A Major Announcement

Few times in one's life does one owe so much to one person, but I am the grateful recipient of the most amazing gift ever. My quilting friend Sharon O. GIFTED her long-unused Tin Lizzie Eighteen to me!

Most of us already know that quilters are among the most generous folks ever, and Sharon's kindness is truly one of the most generous acts of kindness I have ever been privileged to receive!

To say that I am over-the-moon excited about this would be putting it mildly. This news has been brewing in the background of things you've read here for several weeks, and today I have finally taken ownership - DH and I moved it from Sharon's basement to our basement, with the help of Sharon's DH Fred.

This is the machine - and in the background, you can see Sharon and Fred. Sharon bought this Tin Lizzie just after she retired in 2001. Every time she was ready to make some progress at using it and becoming familiar with it, she had a major health situation or surgery to contend with. At this point in time, she says she is just plain out of the mood to try to figure it out.

The pictures above, are from Sharon's - I took many so that I could be certain to put it back together properly. Now, below, you will see our basement. When she made this incredibly generous offer, our mostly-finished basement looked quite junky.

Since the kids have all left home and no one goes down here with friends to watch movies and hang out, the space had become a catch-all for stuff we needed to deal with, but , you know the old phrase - out of sight, out of mind! I suppose most people do this to some degree or another. I fear we are masters at it, unfortunately!

We - and I have to give great credit to Kevin, my dear husband, for he has been my best encourager through all of this - dedicated a couple of weeks to some serious weeding out - keeping, donating and trashing as much as we could, and as of last night, here is where Tin Lizzie will live.

We did pretty good, didn't we? Now don't go thinking that all that stuff has been dealt with. Just off to the right side of this picture is a pool table laden with stacks of things that still must be sorted and stored.

This morning, DH and I went over to Sharon's, dismantled the Tin Lizzie, and brought her to her new home. Below, she is waiting like a puzzle to be put back together. I plan to get right on that this evening.

And when that base is built and leveled, this sewing unit will join it and I will begin experimenting with long-arm quilting!

Isn't this exciting??

Now, however, I am off to Claudia's to help her with a t-shirt quilt, and later tonight, our Mennonite neighbors are coming to sing Christmas carols! What a busy day!

Happy Quilting, Friends!