Machine Embroidery Retreat

Oh my—we had an exhausting day! We started at 9 AM, and some people were wrapping up 12 hours later! YES—everyone was brain dead, but I think everyone learned a ton, and that's what it was all about! I thought I had hit the wall, but then most of us sat around and chatted for another hour or so, and it was all very nice! 

It's always a challenge when you invite a group of people, most of whom don't know each other, and hope it all works out. But everyone has a common interest—they want to learn and they love machine embroidery. It's been amazing and I thank everyone who came!!! 

I said I wouldn't do another one, but we had fun. Could I be persuaded?! 

Ten people are in the workshop, and three of them have NEVER touched machine embroidery in their lives! Never—they did amazing! They have taken to machine embroidery like ducks to water, and that's why they couldn't stop last night! 

Here's what the room looks like. That's the left side of the room. 

Machine embroidery retreat

The embroidery machines on the right side of the room. We had some big guns at this workshop! I'll let you see what they made in a bit. 

Machine embroidery retreat

I grew up on a farm out west, but our yard ALWAYS looked so junky. There was stuff hanging around, but I'm always amazed at how neat and tidy this yard is. There's not a SINGLE piece of garbage - it's neat as a pin and looks fantastic. It's a beautiful property and we love it here! 

The yard at Springhouse Retreat 

Before the chaos, I went for a walk. I didn't make my daily quota, but that's OK. I probably should have gone out in the afternoon, but everyone was working and I wanted to be here for the group. 

Beautiful morning for a walk

I used my Zoom feature to take this picture. Now that Samsung has changed how the zoom works, it's fun and easy to use. It's not that I need a button to do it, but not having to use two hands is amazing! 

The birds were out in full force

And here's the slow, lazy creek. Last time I was here, it was completely frozen over. 

The lazy creek

OK --- this is pretty cool. Have you seen these tiny little appliqué scissors? I love them, and I might just have to get a pair! Apparently, they are a hot item and keep selling out. 

Mini appliqué scissors

Here's the first of three projects that they worked on. We had a little oopsie on the tenth one, but all is good. That person got the most creative fix award of the retreat, as she reworked it. I haven't seen it yet, but I hear she was able to save it. 

The cardholder project

And then we worked on this mug rug! Oh my gosh --- they are adorable and I LOVE all of them. What's amazing is that all the colors differ from the original and look equally impressive!! They have done a great job with the first two projects. One of these isn't quite finished; it has a small issue, but it can be fixed! 

The mug rug at the workshop

I had a bonus project for them that kept them busy late in the evening, but most people finished it or are close to finishing it. I need to check on the status today and will take a picture. They pretty much look the same because I brought the fabric for them, so I don't want to get them mixed up! 

I got some work done on cleaning up my long-arm files! Oh boy—I think there are a few that I never downloaded, which is just silly. And I found TWO duplicates. Good grief—you think I would check to see what I already own before buying more? Some websites are good at identifying what you already own, but this one isn't as sophisticated. 

Today, we have brand new stuff to learn with machine embroidery! Everyone is still sleeping, so I have plenty of time to myself in the morning, and we have to be out of the house by late afternoon. There's a lot to pack up, but I try to pack up as I go. I'll move some stuff to the car this morning, but since I'm the last person to leave, it doesn't really matter. 

Do you realize that I've written blog posts for QUILTsocial for over 10 years? Let's say that I wrote five posts every two months. Plus, there have been many times when I've written an extra week or two during a year. I would say there are close to 400 blog posts there! I already have lists of some of the ones I use frequently for my classes: machine embroidery, stabilizers, appliqué, etc. 

Plus I reviewed many Husqvarna Viking branded sewing machine in those blog posts. 

There have been many projects, so I'm going to try to share some of them. Here's the first one. It's a journal cover. Actually, I spent several days on journal covers. 

