Reflections on QUILTsocial

I had a super fun day yesterday at Sew Productive. We made MONSTERS, which you'll see in a moment. 

I presented a couple of lectures on Husqvarna Viking accessories. I will give one more on Friday and a lecture on quilting at Thimble Quilts and Sewing in Lasalle, Ontario. 

I have written so much about Husqvarna Viking sewing and embroidery machines and almost all the accessories, and you have access to all that information. 

Where do you find it? Well, on QUILTsocial.com, of course. 

So here's the deal: I can't provide links to all the posts. But here are a couple of them and where you can find some of the other information.  

I started writing in June 2014, using the Husqvarna Viking H | Class 100Q. Here's the VERY FIRST blog post from QUILTsocial on June 2, 2014. 

Oh, what we didn't know when Carla asked me to write blog posts for her! And how the blog and I have evolved over the years. If my counting skills are on track this morning, I've reviewed 24 different HV machines. I've reviewed sergers, sewing machines, embroidery machines, and sit-down quilting machines. The machines have ranged from the basic machines like the H | Class 100Q to the top-of-the-line machines as they have been introduced! 

Not only have I chatted about the machines and their amazing capabilities, but I've also used many accessories in my blog posts and provided numerous tutorials. 

I can't even remember the frequency at the beginning, but I'm currently writing one set of 5 blog posts every two months, for a total of 30 blog posts per year. So let's take 9 full years at 30 posts per year - that's 270 blog posts. Then add in the ten I've already done this year, plus the ones from 2014, and some years, I wrote posts in back-to-back months, so I'm safe to say that I've written over 300 blog posts for QUILTsocial!!

Wow --- that's a wealth of information. It's like taking a brain dump and handing it off to you! And I must confess that I love to put in lots of pictures, and my posts are wordy! I hope they are not too wordy! 

All of the information is still valid today! How do you access the posts? Go to QUILTsocial.com and find this menu bar. 

Click on the MACHINES tab, and you'll find a list of all the Husqvarna Viking machines that I've reviewed. You'll also find a list of PFAFF machines that have been reviewed by other people (OH—I think I did the reviews on the sit-down quilter for PFAFF as well), and you'll find some machines by Brother. 

So, if you have a Husqvarna Viking serger, sewing or embroidery machine, or the sit-down quilter, click on the machine, and that'll take you to a list of five posts published in the same week. Sometimes, I've done multiple weeks on the same machine, so check out the "load more posts" at the bottom. Clicking on each post will bring it up, and the posts for that week should be linked to each other at the bottom. Monday will link to Tuesday, etc. However, the separate weeks do not link to each other if they involve the same machine. 

If you find that some posts within a specific week are not linked to each other, let me know, and I'll pass the information along. 

There are also tutorials written by myself and the other bloggers. Here are a couple of my tutorials for making quick gifts. You should never have to purchase a pattern for these essential projects, and you can embellish them however you wish! 

 Journal cover tutorial (follow the links at the bottom of that post to follow posts on more journal cover ideas)

Cushion Cover Tutorial (Part 1)

Cushion cover tutorial (Part 2)

Project Bag Tutorial (Part 1) Follow the links at the bottom to move to the next steps.

Tote Bag Tutorial  (I wrote this one when I was vacationing in PEI for a month in 2015!)

I tend to provide a lot of technical how-to rather than tutorials, so I'm sure I have more tutorials, but those four come to mind. 

Here's some of the technical stuff I write about. 

What's the perfect stitch length, and why? You would be surprised at how many people don't know this. Check the date on this! 

OH MY GOSH  --- You'll love the first picture in this post, which also reviews applique. I was sewing in the gazebo!!!! Oh my --- those ground cover bushes over the pond have grown significantly because the orange frog is still there, but he is now hidden, and I thought the other day about moving him. I'll get a picture today so you can see the difference.

And YES ---I harped about reading the User's Guide even way back then!

In the summer of 2015, I wrote a series of fun posts on what to do while on summer vacation. Here's the first of those! They were all quilt-related, and the pictures came from various trips that summer! 

