Lets Pray for New Orleans & Texas

Just as He can calm the waters and lead us by them while they are still, I am reminded in today's news that New Orleans and the Texas coastal area are once again in peril from a hurricane.

Let us all stop today and take a moment or a few to pray for these families, men, women, children, pets who are finally trying to get their lives back only to possibly see all their effort and hard work destroyed by yet another hurricane.
Let us all pray that He will calm the waters and tame the hurricane before it hits that by only a miracle it will suddenly become calm and the seas will be as still as they are in this picture my granddaughter took last night.

Father in Heaven, we come to you today asking that You take this hurricane my its tail and shake it free to be nothing more than a mere whisper of wind and a sputtering in the ocean seas. Father, keep this from destroying homes and lives and let these people come back to what they have just begun to rebuild. We believe in miracles and we believe you can do this. In Jesus Precious and Holy name....Amen

Battle Cruise Tonight...

Tonight, hubby and the oldest are going to Olympia to board the Hawaiian Chieftan or the Lady Washington for a 3 hour battle cruise. The 2 of them have been looking forward to this since I was volunteering for the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport. I really miss being there, everyone was so easy to work with and for. But, God has other plans for my life.

The two tall ships will go out into the Olympia harbor and have an old fashioned cannonball battle with each other & I really think my 2 are going to get a huge kick out of it. They were the 2 that went together on fishing trips when Shyann was small and since moving here, we haven't had the funds to do anything & it isn't getting any better, so when I was offered this trip for free, I took it!

I can't wait to see some of the pictures they take! Oops, better go plug in the digital camera so it is ready to go!

Fibromyalgia Support Group

Since I suffer from Fibromyalgia and there doesn't seem to be any support here in Grays Harbor, I stuck my neck on the line to to start a support group here. I just seem to be destined to help other people, so why not on this level?

I will just need to get the kids steady in school for a bit and then I can concentrate on the best place to hold our meetings.

Speaking of the kids, we were just informed by our daycare that there will not be any room on the daycare bus for the kids, so I am going to have to figure out how to get them to school during the times I am working as a substitute.

This ought to be fun, since we have no friends or family in the area that can do this and my hubby has to be at work prior to my hours.

I just think the harbor really needs a support group that can reach out to those of us who have this and perhaps it can lead to getting some more physicians in the area since the closest physician is in Olympia for this condition.

Getting Caught Up

Here is a sneak peek at the finished apron I made for the Flirty Apron Swap. I had sew much fun making this and picking out the pattern and fabric. I hope the recipient enjoys it and the little package I am sending out to her in the mail!

Gotta run, more projects to try to catch up with & today is the beginning of painting the stairwell to our basement. Ooooooh, try and keep the kids up or down stairs while the paint drys!~

Blessings in the Mail

I believe that God blesses us when we least expect it. Yesterday, we received in the mail a check we were totally not expecting & even though it was just over $60 it will be enough to put gas in the car and buy groceries & mail some of my projects off to those in need.

I will be mailing the quilt to the dispatcher who had to give CPR instructions to her co-workers family for her co-worker, one of the girls who first posted to my blog, my mothers pillow I made of my grandfather & the Iowa flood victims quilt.

Please, do not think ill of me for taking so long, it is just when you family goes from 2 incomes to 1 so quickly, you have to take care of family first!

I am currently working on 2 UFO's in my pile that have just been making me crazy with guilt for not finishing them. One goes to a lady who is still suffering from loosing her home to Katrina. I made so many for a group of police dispatchers and then life got in the way...I broke me leg, sold my home, moved in with friends, didn't have my sewing machine,supervised work on our new home, broke my leg again and now can finally step on the sewing pedal again.

Off to an interview today with another school district for my emergency certification & possibly a trip out to the beach to pick up my other one and then I can send all of this to Olympia and I should be set if the prison doesn't call me.

I want to thank each and everyone of you who have sent me Emails encouraging me and telling me not to give up hope in my job search. I just feel so discouraged! I was supposed to know something last week & here I am once again hanging in limbo for a note that tells me I have a job or no thanks!

