Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas and 

Happy New Year!

I Won!!!

I am so excited!! I was notified by Sandy at http://upstairshobbyroom.blogspot.ca/ that I had won a mystery gift during the Holiday Hullabaloo Blog Hop from Jacquelynne Steves at JacquelynneSteves.com. She shares recipes, Crafts and DIY, Quilting and Sewing and other inspirational ideas and projects. I did not know what I would receive, but I got the package today. Here are the photos are what I was so blessed to get.

I love it and want to make the quilts as soon as I can. The cards are so pretty, too. They came in a nice plastic case. I feel so blessed to have won this. I appreciate Sandy and Jacquelynne for the opportunity to participate in the blog hop and receive such a nice gift. 

Hope all is well with everyone. Christmas will be here soon, and I am so far behind with the quilts I'm making for gifts. They will get done sometime soon, I hope.

Have a great evening.
Teresa

Bama Belles: My Quilting Group

Good morning! I pray all is well at your home. We are doing well, but it is chilly here in Alabama. We got up to 25 degrees and frost all over the place. Of course, I know that isn't as cold as some of my followers have, but it is cold for us southerners. LOL 

I attended the luncheon for my quilting group yesterday, and we are called Bama Belles. We ate at Olive Garden, but there were a couple of problems with that. One, I ate too much of the wrong things; two, we couldn't talk to everyone. We were sitting at a few tables put together and that made it where we couldn't talk to each other. Also, the noise was awful and that caused another reason we couldn't talk. But, the ladies who planned this didn't want a potluck and wanted to go to Olive Garden. It just isn't conducive to good visiting with each other situation. But, we all had a great time. We had a great turnout. A few weren't there, but I enjoyed myself spending time with my sister. I love being around those ladies. I learn so much from each of them. We enjoy talking over projects we want to do, working on quilts to donate to Wrap Them in Love. Several of them are going to my fellow blogger, Gene Black, for his Angel Project for the teen home in Guntersville, AL. I was able to donate one last year, but I've been working on commission projects all year and now trying to get Christmas gifts finished, so I wasn't able to participate this year. I know Bama Belles has already donated seven, and I think we will have several more to give him according to the leader, Linda Jimerson who is another fellow blogger.

A few of us left Olive Garden and went to the church. I had asked if we were going over to the church afterwards. Linda said a few of them probably were, so I asked for assistance pinning our daughter and her husband's quilt that I had planned to have done by Christmas, but that isn't going to happen. So, thankfully a few of us went over there and while Linda was taking pictures of some quilts, Lois, Rosa and I pinned this monster of a queen sized Carpenter's Star quilt. It would have taken me hours to pin this myself. I am forever grateful to those who assisted me with this. Linda helped as soon as she finished snapping pictures. She also trimmed the batting and backing off for me while it was on the table. I owe them big!!! Now to figure out how to repay them...... Any suggestions?

Here are a few of the quilts that Lois made to donate:

Aren't they beautiful? This lady can put out some quilts. I love them both.

I think that is all I have to say today. Hope you all have a blessed day. What are you working on this week?

Teresa

Sixteen Days and Counting

Dear followers,

I want to tell you that Christmas is getting here too fast!!! At least it is for me. LOL I guess you know that, though, don't you? Oh well, maybe there is someone out there who doesn't realize how close Dec. 25, 2013 is. I am not finished or really even close to finished with my gifts for our children for Christmas. I had also planned to give a few homemade items to my extended family, too, but that won't be happening this time. :( 

As you know, I was without my good sewing machine for two months. Then I was so blessed by the Janome company and sent a brand new machine. I almost have my grandson's quilt quilted, and praying I can do that today, then make and add the binding. I still have the pinning and quilting to do on a queen sized quilt and making, pinning and quilting of a king sized quilt. I doubt I will get them done by Christmas. One reason, I only have my domestic sewing machine to quilt on. The other reason, is I don't do a very good job quilting. I am trying to learn to do some free motion quilting and I'm getting some practice on my grandson's quilt. I am not happy with what I've done, but hopefully he won't look at it too closely. He is seven years old. I'm hoping he will be so excited for what I made it of and that it is for his bed, then how Mimi's quilting looks. Then there is a Carpenter's Star by Debbie Maddy that will be pinned with help from my awesome Bama Belles quilting group after our Christmas luncheon. I'm still trying to decide the best way to quilt it. Then, I'm making a Night and Day quilt by Eleanor Burns and will need to pin and quilt it. That one scares me the most. 

