I work with an NRCS agent, and hes a great guy, you have to remeber the agents we see in the office are not politicians, they are , excuse the phrase flunkies, . My agent Dan went to work with the NRCS back in the 90s, he wanted to work in wildlife and conservation, and he did for the first few years, and the office staff supported a agent in charge of ag. Budget cuts and the ag agent was given early retirement and no replacement was hired, they told Dan he would have to fill both the conservation job and the ag job, but Dan freely admits he knows little about ag, but that does not matter. Dan does his best, hes helping me put in better rotational grazing infrastructure, piped water, gravel pads, and good fencing, hes got 75 percent of my cost shared by the govt, plus a incentive payment for keeping the cows out of the woods. But as hes worked with me , he keeps telling me to tell him what I need cause he isnt a farmer. Its the politicians who are at fault, they cut budgets everywhere except in thier own pockets, my dad retired from the army, and growing up Id see politicats come in limos, thousand dollar suits, and five hundred dollar haircuts, theyd smile and shake my dads hand and say how much they appreciated him. But meanwhile while dad was serving, my mom had to apply for foodstamps to feed us. These politicians are already wealthy when they get into office, then taxpayers pay them hundreds of thousands of dollars a year plus transportation, clothing and other perks. They say we need to control spending, unless it means it affescts them. Originaly in the foundings of this country congress was not paid, it was made up from the wealthier citizens and they paid thier own transportation and was not paid for thier time. Now the wages for congress is an astronomical figure, all together I mean. Im not talking any brand of politics here, whichever way one leans Im sure everyone agrees that the politicians are greedy and self serving. And any bill they right they are going to stick a carrot out there wehter or not it makes sense just to try to appease the masses. One thing I learned growing up and watching dad in the service, is to try to legaly get whatever the govt offers, as an American citizen we dont seem entitled to much, so get what you can. josh

Tiny little pins......there's not so much of them to catch your thread on. However, when doing needle turned, I hold the piece in place with a swipe of a glue stick in the middle of the piece to be appliqued, and do away with all pins. (never try to turn under all the edge and pin it....won't work..) just turn under about 3 to 4 stitches worth of fabric...sew those down, with your needle tuck under another 3-4 stitches worth of fabric, sew, and so on, all the way around...and as the glue holds it in place, no pins to tangle your thread. For applique use a long, thin needle...called a straw or milliners needle. I also like thin thread....silk is my favorite.

Oh, I am excited about this class too...can hardly wait to start. I have been trying out (I think every method there is) and am now having some success with a post Maryliz pulled up using freezer paper on top and a glue stick. It doesn't take much to get me excited and I want to applique everything LOL. Sharon, I have a portable travel kit. It's a small plastic container that holds thread, thimble, embrodery scissors, needles, a tiny strawberry for pins. I put 2 magnets on the lid, one inside and one outside. This catches and holds pins and needles and are easy to find. Jean

Thanks for the heads up Dan! I happened to be going to Chico the other day and stopped in at Lowes. When you mentioned TOC, that made me wanna go check 'em out. Mine just died back to rootstock a couple months ago. Luckily they had some. I grabbed it and a CHICAGO PEACE as well. I've been trying off and on for the last several yrs to get a CP in the cheapie bagged bareroots, but they never are CP. Call me cheap, but I just don't want to spend $20 for a rose that is so common. That's why I always try the bagged ones. Also was at WalMart and they too had what few roses they did have at 50% off. Most were unmarked tho. Here's my new babies: CHICAGO PEACE TOUCH OF CLASS Now I gotta figure out where they're gonna go....