Let's Have A Go! Cutter Giveaway

A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery while on a detour.
~Author Unknown

WOOHOO!  Good news about my sewing machine troubles.  Wednesday morning I figured out what was wrong.  DH and I were going over all of the possibilities during breakfast and he suggested maybe it was the foot control.  I didn't think that could possibly be the cause.........or could it.  First I disconnected the foot control from the machine and then turned it on.  Okay - it didn't start stitching by itself and it didn't blink messages at me to lower my needle or pressure foot.  I carefully placed a piece of fabric under the needle, lowered the pressure foot and lowered the needle.   Whew!  So far so good.  I tentatively pressed the Start/Stop button and it immediately began to stitch.  Pressed the button again and it stopped - right where it was supposed to.  Well, at least I can sew on my regular Janome, I thought.  As I was stitching away pressing the Start/Stop button (which is really a pain, by the way) I thought about switching out the foot control from my little Janome to the bigger Janome.  As I'm doing this my immediate thought was that they probably aren't interchangeable since the pressure feet aren't.  Low and behold - it fit.  Ever so slowly I stepped on the peddle....stitch after stitch at the speed I was pressing.  I lifted my foot off of the control and it actually stopped!  As many of you suggested (I later learned when reading the comments) it was all being caused by a faulty foot control.  I have a new one arriving in the mail by early next week.  DH said he will take apart the old one and see if he can fix it for a back up.  I'm so glad it was something so simple and I even managed to avoid a diagnostic fee!  I've been sewing ever since - and under my control, not the machine doing what it wants.  Thank you all for your words of comfort and for all of the suggested remedies!!

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PHOTO FACT OF THE DAY

Bowling

Saturday, September 3, is National Bowling League Day.  Many moons ago I used to bowl but never belonged to a league.  I even had my own shoes and a pretty blue 6.5 pound ball.  Now I bowl on Wii and do pretty darn well - lol!  Here are a few facts about bowling:

*  Bowling balls were made out of wood until the early 1900s.

*  The first indoor bowling lanes were built in New York City in 1840.
* A bowling ball weights between 2,7 to 7,3 kilograms.
*  The United States Bowling Congress has more than 2,5 million members.
*  The largest bowling center is located in Japan and has 141 lanes.
*  The origins of bowling can be traced about 4,000 years back to Rome and Greece.
*  A bowling pin is made from hard Maple with a plastic coating.
*  Three strikes in a row is called a Turkey.  The term originated in the 1800s when at holiday time, the first member of a team to score three strikes in a row won a free turkey

If you run out of things to do over the Labor Day weekend - go out for bowling.  It's good family fun and indoors where the temperate is controlled for comfort.

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SEPTEMBER IS HERE

Yesterday was the start of another month.  Hard to believe we are in the 9th month of the year already.  I couldn't let the month start without hanging up a new mini quilt......

This pattern came from the book Count On It by Nancy Halvorsen.  As you can see, I satin stitched around the applique pieces this time.  The colors aren't quite as light as they appear, the sun sort of washed out the colors a bit.  This is now hanging in my entryway for the month of September.

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A WIN FOR ME

A couple of weeks ago I was the happy winner of a giveaway held by The House on the Side of the Hill.  Melody was giving away a $25 gift voucher to Want It, Need It, Quilt and I won!  There were several things to choose between and I finally decided on......

the Superior Threads Frosted Donut II.  I already had the first donut and love having all of those wonderful colors when stitching my hexagons together or for hand applique work.  There are a bunch of new colors in this second donut.  A girl can never have enough colors of thread.  And Jane included the cute little 2 1/2" charm pack of Antique Fair by Blackbird Designs.  Thank you so much, Melody, for having such a great giveaway!!

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MORE PRACTICE

Since my machine is back up and running smoothly, I was able to keep up with my FMQ practice.

Matrix Rays was a rather easy practice but allowed me to work on even spacing.  Boy, the black material I used sure doesn't photograph well.

Here was another fun practice - once I finally figured out what I had to do - lol!  My best row of Spiral Vines is the third from the left.  This might be a fun FMQ to use in a sashing.

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WHO DOESN'T WANT A GO! BABY CUTTER?!?

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

If you should be one of the few who don't want to have an AccuQuilt Go! Baby Cutter and your choice of 3 dies, then please skip this section. 

AccuQuilt is allowing me to have a giveaway!!!!  You could win a GO! Baby Cutter and your choice of 3 dies.  I have had a lot of fun with mine and use it all the time for cutting out hexagons and applique pieces.  You can see my little tutorial HERE.    How can you enter to win, you ask?  I'm going to make it very simple.  Just answer this one question:

What 3 dies will you select if you win?

Hop on over to AccuQuilt and check out the Go! Baby compatible dies and then come back here and leave a comment.  Only one comment per person.

Rules:

1.  I must have a way to contact you!  If you are a no-reply blogger you must leave leave me an email in your comment or you will be not be included in the drawing.

2.  This giveaway is open to absolutely everyone!!!  International, domestic, foreign, whatever or wherever.

3.  Only ONE comment per person

4.  You Do Not have to be a follower, but if you like what you see, I would  welcome you to become a new follower.

5.  This giveaway will end Monday, September 12, at 6:00 am PST.  I will announce the winner later that same day.

Good luck!!!  I will not be responding to these comments but will be reading each and every one :)

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TODAY'S GOAL

Today I will finish hand sewing on the bindings to two Loving Hands quilts

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GIVEAWAYS

Lucky Duck Dreams is having a giveaway.  You could win some great scraps that Colleen has left over from the most recent quilts she has completed.  This giveaway ends Wednesday, September 7, at 5:00 pm.

Color Crazy is having a giveaway.  You could win an autographed copy of the new “Locking Loops” book along with a wonderful variety of supplies valued at over $120.00.  This giveaway ends Friday, September 23.

World of Charity Stitching is having a giveaway.  You could win a $50 gift certificate to Fat Quarter Shop.  This giveaway ends Friday, September 16.

FabricWorm is having their weekly giveaway.  You could win 5 lovely Fat Quarters from the Monaluna Sew Happy Collection.  This giveaway ends Monday, September 5, at 8:30 am PST.

One Shabby Chick is having a giveaway.  You could win a fat quarter bundle of the Sunset Garden colorway - 14 fat quarters.  This giveaway ends Monday, September 5.

One More Quilt is having a giveaway.  You could win Christmas fabrics.  This giveaway ends Sunday, September 4.

Sweet P Quilting is having a giveaway.  You could win a package of Stitching Lines plus Paulette throw a few more goodies into the hat to sweeten up the win.  This giveaway ends Sunday, September 4.

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FINAL THOUGHT

Do you have big plans for the long weekend?  Or are you one of the unfortunate ones that actually have to work on Labor Day?  We don't have big plans.  My daughter and SIL will arrive tomorrow morning and stay until after dinner on Sunday.  They haven't been up in a few months and it will be nice to be able to sit and catch up with them.  We will also be having my mother and sister over for dinner on Saturday - barbecue tri-tip, corn on the cob, salad of some sort and fresh fruit and ice cream for dessert.  Pretty much the normal fair for a summer holiday.  The rest of the weekend is open and hopefully Monday will be a day of rest for DH.  He has been extremely busy at work (which is a good thing being in the building industry) and could use the down time.  Here's hoping you all have a wonderful and safe weekend! Enjoy!

If all the cars in the United States were placed end to end, it would probably be Labor Day Weekend. ~Doug Larson