Saturday, December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas!!!

I had a very quiet and enjoyable day today! I got a little quilt project done which I shall post about in a few days. It is a present and it has yet to be delivered and I don't want to spoil the surprise.....

Yesterday was my Mother's 88th birthday! It sure doesn't seem like it has been almost 25 years since I have seen her! Her birthday was on the 24th of December and she passed away on the 14th of February. All of her kids use to make sure that she received a birthday gift as well as a Christmas gift each year. One year when I was still home the 'older kids' pitched in and bought drop down ceilings for her living and dining room areas. 2 of my 3 brothers did various types of carpentry work so they put it up with the help of the 3rd which was a good 'gofer'.... It was up to us 'girls' to get Mom out of the house for the day. When we came home it didn't look any different, but Mom could tell there was a difference. Of course, us 'girls' looked up and could see the difference right away! I don't remember if Mom finally noticed or we ended up telling her after the 'boys' came inside. So after everybody left and Mom was happy as a clam we went into the living room to watch TV. When she went to turn the set on her knees got wet (Mom 'walked' on her knees because she had drop foot and it was painful for her to walk on them). We couldn't figure out why the floor was wet until we started looking at the 25 gallon fish tank. During their work on the ceiling someone had hit the tank with a hammer. This tank was one of the older ones that had the metal corners so the crack in the glass didn't show. Mom told me that I was never to tell the 'boys' what they had done and I never did until now :)! She didn't want them to feel bad after all the work that they had done putting up that ceiling.

I am thankful for my many blessings this year! The one that is on the top of the list is having my husband with me still, with a job, house and talents next in line. I have to thank my Heavenly Father for these blessings because without Him in my life these wouldn't be as sweet as they are.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Sharon

"Quilting the Kaye Wood Way" Certified Instructor since 2009

Saturday, December 11, 2010

A typical Saturday morning.....

Good Morning my fellow bloggers! As is my custom lately I am up way to early for a non working day. I have always been a night person and it is really odd that I am awake at 5, 6, 7 AM most mornings the past 6 months or so. No matter what I try I can not go back to sleep. I guess I just need to adjust my thinking, get out of bed and DO something! This morning happened to be a load of wash and visit all of my usual stops on the internet. Now DH is up and we're talking about going to some garage/estate sales. One of our favorite things to do on a Saturday! Then after that I want to get to my new 'toy' and finish my wall hanging I started last week. I ran out of bobbin thread and was to lazy to start back up after I re-loaded.  I will post pictures after it is done. 

I am off so that I can go see what others 'junk' will become my 'treasure'!

Happy Quilting, Sharon
"Quilting the Kaye Wood Way" Certified Instructor since 2009

Friday, November 26, 2010

New 'Toy' problems and solutions

Happy Black Friday!! 

Today was the first day that I have ventured out shopping on black Friday in years. BUT, I had to have stuff for my new 'Toy'!! I received the parts I needed to get it going again 2 days ago and I was still having problems..... so I went to Jo-Anns to get different needles~~~maybe that was it........ While I was up in the area I figured I might just as well go to Hobby Lobby, so I picked up the Side Winder for bobbin winding, maybe that was one of the problems...... Nope, nothing seemed to work, besides the tension the top thread kept shredding. It was like something was catching it. Sooooooo, I went hunting! This is what I found:






This is a drive shuttle spring. It sits around the outside of the bobbin. The area that is circled is suppose to have a little loop, but this one had a rough edge and kept catching the upper thread and shredding it. This is what happens to your tension when this little piece of metal is bad. 

This is the top


 This is underneath

This is what it looks like when you have a working drive shuttle spring.

This is the top

Yep, this is freehand. Not bad, huh?

This is the bottom

Yahoo! I am in business! Now I need to get busy and get my supplies out and get a real quilt loaded. This machine is going to be such a DREAM to quilt with!


Happy Quilting, Sharon 


"Quilting the Kaye Wood Way" Certified Instructor since 2009

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Craft Fair

Drats! I forgot to get a picture! I even remembered to take my camera, but never even got it out of the bag! Well, we had a great day! It was cool, not cold, not hot, just a beautiful Arizona day. I will have to remember to get pictures at the next show we do in December.

I am still waiting on parts for my new 'toy'....... It's a good thing I have my ''Challenge!" going on right now otherwise I would just about be crying 'cause I can't 'bond' with my new baby! I keep saying, just a few more day, just a few more days! Now that the craft fair is out of my hair I am going to get the Advent Calendars done then I can have the time to play with my new toy.

I have been thinking about what I want to do for my next "Challenge!". I do believe it is going to be at least in part getting papers cleaned up, pictures onto the computer and just sorting all of the 'goodies' I have kept over the years. One dear friend from church has sent me a home made birthday card for the past 10 years and I have saved every one. The sad part is nobody except me appreciates what that means to me. Once I am gone they will just be a birthday card someone sent to me and it will be tossed. I want to scan this type of stuff and put it on a thumb drive with an explanation. I also have old pictures and newspaper clippings I want to get scanned then I am going to pass the discs or thumb drives down to my grandkids. It will be my way of passing the family to them. I was lucky enough to have family around close, but now we are spread so far apart that it's hard to pass on stories.

Well, it has been a long day and I am going to hit the hay. See you all later, alligators!

Happy Quilting, Sharon
"Quilting the Kaye Wood Way" Certified Instructor since 2009

Monday, November 15, 2010

"GO" cutter give away.....

I was not the lucky winner of this quilting gadget..... Oh well, I'll try again if it comes up!!

The weather has been great this past week or so. We are in the mid to high 70's during the day and going down in the 40's at night! This is why I live here!


Happy Quilting, Sharon

"Quilting the Kaye Wood Way" Certified Instructor since 2009

Sunday, November 7, 2010

"GO" cutter give away.....

I have been intrigued with the "Go" cutter. I have found a blog that is giving one away! So I just had to jump in with the other 400 plus quilters that would love to win a free "Go"!

Go on over and check it out!

http://lavenderridge.blogspot.com/

Happy Quilting, Sharon
"Quilting the Kaye Wood Way" Certified Instructor since 2009

My new toy.....


Here is my new toy.....
Now, if I could only stop breaking things and get him to stop being temperamental, or maybe it's me being temperamental....


Happy Quilting, Sharon
"Quilting the Kaye Wood Way" Certified Instructor since 2009