Our thoughts are with everyone who's preparing for the arrival of hurricane Sandy, or Frankenstorm, the name some have given the weather event that is on its way towards impacting the east coast of the United States. Buckets of rain, a rising ocean, wind and even snow farther inland, the storm is predicted to affect millions of people.
It may be too late for this event, but I wondered... how do you protect your quilts and quilting supplies? Your fabric, machines, tools... everything we use to sew a quilt. Some of us are faced with events that happen quickly, like earthquakes and tornadoes, while others sometimes have more lead time for natural disasters -- hurricanes, flooding and the fires out west are three examples.
Please make a comment to tell us how (or if) you protect your quilts and supplies, and feel free to share your cleanup experiences from past events, too.
Comments
flight sceduled for houston on Tuesday. We knew that wouldn’t happen. Really bummed out. Lots of money involved. Good old US Air allowed us to go on Sunday insted of Tuesday. I am excited but worried about family left behind. Hopefully my quilting room will be
safe. If not there are lots of things to buy in Houston.
Easy prepping things I do is to put perishable items in buckets with a rubber seal in the lid. Mylar bags could be used as well. The grocery store bakery is a great place to get icing buckets. they are big enough for your fat quarters and other supplies. you could try tubbermaid tubs for your machines….but they won’t be much good if submirged in water. check out disaster prep sites for some good ideas for long term or weather proof storage.
After I finished bringing in things from the yard, I went down to my basement sewing room to get things together down there. I’m almost positive my basement will take on water again. So I’ve brought the machine and iron upstairs, then gathered up all my scissors, pins, rotary cutter…all the metal stuff that won’t like moisture. After that, I started putting together the “valuable” goodies to bring upstairs…my drawer full of Hoffman batik fat quarter bundles, some jelly rolls, a ton of charm packs. A BOM in progress. A few of the newer books and patterns I’d just gotten. Favorite rulers and templates. Unfortunately, the more I looked around, the more I found to bring upstairs. What’s left down there is packed in large plastic tubs and stacked on basement shelving. Last year, I’d gotten about four inches of water down there, I don’t expect much more than that. But a drop of water is a drop too much! I’m wishing fellow quilters good luck in this storm. We are in New Jersey, in the suburban Philadelphia area, and are expecting a LOT of wind and rain.
I feel for those who have to leave their homes. I left mine for over a week during the fire in Colorado this summer. I was very lucky not to have too much damage. I learned though, that things get broken if you try to take them with you. My dad always said three moves is equal to fire damage, now I see why. So be careful. The most important thing I learned though, is things get very crazy and going to where most other people are going is not the best choice. I went west to a town up the pass, so did the folks from four other towns in the pass and it was a mad house to the point it was dangerous. So plan an evacuation route and place a little different than the norm if you can. Good luck to all of you and drive carefully.
Living here in tornado-prone Kansas, there is little to do about saving quilting things when we often have no time to prepare. I make sure my quilts are always stored in Rubbermaid tubs even though they say not to store quilts in plastic. At least some protection is offered. If I have time, I put my sewing machine in a tub with thick foam sheets for protection from movement, and strap it shut with wide canvas straps used for strapping down heavy loads on trucks. I learned that from a lady whose husband is a trucker and he devised this method for her machine. Often, when a thunderstorm is real bad, I do this anyway just to be on the safe side when there is time. Also, in flood prone areas, those plastic bags which can have the air suctioned out with a vacuum cleaner are also a good choice. They float. Be sure to include your name and address and cell phone number inside everything you pack in case someone else finds it.
No basements in South Florida, so I’ve learned to package and lift as high as possible. My expensive embroidery machine spent the 2004-2005 storms in double contractor bags on top of the guest bed, and I packed as much as possible into either Rubbermaid bins or contractor bags, which are good for cleanup after the storms pass and you need to corral lots of small vegetation (leaves, branches, banana hands, etc), and, sadly, water-damaged beyond salvation “stuff”. Photo albums and laptops go into 2-gallon Ziplocs, then into contractor bags or buckets. I was probably a bit paranoid because I lived in the middle of the river leading from the Jupiter Inlet and a storm surge might be ugly.
Having taken a direct hit by three storms in 13 months, my thoughts are with everyone in the path of this storm. Before the power fails, fill coolers with Ziploc bags of ice to chill foods while ice, but usable as water after the ice melts. After transferring stuff for that day to a cooler, I covered my fridge with quilts to trap whatever cool air remained for a couple of days while I whittled away at the food inside.
Lots of storm prep advice is available online. Sorry to be so long-winded
Thank all of you who posted ideas for keeping our treasures as safe a possible..
I am just sorry that you have all had to learn these things from experience.
God Bless all who are in harms way…
Out here in So.Cal., we worry about earthquakes more than hurricanes – although we had problems with El Niņo a while back – and I’ve had problems with packing anything into ex-frosting tubs because of the fat content from the previous ingredients. I scrub the tubs at least twice with Dawn (liquid dish washing detergent) and then pack whatever I’m wanting to save in them in two layers of zip-lock plastic bags, squeezing out the air of course.
In our Church, we’re taking a lot of interest in emergency preparedness regarding various stages – the immediate needs, a three-day pack, a three-week pack, etc. – and getting ready NOW, just in case, concentrating on food, water, etc. However, nobody has given any advice on how to manage our “stashes” and other sewing supplies, so I’m glad this topic has been addressed here!
My prayers are with all of you facing this latest eastern storm.
Sue
CMNorland mentions packing items in ‘contractor bags’ for protection from elements. What is a contractor bag? Where would one purchase one? Thanks and best wishes to all who are digging out now.
Contractor bags are the super-heavy duty black trash bags that contractors use for cleanup of construction materials. The are most readily found at the big home improvement places like Home Depot and Lowes however they most likely may be found at most smaller supply stores as well.