I am sorry, but I am ready to hang my head in shame and run back to Arizona. Not that I like the area a whole bunch, but because it is larger I feel I might have better luck at finding a job.
Even my kids are calling me & telling me they have never known me to go so long without working. Oh well, it does give me time to finish my quilts!

One Day Great, One Day Horrible!

Fibromyalgia, what an awful thing to be diagnosed and have to live with. It leaves those of us who suffer from it walking around in a fog & with what I like to describe as a constant toothache in your entire body most of the time.

Does the weather really affect those of us who suffer from Fibromyalgia? I don't know. I can honestly say until I fell and broke my leg the first time, that I was doing well with some help from my ortho doctor giving me facet blocks in my back. I was still able to be physically fit!

Now, I am in pain all the time. I feel like the tin man with grease in her veins instead of oil. As long as I am up and moving all of the time, I am fine. However, once I sit down, standing back up is tremendously painful. My hips ache, my feet ache, my back hurts and sometimes I wonder if I am going to be able to get up at all.

I am trying to get a support group in Grays Harbor set up as I feel there are more people in the are that have this and are suffering in silence.

Anyone that suffers, please let me know, I would like to know how it affects you and your daily living.

This one was easy & quick

As many of you have seen lately with the amount of postings I do, that I have numerous addictions (quilting & blogging to name a few). But yesterday while hubby was outside papering windows and spray painting the trim on the house, I sat down and quilted. I am so proud of myself, because I have actually completed 2 projects in 2 days.

I finally realized that God wants me to make quilts. No, I may not be the best quilter in blog land and I know I am not the best in the world, but it doesn't matter to God, what matters is that I am doing something I love to help others less fortunate than my family.

So, I made this little house quilt as a gift and you know what? I had fun and I relaxed a bit!
I made it with vintage fabric that I have been hanging onto for several years now. I just love this very pale mint green with the greenish blue roses on it, it is soft and really adds a nice touch to the house!

I also (shhh, don't tell the quilt police) probably didn't use 1/4" seams. I sew with my heart & it the seam is a bit bigger, I am not going to fret over it. Besides, does it really matter in the big scheme of things?

I am sure the person that receives this isn't going to send me the following letter:

Dear Jean:
I received your quilt today and was so excited until I noticed you didn't use 1/4" seams when making this piece. Enclosed is the fabric and batting so you can re-quilt this and send it back to me.

Yeah Right! So, sew with your heart and unless you are using your quilt for a show & even then I really don't think it should matter. But hey! I'm just the newbie in quilting!

Colored Fabric Swap Wanted!

Calling all quilters & others that collect fabric. I am looking to swap out some of my printed fabrics for solid fabrics. The only requirement to this swap will be no white fabric & fabric must be at least a fat quarter sized.

I have lots of prints and lots of fabric because sometimes I buy the end of a bolt and it is more than I needed to begin with. So, if you are interested, drop me an Email and we can make the change.

A Sewing Organizer

I was bored today, so decided to make this organizer for my sewing machine. It was so easy and only took a few hours & now I can keep my trash in the removable bag & my scissors in front of me where they will always be handy.

I used a spool of blue and white ribbon I had left over from another project to bind this with and the fabric was from a scrap I had in my scrap box, so it didn't cost me much of anything but a few hours.
And here is another photo of it sitting under my sewing machine. It was fun to keep busy and know when I was done I had actually made something for myself for a change.

Have a blessed day!

For Kasey's friends

How awesome to have a friend that gives you the fruits of their labors out of their love of a friendship. That is what I saw when I put this quilt together. Sam working diligently in his garden and wiping the sweat off his brow in the hot sun with his little blue handkerchief.

As he spots Sue walking down the lane, he looks around his garden that he has tended with so much care and picks the prettiest Sunflower for his friend Sue. That is what life is all about, reaching out to our friends and sharing with them our love, our understanding and even the best flower in our garden.

This quilt however, will go on a journey to a 911 dispatch center in Iowa that lost a very close co-worker. I hope it brings them smiles as they think of their friend Kasey and how much he loved life!

Recycling Magazines

Today has been one of those days when I was living in Arizona that I dreamed about. A lazy day in which the rain has been falling off and on (not good for house painting I am afraid), we have snugged around each other in the basement and watched old movies. For dinner we had homemade Burritos.

