The Perrys~Emmanuel Reformed Church~Morrison, Illinois

Last night was another wonderful night. We were invited (Ummm…we may, or may not have invited ourselves… thanks D&J) to go see The Perrys at the Emmanuel Reformed Church in Morrison, Illinois. Wow! What a wonderful night of Praise and Worship!

This tells about everyone in the group.

The Perrys were honored to win their first Dove Award, Southern Gospel Recorded Song of the Year, for “Celebrate Me Home” just last week. How exciting is that!! I love that song!!! If you look at THIS blog post, at the program, you will see that the Emmanuel Voice of Praise choir sang Celebrate Me Home in their Easter Cantata, almost exactly when The Perrys won their first Dove Award! The EVOP choir had permission to sing it. Awesome!

Does anyone remember Bryan Walker, the ‘Singing Cop’ from Season 9 of American Idol? He now sings baritone for The Perrys. American Idol didn’t know what they were losing when they sent him home.

We came home with a couple CDs too. This one is their newest.

This cd is a solo project for Libbi. The little girl is Libbi, and her parents are with her. She’s been singing for a long time, and finally did a solo album.

We had such a good time. Thank you D&J, and Emmanuel Reformed Church for inviting us!(Or DID you invite us? )

Be blessed and have a wonderful weekend!

Machine Quilting Room

If you read the previous post, you read that we moved Louie’s desk and computer out of the basement utility room/machine quilting room, and up into his new office. I did some moving around in there, and now here are some pictures of my new (ALL MINE) quilting room. This is the doorway from the living area. The doors are bi-fold, and have mirrors on both sides to help reflect more light.

Here is what you see from far inside the room, looking at the back of the doors. My sewing table and Janome 6600 machine sit in part of the space. We’ll be going around the room to the right so you can see the whole room.

This is my media wall. It used to be all VHS tapes, and now it is about half music CD’s, some DVD movies, and the rest, VHS tapes. Yes, we still have two combination DVD/VHS players. Also, there is a lamp on the wall, and my second Juki TL-98E which sits in the cabinet. Oh, and my pressing machine. There is also a pile of quilts that will be send to Quilts for Kids.

Ugh! What kind of quilting equipment is this??!! Oh, it’s the furnace and hot water heater. I tried to move it, but I didn’t know where I would go with it, so I guess t will have to stay, and I’ll have to live with it.  

Next to the water heater is where the big white metal cabinet used to sit. I moved that across the room. My roll of Warm and Natural batting (stash) sits there in the blue bin. I decided if the hot water heater sprung a leak, the batting would probably soak it up like a big sponge, and I just don’t know if I could wring out 40 yards of 90” batting, so I put it in a tub.

The little rolling ‘whatever you call it’ sits there as well, and holds serger thread, a pizza box with quilt blocks, quilting girls birthday gifties, and on top, my newest Necchi machine. When I use the quilter, I will roll it out of the way so I can adjust the height of the rollers when I need to, and then I can just roll it back when I am finished.

As you can see by the quilts hanging on the rollers, I have projects that need finishing. One of the quilts is quilted and needs binding, and the other one needs quilted. I picked up these quilts at the Salvation Army for $2 each. They were tied quilts. I ‘floated’ the first one on the quilter and did a big stipple, and pulled the yarn out as I went. These quilts will be donated to Quilts for Kids, when I get them finished.

Louie helped me pull the frame a few inches more away from the wall, and we also moved it down to the left a little bit more. I will be able to get to both ends easier now that the cupboard is out of there.

See the boxes on the floor to the right of the quilting frame? Those are my ‘someday’ track lights. Someday, Louie will get them installed, and then I will really be able to see what I am doing! I also plugged in a power strip. I plugged in the quilting machine, cruise control and some lights to the strip. Now I just flip one switch to turn it all on, and flip it off when I am finished. Much easier than plugging and unplugging each cord.

Not much changed here, except the white cupboard is now next to the file cabinet.  Some sewing machines have found a place on top of the cabinets.

