My sister lives in Va and they don't have power-she has cancer-I feel so bad for them-I would travel 6 hours to take food in a cooler but they said you might not even be able to get to them. I wish I had the power to help them all. We had 105 temperature yesterday and just going out in it I was red faced by the time I got home.I pray that this weather pattern leaves soon.We in Kingsport,TN aren't use to this kind of weather so I can gladly say I am ready for Fall.lol But I ask each of you please say a prayer for all that are without power, cancer and all that are sick and the power people that are out there in the heat trying to restore power.

I also live in Iowa and my power went out at 5:36pm Saturday and wasn't back on until 24 hours later. I was in my sewing room in the basement when the lights went out. Trying to cut frabic by flashlight and candles doesn't work to well. I finally went for a walk and went to bed early. I've lived in the same house for 34 years and this is the first time power was out that long. A tree fell on the wires on my side of the street, across the street still had power.

If you have some light, you can cut fabric. Catch up on reading.

A treadle has a large foot pedal that is rocked back and forth to power the drive shaft. If your RA does not affect your feet, I think you'd be fine.

Seeing all this happen makes me want to start nagging my husband about starting on the solar power for the house that he plans to do. I can do without light, we have candles and such, but with no power we have no water or A/C. Without A/C here I am not sure I could make it. I think I would be packing my my Featherweight and going to a hotel in Vegas.

we had bad storms 2 nites in a row thank god didnt loose power hope you gets your back up soon!!!

Great ideas all! Don't have a basement though. But that is a minor issue. Treadle machine is great to keep your mind off things if the electricity is gone. I have never thought about those solar lights for the interior of the house to get around at night. Collecting rain water is always a good idea if you don't have mosquito issues or if you screen in your water collection buckets to keep the bugs out.

Yea for treadle in times like these. Hope you and family are ok though.

hi can you tell me what is frog stitching??? we had a storm here on friday nite and was told no electric for at least a week

Frog stitching = rip it, rip it, rip it:D

Also known as reverse sewing. :)

Jan in VA

I have my husband attach my sewing machine to the generator!! Along with a light in my sewing room! No down time for me!! hehehe

I am glad to hear that you all are okay after the storms went thru!!!! I know the feeling of running on generators for a few days. Learned how to be creative with a BBQ for all meals and enjoyed good old fashion card games.

I will be thinking of you with your power outage. Hope things will soonbe better.

Hang in Dorian! We had heat Sat of 108 and Sun of 103 and then the storms hit. Power blinked be didn't go out. Hope you get your power on soon!

That's why I always have handwork to do. Never know when you can't use your machine!!

My prayers are with all of you; years ago I was without power for almost 2 weeks during the winter. After that I got a treadle and hubby got a generator. Fortunately we haven't had to use them for that reason since. I have heard that if you aren't burning from heat your either burning from fire or being washed away by floods and Hurricanes. Hang in there and stay safe.

I remember Hurrican Katrina. Back then we only had the portable gasoline generators and it wasn't fun going outside in the wind and rain to add gasoline when it ran out but at least we had fans and lamps that worked. I hand sewed some yo-yo's during that time.
Since then, my brother had a natural gas generator installed that powers the entire house. It's wonderful, we haven't had any storms since Katrina but we have had power outages and it is so nice because this one can power everything, especially the AC. Ten seconds after the power goes out the generator turns on.

P.S. I hope you get your power soon!

I saw online they had strapped a headlamp to a gallon milk jug full of water with the lamp shinning into the water. Made a lamp.

Power outages are often here (Louisiana) with the hurricanes, tornadoes, and occasional ice storms. When my DH built a shop a few years ago, he included a wood stove (heat) and a propane cook stove--and we have 2 gas generators. Still, it's a miserable time, especially when it lasts up to 3 weeks of no electric power.

We do have a generator for emergencies. However, I find other things to do. A little handwork will keep your hands busy. It is nice to do things together.

Made my first jelly roll quilt by hand with candle lite. Came out great. Save your jelly rolls for times like this then you will keep busy.

Sorry about your power. That's when the old Singer Treadle comes in real handy.

Hope they get your power back on soon. Glad you weren't in the areas where houses were leveled and trees uprooted.

[.is a treadle hard on your hands or is it operated by another part of the body
It is a foot operated sewing machine powered by a kind of a tapping your foot motion.I love mine and use it for almost all my piecing.

Last october 30th, we had a freak snow storm and was without electric power for nine days. Trees still had leaves so the weight of three feet of snow caused many broken trees and downed power lines. Hope you have it back now. I was lucky enough to have a treadle machine to sew on by kerosene lamps at night. It was like "In house camping!"

take care
peace

I hope you're up and running very soon! This is day 7 for us. My projects are calling me!

Are there still those without power? Ours was out for about 18 hours, which was miserable for me. I can't imagine those that went for 3 + days. I'm praying that everyone is safe during these terrible warm days!!