The front door is back on & looking gorgeous!

I have tried to sell my older quilting magazines on Ebay, but didn't get to far with that. I even offered them to people who would post to my blog awhile back & got no takers. So today, I am diligently dissecting and recycling into the trash a wonderful batch of Quilt World magazines from the 1980's.

I am going through each one and saving quilt patterns and needlework patterns, stories, cartoons and other things that appeal to me. It is hard to toss these into the bin, but with no takers, they really need to be tossed carefully, before dear hubby throws them out.

I got the name of my apron buddy yesterday and have been working something up for her & I can't wait. It is so cool to think of doing something for a complete stranger and knowing they are anxiously waiting to see what they receive.

Today, we went to our local produce stand (fresh and yummy) and bought Ginger Gold Apples (sweet green apples) & Red Delicious and came home and the youngins and I took out the Jack LaLaane (worth every penny) juicer and we tossed in these sweet apples and soon had 2 quarts of sweet pure apple juice.

The kids love to see how much pulp it makes, but today they were so excited at the red juice coming from the red apples, they thought it was magic!

My old pastor called today and it was good to hear his voice and talk to him about all the exciting things going on at the old church. I truly miss everyone there, they were such a great group!

How was your day?

I believe!

Call me an optimist or a crazy quilter, but I truly believe in my heart that there is someone out there is quilt land that has a quilt they would like to donate to this 911 dispatchers family. Perhaps you have several completed quilts and just didn't know what or whom to give them to, now is your opportunity to help comfort someone during their time of need.

I know many times I put together a quilt to just relax and when it is done, God puts on my heart if I should sell it, keep it or give it away. I am finishing up one right now that I had all plans to list on Etsy or Ebay, but found a dispatch center who just lost a dispatcher and now I know where this quilt will go to!

If you have a completed quilt you want to donate to this family or just a topper to send to me for completion for this family, please let me know!

A Prayer & Some Assistance For a 911 Dispatcher

Those of you who read my blogs, know my closeness to police and fire dispatchers since I retired from the job last year. You also know that I do my best to help those dispatchers when I can. I awoke to the following in my Email this morning and I know that Kevin and those at 911 Cares will not mind me passing this one on.

This lady and her family need our prayers, they need our dollars (even $5 helps), Patti could use a quilt while she is recouping. If anyone wants to do this, please let me know and I will contact Kevin about the quilt.

In the meantime never forget these people are the unseen hero's of this world! They are the ones that calm a child down when there mom or dad won't wake up or they think someone is in their home when they get in from school, they are the calm on the phone when a new father has to deliver a baby on the side of the road that is coming faster than he can drive. They are the voice that keeps an officer calm during the worst of times and they do this day in and day out with little thanks, rarely a potty break & don't even think of a lunch break & they do is with pride and a love for the job.

Please, even the smallest amount can help and remember, when you do this, YOU ARE PAYING IT FORWARD!

Dear 911 CARES supporter:

PSTC and 911 CARES is currently at the APCO national conference in Kansas City. We were advised of the local tragedy below. Please keep Patti in your prayers. We will keep updates posted at www.911cares.com in the activation area.

Posted Monday, August 4th

Last night, APCO member and Whittcom, Washington 9-1-1 Director Patti VonBargen was the victim of a hit and run by an intoxicated driver. The suspect is in custody. She was in a cross walk near the convention center walking home with two InterAct employees. Patti suffered a severely crushed leg and broken arm and is still in surgery this morning. Local news reports say she was dragged up to 100 feet by the suspect vehicle.

**Update at 5pm local time, she is out of surgery and we are awaiting an update. Patti's 18 year old daughter is being flown in to be with her Mom. The local chapter and WA chapter are working closely together to fill the needs of Patti and her family.

911 CARES has offered to pay for both of these costs. We'll keep you updated when there is anything you can do beyond prayer. Friends of Patti are asking that nobody call her room at the hospital as she is in ICU. When she is moved to a private room, we will post it** She does not have life threatening injuries, but she's going to need some significant healing time. She's at the Truman Medical Center in Kansas City . Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

We will keep you updated on this tragic event and post the Truman address when Patti is moved. We went shopping for get well cards tonight and will have them signed at the PSTC booth at APCO. We'll deliver them Tuesday and Wednesday night after conference hours.