I ran an extension cord across the top of the file cabinet and the white cabinet, so I could plug in the lamp, and I am also able to plug in my sewing machine there. If I want to roll the machine out into the living area of the basement, I am still able to. I put a nail in the trim board so I could hang the wreath. The white space was just too large to be left empty. (OCD)

Here we are, back around to the beginning. Sew, this is my new space!!! It’s not a whole lot different than it was. I did gain a little space where the desk used to sit, but now it is MINE, all MINE. We might even save a few dollars each month on electricity, because there will be no lights on in this room 24/7. (My husband doesn’t seem to remember how to turn off lights. Bless his heart….I DO love him so! )

Have a good week everyone!!!

Michelle

Louie’s New Office

Louie and I have been working hard all weekend on a big project that popped into my head last week. We’re still not finished. We’re just taking a break.

It started with our guest bedroom. It has never been used for guests the whole time we’ve lived here, so why have one? The bed was just a ‘catch all’ and I wanted the space to be used for something we could enjoy more. I came up with the idea of moving Louie’s office, which was in the basement utility (furnace/air conditioner) room, and also had my machine quilting frame in there, up into the guest room. I found someone who really needed a bed, and I gave it to them. I was so happy to find someone could use it.

Wednesday night, we went to Dubuque to Lowe’s and bought an area rug to put down in the new office. Thursday evening, we tore down the bed and moved it out into the garage, then moved everything else out of the room to put the area rug down. We put everything back (utility cupboard, dresser and a couple of night stands). Friday we had plans, so we didn’t get anything else done, but Saturday morning, we started ‘digging in’ and we’re still digging. We’re going through ‘stuff’ as we go, and throwing away and donating. There’s a lot of  ‘Wow, where does all this stuff come from?’, and ‘Wow’…that’s where that went!’

Of course, Louie’s computer needed to be moved. His computer was the main hub, and my computer was wireless. Now, my computer is wired, and his is wireless, but that wasn’t an easy task either. What should have taken an hour, took over three, which included couple calls to Mediacom. We ended up fixing it ourselves, by moving the coax that Louie used, to the outlet that I am using. That cable can handle both internet and tv, where evidently, the rest of them cannot. I was not having any luck with the outlet I had, so it had to be updated. Yeah, Louie. He’s my hero.

Then the task of getting the HUGE desk upstairs. (What were we thinking when we bought that boat?!) It has a hutch on top and a huge bottom. Louie and I managed to get the top drug up the steps, but we had to call for backup and a strong back to get the desk upstairs. Jeff and Louie took it out the back door, walked it over to the top of the retaining wall, then picked it up again, carried it around the house, in the front door, into the kitchen, then stood it on it’s end and slid it down the hallway, and into it’s new home. They then, landed it back on it’s feet again. Whew! Louie did some modifications on the hutch part so it would sit higher against the wall, to have more desk space underneath, while I put his computer back together and fought installing the wireless usb device. Once installed, it needed to ‘talk’ to the router. I didn’t know where the disk was, so I had to download the software on my computer and transfer it to his. It wasn’t a quick job, but it got done. Louie worked on bringing the drawers and all his ‘stuff’ up, cleaning out and sorting as he went, and late last night, he got his desk put all back together. It looks really nice, and we both think he is going to love his room. It will have more light, and a lot more space. He won’t be sharing it with anyone.

So, here is his new office. The pictures are taken in the order that when you step into his office, looking to the left, then going around the room, this is what you see.

This is a quilt I made for him a long time ago. Under it, is a sofa table that I have had tucked away because I didn’t have anywhere for it. Now, it fills a space, and he can use it for work space when he needs it. He can just slide it over by his chair, or scoot his chair over to it. The two night stands are stacked on top of each other in the corner, and one holds cameras and bags, and the bottom one holds some duffle bags.

The desk sits next to the night stands, and the pictures on the wall were taken by Louie. The one on the left is a train coming around a corner in the fall. The picture on the right is called ‘Night Train’. It was taken at night, and it is actually a snow plow that was used by the railroad. The photos were taken in North Freedom, Wisconsin at the Midwest Continental Railway Museum many years ago.