My embellished journal cover 

Day One: Gathering supplies

Day Two: Making the base (background) of the cover

Day Three: Searching for embroidery designs (you do NOT need an embroidery machine to make the cover) 

Day Four: Using some cool sewing decorative stitches

Day Five: Adding piping and finishing up

Check it out—there is loads of cool information in those posts. You do NOT need to make your journal cover look like mine. Use it as inspiration to create something that you want. What's your favorite color? What embellishments do you have hanging around? What presser feet? What type of sewing/embroidery machine? These make amazing gifts and can be personalized!!! Go for it, and if you make something, send me a photo. 

Here are a couple of other posts about journal covers. These ones are sewing only. 

Day One: Tutorial for a journal cover - custom fit to your journal

Day Two: Collage on a journal cover

Day Three: More ideas to dress up a journal cover

That will give you plenty of ideas, and these journal covers can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make them. Now that summer is around the corner, why not involve a grandchild and have them create or help embellish or at least pick a theme for their journal cover. 

Well, that's it for me today! 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

Topsy turvy day for a retreat

So here I am at the retreat house! It was a challenge getting everything organized, but it's all done! And can you tell me why this happens? I had a drawer from the fridge that had been sitting on the counter for weeks (I know—not a priority) and needed to be washed. I then needed to wipe down that part of the fridge. I hate housework—can you tell? 

But that needed to be washed before I left yesterday! And the fridge got wiped down, but I see the entire fridge needs to be emptied and wiped down. A job for when I get home! 

It is the weirdest thing to come to a retreat at night. We snuck a couple of nights in between other regular retreats. The house doesn't sit empty, and we get two nights for our machine embroidery workshop. Works for me! It just felt so weird—I was discombobulated! 

We are at Springhouse Retreat, in case you are wondering. This house is fantastic and large, although I have a couple of other houses to check out in the coming months. It's nice to know that we have some choices. It's funny how when one closes, another seems to open. My first retreat was in June 2007, and since then, there have been many retreats—too many to count! 

If anyone would like to attend a quilt retreat, let me know. I have some spaces open in July. It's only three nights and a fun way to test whether you like quilting retreats. 

But I was organized yesterday, and not only did I have time to wash part of the fridge, but I got the signed contract out that needed to be done. The customer quilt was done, and I even had time for a nap as I had not slept well the night before. 

Here is the customer quilt! Everything was trimmed and ready to be delivered on my way to the retreat house. 

Customer quilt - done

My 60-minute-or-less project was to put the binding on the final placemat. 

And here's the state of the cutting mat. It's not perfect, but at least there's lots of room to work! The nice thing is that the workload will be more manageable after this retreat. WAIT --- you all know that's a lie. What will happen is that there is just ONE more event that requires coordination with others. It's easy to do something yourself, but organizing with others is challenging. So that will free up a lot of time, as does the fact that the number of classes for June is fewer than May. Only 14 one-hour Zoom sessions are scheduled, and there will be no more! 

The cutting mat is clear!

Then it was time to pack the car, which didn't take too long. And now look - I have my living room back! Other quilts needed to be picked up from the house, which also went yesterday. The little tents on the chairs are so that Miss Murphy does not sleep there! 

The living room is empty again! 

This was the back of the car. 

Lots of stuff in the car! 

And more stuff in the front seat. 

More quilts for delivery

The Pony Express is a wonderful thing, and not only did I drop off quilts, but I also picked up some quilts for my concurrent show at Quilt Canada. I got four more yesterday, so that was all good. I have one quilt to quilt—mine, and it's enormous, so that will be on the list of things to do when I get home. With mine and what I already have, I'm halfway to collecting them all. I'll check in with the others this week and arrange pick-up or drop-off. 

So last night, we got settled in, and it was crazy! A few people know each other, but most do not, so we spent a good part of the evening getting to know each other! It was not only about getting to know each other; we also had some show-and-tell. While some have never been to this house, many have never been to a retreat! It's all going to be FUN!