Tuesday 8-5 update at 15:38 local time:

911 CARES EVENT UPDATE FOR PATTI VONBARGEN:

Below we have more information from the accident and an address where cards and well wishes can be sent.

Sunday, Patti was walking to her hotel after having dinner with two InterAct employees. One InterAct staffer made it onto the curb, another InterAct staffer was hit by the side of the drunk driver's car and Patti took the full force of the impact. The driver fled after dragging Patti's body but was later arrested.

Patti went through extensive surgery Monday but she is in serious condition. PLEASE keep Patti, the Washington Chapter of APCO and all of the staff at Whittcom and InterAct in your prayers. Today, 911 CARES team members Richard Behr and Kevin Willett went through the vendor area and asked vendors to sign cards and give us "vendor gifts". We filled a big bag of goodies that Patti will enjoy when she gets better. We also spoke with Peggy at Grays Harbor 9-1-1 to reinforce our financial and emotional support for Patti, her agency and her family. We have spoken to Conference Chair Robin Tieman and members of WA APCO reassuring them of our ongoing support!

One last note, if there is any question of rumors, let us address them. We are 1000% supportive and appreciative of everything that Willis Carter, all Chapters of APCO, individual members and the local conference committee have done. Please do what you can to send your love and support to Patti. See the update below provided by Washington APCO.

Tuesday Update: Patti's son Jeremy has arrived and is being briefed this morning by the medical staff. We're continuing to make other flight and housing arrangements for her other son and daughter to join her. I don't have an update on her condition except to say that she is still in ICU, is in a lot of pain and needs her rest. Cards are welcome
but since she is still in ICU, she is not able to receive flowers and her family asks that you please do not call yet as she is trying to rest. We appreciate all the well wishes and I know they are being passed on to her and her family. If you have any questions, please
don't hesitate to ask.

Cards may be sent to:
Patti VonBargen
c/o Truman Medical Center
2301 Holmes
ICU Room 204 bed 1
Kansas City , MO 64108

Continue to keep her in your prayers...deb

Deb Welsh
Assistant Director - Skagit 911
(360) 428-3200

1730 local time:

InterAct has informed us that the staff member that was hit in Patti's accident is now safely home. We also delivered the first batch of well wishes and cards to the nursing station for Patti’s unit. We didn’t want to bother the family but the nurse was happy to deliver the cards for us. --911 CARES

New Contest

Since everyone seems to be having contests, I decided I would throw one up to see what happens. Mine is a bit on the Pay it Forward theme for quilters. I have many older quilting magazines and sometimes I have sold or tried to sell them on Ebay or my blog. For some reason, I can never seem to get rid of them all.

So, if you are interested in obtaining some wonderful 1980's Quilt World magazines, here is your chance to do so. You must make at least one quilt for the Iowa flood victims. It doesn't have to be large, it can be a crib sized quilt & it doesn't have to be fancy, just something warm and home feeling.

Send the quilt to: Pine Needles Sewing Center, 1000 Old Marion Road N.E., Cedar Rapids, IA 52402 with confirmation and send me the USPS confirmation #.
It is that simple and for the first 3 people that do this, I will send you each out some vintage quilt magazines. You can buy a quilt from a local quilt shop, find one on sale at Ebay, etc. just send out the quilt and please, make sure you send me your name and address to: compassionatequilter@rocketmail.com.

We can together help others through our love of quilting!

Quilt Magazines for Sale

I have several bins full of old quilting magazines and periodically I list a few on Ebay. I have 3 sets listed at this time, but one set already has a bid on it. If you are interested in quilting magazines and looking for the unique, I have the thing for you.

14 issues of Lady's Circle Patchwork Quilts from 1989

11 issues of Quilt World Magazine from 1989

All are in terrific shape and I am selling them for less than a dollar each issue.

Check out Ebay seller, oilman85037

With the prices at Ebay going up/up/up I think I should take my chances here.