Here is his desk, all put together. He added about 6” of wood to the sides of the hutch to hike it up higher. The top shelf on the hutch was custom built by Louie years ago so he could put his die cast cars on it. See the picture on the wall to the right of the desk? Louie took that picture in black and white.

It is an old abandoned house with trees growing around it. I tried to get a better picture for you, but there is glare on the glass and I didn’t use a flash. Too much light. You get the idea…

Across the room from his desk, is the utility cupboard, which holds lots more office ‘stuff’ and a dresser, which is also filled with ‘stuff’, some of it mine. One drawer has old photos in frames.

See the painting on the wall above the dresser? Louie painted that in high school art. He painted it from a photograph of a tree that was in the yard where he lived at the time. He gave the painting to his mother when he was finished with it. A few years later, some kids (they assumed) drove by his mom’s house and shot three shots through, and into the house, with a 22 magnum. One of the bullets went through the painting. Louie’s mom had been standing up, and had just sat down when it happened. Thank God it missed her! They also shot two shots into the car. No one got hurt, and they never found out why, or who did it. We got the painting back when Louie’s mother passed away a few years later, and Louie and our friend Jeff, built a frame for it.

 

Can you see the hole and the tears in the canvas where the bullet went through? Enlarge the photo, and look to the left of the reflection of the ceiling fan lights.

So that concludes the tour of Louie’s new office!

It seems like I have been on my knees crawling under desks all weekend, and my neck hurts, but oh, it feels so good to have it finished!

The next post will be the changes to my machine quilting room now that I have taken it over. I worked on it all day today. The rest of the basement is still a mess, but my room is finished. Maybe I can get a post up tomorrow. I need to go work on laundry and cleaning up the rest of the basement now.

Hope your weekend was productive as well! Tomorrow I’ll have to go back to work so I can rest!

Michelle

Voices of Praise!!!

Louie and I were invited by friends of ours to enjoy an Easter Cantata presented in Morrison, Illinois at the Emmanuel Reformed Church on Friday evening. (Well, that’s the evening we chose. The performance was also on Thursday evening, and TONIGHT.) If you are near Morrison and want to be blessed, go hear some beautiful music and have your heart blessed. Louie and I loved it.

Our friend Dave is in this Voices of Praise Cantata.

This was our program.

Their church is very busy as you can see. We will be going back for the ‘The Heart of Christmas’, and maybe a few other events. We thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

Thank you, Dave and Judy! We enjoyed the cantata, but even more, we enjoyed YOU!!!

Check out the website of their church. It is beautiful!

Be blessed,

Michelle

Necchi Lelia 515

Look what I found yesterday! I’m still in shock! No, you aren’t seeing double….this one has an automatic buttonhole feature (see the knob to the right of the Necchi name?)

…and NO, I’m not reposting about the machine I found in June of last years on Craigslist. (The one below, and also on my blog header.)

My sweetie has been away since Tuesday, helping run, and compete in the Iowa State Pool Association pool tournament in the Quad Cities. We’ve talked on the phone and texted back and forth, but he wanted to see me. He excused himself from his post at helping run the tournament and told them he was going to spend some time with his ‘young bride’ (oh, silly boy…that reminds me to make an eye appointment for the dear). I had a few things I needed to get done in the morning, but I did meet him in the QC’s at 2pm at the Goodwill store. (Well, now, where else would YOU suggest we meet? )

He found a brand new pair of blue SAS Free Time shoes for me (the kind I wear all the time) right away. Score! $12.38. They are $140 new, retail.

We went to Wendy’s and had lunch (late), then we went to a few more thrift stores. One of the last stores we went to was the AMVETS store. I saw a couple of other sewing machines, but this one was sitting on a table. It had no cord, so I found one of the workers and asked if he had the foot control. He said, yes he did, and he had a whole bunch of other stuff with it. It was marked $14.95, and it’s PINK (or coral..pink enough for me)!