Oh my --- I just led you down a rabbit hole, and I'm sorry! OK—I'm not! I definitely will go back and reread that series—the posts are short! It was so much fun! 

WAIT -- before I go, here's the picture of the monsters created yesterday. 

The monsters!

The ladies in the class had a blast making them, and part of the fun was choosing their eyes, nose, body shape, and mouth! There were loads of giggles, but it gave them an excellent opportunity to test out the Husqvarna Viking Designer Ruby 90 and the Husqvarna Viking Designer Sapphire 85. So thanks to you all for hosting and attending! And if you want to find out more about either of those two machines, you can simply click on the links, and it'll take you to some QUILTsocial posts I wrote. You can also contact your local Husqvarna Viking Dealer for more information. 

Well, that was a fun trip down memory lane and not what I intended to write about. Sometimes, my hands do not follow what my head says, but it was fun!

I would love a way to capture all the posts I've written. They are too huge to compile into a book, but perhaps I could come up with the best of them? I don't know, but it's loads of fun to check out the older posts. The information in even the first week is still valuable, as you can see if you check out the one with the stitch length information!

On that note, I'm out of here!! I have a "free" day today, during which I can answer some emails, do some embroidery, do more writing, and prepare for the next two days!

If you like ANY of those posts on QUILTsocial, share them with your friends, put the links in guild newsletters, or copy them to your blogs or other social media venues. We need to spread the word about the information in QUILTsocial. It's a hidden gem! 

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!!

The countdown

 

It's December 1st! Oh my! How did this year fly by? Keeping busy, that's how! 

While I'm going to enjoy every day like I do most days, I'm also on my own little countdown until the end of the year. 

• How many Zoom presentations left to host? (7) 
• How many Zoom presentations left to participate in? (2) 
• How many Zoom meetings (1)
• How many quilts for magazines to be finished? (2) 
• How many Zoom sewing days, including Virtual Retreats? (6)  
• How many customer quilts to be quilted? (lots) 
• How many documents to write? (6)

So that's going to be my countdown for the rest of the year. And I'll be counting down the KM walked as well. 

Yesterday was a day - well, hopefully never to be repeated. I've NEVER had to do such a huge ripping job on any quilt, and it wasn't fun. But I set myself up on a stool with my laptop so I could participate in Monday sewing. Then I moved on to watch a demo from Micheal's. And after that was done, I got my headphones out and listened to another audiobook. 

Set up to rip out a quilt

Let's just say that it was a long day, and at times, it looked hopeless, but I'm happy to report that the stitching is gone! The big question is, do I have time today to quilt it? I don't think so - I do have some stuff that absolutely has to be done today, and I don't want to be rushing around. So I think I'll just wait and get it done later. It's going to put me very behind, but I'll make up for it next week by doing more than one quilt a day. No choice - that's life. 

And let's hope that we can put this nightmare to bed and never to be repeated. Ah - life is just a bowl of cherries with a new learning experience around every corner!

I have four piles of paperwork around me as I sit here. I would so love to get through one of them today. It's the most urgent stuff, and it would make me breathe a little easier if it was gone. Then I'll deal with the other three NON-urgent piles next week. 

And I NEED to get my Christmas cards in the mail. Last chance if you want a card from me. I'll be writing and sending them next week! 

Another great laugh as I sat down at my computer the other day. Another gold thread!! Seriously??? I'll be finding gold threads everywhere for a long time, or so it seems. 

Another gold thread

After a bit of research about AutoSave in Microsoft Word, I caved, and I'm using AutoSave, saving the document to my Microsoft cloud. I have no idea why that has to be. But it appears that I'm not the only one who has the same questions. I found a document that said you CANNOT have AutoSave work as a default. Oh no - you have to turn it on each time you want it. Well, that's just silly. When did they make this change to Microsoft Office? And when you turn on AutoSave, it asks for the name of your document. Now I just have to remember that the file is in the One Drive and not on my computer!