This is Janice's quilt from Tequila Lime. While I saw her quilt on Zoom during the final show-and-tell, it looks much nicer in person. It's incredible, and she quilted it herself and did a fabulous job. Thanks, Janice, for bringing that along. It's a beautiful quilt. 

Janice's Tequila Lime

I snapped this photo of someone else's work. While this is NOT quilting or machine embroidery, it's hand embroidery and IMPECCABLE. The satin stitch, long and short, is unbelievable. I'm unsure I would have the patience or the skill to create this. 

Hand embroidery - beautiful

We had a little briefing last night. I was up early this morning and got all the files ready. I just needed to transfer the folder with all the information I prepped yesterday onto the USBs. We have some people who are brand new to machine embroidery, so it will be fun to get them going, but we will make it work. 

I did not bring a machine as I'll just do the demos on someone else's, and that saved me from bringing that, but I still have my stuff—samples and whatnot—that I brought. All is good, and I can't wait to get started, although now that the blog is written and the files are ready to be stitched out, I might just get out for a walk before we start. 

Oh my -- I see the sun. Could it be possible that the sun is out? Of course it is because I'm in the house all day!! 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

Prepping for a machine embroidery workshop

People always say they can't wait to go on vacation. Do you know that prepping for vacation or even a couple of days away is one of my most stressful things? There is so much stuff to prepare, so much planning. It's one of the reasons my life at home is so routine—same breakfast, same lunch. There's zero mental ability expended on those tasks!

I'm not sure how I'm going to cope with planning for this upcoming vacation. I've left it to DH, which I know I shouldn't do! After Quilt Canada, I can focus on it. I'd rather just go and see where things take me. I am not a fan of structure! 

I'm leaving later today for a couple of days at a retreat. Well, technically, it's a machine embroidery workshop that I'm running, so it's not going to be too relaxing. Plus, I have a long-arm customer out that way, and I have MANY quilts from her to quilt. 

I spent most of the day either quilting or prepping for the workshop. Here is my pile of stuff to load in the car later today. Half of that won't come home with me! I still have to pack a few clothes and my office backpack and pick up some groceries for dinner tomorrow evening. I also need to add my own food container for breakfasts and lunches. 

The pile of stuff to pack grows even larger

I need something to do in the early mornings, so I must prep that. I will work on cleaning up my digital files for the long arm. I had a few spare moments, so I downloaded a couple of long arm patterns from my downloads to my USB. Tomorrow, I need to check what hasn't been downloaded. I will get this task done! I do not see how people could do this every weekend at the cottage. Nope -- not my style at all. But I didn't grow up with it either, 

After the weekend, I have a Facebook Live next week - Wednesday at 3:00 PM EST on Decorative stitches in sewing and embroidery mode. 

Then it's Quilt Canada, where you can see me in the Husqvarna Viking, PFAFF, or SINGER booth (they are all connected). Don't forget to come and celebrate my 25 years of teaching quilt making at Quilt Canada. There is a concurrent show with 29 quilts from my students over those 25 years. The quilts are arriving at my house (almost daily, it seems), and it's so exciting to see them. I can't wait to see them hanging up!  

A few classes are thrown here and there in June, mostly winding down for the summer. And then freedom! Well, not exactly, I have a bunch of writing and more quilts to quilt! But it's all fun! The weather has been so uninviting to sit outside that it's not an issue. 

Speaking of being outside, I got a call yesterday, and to try to eliminate any issues with the call, I went outside to the gazebo. It was sunny and relatively warm in the morning. There were no issues with the phone, but look what Murphy did. She was NOT happy that I wasn't paying attention to her. 

A dead fish in the pond

Yes - she dropped her fish into the pond pump! Oh, Murphy -- you are a silly girl!!!

