Winfield flood news + fundraising results

It feels like my flood-related postings have been going on forever, but floods aren’t exactly the quickest natural disaster. My next post will be stitchy, promise ;)

Thank you all so much for helping me with this little fundraising campaign!! Your Studio Twenty purchases enabled me to donate $196 towards the MOHS Disaster Response Team. That’s right.. ALMOST TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS! The rescue workers are still finding animals– today they logged 16, one of which was a poor kitty who had been in a tree for who knows how long. Like I said before, I’m very impressed with what they are accomplishing here. Here’s a thumbnail of the donation receipt, click to read:

The deer have also been having a hard time…they are either getting stranded on the levees or bolting out onto the main road. (video of a bunch on a levee) The highway department has posted signs that read, “Crash Hazard Ahead Deer on Road” and today we passed a few hand-made signs, like this one:

Today’s pictures are all a bit blurry/crooked but I was trying to drive, watch for deer, and take pics at the same time.

 

Winfield Flood pets fundraising continues

I was in the hospital’s surgery waiting room for the better part of a day and stitched up this Jane Austen design from The Sampler Girl. (you can find the chart here) Hubby has forbidden my mentioning his surgery on my blog (although I guess I just did, huh?) but I will say that he is home and resting now. You’ll have to please excuse the un-ironed state of this little finish :)

I just added a few more counting heart sets to my Etsy shop along with a few more threadholders, including the Jane Austen style. Don’t forget that all sales are still going towards helping the pets who are victims of the flood here in Winfield. So far we have raised $84.00 together! Thank you so much for your help! Later this week, I will make the payment to the Missouri Humane Society and post the final total.

• AP News blurb
• ST. Louis Today article about the MOHS
• NY Times article about levee strength

I’m hoping to take a day of leisure tomorrow and attend a stitching get together at a friend’s house. Have a lovely day, everyone… stay safe and dry!

 

Saturday morning in Winfield

New York Times article

OK, photojournalist I am not… but I needed to run up to the post office this morning and thought I’d snap a few pics along the way. The National Guard has the roads blocked so I couldn’t get near enough to the flood water to take pictures of that (which is just as well– I felt a bit vulture-ish as it was) but I was able to take pics of some of the helpers we have here. I saw insurance trailers, The Red Cross, The Salvation Army, The Humane Society, and The National Guard.

I stopped and talked to the Humane Society and had a look inside their mobile rescue unit… while I’m sure the animals would rather be home with their families, they are certainly well cared for. The trailer was air conditioned and clean, and the cages were plenty big for them. But like the guy said, “we got ‘em outta the water and that’s the most important thing”. I asked about donations, and he said that because their needs change so quickly, monetary donations through their website is the best way to go.  Edited to add: The Humane Society has built a much larger temporary shelter at the Pike County fairgrounds.  This is just one of the mobile rescue units in operation; they accept the pets (either from rescue workers or owners) here and then drive them up to the main emergency shelter.

I’ve decided to donate any money I earn through Studio Twenty for the next few days to the Missouri Humane Society. (so if there’s anything in my Etsy shop you were waffling about, now would be a good time to un-waffle) Every cent made on sales will be given to the Humane Society. Please feel free to post the link http://studiotwenty.etsy.com on your blogs or message boards you frequent, too. I’ll keep everyone updated on how much we raised ;)

Thank you SO much for all of your sweet comments and emails!

 

Winfield flood news

At 10:23 Wednesday night, the Winfield levee broke. Emergency evacuations were ordered for those living on the East side of Hwy. 79… the high school has been taken over by the Red Cross to become a shelter, and the National Guard has been supervising the sandbagging efforts to reinforce the secondary levee. There are 24-hour sandbagging effort, military troops at the intersections, and a continual buzz of helicopters in the background. Here are a few links to videos, but I suspect you’ve seen it all before if you watch CNN at all. According to them, Winfield is due to float away any second!

• news video of Winfield sandbagging
• helicopter flood tour video
• You Tube video of Winfield levee breach

The good news (for us) is that we are safe & dry and in NO danger of flooding… we live on a hill, near the high school/shelter. Our power has been going off, and we may become slightly stranded if the main road into town floods, but those are very minor inconveniences compared to people who are watching their houses fill up with water. The flood stage here is 26ft and we are currently at 35.6ft, and rising.

 

a tag + goodies

A tag from Karin:

Where I was 10 years ago: I was in Albuquerque, enduring what seemed to be my 17th month of pregnancy. I was in retail management, so I was working a zillion hours for about two dollars a week. My apartment building was located in one of the less-desirable parts of town and was home to several drug-peddling cholos. The one good thing I can say about those gangster boys is that they respected motherhood… my being so obviously pregnant meant that I wasn’t in danger. (I moved out of there just before giving birth, though… wasn’t gonna push my luck) Once, one of the guys parked his car just behind mine so I was blocked in. I had to get to work, so I went over and knocked on the door… I heard “what the f–” and the b-word bandied about but I knocked again and the door was ripped open by this big dude, who said started to say something about a “stupid b–” but saw my belly and stopped mid-sentence. When I launched into my explanation of how parking behind my car in such a way hindered my ability to get around, he apologized, yelled at his visitor to move his car NOW, and told me to have a good day. The dude who came out to move the car called me “ma’am” and promised it would never happen again. Really weird.

