Tuesday 27th September

[cindyg]

Jules - sorry you and Chris aren't having your sew day. Hopefully by next week she'll be ready to sew with you.

Suzette - the width of fabric varies - some are only 40" and others are 44". Drives me crazy.

Joanne - Our Astros are certainly not in the playoffs. I think they should win the dufus award. They were pathetic this year. Just awful. I know several people that are always losing their keys. I guess I'm just too anal to lose mine - LOL.

Chrissy1 - you have a memory garden? I'm so glad you got Miss Mary's birdbath.

Chris - my DH won't touch the quilting machine. I think it's because he's afraid he'll like it and doesn't want another hobby - LOL. I know for sure he wouldn't skin anything except a catfish.

Karlene - what are wood pellets?

Grammie - it's great that your DH helps with the grands like that.

I'm at work blah blah blah. Lunch with the girls from church today. Last night I got the batting and backing cut and the backing ironed for my sister's Christmas quilt. It's all packed and ready to go to our sewing marathon this weekend. Can't wait for that - WOO HOO.

I hope you can all fondle fabric today.

[purrfect-lady]

OK, this is the THIRD time (twice yesterday and again this morning) I've typed out a long post and QIAD ate it. Getting steamy here. Is it their way of saying I talk too much??

JOAN - you crack me up!
CHRISS - ditto! Maybe Bill & Doyal can collaborate and come up with something fashionable for you for Chriss-mas.
JULES - was your friend on one of the Narrow Boats?
CHICKIE - Really?? Beaver skin? Beaver roast?
CHRISSY - hi
JO - Want me to have Bill have a talk with Earl?
SUZ - did you cut your strips yourself or were they pre-cut?
JUDI - sounds like your house will be happy today!
KARLENE - I'm thinking you might be right!
CINDY - I'll post my bobbin thread hint over in 'Quilting'. I've tried TWICE here and keep getting kicked off.

Em will be back today, hopefully to finish up. We've really had a great time together, but she's growing weary of the long drive and I don't blame her for that!

have a good day, y'all!

mary z

[KATHYSQUILTS]

Morning All....

Still humid here....Grrrrr

With lots of prayer I made it into work & through the work day. Several coworkers huge and talked to me saying how unfair this situation is.
One of them I worked with the last 3 weeks...they asked her to spy on me!! She told the owners "NO....Kathy works like a dog in the room!!"
I'm giving myself a few mornings to slouch around then I need to make a morning routine...no staying in bed to 8am.
Again thank you for your prayers & support.

Jules....sorry you miss you quilt day. I love cleaning my sewing room.
The others I don't care so much.

Suzette....I agree....even though the 2 strips are cut from the same fabric they have a little stretch. Trying putting in a few pins...it worth the time.

Joanne....hoping you hands let you sew today.

Chrissy....what a wonderful idea a memory garden & the bird bath.

Chriss....what would happen if men took over the quilting world???...LOL Sorry about your beaver quilt.

Karlene....we won't have much color here do Irene & the salty rain she spread.

Off I go.........Kathy

[Jules]

Afternoon from SUNNY UK!!!!! It’s glorious here and I’m glad, me and DH are going horse racing on Saturday with a few friends and it’s always nicer when the weathers good, plus those horses look stunning in the sunshine when they’re parading

Joanne – I’ve had fabrics that are different lengths too, so annoying, I’ve taught myself to work out my amounts with a 40” width just to make sure I have enough....but i’ve also had strips that are the same length sew up a different length cos of the stretch, both things are annoying my DH is like your DIL, he puts things down ANYWHERE and everytime he wants to leave the house he goes round saying “where’s my keys? Where’s my phone? Where’s my wallet?” i keep telling him if he would put his phone, wallet and keys in the same place everytime he comes in we wouldn’t have the stress 10 mins turning everything upside down looking for them!!!

Chrissy – nice to see you back. So glad the tournament went well and the weather was wonderful, glad everyone is doing well with treatment and how lovely to have Miss Marys birdbath, your memory garden sounds lovely

Chriss – oh shame you won’t be getting the beaver quilt LOL and I have found some things I forgot have a great day

Karlene – all our trees are changing too, i love this time of year but within a few weeks all the beautiful reds and golds will be gone and the leaves will be on the ground curled up and brown

Grammie – have fun sewing and with DGS, catch up with you later

Cindyg – have a nice lunch today, i need to cut some backing and batting for a quilt top thats been lurking around for a while now, enjoy your sewing marathon this weekend

Maryz – what is going on with your posts disappearing??? Yes my friend was on a narrow boat my DH is itching to have a go on my mid arm........he wants to quilt some throws for the garden, I think he’d get right into it if I gave him a chance – he often comes fabric shopping with me and picks out fabrics and patterns and tells me to make him something!!!