And there's Lexi, happy to play around in the tall grass.I haven't seen any ticks on the girls, but she would be prone to getting them with her happiness in the grass. Thankfully, ticks are NOT as prevalent as out west—at least not in the city. But how would I find a tick on either of them? They have their medication, and let's hope it works! 

Our long-time vet is retiring, so we need to find a new one, preferably one that we can walk to. This is one more thing on the list. 

OK—what was wrong with this pin? I tried inserting it into some batting, and well, I think the pin is toast! 

The safety pin is dead! 

There is the daily customer quilt. Everything I've quilted is trimmed and ready to load in the car. 

Customer quilt - DONE

The next one is loaded; I just have to cut some batting and put it on. The quilt is not too big, and the plan is to finish it early this afternoon, so I can trim it before I leave. 

Batting to cut for the next quilt

So while I'm not slacking off at work, there doesn't seem to be much time to sew! I managed to get a 60-minute-or-less project done. Well, that's a lie. I advanced a project I was working on, but there are no rules, so that counts. I think the thing is that I want to try to sew a little bit each day. I'm trying to put things away when I'm done with them and puttering at some of the stuff hanging around, and that all takes time! But the cutting table, well, half of it, remains clear to work. 

I got the binding on three more placemats. Just the back, but that's the worst part!

Four of five placemats have binding

I had guessed how much binding to make, and I didn't have enough to finish the last one. So that binding is now made and ready to sew on, hopefully later today. 

Making more binding

And here are the girls. Murphy finally got bored enough to rip her blankets apart to find the ball, and Lexi is just hanging out with Dad, sitting in the chair. 

Just chilling

This morning, I have some paperwork to complete, a quilt that I need to quilt, and a few driving errands. We're doing something unusual for our retreat. We are arriving at 7 PM and staying for two nights, leaving by 5 PM on Saturday. It's a perfect scenario for running a small workshop, but it's sold out—we are at maximum capacity! And it's the second one I host! 

I was running around the house collecting samples to take with me, but there was one elusive one. What the heck did I do with it? I looked everywhere. Don't you hate when people say that? Obviously, I wouldn't have looked everywhere if I hadn't found it. Then I looked in the LAST place I hadn't looked and there it was! But your brain goes into overload - OH - don't forget to pack that. What about this? 

I don't make lists! I could amass everything in the time needed to make a list. I just rifle through my samples. I know what I have and I know what I want to teach. It's easy and works for me. BUT when I'm back home, I desperately need to put the quilts back into their proper spots, as with the last couple of trunk shows, they did not get put away. Hence, it was challenging to find this last one. But I've got everything I need, and if I have forgotten something? There is so much already to see - we won't have time to see it all, and I can make things up in my head! 

Blank pages and empty space do NOT scare me! 

On that happy note, I'm out of here! I hope your 60-minute-or-less projects are coming along nicely! It sure feels good to put some of that stuff behind me! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!

Murphy's stressful day!

WOW --- I hear you loud and clear. We do not like scents. So if we don't, who are those products marketed to? Maybe younger people. Anyway -- they won't be coming into my house! Thanks for all the comments and suggestions! 

I'm happy to report that the articles are finished for now. Well, that's not true. I have one more that I need to write, but it's not super urgent, so I can stall on it a bit. That gives me some flexibility in getting back to the paperwork and the emails, and there are many to deal with today. I'll work on the computer for a couple of hours, and then I'm downstairs! 

Murphy had a rough day! Poor thing. We spotted a rabbit on the walk; she wanted to go after it. After she sees something moving, she gets so hyper, even though the rabbit was long gone, and it takes her a while to settle down. 

MOOM -- I NEED to chase that rabbit! 

Even though she's not a huge dog, she's STRONG and likes to show me. Wait—she's a big dog, but many other breeds are larger than her. We are spotting more dogs on the walk these days, and of course, she wants to say hello to each of them. It wouldn't be an issue if she weren't so vocal, but her BIG bark scares other dogs. But that's her way of communicating. She's getting better, but still a long way to go! It's their breed - they are vocal. Look at this, which is hilarious, but this would be Murphy if she were on the agility course. 

