Heirloom quilt laundry

Congrats on the new baby Polly. I am so glad you saved those hankies. Too cool to finally have a baby with the right name. I'll look forward to seeing the finished project.

I told some of the baby-making age gals in the family they would be smart to name a girl after my mama (their grandma). There are a lot of things a baby with her name or at least initial would get. Hasn't happened yet but maybe someday.

I have been wondering how affected you are by the oil mess. It seems there is finally some notice that there really has been a huge disaster. I was wondering how long that was going to take. Seems like it has been way too long. : ( Taria

Affected by the oil disaster? We are angry and heart-broken. Eleven countries who knew how offered to help; they were rejected. The precious pelicans, dolphins, turtles - could they have been saved? Can they survive? Now and then there's a glimmer of hope. Local folks have discovered that hay absorbs the muck and the Christmas tree farmers have donated their tree-wrapping equipment to sack the hay. Polly

it is all too often those local and most affected to have the balls to get out there and fix the problem some other idiots caused. what do they do with the big sacks of oil soaked hay? surely there is some way to burn it off to fuel something or other. rather than wasting all that oil our planet has released to us for use. i always wonder what fills what must be huuuuuuge gaping holes under our crust where we remove that oil. is that what helps intigate earthquakes? sink holes? and the like. tis a real shame mankind can not figure out and get moving on the energy that is more freely available for our use...sun, wind, tides. seems to me everyone everywhere has some kind of free energy around them, just gotta find the right ways to quickly move everyone into using that instead of the oil that is polluting our oceans and sky and killing off so many gentle innocent creatures with whom we share this beautiful planet. do we really have the right to cause all this damage, death and mayhem. j.

"Polly Esther" wrote ... Affected by the oil disaster? We are angry and heart-broken. Eleven countries who knew how offered to help; they were rejected. The precious pelicans, dolphins, turtles - could they have been saved? Can they survive? Now and then there's a glimmer of hope. Local folks have discovered that hay absorbs the muck and the Christmas tree farmers have donated their tree-wrapping equipment to sack the hay. Polly

"Taria" wrote in message news:hve7so$k5v$ snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal-september.org...

Your antique hankie quilt sounds lovely and I can't wait to see it. You took several heirlooms and turned them in to one beautiful item to be treasured for the next generation. You are so smart!

As for the oil spill, we see it on television but I don't think the huge size and scope of it has been realized by the public that isn't near the gulf. It's like hurricane Katrina, until you see the damage first hand, no tv screen can really show the devastation. Donna

FWIW, I recently discovered Arm & Hammer Washing Soda. What a wonderful product. We have really 'hard' water - lots of mineral deposits. DH was whining that we needed a new washing machine. I knew it was the water - not the machine. Can't tell you the difference it makes and far cheaper than using 2x the detergent that was recommended as a fix. The box has directions for all sorts of cleaning applications although I've only used on laundry so far. NAYY but would highly recommend this to anyone with similar issues. I can only find it in the local grocery store - no Wally World or Target but I'll take it.

As to the oil spill...what can we say. It is a horrible, tragic situation that politics are, unfortunately, getting in the way of solving. It is, again unfortunately, going to be a long term problem that will take buckets of money and man hours to come close to resolving. Our hearts are with you all.

Kim in NJ

I believe the water in 'our' Swamp is safe; it's not connected to the Gulf of Mexico except for a spillway in case of a flooding rain. OTOH, I don't guess much of anything is 'safe'. Polly

Thank you, Kim. I had forgotten about washing soda. You don't even want to know what laundry looks like here in the Swamp. We certainly have more than our share of mineral deposits even with our fancy filtering systems. It will probably take a while to find washing soda; it's tough now to find the laundry detergent we like. They continue to new and improve it. I really don't want: scented, crunchy, sugar free or anti-anything. Polly

"AuntK"

Don't you just HATE when they 'new & improve' your favorite products - especially laundry & personal care items? It makes me totally crazy. For years I have used good ol' Arm & Hammer powder laundry detergent. Stopped working so well after a while so tried different brands, liquids, etc. But when DH started making noises that he thought we needed a new washing machine I thought research would be far better/ cheaper and discovered the washing soda references. Borax was also recommended but I find the results far better with the washing soda. Difficult to find to be sure. Our local grocery is the only place that carries it in a relatively small box. But at $3/week it would take many, many weeks to justify a new machine. And I went back to my old faithful A&H detergent and it works a charm now. DH is a convert as well now. And if I get in the mood to do some serious, heavy-duty cleaning, it will be interesting to see how well it works compared to all the other products I've been using to little/no avail.

Kim in NJ

Oh Polly, I can just imagine how gorgeous your creation is. I can't wait to see photos of it. Remember, you don't have to wait to finish the whole thing before posting pics. (hint, hint)

And congratulations on the baby. A blessing by any name.

Sunny

On Thu, 17 Jun 2010 17:23:33 -0500, Polly Esther wrote (in article ):

So glad it turned out! So it seems Dawn is really gentle. This is the second time in 4 days that I heard about it used for washing fibers.

It might replace my old stand-by of Ivory since it also cuts grease.

Maureen

On Fri, 18 Jun 2010 07:49:55 -0500, Polly Esther wrote (in article ):

Take this with a grain of salt, but somehow I have it in my head that washing soda and soda ash are basically the same thing. If that really is the case, you could probably always order from some place that caters to hand dyers, like Dharma.

Maureen

It is indeed the same thing, and you can get it cheaper in pool supply. I gather it is used for PH adjustments in swimming pools.

NightMist

Try

I have some of that stuff. I never made the connection. Thanks NM. Nobody told me I was going to have to become a chemist to have a pool. I feel like I am still learning with the chemicals. Taria