Using AutoSave

I think this is a serious flaw. The AutoSave should ALWAYS work (as in a default). Now, I just have to remember to SAVE, SAVE, SAVE my document every time I start. I know that's not hard, but obviously, it is for me. 

And I must go back and read the article that Linda sent me. I'm happy to report that I have about 10 minutes (OK - more like a half-hour), and that document will be done! That's the last of the heavy writing for this year. I still have a few things to write, but none of them will take too long. 

OK -- so now this palette has become a focal point of one of my morning walks. The other day, I walked past the spot to see that the palette was gone. Oh no - could this be the end? 

The palette is gone!

Well, no, it wasn't gone. It had been moved behind some trees about 30 feet from where it was originally located. 

The palette has been moved

And the strips of engineered wood were also moved. Then yesterday, I see that it's been moved back near its original location. As well as the strips of engineered wood. It's hilarious! Murphy doesn't care at all, but I notice it. All Murph cares about is where the squirrels are! 

The palette is almost back in its spot

I do see the guy walking around, sometimes in the morning and sometimes in the afternoon. But TWICE this week, I didn't have a chance to get out for that second walk. One day was because I was on Zoom classes all day, and yesterday when I did have a bit of downtime, I looked out and saw the weather and thought - I'll stay inside. I must be sick! That's the first time this year that I said that. I'm allowed to say that. But it felt bizarre to not bundle up and venture outside, but it was rather nasty. 

And now, today, I have errands. I had been saving them for today, and of course, there's snow outside, and the roads will be nasty. But I have my winter tires on, and I'll drive according to the conditions. I'm sure it's going to be fine. 

I almost forgot that this week is my week for QUILTsocial. BE sure to check it out. 

I got to play with a BRAND NEW sewing machine. The Husqvarna Viking EPIC 95Q - a sewing only machine. 

Here's the link to Day One. 

And here's the link to today. 

Well, that's it for me. I'm making a list and going to see how much extra time I have. Not much, I'm sure. 

Have a great day. Stay safe and warm. 

Ciao!!!!

UFO day

Yesterday was a UFO day! The morning started off a wee bit slow - don't ask me why, but it did.

Then I was able to gather steam and I made up for the lost time.

Here's what I accomplished.

I started the day off by making the backing for this small wall hanging. Even though the wall hanging is small, I had to piece the backing. I had loads of fabric choices but wanted to find something that somewhat coordinated with the top. I think I did a great job matching the backing to the top. There's nothing left for the sleeve but I'm sure I can find something that'll work. That moves one more quilt into the "to be quilted" pile.

The backing is done - ready to be quilted

I then plunged ahead and made the binding for the Gingerbread Joy quilt. This is a Sue Garman block of the month. Sadly, she passed away several years ago (she worked for NASA), and her patterns were amazing! I just learned something very interesting. Her husband, Jack Garman was in the NASA program and saved one of the lunar landings. Anyway, the binding is now made and this one has also moved into the "to be quilted" pile. I hope to get this one done before next Christmas. It's all about setting priorities!!!

Gingerbread Joy quilt moved to the "to be quilted" pile

As each project is completed, it's time to tidy up what was left in the project box. There were quite a few of us working on that gingerbread quilt as it was offered by a local store (Jilly Bean's Pride - no longer in business). Someone made the quilt but didn't use the small blocks. I may have had an idea of what to do with them when I first inherited them, but I didn't write it down. I was going to make something from them - there are 10 blocks, but then I decided that they should go into the orphan block box for the moment. I may have more red/green/cream blocks in there - I may have a panel that will work or I'm sure I'll have something where they can be used. For the moment, they need a home and the orphan block box is where they'll reside.

Extra blocks moved to the orphan block box

Then it was off to work on one of the UFOs on those three lists. OH WAIT!!!  The Gingerbread quilt is on the 2018 list. It's now crossed off. There are still five more items on that list, but I'm working on one more from the list that I could have finished by the end of the year. I'd be very happy with that.