Well, I just about had to go shop in the under-panties department after I saw that price! ( Sorry….just had to share! I was excited! Should I just have said my heart went ‘pity pat’? ) The worker kind of apologized about it, saying that he ‘marked it low’ because he considered it a ‘tabletop’ model, since it didn’t have a cabinet that it fit in. I neglected to tell him that I didn’t have room for a cabinet anyway, and had it been in a cabinet, I would have removed the machine and donated the cabinet back. I did tell him that I probably wouldn’t be sewing with it much, and that I collect vintage sewing machines. I told him that I love cleaning and oiling them and getting them going, then I just admire them. He told me I wouldn’t have to do that, because it worked. (Oh, yes I will!)

So today, while the girls are quilting, I may just be working on this sewing machine seeing how she works, and tuning her up.

I told Louie yesterday that I am getting quite embarrassed. I told him that on my blog, suggested posts pop up at the end of my posts, and I am seeing machines that I don’t even remember that I have. (Obviously, those machines are not on display, but tucked away.) I told him that I really need to find some place that I can donate some machines that would be for a good cause…like, not to resell, but that someone would use. I have quite a few that are more modern than this one, that I could part with if I saw that it was going somewhere like that. I would love to find a place that taught girls to sew, or that made quilts or blankets for the less fortunate…and that would make me feel really good.

I did a little Google search last night, and I think I found a place close enough to home that I can deliver some sewing machines, and they will make a big difference. That makes me feel good. I don’t want to have to ship them, as packing them is hard work, (and make my arms and shoulders ache). I don’t want to donate them to be resold. I want them to make a difference. I want them to WORK! I rescued them, and nursed them back to health, and now I want someone to really LOVE them, and make a difference in the process. A kind of ‘pay it forward’ thing.

Ok, enough babbling. I need to set up my space for my quilting girls!!!

Have a good day everyone!!

Michelle

Singer Merritt 2404

This machine certainly snuck up on me and was a complete surprise. I probably would have never bought this machine, but IT WAS PINK! The reason I wouldn’t have bought it, is that it has nylon gears. I run shy away from machines with non-metal gears. They don’t last like the metal ones do, and I don’t have the 'know-how' to replace gears.  But IT WAS PINK, so I had to have it.


The front panel shows all the stitches this machine CAN make, but you have to have Stylist Fashion Discs for that. This machine only had the zig zag disc in it, with no manual, discs, or accessories of any kind.



When I have a question, who do I email? Why Jim, of course! He knew exactly which fashion discs I needed, and he even had some to sell me. Not all 29, but 14 of them! What a guy! I received the fashion discs in the mail today. Thanks Jim! I also asked him if he knew when this machine was new. He told me he left Singer in 1982 and had not sold this machine yet at that time, so he believes this machine to be sold between then, and 1990.




See this Singer manual? I found where someone offered to send a pdf of this manual if anyone needed one, so I emailed her, and she sent me one! Thanks Deana!
-------------------------------------------------
Update: The manual for this machine is now on the Singer site. If you look on my sidebar, and click the photo of the Singer Merritt, it will take you to the pdf manual for download. Otherwise, go to Singer.com, click manuals, and put the number 2404 in, and the manual will be found there. 

I think someone ‘played’ with this machine, trying to ‘fix it’ and gave up on it. Let’s see. The pressure foot all but fell off, the needle was in backwards, and when I tried to sew with it, the bobbin thread kept wrapping itself around the bobbin works. It had me confused for a little bit, but then I figured it out, corrected the issue, and now she sews just fine.
Hmmm…now where am I going to put THIS one???
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Michelle
--------------------------------------------------
I have had a LOT Of questions, and requests for a manual for this machine. Most recently, and not for the first time, people have asked me what does the knob with the numbers do that is on the top left? The manual does not show that knob, but it is the adjustment knob for the presser foot pressure. The pressure adjusts from 0 (lightest pressure) to 8 (tightest pressure). Mine is set on number 4, right in the middle.