Decorating finished

 I was a little late this year but I managed to finish my Christmas decorating. Whew!
This year the log cabin tree has ornaments! I designed this in 2009. If you want to whip one up before tomorrow, click HERE for the pattern.

My sons and grandsons visited me this week so I am feeling content and cozy. Now that I have the decorating done I can sit back and read with my new Kindle.

I'm also weaving a collar for a sweater to use in the forthcoming Knitters' Weaving Projects book.

Night visitor

This opossum has been hanging out in my house. He (or she) has been coming in through the cat door and eating the cats' food and drinking water. The critter scattered food and dipped some in the water bowl. I put out a call for help on the Bethel Island area of Facebook. I received over 50 suggestions -- some of them were very funny.
One nice lady, Linda, came over to my house and brought a cat trap for me to borrow. I set it up last night and this morning the possum was in it. I took him for a long car ride (in the trunk so he could not see where we were going). He has a new home in as yet not built waterfront development. I hope he is happy there.
Thank you all in my community for your support.

Super Moon

We will all be able to see a "super moon" this weekend. It is especially beautiful where I live in the California Delta because it hangs over Mt. Diablo. I made a little paper pieced foundation in 2009 as my tribute to the moon over Diablo.

You can see the old post here. There are instructions for making the moon for applique, and the foundations for paper piecing.

Got some 'splainin' to do

I made the chocolate quilt top and took progress pictures as I went along. I know what I did and how it went together, but now I have to explain how to do it so I can put out a pattern for others to follow. I have 10 draft pages of Dear Hearts so far. I will look for a pattern tester to try it out in another color-way. I'll show the tester my project and hand over the pattern draft pages. I won't add any verbal explanation. If she or he gets terribly stuck we can talk and I can add more words or pictures. It is an interesting process to come up with a final, salable pattern.

 

Where did Feather go?

Last evening, way past dinnertime, I started to worry about my cat, Feather. I called and called him but his big white form did not emerge from the darkness outside. By 10:30 PM I was really worried. I had to go to bed. I passed by my sewing room door and thought I'd peek in there. To my great surprise, there was Feather. He had not made a sound. I did not go into my sewing room all day yesterday. I don't even remember opening the door once during the day. Very strange. I am sure he was comfortable because he had lots of soft piles of fabric to cuddle with.

 

And, speaking of cats, we have a new resident in the house. Her name is Phoenix. She is less than a year old. She was abandoned by a family which moved out of a rental house on Taylor Road in late March. The day after they moved out, the house caught fire and burned to the ground and burned up the house next door, too. A cat rescue organization found her and she was in "foster cat care" for a while. A friend called me and asked if I wanted a cat. I did not want a cat, but when I heard her story I said, "bring her over." When I saw her I was so surprised because she looked just exactly like our old cat Aucuba who lived with us for 18 years. Phoenix seems to be the right name for her because her coat looks as if it is "sooty." She knows her name now, is very pleasant, and gets along very well with Feather. I've tried and tried to take a good photo of her with no luck. She looks grumpy in her pictures, but she isn't.

Island Crab Feed and my checkered past



Photo by BrendaLou Scott

Last Saturday, I attended the Island's Annual Crab Feed benefiting the Santa Sack program. There were hundreds of people in Scout Hall (our community center). The Santa Sack program gives gifts to needy children in the Bethel Island area and holds a Christmas party for them.

The Hall was so full and I wandered around looking for someone I knew. People come from neighboring towns for this delicious event. I did not see a familiar face (except my friends tending bar, collecting 212 tickets, and helping in the kitchen). After fifteen minutes I had almost decided to leave and go home. Then I spotted a quilting friend, Maxine. Whew, I had a dinner companion.

We had all the crab we could eat. The servers were high school students doing their community service work. They kept the huge platters of crab, French bread, and melted butter coming without a moments pause. They also kept the waste buckets coming for the empty crab shells. There was pineapple upside-down cake for dessert. What good workers they were.

As I was getting dressed before the event, I pulled on a favorite pair of black and white houndstooth wool pants, and thought, "I've had these pants for a long time." I pulled on a black jersey from my high school class reunion in 2008. I spiffed up the outfit with my brand new red corduroy Big Shirt from L.L. Bean.