Kathy – so sorry for what is happening at work, its so unfair, but nice to know you have the support of your co-workers...hope you find a way to deal with this and find out about SS payments etc, will keep praying for you......and I’m with you I love cleaningmy sewing room but the other rooms I’m not too fussed about LOL

Well I'd better crack on, I've distracted myself long enough, no one else is gonna sort my stuff but me

[karpet]

Cingyg - wood pellets are burned in wood pellet stove. They are wood particles (saw dust) compressed into little pellets that look like guinea pig food! They come in 40 lb bags, and burn cleaner and more even than split wood. It is always nice in the bitter winter to come in the house and go stand in front of the stove where the heat is blowing out - our version of a fireplace!

Judi - a homemade pizza in the kitchen is much better than butchering a deer in it! (My DH still does not see what the big deal is with that!?!)

[misssharna]

Enjoyed hearing about your ladies lives and your beautiful fall weather..... I am up early (early for me that is), and plan on sewing for a few hours. Need to work on some blocks of the month squares and do some prep work on some aplique projects I have going.

I hear you ladies cleaning your sewing room and it makes me feel guilty and like I should be doing the same. I really just need to go through all my fabric and stuff and see what I really have.

Chickie..... I love home construction, we need to see pictures.... What are you living in now? Are you living on the property that they are building on?

My husband is currently building me a kitchen. My old kitchen is out on our back porch, hanging cabinets, stove, refrig, sink and dishwasher....My new kitchen is gutted to the studs, it''''s going to be a long process since my husband can only work on weekends and after work. Yesterday we went to talk with the cabinet guy and it got me so excited..... the waiting is going to be painful.... wish it was done already.....

Hope you ladies have a great day and get to play in your sewing area''''s.

[cindyg]

This is about the wild fire that was close to me around Labor Day:
Subject: FW: How three ladies and 20 volunteers helped fire fighters and put a stiff-arm in FEMA's face at the Tri-County Fire north of Houston



Here’s some stories you won’t hear about the Tri-county fire in Montgomery, Grimes, and Waller County the weeks following Labor Day, 2011. Although Kenna promises to write a book.

My neighbor across the road has a sister named Kenna. Labor Day, when she saw the huge column of smoke over our homes, she left a birthday party at my neighbor’s house to meet with her friend Tara at the Baseball complex in Magnolia. She called the owner of the complex and got permission to use the warehouse there as a staging area for donations for the fire fighting effort.



They put a notice out on facebook that they were going to be taking donations on their facebook pages. That night as they were setting up tables and organizing, News 2 Houston came by and saw the activity, investigated and left with the phone numbers and a list of suggested donations. The facebook notice propagated faster than the fire. By dawn they had 20 volunteers, bins, forklifts, and donations were pouring in. I stopped by with my pitiful little bags of nasal wash and eye wash, and was amazed.



There must have been 20 trucks in the lot, offloading cases of water, pallets of Gatorade , and people lined up out the door with sacks of beef jerky, baby wipes, underwear, socks, and you name it. School buses and trailers from many counties around were there offloading supplies, students forming living chains to pass stuff into the bins for transport to the command center and staging areas. If the firefighters had requested it, it was there. What do you give the guy out there fighting the fire that might engulf your home? Anything he or she wants. Including chewing tobacco and cigarettes.



Kenna moved on to the Unified Command Post at Magnolia West High school. She looked at what the fire fighters needed, and she made calls and set it up.



Mattress Mac donated 150 beds. Two class rooms turned into barracks kept quiet and dark for rest.



The CEO of HEB donated 2 semi trailers full of supplies, and sent a mobile commercial kitchen at no charge to feed all the workers, but especially our firefighters, 3 hot meals a day.



An impromptu commissary was set up, anything the firefighters had requested available at no charge. As exhausted firefighters (most of them from local VFDs with no training or experience battling wildfires) and workers came into the school after long hours of hard labor, dehydrated, hungry, covered with soot and ash, they got what they needed. They were directed through the commissary, where they got soap, eye wash and nasal spray,

candy, clean socks and underwear, and then were sent off to the school locker rooms for a shower. HEB then fed them a hot meal and they got 8 hours sleep in a barracks, then another hot meal, another pass through the commissary for supplies to carry with them out to lines, including gloves, safety glasses, dust masks and snacks, and back they went.