Time to move to one item from the 2019 list. I pulled out my embroidered Halloween quilt. I've been working on this forever! A while back when I was trimming the blocks, I noticed this. ACK!!! The last bit of the embroidery didn't stitch out. I must have run out of bobbin thread and didn't notice. The block got unhooped and well - it never got finished. Remember what I said the other day? NO PROCRASTINATION is allowed. If there's a problem - fix it and move on. (I noticed that I finished the embroidered blocks in July of 2018)

Half of the gold stitching is missing

To make life easy and also to test my new skills, I loaded the embroidery design into my embroidery software and removed all the colors except the one that didn't get finished. For some reason, I was having trouble getting the file transferred to the embroidery machine via USB, so I ended up sending it via WiFi. I should have done that first!! It was slick! That's all because of the WiFi capabilities of the Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC 2.

The stitches of the missing embroidery

I carefully rehooped the block trying to get it lined up as best I could, although it's never going to be perfect or is it???

I took a picture (with a free app on my phone) of the hooped block and sent that to the Designer EPIC 2 (also via WiFi) so the hooped block became the background of the screen, replacing the grid that you can see above.

Hooped block shows as the screen background

Using the positioning tools, it was a super simple task to move the embroidery design so it matched up with the embroidery stitches on the block. This is MIND BLOWING. I mean - it doesn't get any simpler than this!!!

Lining up the embroidery to the hooped block

Here's a closer picture. It's really one of those things that you have to see to really appreciate, but holy - this is amazing!!!!

The embroidery design is now matched up with the block

Next up was to advance the stitching pattern to match where the bobbin ran out the last time. That's easy using the plus and minus keys to move forward.

Advancing the embroidery stitching to the correct spot

That red crosshair tells me where the needle position is so it's easy to see if it's properly placed.

The pattern is advanced to where the previous stitching stopped

I can also lower my needle to see if it's in the right position. I could also have used Design Positioning (but I didn't) to assist if I needed more precise positioning.

The needle is above to start where the previous stitching left off

And there's the FINISHED block. I was so excited - you've no idea. Excited about the technology and equally excited that the block is done and I can move forward to completing the quilt.

The block is NOW finished

Yeah - the block is done!!!!

The block is done!!!

As the stitching was happening, I thought I had better go through the bag where all the bits of this project resided. That's a LOT of stuff hanging out there. But all of it has been put away now - I found spools of thread, more fabric, and another Halloween embroidery pattern.

Stuff to tidy up!

 I put all the blocks on the wall that had been stitched AND trimmed. This is where I stopped the last time.

The blocks that had been previously trimmed 

Then I got busy and trimmed the rest of the blocks and sashing that were in the bag. Oh boy - the quilt is almost complete!!!

Here are all the blocks/sashings that had been embroidered

I see that I was missing four more sashing pieces and 12 cornerstones. I made quick work of that. I used Color Sort and Color Merge to do all the same sections at one time. You can't see that in this picture, but it was much faster to do that than do each one individually, especially when I had TWELVE cornerstones to do.

Making more sashings

I started to listen to The Haunting of Hill House while doing this. I thought it would be appropriate to listen to the scary story while making my cute Halloween quilt. I see the TV series is MUCH different than the book. I'm not watching any trailers to throw me off.

I didn't take a picture of the quilt with the cornerstones and the last sashing completed, but trust me - all the embroidery is done and I'm starting to sew the blocks together. I wasn't looking forward to that task as I thought the stabilizer and threads would add a lot of bulk. Nope - if the blocks are trimmed properly, there's no bulk!!! It's going together like a charm!!! I found the border fabric in the project box and once the quilt top is together, it'll be a question of the binding color. Do I make it that light green or the dark green??? I'll wait until it's done and it'll speak to me!

The quilt top - almost done

I found these fabrics in the project bag as well. A HUGE piece of that dotted fabric. It went into the basket of Halloween fabric. I kept the light green out just in case I want to use it for the binding. And the fabrics on the left? They had been pulled to make the second Halloween embroidery project. I put them back in the stash. Gosh - if I decide to make that second quilt, I'm sure they'll still be sitting in the stash!!! I may pull them back out again - I'll think about it today.