Yesterday, I was looking through some old photos trying to find pictures I could use to promote my 40th anniversary reprint of my little Spinning with a Drop Spindle booklet. One photo surprised me.

There I was in 1974, spinning on my spindle wearing the same houndstooth pants. Yes, I realized I've worn these pants for at least 38 years!

So, if you know any knitters that might enjoy spinning their own yarn, click on the cover picture and get them a nice little Christmas present. It's time for me to get a new pair of pants!

Thanksgiving for 600 people

For the last ten years, a free Thanksgiving meal has been served at Scout Hall, Bethel Island's community center. Usually 200-300 people show up to enjoy the feast. This year, nine (9) days before Thanksgiving, our Chamber of Commerce manager, Cha-Cha, found out that the church group from Antioch which had been putting on the dinner was not going to do it this year.

Cha-Cha posted a notice on our Bethel Island Facebook page and asked for help. She said it "was an overwhelming request for me to even comprehend." Help poured in. Offers of money from businesses and service groups and individuals, turkeys from the grocery store and restaurants, pies, dressing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, aluminum containers and paper and plastic supplies were all donated. People volunteered to come to Scout Hall and cook during the days before Thanksgiving. The hall has a well-equipped kitchen and large professional refrigerators so this was possible. Other people cooked at home and brought their platters and bowls full of hot food to the hall Thanksgiving morning.

The Island population is around 2,500 people (including neighboring Hotchkiss Tract). The annual dinner is served to anyone who walks in the door, and is delivered to shut-ins that day. There are many single people on the island, and we have a high population of elderly folks because this is a retirement place.

 Food Bank coordinator from the Island Baptist Church, Celia, and Cha-Cha

Cha-Cha reported the next day that an "astounding number of meals were provided -- 535 meals were served at the hall and delivered to shut-ins. Gosh, I was flabbergasted." Bags of packaged-good groceries were given to those who needed them on Thanksgiving when they left after their meal.
On Friday morning, a group arrived at the hall to bag up the remaining food for the Food Bank where another 65 people were fed. Cha-Cha said, "Thank you certainly does not seem like adequate praise to you. But we did it. . . . To see the smiling faces, to see. . . .groups of friends gather to share a meal rather than sitting at home alone. You all made it possible. Aloha Nui Loa. ..."

As if that were not enough, Saturday morning we saw Cha-Cha and her good friend Ron Dolittle in the community park next to Scout Hall unpacking containers of outdoor Christmas decorations and lights. The Saturday after Thanksgiving is the traditional day to get the park ready for the holidays.

Scout Hall in the background
Ron attached lights to the light poles using a tall ladder that Scott Bigness provided, and Dorreen Oxford brought some new (to us) decorations for this year, including a singing Santa for the sleigh.

Fire station quilt on TV

The Bethel Island Fire Station was on KTVU Fox 2 last night. A reporter named Noelle and photojournalist Randee Deason from channel 2 were here on the island filming a piece about our fire station. They interviewed Chief Hugh Henderson and went inside the station to see the mold and asbestos damage. Henderson called me over to the station to talk about it becoming a historical building.
The County Board of Supervisors approved the historic designation last week. That means that the station can be repaired. This was important so the building does not have to be raised up in the air above flood height. Historic buildings get an exemption from the FEMA floodplain requirements.
I rushed from my house to meet the crew at the station. I did not have time to change and get all fixed up for an interview. I brought along parts of the fundraising quilt I am making, and there is a quick glimpse of the pieces in the video.
I told the reporters that we would like them to come back and film when our volunteers are working on refurbishing the building. Those could be good action shots with a lot of human interest.

I think if you click on the picture above will take you to the segment. You will have to sit through a commercial before it starts.

I've got the picture now

I found my inspiration on Tanya Watanabe’s Blog. She showed a photo quilt she was making with a pattern by Karen Montgomery called “Picture This Pattern.”  Click on Tanya’s quilt to go to her blog.

 What a clever idea. I sent off for the pattern this morning. In the meantime I sketched out my ideas for arranging the fire station quilt. Putting the miscellaneous photos in film strips is such a good solution. I have not found a background fabric or figured out the border yet, so I just filled in with grey. I’ll be using my own dimensions, but credit must go to the pattern designer, Karen.

