Me and my machines

What a whirlwind day! I got so much done, and I had three machines going simultaneously! I actually worked later than I had planned, and I HATE when I do that because if I don't get my 8 hours of sleep, I'm tired, and it takes me a while to get moving. Note to self: DO NOT miss that bedtime hour - it's bad news for the next day!

The day didn't get off to a productive start, as I was on the phone until lunchtime! That was NOT in the plan, but it was all good and was work-related for the most part, so I didn't mind. Then I got busy and worked away in the afternoon. 

I laughed as someone sent me a text asking if I had spent the day in the gazebo. I wish! While I don't have a full-time job in an office, I have a tremendous workload with all the freelance stuff, and I would bet that I work way more than 40 hours a week at my "job." However, that's not every week, I get many days of vacation, and I have tons of flexibility. By the way -- they meant that as a joke! Well, I sure hope they did!

Before I show you what I did yesterday, here's my situation on the Virtual Challenge for the Pacific Crest Trail. I've just crossed the Bridge of the Gods from Oregon to Washington. 

Crossing the Bridge of the Gods

I'm now in the LAST state before I hit Canada. I started this walk on August 25, 2021, and I gave myself ONE YEAR to complete the walk. At my current pace, I should finish before that deadline, but there's still 740 KM to walk. 

I've read several books about the PCT, and everyone mentions the Bridge of the Gods. I had no vision of what it looked like, but I checked it out as I crossly it virtually. Amazing what Google and the yellow peg man can do. Here's a picture of the bridge. 

Bridge of the Gods

Once I'm done with the PCT, I'll get to choose another walk! I'm going for the long ones first and then onto the short ones. There's another long challenge in China of about 3,500KM. Then I'll evaluate what is left and pick the next longest. This way, I'm getting good value for my money! 

I'm not going to share all that happened with you today, but you'll get to see it as the classes/clubs occur. 

Here's a peek at Studio B yesterday. The PFAFF creative icon 2 was doing embroidery, I was quilting on the Husqvarna Viking EPIC 2, and the long arm (AQS Millie) was also working. 

The workspace when I'm working!

It was great fun and not complicated to keep all the machines running. A bit crazy, but not difficult. This side of the room was busy long after the long arm was finished. 

Here's the customer quilt that got done yesterday. I used black batting since the front and back are both very dark, and this fabric and panel are very cool with a night sky on them. NO -- you can't see it in the picture. 

Customer quilt - DONE

I needed some yarn for what I was doing on the embroidery machine. And chenille works perfectly for the design, and chenille happens to be a big thing right now, so I now have a wee collection of chenille yarns. I knew I had that intense pink at the top of the photo, but do you think I could find it? Well, I took a deep dive yesterday, and I found it! Now all the yarn is together. 

A collection of fuzzy yards

I randomly chose an embroidery design and then wondered what yarn colors to use to make it look decent. OH MY -- wait until you see what I did. It looks so cool. I have to finish it this morning as I ran into a problem last night, and it was already past my bedtime. Something to figure out this morning. 

I got out the table for the deck, and I had lunch and dinner out there. It was so beautiful out that you wanted to be out, so I was, but not for as long as I would have liked. 

Look at my green wall in the backyard. It gets thicker every day. That wall is worth every penny we paid for this house! 

The edge of my backyard

And there is one tree in our backyard with long-reaching branches -- as I sat near the house, those branches may provide a cover one day! I doubt it, but it was neat to look up and see how far they are growing.  

Long-reaching branches

Is anyone familiar with this author - Carol Dean Jones? She writes quilt mystery books - nothing too earth-shattering,  not like the current novel I'm reading by Paula Hawkins  - A Slow Fire Burning, which is a page-turner! 

Anyway, I found this one book the other day at K&A Quilt Studio. My library doesn't have any of them, and I do NOT want to buy the series. So if anyone close to me has any that I could borrow? 

A quilting mystery by Carol Dean Jones

I really did NOT need to buy these panels, but they are beautiful, and I've been to many places on them, and they are CANADIAN. This one is about parks in Canada - one per province. 

And this one is of places in Canada -- again, I've been to many of them. They are digitally printed and absolutely stunning. I also got these at K&A Quilt Studio, and it's called Canadian Road Trip if you want to find better pictures online. 

I also vowed to NEVER buy more bicycle fabric, but this one is very cool. So I got a half meter. Sigh...........

Bicycle fabric

Well, loads more to share, but that's all the time today. 

I have one presentation tonight on What's new in the world of PFAFF! And there is a lot to share, so I'll be prepping for that today, and I've also got other work. It's all fun and games!

Have a super day!

Ciao!!!