I do want to tell you that I'm loving my new machine! I does a beautiful job and runs so quietly! I am so excited that God blessed me so much through Janome. Yes, I believe God blessed me. He knew that I would not be able to afford another machine like that. He knew that I had purchased it using money from my Daddy and Step-Mom's house sale. They passed in 2008 and 2010 respectively. So, it means a lot to me just because of that. This machine has 250 stitches, an 11" harp area, thread cutter, up and down button for the needle, a knee lift for the presser foot, and the Accufeed walking foot system. It is soooo different than my Walmart Brother which is a good machine, too. It only has a 5" harp, so it makes if very difficult to quilt on it.

I am excited about a new adventure that I will do my best to undertake in the new year. A fellow blogger friend Caroline Heinrichs from British Columbia and can be found at http://goodearthquilting.blogspot.com/ is having a crazy quilt quilt along starting in January. I want to learn more about crazy quilting even though I have made two pillows using the crazy quilt method. So, I told her I would give it a try and participate. Keep your fingers crossed that I learn what I can and that I can keep up with her. Check out her blog.
She is also on Google+. 

I didn't share any pictures last time of my machine. Isn't she beautiful? The extension table doesn't come with her. It was from my Horizon, and I was told I could keep it. 

I pray you have a blessed day. Keep me in your prayers that I can get as much finished as I possibly can. Hugs to you all!!!

Teresa

Sewing Machine Update and Thanksgiving

Hello everyone!! I know, I am behind on my blogging, but it has been busy, busy, busy around here. I guess I need to catch up. LOL

First of all, last week was awesome! Our daughter, SIL, and DGS came for a visit. They arrived Tuesday and left Saturday. We had such an enjoyable time. Even though our daughter has been having back issues for several weeks, she made the trip without any major issues. She kept ice on her back a few times a day trying to keep inflammation down. We had fun playing with Jackson. He has grown so much just since August. He and I spent the day Friday outside roaming around, playing with the dogs, and then spent time looking through my totes of Christmas decorations. They took our 7.5' tree home with them and I sent them some ornaments and table runners home, too. Cleaning out some of my "stash" of Christmas stuff was needed and is still needed. LOL We also had twelve people in attendance on Thanksgiving for dinner. They were all family and we had a great time even though I was exhausted from being on my feet all day cooking.Great food, great company, fun times. Our son and his wife came and one of my husband's brothers and his family came, too. Our Marine nephew and his beautiful wife were here, too. It was so good to get my hug. He has been deployed for eight months, so it was awesome to see him.

 I found out that I can not eat wheat or corn based products for sure last week. My tummy is still not happy with me. I have been grain free since August, so my system was not accustomed to being overwhelmed with dressing, potatoes, etc. I learned my lesson. :D Back on Wheat Belly way of eating for me!

Now to the sewing machine dilemma I have been going through. As I blogged earlier, my Janome Horizon Memory Craft 7700 QCP started having stitching issues in October. I took it into the dealer where their repairman could clean it, service it, and fix it. Well, the mother board went out, etc. etc. You can read about it here. Well, long story short, I now have a new  Janome 7700 New Home edition of my sewing machine. After I had blogged and posted on Facebook about my issues, I was told to contact the Director of Marketing and Education and was given her email address. I did this and she responded that after reading my blog and my FB posts/comments that it was best to send me a new Horizon 7700. Well, when I received it last Wednesday, I did not open it since we had company and Thanksgiving, and so on. I opened it on Saturday and when it was not red, I emailed her back. That is the one thing I loved about my Horizon was the red panel on it. Red is my favorite color. When the Director got back to me, she explained that the machine was the updated version of my machine and it was named New Home after their company's initial name. She told me I could keep the extension table that came with my Horizon and I'm keeping the cover that came with it, too. So, I am a happy, happy, happy person right now. I got it set up yesterday, but have not even threaded it, yet. I will do that today. We returned the loaner machine today. We had gone to the dealer three times to pick up my machine and it wasn't ready, so one of the owners met us at Sam's where we had to run an errand to today and picked up the machine and its parts, plus the feet, cord, foot pedal, etc. for my Horizon. She did not know about me getting the new machine. She was excited about it. If any of my followers live close enough to go to Smocking Bird in Homewood, Alabama, please tell them I sent you. They sell beautiful fabric for children's clothes, teach smocking, heirloom stitching, etc. They also have thread, and sell Janome sewing machines and embroidery machines. They have been a great help in this dilemma and did all they could do to get my Horizon repaired. Actually, they shipped it to the company the Friday before Thanksgiving.

So, I am happy with Janome and the service I have been given. They turned a bad situation into an awesome one. I appreciate all their help and the Director of Marketing and Education's assistance in obtaining a new machine for me. Thank you all!!

Now, I need to get busy sewing and quilting to get these quilts for Christmas gifts finished and to the new owners. Say a prayer for me that I can get them done and they will look good.

Thank you all,
Teresa