 You can click on the photo below to order the pattern from the Quilt Company.

How to arrange the elements?

I sure would like some help arranging these quilting blocks into a coherent quilt. I’ve made the blocks and printed photos on cloth for our fundraising quilt for the Bethel Island fire station refurbishing project. The largest block is a whole station view which is 32.5” wide by 17” high (unfinished size).

The other elements are: a strip 19” long by 1.5” wide saying “There is no future without a past” (I can appliqué this strip anywhere on the finished top); a Dalmatian dog face with floppy ears -- 6” wide by 8” high; a fire badge -- 3.25” wide by 3.5” high;  a contemporary photo of the fire station – 10.5’ wide by 6.75” high; a vintage black and white photo from 1951 – 10.5” wide by 7.75” high; a composite photo made from a contemporary picture and part of the vintage photo – 18” wide by 9.25” high including the cloth frame. (I think I shot the elements and the large block at the same scale, but I’m not positive.)

 I can make filler blocks to put around the elements and make top all fit together. I thought I’d use Marcia’s Quilter’ Cache 8-inch block called Maltese Cross because it is a symbol used by firefighters. I can make it in any color combination and any appropriate size. I can make filler strips and sashing to fill in the gaps, too.

If you have an hour or two to spare can you help me? You can click on the photos and print them out. Then cut the elements apart and shuffle them around on a piece of paper. When you get them arranged, tape or glue them to the paper and put your arrangement in your scanner and/or copier and send it to me. Of course if you have a graphics program you can use that. My e-mail address can be found in my profile, but you can send me mail at: christine (at sign) winnowing.com. Thank you very much. I have to present the quilt top at the county historical committee meeting on Thursday.

I have a few more touches for the largest block. I have to appliqué a sign saying “Bethel Island Fire Department” above the window. 

Bits and pieces coming together

My last posts have been all about our island fire station closing. It’s been very upsetting to me and all of us living here. However there is hope for getting the station to serve an important function. We’ve applied to have it declared a historic structure. If it is designated, then we can start refurbishing it with the help of a licensed contractor supervising volunteer laborers. Funds will be needed for materials.

How do people raise money for a good cause? They make quilts, of course. My printer has been printing, my machine has been humming. Today I did a template for the centerpiece.

 I enlarged my sketch and am now laying out fabrics to use. The stripe at the top right will be for the Quonset Hut building front section, the red brick fabric will be used for the brick outside-wainscoting along the front, the brown for the shingle trim, the off-white for the cement block walls, and the blue for the sky. It’s fun to pull from my stash. I’ve found two fire truck photos to put in the bays. I’ll print the photos on fabric.
This is the photo (below) of the station that I am copying, but the quilted one will have the doors open.

 I’ve finished another aspect of the quilt by printing a composite photo on cloth (2012 and 1951). I am really pleased with it. It will be fun to quilt around the arched Quonset Hut roof tying the two parts together. I’ll emphasize a few other details with quilting, too.

I needed help with a caption for the composite piece. So I went on Facebook to our Bethel Island group, posted a photo, and asked for ideas. Jack Whitener, our Island fire chief from the 1970s and 1980s, came up with a wonderful caption: “There is no future without a past.” I printed it out the caption on fabric and I will appliqué it on the finished quilt.

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to ...

In the olden days there were not any fire hydrants on Bethel Island. Nowadays there are fire hydrants, but they don’t have any water in them. Sometime in between there was water pumped from the slough available for the hydrants.
Here we are in 2012 and our hydrants are covered with burlap and don’t work. When the new bridge to the island was built, the big pump was taken out. I’m pretty sure the water pipes to the hydrants are still underground along Bethel Island Road.
Do you suppose we could get a new pump at the bridge? If there are leaks in the pipes to the hydrants they could be fixed. Who knows about this?
If there was a fire near downtown, it would be good to have a water source here. If water tenders come to the island from Oakley and Brentwood it would be good if they could fill up on the island when their tanks run out instead of going back to their stations five or more miles away.
The last records I saw showed that Bethel Island’s tax paid to the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District was over $700,000 per year. Maybe some of that money could be allocated to a new pump at the bridge. Perhaps there are plumbers on the island who can test the pipe and tell us what needs to be done. I’m sure there would be willing volunteers to do some digging down to the pipes and help repair them under the supervision of a licensed plumber.
I don’t think we should have to wait and hope the Delta Coves project will bring water to the hydrants.
This is an editorial.