Extra fabrics in the bag

This UFO should be off the list by the end of the day. I've NOTHING booked for today. Yep - it's Christmas Eve, but we have no plans (well - we are getting our new furnace!) and I'm OK with that. I see others stressing and shopping and getting all worked up. Why do we do everything at ONE time of the year? If family time is so important, why not get the family together more often? I just don't buy into the trend of Christmas - because that's what Christmas has become - a trend. Do more, buy more, entertain more, and stress yourself totally out. Not happening at my house.

I'll post the list of classes later today - I've run out of time. And it'll be nice to have them all listed in their own separate post. One day - I'm going to have a calendar for you to browse!

I arrived at the gym this morning to the arrival of two police cars. No lights flashing so that's a good thing. Turns out there was an UNRULY member from a different location of the same club who got into a fistfight with another member. He was an older gentleman. Obviously had some issues about something. All was good when I left.

I also went for a long walk with the girls in the afternoon. It was such a glorious day - how could you stay in the house???? I need to move up and work in Studio U when it's so gorgeous. But I went outside instead which is better. Almost 16,000 steps yesterday.

On that note, have a wonderful Christmas Eve. If you're out - do NOT drive and drive. Do NOT let anyone in your presence drink and drive. Life is too short to end it so foolishly or to end someone else's life. Don't overindulge - you'll feel like crap both mentally and physically afterward! Enjoy your family time as I'll enjoy mine.

Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

Play day!

Yesterday was a play day. I couldn't really afford the time for a play day, but it seemed like a good idea at the time when the play day was booked.

On a serious note - if anyone is in the $25 class at the Hobby Horse TODAY, the class has been canceled (and the schedule will be adjusted to accommodate the missed class). The parking lot is a mess with ice and they're working on getting it cleared up. That gives me some free time this morning, but I'll just plug away at more sample making and be that much further ahead.

The planning for the play day actually started over a year ago. Ronda bought a copy of this book for each of us. The Quilter's Year Book.

Quilter's Year Book

Each week, there's an activity to do related to quilting. Of course, I'm bad at getting it done - some stuff I've done, some pages have samples that need to be glued in. I think we got to the fourth or fifth week (yes - we started last January) and we came to this page.

The activity of the Week - Top of the Class

It's about classes. What teacher would you like to take a class from? After much discussion on our part, we decided that it wasn't the teacher that we cared so much about (we're NOT groupies by any means), but the technique. What technique would we like to learn and it had to be one that we were both interested in. We ended up agreeing on a walking foot class.

Sounds easy - right? Well, it took forever for us to find a class that fit both of our schedules. Almost a year! But yesterday was the day.

I was fairly well prepped for the class. Mostly - I had forgotten to take my rulers, but we didn't need them much so I was able to borrow from Ronda. Oh - and I forgot my painter's tape so I "borrowed" a piece from her as well.

There were five of us in the class. There are two good books on walking foot quilting - this one by Melissa Marginet. The one that we mostly used in class.

Walking Foot Quilting Designs by Melissa Marginet

The second book is called Walk by Jacquie Gering.

Walk by Jacquie Gering

I see there are others - you can check them out here.  Personally, I like Melissa's book - she's Canadian. We need to support our Canadian authors and teachers!!!!

I was a very good student (that doesn't happen often) and followed (for the most part) the instructor's lesson plan. Here are my samples. I used a King Tut variegated thread on the top. Pretty cool effects. Remember - those orange letters were for the touch test (designed by Shirley). I'm using up the samples for new samples!

Walking foot sample number one

Walking foot sample number two

Walking foot sample number three

Some of those examples are not finished so I hope to get back to that so I'll have good samples to show in the event that I want to teach a class on walking foot quilting. There's definitely a place for walking foot quilting. There's an issue with ruler classes, free motion classes, walking foot classes, quilting classes in general. The instructors address the techniques and patterns in the class, but I don't see much of it on big quilts. That's a problem which I address in my samples and my teaching. How do you take those techniques and learn out to put them on a large quilt? It's important!

