Kenya Missionary Suffers Home Invasion

Our close friend, Steve Ostergaard, —a Kenya missionary originally from Durham, NC—was brutally attacked in his home Sunday night by someone he knew.
The two attackers stormed through a door as he let his puppies out for a last run around the yard. They beat him severely and hit him over the head with an axe, took his wallet and cash, and ran off leaving him to die. God is obviously not finished with this servant!

Steve experienced a fractured skull and forearm requiring extensive surgeries. Kenya hospitals are not like American hospitals. They demand payment in cash. He was in intensive care in Nairobi.

Please pray for Steve, his wife Pat and for his healing injuries. (Steve is pictured on the right in both pictures and his wife Pat is in the second one.)

Steve Ostergaard and his wife, Pat, are missionaries working in Kenya in Africa, since November, 2019. Their ministry works to display Christ's love by creating sustainable solutions to alleviate poverty in the developing world through social business, education, and discipleship. Steve and Pat are working with locals to develop and support the community through a dairy farm, a girl's school, and a food bank for the impoverished.

Update from June 16th: SteveO had a successful surgery yesterday to repair a part of his skull that was broken off in the attack. Praise the Lord for the update also that his jaw was bruised, but not broken! He is resting in the hospital. Thank you for your prayers and support.

June 18th: He was released from the hospital to save money, he will recover from home.

A note came from Steve today (June 19th), he says "All surgeries were performed Tuesday, 15th, successfully repaired my broken skull,and compound fracture of right arm. My jaw was cut down to the bone, so it appeared to be fractured, but fortunately, only stitches were needed. i got out of the hospital on the 17th, and hadn't been posting for security reasons. The bad guys are still not in custody. My biggest concern now is head trauma related, brain swelling and infection, seizures, etc. All of which God has spared me so far."  Please keep Steve in your prayers!

45 years ago today

  45 years ago today a huge event occurred in my life. June 13, 1976.  I was 16 yrs old and it was early summer in Iowa.  I lived on a farm in Jordan, Iowa.  Our lane was a 1/4 mile long, our house on 5 acres with fields of corn on 3 sides, the town on the other.  My sisters and I had been picking strawberries for mom that afternoon and we had just sat down to put our sunburned noses in a bowl of strawberries and ice cream.  While mom was scooping she became angry when she glanced out the window.  Dad was recklessly driving at highway speed down our long lane.  Mom put the spoon down and headed outside to yell at dad.  Of course we followed to watch the fireworks!

By the time she made it out the door, he had skidded to a stop and was yelling for us to get outside.  He had been fishing on the Des Moines river and said he had been watching a tornado that dropped down.   We saw the tornado off in the distance and watched it.  (Well, that's what Iowans do.) Mom brought out blankets when it started to rain a few minutes later.  Dad's face looked worried after a little while because he could tell it was coming right at us.  He yelled at us to get in the car we needed to leave! He backed his truck out, a decision he would regret later, and 5 kids and 2 adults packed into the station wagon.

A neighbor friend of mine was visiting us that afternoon and my 3 siblings and I watched as we sped away from the farm.  We drove a half-mile away and parked on the highway.  It was starting to tear up the corn field next to our farm.  By then it was a massive wall of clouds, that later would be described as a mile wide tornado that Ted Fujita himself named an F-5.

The trees & house in this picture are not in the path, they are quite a ways away from the tornado.

After a few minutes, the car started spewing steam, having blown a hose.  Dad decided to go to the nearest gas station about 4 miles away.  When we arrived no one was there, the gas station was empty but still open.  He couldn't find a water spicket so he dumped a bucket of dirty windshield washer water into the radiator and we raced back toward our farm.

We arrived to see the tornado hovering over our town.  There was a grain elevator next to the end of our lane and the tornado had swallowed it up.  We could see our farm across the field though.  It had been erased from the land.  We had a large barn, chicken coop, corn crib, house and garage and all that we could see was what looked like a small shack on the horizon, what had been our kitchen.

My sisters, little brother, friend and I were all crying, wondering aloud what was happening to our friends and family that lived in our small town.  As soon as the tornado had moved away, we drove down the street and were in awe of the damage.

We couldn't drive very far into town because debris, dead animals and trees laid across the street, but we stopped and piled out of the car.  There wasn't a soul around but us.  We were yelling for people we knew lived in the houses that were now basement holes gaping at us.  There was so much debris laying around.  Slowly people started crawling up out of the holes.  Our town had 52 people that lived there. The grain elevator was the only business and it was a huge pile of twisted metal and wood.  

We began talking to the people that were beginning to join us on the street when the first deputy arrived to help us.  The adults began looking through debris while the kids milled about not knowing what to do.

In the end, no one was seriously hurt.  An amazing fact after finding out how many people had been in their basements.  The 9 year old son of a friend of ours had been in their basement and had been hit in the head by a brick.  His mom needed stitches on her knee and those were the only injuries that day.

The Jordan  school building had been on the edge of the tornado, it had been 3 stories tall.

Ted Fujita was a Japanese-American meteorologist whose research primarily focused on severe weather.  He created the Fujita scale of rating tornadoes.  The Jordan tornado was the first F-5 tornado he studied. As Dr. Fujita described the Jordan, Iowa tornado he said "it was the most intense and destructive tornado I have ever studied". If you'd like to read more information about the 1976 Jordan tornado you can google it to find some great reading on the subject.

