Under the Tree

Several people have been sharing what they gave and received this year. Besides my special and lovely quilt (see below) , some super-fantastic gifts I received were (drumroll, please) :

a new Elna sewing machine
I actually bought this myself after going around test-driving them all over town. I personally liked this one the best, AND I got a good price. I am still learning all it can do, and have the option to take a class if I want to. My favorite features so far are the start/stop button, the thread cutting button, and the presser foot knee-lift. There are tons of fancy stitches, including a couple of alphabets. The main feature I was after was the enlarged quilting space on the sewing bed, and that is nice and roomy for FMQ

EQ 5 Quilting software OK I realize I may be the last quilter in America to own this software. I have no idea what to do with it, but I bought the "package" which includes Blockbase and five (count 'em -5-) books of instruction. Surely I can master it in short order with so much instruction available

AN IPOD NANO! Yes, I am shouting, I am so excited. This thing is tiny, light, and has wonderful sound. The BEST part is that Jerry has already loaded over 500 songs on it (from our own CD collection). Here is another thing I haven't learned how to do yet, but I will in short order. The other gifts I bought for myself, but this was a wonderful surprise. Well, it wasn't a complete surprise since I saw Jerry messing around with the downloads, but it is WONDERFUL.

Alas, I was not as clever in choosing a great surprise for Jerry. The clothing I bought for him was entirely predictable. The other Christmas gifts were of his OWN choosing and purchasing since they are things I haven't a clue about. He got a new HD video camera, and special underwater housing with lights and so forth for filming while scuba diving. Turns out this entailed purchasing a new computer and new software for HD editing purposes as well.
He is really, really happy.

My son already had an iPod he was given for his birthday in November, so his gifts included a pre-paid download card for music. He was as happy with that as anything else. His other gifts included clothes, books, and cash.

Let me just add that this was an exceptionally generous Christmas, and we aren't usually this extravagent. We had both been planning the big purchases for quite a LONG time.
The best gifts I gave, and the most appreciated, were, without a doubt, the quilts I made. One was actually a family project and went to my neice, and one was for the annual quilt exchange (extensively covered in previous blog entries).