One of the imported crew from California came into Unified Command and asked where the FEMA Powerbars and water were. He was escorted to the commissary and started through the system. He was flabbergasted. He said FEMA never did it like this. Kenna replied, ”Well, this is the way we do it in Texas.”



Fire fighting equipment needed repair? The auto shop at the High School ran 24/7 with local mechanics volunteering, students, and the firefighters fixing the equipment. Down one side of the school, the water tankers lined up at the fire hydrants and filled with water. Down the other side there was a steady parade of gasoline tankers filling trucks, dozers, tankers, cans, chain saws, and vehicles.



Mind you, all of this was set up by 2 Moms, Kenna and Tara, with a staff of 20 simple volunteers, most of them women who had sons, daughters, husbands, and friends on the fire lines. Someone always knew someone who could get what they needed- beds, mechanics, food, space. Local people using local connections to mobilize local resources made this happen. No government aid. No Trained Expert.



At one point the fire was less than a mile from the school, and everyone but hose volunteers were evacuated. The fire was turned. The Red Cross came in, looked at what they were doing, and quietly went away to set up a fire victim relief center nearby. They said they

couldn’t do it any better.



Then FEMA came in and told those volunteers and Kenna that they had to leave, FEMA was here now. Kenna told them she worked for the firefighters, not them. They were obnoxious, bossy, got in the way, and criticized everything. The volunteers refused to back down and

kept doing their job, and doing it well. Next FEMA said the HEB supplies and kitchen had to go, that was blatant commercialism. Kenna said they stayed. They stayed. FEMA threw a wall eyed fit about chewing tobacco and cigarettes being available in the commissary area.

Kenna told them the firefighters had requested it, and it was staying. It stayed. FEMA got very nasty and kept asking what organization these volunteers belonged to- and all the volunteers told them “Our community”.



FEMA didn’t like that and demanded they make up a name for themselves. One mother remarked “They got me at my boiling point!” and suddenly the group was “212 Degrees”. FEMA’s contribution? They came in the next day with red shirts embroidered with “212 Degrees”, insisting the volunteers had to be identified, never realizing it was a slap in their face. Your tax dollars at work - labeling volunteers with useless shirts and getting in the way.



The upshot? A fire that the experts from California (for whom we are so grateful there are no words) said would take 2-3 weeks to get under control was 100% contained in 8 days. There was so much equipment and supplies donated, 3 container trucks are loaded with the excess to go and set up a similar relief center for the fire fighters in Bastrop.



The local relief agencies have asked people to stop bringing in donations of clothing, food, household items, and pretty much everything else because they only have 60 displaced households to care for, and there is enough to supply hundreds. Again, excess is going to be shipped to Bastrop, where there are 1500 displaced households. Wish we could send Kenna, too, but she has to go back to her regular job.



And that’s the way we do it in Texas.

[gershwin64]

Gooooooooood morning! ) My machine came yesterday! Yeehaw! LOL I'll be getting to know her today! ) They were out of stock then back ordered but all is good )
Karlene, we tried the pecan shell pellets last year and they are about $1 or more a bag less then the wood pellets but they make a lot more ash so we actually mix then half and half and that works very good. I love our pellet stove, our natural gas bill runs between $25 to $35 a month in the winter with using our pellet stove. We have a gas water heater, gas dryer, gas stove and gas furnace and with 5 of us living here that was the max of our gas bill, I'm guessing with it being just me and DH this year it will go down a little....it already has for these last 2 bills....LOL the last one we used $3 of gas...how nice!
Kathy, grrrrrrrrr that is so not right. I wonder if that lady will put it in writing that they asked her to spy on you and if she will then put it in a safe place till you might need it, I wouldn't wait cause she might change her mind later on from them pressuring her. I wish I was an attorney to put a nice big fear into them! You would think the labor board could/would do something. I know there is something about a "hostile work enviroment". I will pray for you )
I hope you all have a fun day! I'm going to go play now! tehe
Tina

[cindyg]

Maryz - I think it's just trying to tel you that you need to be here more often.

Kathy - I wish your life was a bit happier right now.

Karlene - thanks for the pellet definition. I guess we are extremely lazy - we have a gas fireplace with ceramic logs. No ashes to clean up.

Sharna - how exciting??? A new kitchen.

[zfatcat]

Tina, what machine did you get? Lori