We didn't rebuild on the land, and instead rented a farm house located across the field from where we used to live.  The house was on the highway where we had viewed the tornado.  Nearly everyone rebuilt their homes. 

Ode to Sewing Machines #29

Many of you follow my "Ode to the Sewing Machine" posts.  We've all seen the ads on craigslist, ebay and elsewhere.  The clueless sellers give those of us who sew a belly laugh, or two!

No one in their right minds would continue reading, but who says quilters are in their right minds, so here's installment #29...

Throttle?  There's a sewing machine in there somewhere.

He dropped this one $50 and it still hasn't sold?

Warmth of Our Stars Pattern

 I finished the first 2 installments of the Warmth of Our Stars quilt.  I bought flannel to make this quilt and I love how soft the feeling is as I work on it.  The pattern is written well and I recommend the pattern for confident beginners on up! There are 6 parts total and they are easy to do.  I recommend quilt shop quality flannel, you'll be happier with the longevity of the flannel over the cheaper flannel. All of the flannel is from Maywood Studios.

Update: Jun 19, 2021  The top is finished!  Find the pattern for sale at this website:  

https://www.quiltingdaily.com/product/warmth-of-our-stars-quilt-pattern-download/

Update: October 15, 2024   Hurricane Helene devasted the mountains in Western North Carolina.  Hundreds of people lost their homes, 15 counties were affected.  Nearly 100 people were killed.  A call went out for quilts to give those who lost everything and I sent this quilt to a donation drive.  It's a queen size, all flannel quilt that we had never used. 

I sent it to a quilt donation drive held by Lo and Behold Stitchery in Black Mountain, NC.  This quilt drive led to over 3,000 quilts being donated.  So many quilts came they had to send out word that they had plenty to distribute and to hold off sending any more.  The quilting world is full of wonderful people!

ForeverMore BOM quilt is my next big project

 I joined a block of the month called ForeverMore Quilt.  I'll be working on this along with the Warmth of Our Stars.  In other words, I'll be busy for the next few months!  The ForeverMore quilt is a pattern by Pam Buda.  Pam is also the author of the Circa 1880 nine patch quilt pattern that I just finished.  This one will be a challenge for me. 

Circa 1880 nine-patch quilt

 I'm thrilled to say I've finished my quilt top!  This was a wonderful journey that I started in January 2020 along with many other quilters who were making the same quilt.  It's made with reproduction fabrics which I loved using. It has 7,934 pieces and 716 two-inch blocks.
 There is a facebook group of quilters who share tips and even swap blocks with each other. Now that the top is done I need to find time to longarm it!

I've already chosen my next quilt and have started the Warmth of Our Stars quilt today!  

This will be a good size, 88" x 88".

Bonnie Sullivan's flannel collection called Woolies Flannel Desert Sunset is great for this pattern.  The pattern calls for a jelly roll and yardage for the background and border.  I think it will be a great quilt to give my 20 yr old son.

A Great Buy Found on Marketplace

 I found a Baby Lock Ellageo 3 on facebook marketplace and decided to buy it.  It's a 20 yr old sewing/embroidery machine and I'm very pleased with this purchase.  I took it in for a spa day and had a new needle threader put on.  It was sewing well before I took it in but it is even quieter now that it's been lubed up.

This machine does amazing decorative stitches. It's a 9mm but has feed dogs that move sideways so even larger decorative stitches can be done. The picture below shows a regular 9mm decorative stitch next to one of the larger stitches.  I'm amazed how big it is.

But the reason I bought it was for the embroidery aspect.  I plan to offer quilt labels to my customers and this machine has 11 beautiful embroidered alphabets.

I recommend buying used machines!  You can find some pretty good deals if you're patient enough to wait for them to come along!

I've been working on this quilt for a customer.  She used a fabric collection by Loralie and I think it's a beautiful quilt!

Here's a tip for other owners of the King Quilter 2.  I placed a magnet on my handlebars using the screw that was already there.  Now my scissors hang out right where I need them.  You can find this magnet on the Home Depot website.   I also placed a small stick-on magnet that holds my self-threading needle used for burying threads.  You can see it in this photo on the far left.

A better iron has been invented

 I said I'd report on the new iron I found and here's my results on the Reliable Steam Generator iron. This is a brand new kind of household iron, a steam generator that has no hose or separate water tank. It doesn't heat the water on the sole plate, which eliminates the sputter and drip nearly every iron has.

What I can report is a better iron has been invented!

1. There is an override for the auto shut-off if you want to keep the iron on.
2. The Reliable Steam Generator has a sensor in the handle that knows when you are touching the iron. It runs the steam as long as you're touching it. The steam results on even my most challenging quilt blocks is amazing (see photo). The seams are FLAT, even better than the Rowenta. (I used to have a Rowenta Pro Master which gave good steam results. It leaked though.)
3. The steam works really well, and it's conservative in it's water usage, which makes it last longer. And not one sputter or drip!!

I highly recommend this iron! Here's the link to find it!

https://reliablecorporation.com/collections/home-steam-irons

VELOCITY 230IR COMPACT VAPOR GENERATOR IRON