The other day, we almost gave an e-scooter rider a heart attack. Murphy was doing her business next to the multi-purpose path, and I had my back turned to watch her. When she was done, she got up rather quickly and then lunged. I didn't spot the guy coming because he was zipping along at an incredible speed. Thankfully, he swerved and stayed on the e-scooter. Buddy - a word of advice -  if you are passing a strange dog and the owner isn't paying attention to you, think twice about zipping past so fast! It could have been a bad scenario! Murphy HATES anything on two wheels. 

We had a couple of fun play sessions during the day, but then moved to the great outdoors after dinner. I tossed her toy as far as possible, meaning it went near or behind the pond. 

She had loads of fun seeking out the toy in the bushes. 

MOM -- I love playing hide and seek! 

She loves to scoot along the front of those rocks, but it is challenging because the branches hang lower than they used to. 

Mom - I love agility! 

At one point, oops!!!!

MOM - Help, I'm drowning! 

She did not fall in, but it was close. By the way, her head is in the bushes, and her butt is in the pond. The poor thing just froze! Now what??? Then she got her bearings and could climb back onto the rocks. I couldn't help her as there was no place to get a good grip on her, and I certainly wasn't falling in the pond. 

After that, it was time to take a break, and she happily went and napped. She was exhausted and perhaps a bit scared, although the incident is likely already forgotten! 

I spotted this flower on my walk. WAIT --- when did this happen? It seemed to have appeared overnight, as I had not noticed the blooms the day before. 

Flowering bush

The flowers are enormous and pretty hard to miss! 

Massive blooms

And here is Miss Lexi, once again trying to hide in the trees. When there is grass or small bushes, she loves to be in them! I don't get it, but that's her thing! 

Mom, can you see me? 

DH and I are off on an adventure later this summer. Before we leave, we have to visit the travel clinic, which we did yesterday. Yikes—just going to the clinic and listening to everything we could run into was scary! We have pills and medication for all sorts of possible ailments while traveling. 

Medication for our upcoming trip

There is one medication I need to investigate a bit more, as the pharmacist said it was "sort of" related to sulfa-based drugs, which I don't do well with. What does that mean? Sort of? And she said I could try half a tablet at home and see if I had a reaction. The medication is for high-altitude sickness, which means you are struggling for oxygen. My reaction to sulfa-based drugs is asphyxiation. Do I want to test the pill - even half a pill? Hmmm - I don't think so. I'll do some research to see. 

We still need to book an appointment for the vaccines! I can't even remember how many there are (only one or two?). Of course, he recommended all the ones that OHIP pays for—hepatitis A and B, shingles, and tetanus (it's past ten years). I hate needles! But I can't travel without those vaccines, so I must at least endure those ones. 

And how many do I want in one day? I might arrange the OHIP ones with my doctor and the travel ones, with this travel specialist. 

I spent some time puttering in Studio B, and it was great. I accomplished a lot—well, never as much as I would like, but I'm getting there. Not having any "deadlines" sure allows me tons of time to do what I want! 

Stuff I'm currently working on

I sorted a bunch of fabrics, so that was great. I am almost done with Diane's stuff. I have two or three more bags of fabrics in the garage to sort through. I have a place to donate them, but I'm searching for larger pieces for backings. I haven't found many, but I've discovered smaller bits and pieces, so I've put them in a big scrap box, and I'll go through it and cut them for a couple of scraps quilts. The bigger pieces will be donated next month. And then everything will be gone! OH - except for two sewing machines, which I must deal with next month. Or I might wait until the fall. 

Sorting fabric

My 60-minute-or-less project for yesterday was to make binding for five placemats. The binding is made, and I even got it stitched to the back of one placemat. I did not work on any piddly things, but that's OK. This needed to be done! 