Five things on my to-do list for today: laundry, update Etsy shop, find dance shoe bag because class starts tomorrow, stitch on my Fair & Square exchange, and work on a new My Mark design.

Snack foods I like: grape tomatoes, microwave popcorn, velveeta & salsa with chips, butter bread

If I were a billionaire, I’d: Heck– I can hardly imagine being a thousand-aire but I suppose I’d pay off the house, pay for my parent’s new house, and hire a landscaper. I’d love to start a safe house for battered women & their children, one that provides counseling and employment training services along with a new wardrobe for starting over. And if I could buy more time, I’d do that for sure ;)

Places I’ve lived: Though I’ve traveled quite a bit, I’ve only really lived in 2 places: Missouri (in the greater St. Louis area) and Albuquerque, NM.

People I want to know more about: Lody, Pauline, Linda, and Michele.

I was feeling rabbity and bought myself some more of Nakisha’s artwork (on Etsy here) and a little purse for my daughter (found at this Etsy shop). Etsy is having a Yart Sale (a yard sale of art) until Friday… you can type “yart” into the search box and find some fun things.

I finally broke down and ordered these Dear Diary charts, and I got The Sampler Girl’s yummy new design in yesterday’s mail! I always enjoy Tanya’s designs, and she’s become a good friend as well :)

Well, I’m off to start on my to-do list… have a lovely day, everyone! Today’s random blinky:

 

Webkinz sleeping bag tutorial

Start with 2 rectangles of coordinating fabric, right sides together. To figure the correct size, lay your Webkinz (or other pet) on the table in their normal sleeping position and measure their height & width… double the width measurement because the rectangle will ultimately be folded in half. (pardon me for getting so personal here, but Cheese needed a rectangle 9 inches tall and 18 inches wide) Sew all around the edge, leaving a space for turning:

Turn right side out and iron the seams so they’re nice and crisp. You do not have to sew the little gap shut… it will be taken care of when you do the next seam. Fold the rectangle in half so that the outside fabric is together and the lining fabric faces out:

Start at the folded edge and sew a seam on 2 sides, stopping a few inches from the top edge of bag:

Turn the bag right side out and fold down a cuff on one side of the sleeping bag. I didn’t press it down at first, but it kept flipping up onto Cheese’s head when he was trying to rest… I recommend pressing:

The sleeping bag part is done! Make a little pillow with leftover fabric:

All that’s left to do is see how your little buddy likes it:

I made two of these… one for Cheese (who slept like a log last night) and one to send to a friend of mine. They were pretty easy to make; I hope the tutorial is helpful.

I wound up taking a giant nap today (too much fun over the weekend?) and I apologize for the delay in updating my Etsy shop… I’ve a few special orders for threadholders to take care of before I can make more for the shop, but I promise I’ll get to them asap. Happy Tuesday, everyone!

 

like 10 minutes ago it was Thursday

Goodness, but the past three days have been a blur! Friday we went the annual bookfair at the St. Charles convention center–it’s so big (and neat) that people drive in from all over the country. We spent 6 hours there and carried 4 loads to the car…one more book and I would’ve had to call my dad to bring the truck!

It was also the weekend of the annual St. Peters Old Tyme Picnic. I took my daughter (and Cheese, of course) to the parade on Saturday morning. Here’s Cheese in my purse with his friend Baby Angel and their parade flag:

One of the fun things about this parade is all of the candy that’s thrown out! Every year we come away with a plastic grocery bag full. Generally the parade people throw the candy up to the curb, but occasionally bits land in the street, and then it looks like this:

There are a few groups that walk near the curb and actually hand candy to people, though:

I noticed that the local grocery store (with its huge shopping cart float), the Corvette club, the crazy racing Shriners, the gymnastics camp, and 2 churches were missing from the parade this year… maybe because of the weather? But you can always count on the POW-MIA guys to make an appearance:

I remembered to take a picture of something that irritates me every time I see it, too:

It makes me sad and angry that Americans have become so lazy, so unpatriotic, so disrespectful that we have to be reminded to stand for our flag. I’m guessing the fact that it was Flag Day went largely unnoticed as well.

Sunday I was able to sit and stitch on a new design for a little bit and I also got out the sewing machine and made Cheese a little something, which I’ll have to show you in another post. Right now, I need to work on a few special orders before hitting the pool ;)