Saving grace (we hope)

Heather Campbell and I took our “Application for Nomination” to Martinez yesterday. We are hoping to get the Bethel Island Fire Station approved as a historical building by the County’s Historical Landmarks Advisory Committee, and then by the Board of Supervisors. If the building is chosen, we can refurbish it and have it ready as a command center and gathering place for paid-on-call firefighters and emergency medical responders here on Bethel Island.

East Contra Costa Fire Protection District (ECCFPD) could not fix up the building because it was in a floodplain and had to be raised up in the air if they worked on it. However, there is an exemption from the FEMA floodplain rules if a building is a Historic Structure it does NOT have to be raised above the mean flood height.

The BIMAC approved the application at Tuesday night’s meeting and put up some money for the application fee. Islanders also contributed for the fee. Thanks to Page Pratt, Grant, Dori Anderson, and Marguerite Lawry we could pay the $500 application fee yesterday!

            See my post from July1 about the closing of the station.

The doors rolled down this morning

 A few of us were there at 8 a.m. this morning, July 1, 2012, when the last shift went off duty. A new shift didn’t arrive to take their place. Our Bethel Island Fire Station is closed.

Ben Whitener, Karen Israel, Captain Robert Ruddick, Joni Fraga-Pratt, Page Pratt, Bob Kenny

It was a sad goodbye. A volunteer fire department started on the Island in 1948. In the early 50s, a Quonset Hut was erected to house the engine. In the 1970s a paid chief and an assistant were hired and the station was manned 24/7 with paid-on-call volunteers. The firefighters have been protecting the Island for 64 years.

A single medical emergency person will be on the site for a while. Engines will come to the Island from the nearby towns of Oakley and Brentwood (over 5 miles away). The reason for the closure, we are told, is that a bond measure on the recent ballot did not pass.

This morning, about 45 minutes after the station closed, a medical call came in. The firefighters just stood there. They could not go to give aid. About 10 minutes later a fire truck from Oakley arrived on the Island.

Plans are afoot to preserve the station and get it designated as an historic structure. You will learn more about this in further posts.

It's Flag Day

The flag is flying at my house

JP Morgan Chase needs to keep better track of things

creative commons photo from Wikipedia

 Poor Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JP Morgan Chase Bank, had to appear before the Senate Banking Committee today to explain a little bookkeeping error of $20+ Billion dollars.

I wish he would appear at my house and explain a somewhat smaller bookkeeping error his bank made with my mortgage. I was notified last month that there was a shortage in my escrow account. The escrow account is used to pay my homeowner’s insurance.

“What did I do?” I wondered.

It turns out I didn’t do anything wrong. They made an error and did not withdraw enough money from my bank account to cover the insurance. I’ve had the mortgage for many years and the insurance goes up maybe $10 to $20 a year. Pretty simple. But now they say I owe them $500 and they will take it out of my account in increments of $70 a month starting in July. Darn.

Ready for a new home

 Not me! I’m staying here. I have five (5) Singer Featherweight sewing machines. That’s five too many for one person. I sew on my trusty Singer 301s.

I posted on Yahoo’s Featherweight Group:
“I have a batch (5) of Five Featherweight sewing machines, including a white one. My husband and I bought them over the years. We joked about them being for our retirement. Well, he died a year and a half ago and I am running out of money to pay my taxes. So, I’d like to sell the batch as a bunch.
I don’t want to pack them individually. I live in the California Delta which is 60 miles east of San Francisco.
The machines were all running when I put them away in a closet. I think Featherweights are going for around $250 nowadays, so I’d like to sell the batch for $1,250 as are, where are."

I’ve had e-mail inquiries asking “Where will you ship them?” “Can I pick up one and take it to a sewing machine shop to be checked out?” “What are the serial numbers?” “Please send pictures.”

