Merry Christmas!

I love Christmas! I love the lights, the family parties, the food, the presents, but most importantly, I love what Christmas represents...the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. I also love this quote by Spencer W. Kimball...I have had this quote for several years...I think it's a condensed version of his 7-page book entitled The Wondrous Gift:

Like the wise men who opened their treasury and presented to Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, we present to our loved ones things to eat and wear and enjoy. Though we make an effort to follow the pattern of gift-giving, sometimes our program becomes an exchange – gift given for gift expected.

Never did the Savior give in expectation. I know of no case in His life in which there was an exchange. He was always the giver, seldom the recipient. His gifts were of such a nature that the recipient could hardly exchange or return the value.

His gifts were rare ones: eyes to the blind, ears to the deaf, and legs to the lame; cleanliness to the unclean, wholeness to the infirm, and breath to the lifeless. His gifts were opportunity to the downtrodden, freedom to the oppressed, light in the darkness, forgiveness to the repentant, hope to the despairing.

His friends gave Him shelter, food, and love. He gave them of Himself, His love, His service, His life. The wise men brought Him gold and frankincense. He gave them and their fellow mortals resurrection, salvation, and eternal life.

We should strive to give as He gave. To give of oneself is a holy gift…the most wondrous gift of all is the selfless gift given to us by our Savior. We can do nothing more to show our love for Him than to give of ourselves in a silent, quiet, loving way. This, the gift of self, is the highest gift of all.

I hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas...don't forget to show everyone you love how much you care about them! =)

The Iron Dilemma Continues...

Thank you to everyone that left a comment about the problem I've been having with my iron...I received a lot of really great suggestions...thanks so much!

I purchased some iron cleaner from Bed, Bath and Beyond. In case you're wondering...Wal-Mart doesn't carry iron cleaner...at least the one by my house doesn't. I used the entire bottle and really cleaned out the inside and the outside of the iron...it looked so great! While at Wal-Mart looking for cleaner, I noticed an ironing board cover on sale for super cheap, and since mine was looking pretty gross with all of the starch stuck on it, I decided to buy it...now my ironing board looked so great! I was sure my problems would be over....and they seemed to be. I decided to iron on a piece of scrap fabric...no marks, Hooray! Then I decided to iron on another scrap...no marks again, Hooray Hooray! So, thinking that all was well and my problems solved, I grabbed my triangle units to get them pressed. First triangle unit, so far so good. Second triangle unit...brown marks!!!! What! I grabbed my scraps again...no marks! What! Then I thought that maybe it was the fabric...that would be weird, so I grabbed a couple of pieces of the white fabric and green fabric that haven't been stitched yet...no marks! So, now I'm thinking it just got the last of whatever problem my iron was having out of it's system, so I start ironing my triangle units again, and what do I get...marks! Maybe this is a sign that I'm not supposed to finish this quilt, or maybe my iron is on the fritz and it just 'happens' to do it when I press the triangle units. I think I'll take a couple to my mom's house and try her iron...just to make sure it's not the fabric, but I don't know why it would be the fabric. I have also asked Santa to bring me a new iron for Christmas...that should solve the problem...if not, I may have to give up sewing and quilting all together! No, not really. =)

I also received some comments about using the all fabric bleach to remove the marks and I still need to try that. I only have bleach for whites and I keep forgetting to buy the all fabric kind when I'm at the store. I have placed a sticky note on my checkbook so that I don't forget the next time I'm out. I'll let you know how that goes.

Thanks for 'listening'! Have a super great day!

HELP!!!

Hello to all my friends out in Blogland...hope you're having a great weekend, but I have a favor to ask...can you help me? Since last spring, I've been working on my green-and-white quilt in between other projects. I'm almost done with the triangle units, but within the past week when I went to press them I ran into a problem. I like to use starch...and normally use Best Press...but in an effort to save some money just bought the cheap stuff from the grocery store. It's been working fine, but then....

The squares on the top are what they are supposed to look like and the ones on the bottom are ruined with marks on the white, but no marks on the green. Has this ever happened to you? I stopped using the starch to see if that would get rid of the problem, but no such luck, so the starch must not be the problem. I tried turning the iron down from the cotton setting to the lowest setting, but that didn't work either, so I don't think it's a heat/burn issue. I also tried pressing on the opposite side than I normally do (thinking that maybe just one side of the iron had a problem)...still just the marks on the edges of the white fabric. I really like my iron and ironing board...well, up until now...and I don't really want to replace them, but I will if I have to. I just wish I new if it was the iron or the ironing board...I guess I could try pressing them on a mini board that I have...that would probably be a good idea. I've been afraid to iron any 'real' clothes for fear that this will ruin them, so they just go into the dryer on high heat to remove wrinkles...usually works okay.

Do you have any ideas or suggestions I can try? Any help or advice you can give me would be wonderful and I would love you forever!!! Thanks so much and have a wonderful day! =)