Binding for placemats - Done!

And here is the customer quilt of the day! 

Customer quilt - DONE

It was another large one, and it's all done. I'll trim it this morning and get the next one loaded. I'm doing great with the customer quilts. By the end of this week, I'll be down to single digits, so that's good. And a good number of those remaining are small. All is good—I'm pretty much on track with customer quilts, so I'm happy. 

While working, I've been thinking about the digital file mess I have created. While I'm away and won't have a ton of time, I've decided that I will get all my digitized pantos for the long arm organized. Yes -- you can imagine that it's a mess. I've purchased some designs and not even downloaded them, which is nonsense. So I printed off a list of my orders over the last seven years, and now I will ensure that all of them are downloaded, sorted, and loaded on the long-arm computer. I can easily do that from anywhere, and that's a perfect thing to do early in the morning at the retreat! 

As you can imagine, my download folder must also be cleaned up! So that is what I will start with to clean up files! It's probably the smallest category and shouldn't take too long. I use my dog walks and afternoon walking to plan and dissect these tasks into what needs to be done. It's the perfect planning time. With planning and much better walking ability, I can crank out the miles without even realizing what's happening! Well, I'm still aware, but you know what I mean. 

Now it's time to start the day, so I'm off to spin class. I went to bed a bit earlier than usual, and of course, I was up earlier than usual. Perhaps a nap will be in order later today. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!

Sorting and finishing STUFF!

I have a question to ask, and I don't mean to offend anyone by asking—that is not my intent. I'm merely curious. Is there anyone out there who uses scented laundry products? That could be detergent or dryer sheets. I'm curious because the scent is too strong for my nose. And I think that's just because I've become so used to NO scent that anything out of the ordinary becomes too much. 

Even walking in the neighborhood and smelling the dryer sheets from vents, if someone is drying clothes, is too much for my nose! I'm not allergic—just hypersensitive to those strong smells. 

I know there are "milder" scents like fresh breeze, linen, etc., but I still find them unpleasant, yet the ads continue to promote how good those scents are. The "fresh" smell is still there days later. And yes, it is, but I don't feel comfortable with the scents. 

So, I'm just curious: Do people like the smell? Does it make them feel the clothes are cleaner or fresher than if there were no scent? 

I am determined to get to the bottom of this OneDrive thing. It's driving me nuts, and the more I chat to people, the more confused I become. There are so many confusing terms; everyone thinks they have the answer, but they do NOT! So here's one to start the education - syncing versus backup. When I see syncing come on, I know it will take working memory from my computer, and things slow down. I learned that syncing and backup are the same thing. Now, I need to figure out how to ONLY sync specific files and time it so it syncs at night or in the afternoon when I'm not using the computer. Why does it always seem to sync when I'm on the computer? My goal today is to figure out how to better set the sync. 

I also need to remove all the old files from OneDrive. I bet many of them could actually be deleted as they are dated. That's going to be a job for early mornings this weekend. I just had a peek at the file directory, and OH MY—it's going to be a challenge to know where to start. There is so much crap on that drive. 

I need to sort everything first, which shouldn't take long, and then, folder by folder, clean it up! 

I also need to figure out how to use that drive. Do I start by creating the file on my computer? No—that won't allow me to use the AutoSave feature. There is so much to learn, so little time, but it has to be done because I'm tired of the mess. 

I use clean pizza boxes to store many of my projects and demos. I have one for binding, but with the binding class this year, it was starting to explode. I have many new samples, and they need to go somewhere. So I sorted the box—completed samples in a new box, paper, and half-made samples in another. I know—that sounds absolutely ridiculous! But it works. 

Sorting the binding sample box

I found several books about binding in the box and many articles about binding techniques. Yes, I needed those at one time—it's how I learned. I scoured the internet, read the articles, and put them in the demo box so I knew where they were. I don't need many of them now, so I eliminated some yesterday and will have to return when I have more time to eliminate more. 

