Old dogs - new tricks? You bet!

Old dogs can learn new tricks!!!! But they are also very forgetful! 

I make many presentations in a month, although that number will be significantly reduced going forward. The presentations contain pictures from me, which have been significantly reduced in size, and from others, which can be HUGE. Did you know that when you send pictures from your phone, you can resize them before you send them? Yep --- that way you can send up to THIRTY photos at a time and the quality is still good enough for people to ooh and aah over it. 

The next time you forward pictures via email, check out the settings -- I have an Android and I'll try to take a screenshot of the command. You have to scroll up for it, but it's there!

Anyway, some of these presentations are so large due to the large pictures that I have to break them up into multiple presentations to forward them to the group. 

My thought this morning, since I wanted to send the entire thing out and it was going to take some time, was that there had to be a better way. So I Googled it and VOILA --- it took all of 30 seconds to learn and do, and the presentation came in at 7 GB, which is well within the limit of what I can send. Hallelujah!!!!

All it takes to learn something is a bit of frustration, a bit of curiosity, and it's done. I can happily forward any presentation in the future. I'm so excited about that. 

Now for the forgetful part -- I am struggling with this new watch. I usually leave the charger for my watch attached to the USB ports on my computer, but it now has a different end, so it needs a block for charging. I haven't found a good home for that, and I can't find my charger this morning. Where, oh, where did I put it? It could be downstairs at that computer. This is the second time I've "lost" it, and it's driving me mad!!!

OMG -- did you read the comments? Someone posted that people have experienced paranormal activity at the Burleigh Falls Inn. Yikes --- I'm getting goosebumps as I write that! Thank goodness, I didn't know before because I might have been freaked out! I heard nothing, but it wouldn't surprise me that some strange things have happened at that place! It's ancient and was built to house lumberjacks, if memory serves me correctly. You know how men are with axes and likely some booze thrown in!

It was an uneventful day -- the two presentations went off without a hitch, and a significant amount of work was accomplished over the summer. It was a super show and tell. I love those presentations!!!

I also made a decision that I will NOT be teaching any machine embroidery software this coming fall. I was doing THREE classes a month, and that involved a whole lot of work for prepping, follow-up, and the actual presentation. I just freed up about ten free hours a month!!!! See -- even though this month is a crazy one, I'm following through on my word! 

What I am finding, and this is not a negative reflection on anyone in any class, but often people are madly working on homework JUST to have something for show and tell for the class. I understand if the class is used as a deadline, because that happens to me as well. But if you make something JUST because of the class, are you really learning? And some people attend because of FOMO - fear of missing out. You will NOT miss anything!!!!

Besides, there are numerous resources available on the internet for learning, so I didn't need to add that to my workload. So, I hope to dedicate those ten hours to my understanding of the software, or I might even complete a few extra community project quilts! All is good, and it feels good to drop one more thing off my calendar, or in this case, THREE classes. 

That leaves me with my UFO Club (times two), Many Blocks, which is a form of UFO, and the Machine Embroidery club. Plus TWO classes -- one is Color My World and the other is the Jacket class. How is that for cutting back? I'm proud of myself for doing that! I've also cut back the number of quilt retreats for 2026, so I'll be home and madly working with all my tools. 

I popped by the thrift store yesterday and saw a couple of things I might like, but even though I had money, I did not buy anything! Yep -- I'm proud of myself for that one as well. 

Look at the date on this bag—it's almost vintage! The date is 1971!!!!! It still looks in pretty good condition. 

A "vintage" bag from Walt Disney World!

Then I spotted this bag --- on my --- it was pretty interesting and I couldn't quite figure out how the fabric had been made for the bag. It almost looked like a tied rag thing. It was kind of neat, but it stayed in the store. 

An orange bag

But look what else I spotted!!! Phentex! The real deal!!! And there was white!

White Phentex

And yellow!!!! Now, does anyone want to knit some slippers? 

Yellow Phentex

But here's one thing I did buy. It was not at the thrift store, but it was at the Buckhorn Quilt Show in the Treasures area. And yes --- this is a treasure. There are a lot of these ladies, and what am I going to do with them? I think they need dresses -- but what kind of dresses? Well, we'll see what I decide to make with it. I have loads more time to mess with this kind of thing! 

My new fabric treasure

I spent a good part of the day trying to put away all the stuff that I had taken with me, and I have to admit that I did a pretty good job. Slow and methodical, and it's so much easier when everything has a home. 

The cutting table is the staging area

And I got it down to this, which is shocking!! Yes -- there are two things on the cutting table and I need to deal with both when I get back from the quilt retreat. 

The cutting table at the end of the day

I needed to find a zipper for something, and that was super easy. I grabbed the giant box that holds all my zippers now, not several small boxes that are over-stuffed, and it was super easy. I just had to remind myself where their new home was on that shelf. But since the box was labeled, it was easy! 

My zipper collection

And I managed to get a customer quilt done. No issues with the quilting. I still don't know what happened to my quilt, but all is good. I did watch this one a bit more closely, and all is good. It's trimmed and will be delivered later today. 

Customer quilt - DONE

I have two more customer quilts in the queue, and neither is too large, so those will get done later this month. I have a few things on my calendar before I get back to the long arm. 

But what the heck am I going to do with all my free time? Oh, don't worry about that -- I'll be sure to fill it with something! I might even get this darn office tidied up once and for all, and I had better find a home for that charger --- IF I find the darn thing. 

OK -- there is a mystery in this office. Recently, I've been smelling something weird. It smells like the home perms or coloring that we used to do. I've no idea what it is or where it's coming from. I must solve that mystery!!!

On that note, I need to get the car packed (poor Murphy) and head out. I promised I'd be at the retreat by 10 AM, and I don't want to be late!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!