I don’t want to ship them. But I did take some photos and turned the machines upside down to find their numbers.

The serial numbers (starting at the bottom step) are:
AL193324
AM175588
AF484822
EV006700
AF077172
Even though these are “featherweight” it was a big job for me to haul them out and set them up for their photo session today. I sure hope someone in the Bay Area wants a flock of Featherweights.

Lists

I have a to-do list. Yesterday, some important items were taken care of by Tom and his working partner, Jerry.


Fix propane pipe leak.
Level stove.
Put window-wash stuff in the car.
Pound down nails on back porch.
Seal main waste (sewer) pipe.
Fix powder room toilet paper roll holder.
Mail quilted diaper-changing pad to Emerson.
Finish my Word for the year banner.

I was feeling very unhappy and discouraged about the roof leak last week, but learned it can be monitored and taken care of.


This week there were new leaks – under the house.

When Tom and Jerry were sealing gaps in the insulation a while back they smelled propane gas. They did the soap test and found a leak in the pipe. (I wonder how long that has been leaking? My propane bill has been outlandish this winter.) Yesterday T & J bought new pipe parts – elbow, union, 2 nipples, and sealer. I left the house to get my hair cut while they were underneath sawing and pounding. When I returned home we tested the stove burners, the water heater, the clothes dryer, and the furnace – they all came back on.

While T & J were wandering around under the house they saw water (or worse) seeping out of the main sewer waste pipe. They fixed that leak with some sort of sealer.

The toilet paper roll holder in the powder room has been wobbly since it was put in by my dear brother-in-law and my son. Every so often the holder has come apart when someone pulls sheets off the roll. It was startling. Now, thanks to Jerry the holder is firmly in place.

My stove top wasn’t level, and when I cooked an egg in a fry pan it always slid to the back of the pan. Tom leveled the range yesterday afternoon and my eggs should cook in the center of my pan from now on.

On their way out the back door, they pounded down the nails on the porch deck so I won’t trip.

And, they put the window-wash stuff in my car before they left. (I could have done that myself, but I was not sure which pipe to fill under the hood. Now I know.)

I’m starting a new list.

Raindrops falling on my face

It’s around 4:00 in the morning. I am awake. I awoke because I felt a drip on my face. I was puzzled. I felt another drop. I touched my pillow and it was damp. What the??? I got out of bed and turned on the light and saw water standing on my bedside cupboard. Oh.

 There is a stream of water pouring through the ceiling.

 I grabbed towels and spread them around on the cupboard, on my bed, on the floor. I put a dishpan on the cupboard. It is filling up fast.

I’m going to be up the rest of the night emptying the pan. It fills up about an inch every 10 minutes. As long as I’m up I might as well blog.

I hired some fellows last week to clean out the gutters and weather-strip the doors. I thought I was prepared for this storm. Darn. I’ll have to wait until 8:00 a.m. to call them and probably call a roofer.

Update 10:40 a.m.

The leak has stopped! My old friend, Tom Knorr, came to the house right after I called him this morning. He climbed up to the roof through a skylight. He found standing water (see my post from 2009 here). He took apart the drain coverings and the water rushed out the drain pipes. It was a waterfall. Within a half hour the drip in my bedroom stopped.

Tom and I used to work together at the island levee district. I am sure glad he was willing to come and help me out. There is more work to be done up on the roof, so he will come back and figure things out when it’s dry. Right now I have lots of towels in the dryer.

White Christmas morning

Frosty morning, December 25, 2011

Good work

 Tyson, the Sears’ Blue Crew man, arrived in the early morning tule fog to fix my range. I was really glad to see him. I told him I wanted to take a photo and he said, “Just a minute.” He ducked back into his truck. When he appeared again I asked him if he had stopped to comb his hair. He laughed.

He installed the new number pad connection for the stove and it is working again.

Today I baked cookies (California Gold Bricks) and made a chicken casserole for dinner. Ahhhhh.

Here is a close up of Tyson so you can see his hair style.

Mike from AT&T was here last evening and he was nice and efficient checking my new U-verse internet connection. I forgot to take a photo of him.

I really like tech guys. Now my life can get back to normal.