Articles on binding quilts

WHAT? We finally had a relatively warm, sunny day! But we've had so much cloud, cool, and rain that my lilac in the backyard is taking its sweet time to bloom. I can't wait to sit out there and enjoy the scent when it does. WAIT—don't call me a hypocrite about scents. I am outdoors in an open space. This is a delicate, non-chemical scent, and I love it! Would I want it in my house? I'm not so sure! 

Lilac is almost in bloom

Of course, since I was not paying attention to Murphy, she grabbed her toy and dumped it in the pond. I was forced to get up and get it for her. She attempted to get it and almost fell in. 

MOM - a little help! 

Here's the latest customer quilt. It was a small one, so it went relatively quickly. Yeah, for smallish quilts! I see the next one is another giant, so I'll have to load that this morning and get it done this afternoon. 

Customer quilt - DONE

I have a couple of hours at the computer this morning to finish some writing, answer emails, and generate new ones. I'm a bit behind, and I must catch up! 

So, I have something to get rid of, and I'm not sure where the best place is to do that. My Mom has MANY of these scrapbooking stamps, and I brought a few home as a reminder to find a home for them. Sadly, my Mom was a victim of an aggressive salesperson who would ensure that the latest catalogue was dropped off at the house, and she was happy to deliver anything and everything that my Mom wanted. 

Scrapbooking stamps

With my Mom being a hoarder, it was a nightmare waiting to happen, but a salesperson's delight! My Mom has admitted that she bought way too many, so that's a start. Some of them are the new clear stamps that require a plastic block to use. 

Clear stamps

Some are traditional stamps already mounted on wood. I brought home three boxes, but this is merely the teeny tiny tip of the iceberg. Almost all are BRAND NEW!

Traditional stamps on wood

Should I bundle them by season/theme and try to sell on Facebook Marketplace? There is loads of cardstock and ink, and I have no idea what else is there. But it's the next thing I must deal with when I return. I must do some research to find out what to do with them. 

OK—you can laugh at me again with my 60-minute-or-less project. This time, there were two small seams that needed to be sewn on this mug rug. I know—ROTFLOL. It's hilarious what I leave to do, and then I wonder why my studio looks so cluttered. I'm my own worst enemy, for sure. I must have a fear of finishing things. 

My mug rug - DONE! 

But this "new" challenge has me fired up, and I'm diligently trying each day to clear up the mess, one small step at a time. Sometimes, I'm tempted to finish a second project, but my schedule isn't allowing that at this time. When you want matching thread, having these partially filled bobbins for little jobs like the mug rug is handy. There's bound to be something for the top and bobbin, and I'm good to go! 

Partially filled bobbins

Several small things are lined up for later today as I quilt that large quilt. 

Poor Murphy—she was confused this morning. She was downstairs with me, sleeping on a mat as I worked. Then I shut off the machines and started to walk toward the stairs, but I got distracted by something. I turned the corner to find her looking at me! 

MOM - I'm waiting!!! Let's go!

Well, that's it for today! I have another busy day planned with one appointment, but the emails? That will take days to catch up! But all is good, and it's supposed to be nice again today, so I'm sure we'll be out in the gazebo for some of the afternoon. 

WAIT—I have stuff to share with you! A while back, I wrote about stabilizers on QUILTsocial, and you must check the articles out. For anyone in my embroidery clubs, I'll put all the links into a document and send it to you so they are easy to access. For everyone else, here are the links. 

Day One - Introduction to stabilizers

Day Two - Tear Away stabilizers

Day Three - Cut Away stabilizers

Day Four - Water-Soluble Stabilizers

Day Five - Heat Removable Stabilizers

I had so much fun writing those articles, and I learned so much. So, those links will be helpful if you are a machine embroiderer. Even if you are only into sewing, you still need stabilizers! Be sure to check them out! 

And now I'm done! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!