

Happy New Year

The formal meeting ended with our members drawings for Lee Valley gift cards.  Kris Hagon received a $25.00 one and Richard Daugherty, Ted Warren, and me lucked out with a $50.00.  Do I look happy? you bet!  Great way to start 2014 with a purchase of something special from Lee Valley.


This ended the formal part of the party and people started to filter out.  I was among those so I have no idea how long others may have stayed but there was plenty of food and libations to keep you there for quite some time!  Thanks to all of you that attended, brought food, and created a project for the challenge.  Sounds as if some are already planning what to do for next year so my guess is that this will become a tradition with the club.


     Last but not least; as always Lupe does a great job of taking photographs and videos at our meetings.  We've tried several different ways to get them from her camera, to my computer, and then on to the blog.  I usually edit them to illustrate the content of the blog.  Since there were so many interesting, random shots taken throughout  the party here's is a link to the "contact sheet" of all the pictures.  I'm pretty sure you'll be able to view it via this LINK.  I won't guarantee it though, you may need to have a Dropbox account which is how we share the files now.

Merry Christmas to You and Yours,

Have a Happy New Year

Do You Really Need a Reminder?

Time to take a Break!

                                                                                                                                                                     

     It's time for our annual end of the year Christmas party and Extravaganza!  This will be a time of food and fun as we end the year with the judging of our first ever Jamie's Challenge.  I'm sure you're all as excited as I am to see what our members came up with for this event.  Voting will be done by all of the members and the winning projects' creator will receive a gift card.  If you haven't brought your entry in yet try to come a little early so your project will remain anonymous.

     We will also be having a raffle of items that have been donated from other members and things that Jamie has received through out the year.  If you have tools, books, videos, etc. that are just collecting dust in your shop perhaps someone else would like to have a chance to win it in the raffle.  Raffle tickets will be sold at the meeting and proceeds go to the club.  I'm pretty sure they'll be $1.00 each or 6 for $5.00.  

     If that isn't  enough,  Jamie has a number of gift cards and has promised some surprise items for another drawing that every dues paying member has been entered into.  Sounds like if you need them you better remember to bring your reading glasses!

     This is a time to bring a guest to share in the food and festivities.  As always, seating is limited so bring a chair or stool if you'd like and be prepared to have a good time.  The meeting place is the same, Wood It Is located at 2267 West Gowan in North Las Vegas.  The unit number is 106 but you shouldn't have any problem finding it since it will probably be the only one with lots of cars and trucks parked in front of it.  

See you then; Wednesday, 

December 18th. 

Starting at 7:00 pm  

Now Hear This !!!!

Your Time is Up!

     The Challenge is over!

You can bring your completed project to Jamie's shop this Thursday (12/12)  afternoon from 5:30pm until 9:30pm  and again during Saturday's (12/14) open shop which goes from 11am until 3pm.

Of course, you can bring it to the regular meeting time next Wednesday but if possible these times will give Jamie time to label and set them up for the voting which will take place during the Christmas party/meeting.

If you have anything you'd like to bring for raffling off you can bring that in during either of those times as well.  Sounds like a great way to end the year with Sin City Woodworkers, look forward to seeing all of you there and your projects.

And; The Winning Number is ……………….

     As a teacher (now RETIRED!) my reviews from principals, department heads, etc. usually mentioned that my teaching style incorporated lots of student interactions and questioning to get them involved in whatever was being taught.  At times I'd drive my family crazy because this was such a habit with me I continued with it in my daily life so, let me continue to drive folks crazy and ask you all some questions! 

1. Are there tools in your shop that you rarely or never use?
2. Are you a lucky person that tends to win random drawings or contests?
3. Would you like to have presenters at our meetings that have a skill set our members don't have?

     Here's why I'm asking these questions.  At the last meeting a list was passed around asking what types of presentations or demonstrations you would be interested in.  As Ted was looking over the list he realized that some of the things were beyond the scope of our members expertise and would require a paid speaker -- not everyone is willing to share their skills free gratis!  He was quite involved in the San Diego woodworking group and what they did to raise funds was to have a raffle at each meeting. 

      Here's how that would work;  typically many of use will buy a tool that we think we need but as time goes on we find out differently!  So now this tool sits in our shop gathering dust so maybe we'll go through the hassle of listing it on eBay or Craigslist.  Here's an option for you -- bring it to the meetings and Ted will set them aside until later in the meeting.  He will have raffle tickets which will sell for $1.00 each or 6 for $5.00 to increase your chances.  Some of you (who'll remain nameless Jim) probably don't need to spring for five bucks but that's an option for you.  This would be a great strategy if someone brought in just the tool you think you'd need.  Another source for  items to be raffled is that Ted will go to businesses and ask them to donate or reduce the cost of a new tool or other item that can be included in the raffle.  This would be purchased with funds from previous ticket sales.  By the way, I'm saying tool but it could be anything related to woodworking.  I can think of purchased items like books, plans, instructional DVD's etc. that we may have bought or received in the past as a present that we don't need but may work great for someone else in the club.

     Let's do an inaugural Raffle at our Christmas meeting!  Look around your house and shop area; is there something you just don't need or use anymore?  Bring it in during the meeting or else to Jamie's shop when you bring in your 2" x 4" x 8' Challenge piece and we'll go from there.  If you decide it's easiest to bring it before the meeting be sure to call Jamie first to make sure she's available and not in the middle of a class.  The school phone number is 702-672-8981.