I could have learned this on my own, but that wasn't the point. The point was for Ronda and me to have a play day AND to learn something that neither of us had taken before. It was a great day and I have to confess that we did a wee bit of shopping. BUT - I have several samples that I'm in the process of making and I really am missing some fabrics for them. I'm all good now and I'll use that as the jumping off point to supplement from my stash.

What sewing machine did I take? Well, I took my small class friendly machine. It's the HUSQVARNA VIKING Opal 690Q. Here's a link to my TOP TEN reasons why I love the machine. It might not be apparent from reading my top ten, but it has the SAME features I love that are on the bigger machines that I sew on at home - the sensor foot in particular. The other thing I love is that it's lightweight. If you have a larger machine at home and want a full-featured machine that's lightweight and portable - this is the one! I know it's a lot of money, but it's so nice to have those features - I hate sewing on a machine that doesn't have them. This is the best of both worlds - top features and lightweight.

There was a major accident on the highway on the way home, but we had been warned so we took some back roads to bypass the mess. I imagine that mess caused a lot of headaches as people made they way home last night. People need to be more careful on the roads!

Breakfast was a bit sketchy this morning. There was no almond milk! My grocery shopper failed me. Even my oatmeal was very dry without a wee bit of almond milk in it. I guess grocery shopping is on the list of things to do today.

A quick note about classes. It amazes me how classes for popular teachers - I'm talking BIG name teachers fill up so quickly and are often very expensive. Some of them are good teachers and some of them are not. People flock to them like ants to a picnic. Why? I don't think it's because of the techniques that they are teaching. No - it's because people want to be part of that person's "group" and be able to say I took a class with "famous teacher x".

I know that I get pressure from my guild to bring in big-name speakers and teachers. I don't think it's necessary to spend all that extra money to bring in a NAME when we have other people that can do the job just as well or even better. Why or why are we so struck with big names????  It doesn't matter which industry you look at or which hobby - everyone wants to spend time with famous people. It's totally crazy! I'd go for a good quality technique class over a class with someone famous any day! You'll learn way more because people are there to learn, not to be a groupie. 

On that note, I"m out of here for the day!

Have a great day!!!

Ciao!!!

The timing is right!

I know that I mentioned this book yesterday - The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert. Not my style of book, but what a page turner. It's a character book - it's really just about Alma's life which is terribly tragic, yet funny at the same time. A lot of interesting things happened to her and didn't happen to her. The book is 500 pages long. I have 25 left to go! I couldn't help myself. Last night after class was over, I abandoned everything else and snuggled up with the book. I don't think I have time to finish the last 25 pages before I need to back to the shop this morning, but I'm going to try.

I had another great presentation/class yesterday. This time I'm at The Sewing Machine in North Bay. What a lovely shop. The classroom is in the basement but it has two fair sized windows so you don't feel like you're in the basement, but the lighting in that room? Oh - I need lighting like this. There's lots of fixtures and they have used the daylight bulbs. The shop itself is upstairs. It's in a house, but you would never know it and there are little pockets of stuff everywhere. I think I like that kind of a shop as you can discover stuff at every turn.

There's also a very thriving alteration room within the shop. Apparently they are busy all the time. That's one department that I wouldn't be good at - I could learn, but I don't have the knowledge or the expertise.

I got to meet Lynne - a wonderful lady who used to live in NB. Bonnie - she says HI back! Lots of beautiful samples in the shop - tons of beautiful bags - I need to make more bags!

I brought loads of samples to show with the idea of inspiring people of new ways to use their sewing machines. I think I accomplished that task yesterday and today I'm going to inspire a new group of sewists. Some of the ladies in the group were fairly new to quilting/sewing and it's always fun to hear how they got into sewing or back into sewing.

As I went through my presentations, I realized that there are MORE samples that I want to make to better emphasize some of the points I talk about. I did make a few notes last night but will be sitting down in earnest when I'm home to make up yet another list of things to make! As if I don't have enough already! My plan is to make some smaller samples of existing projects. That makes them easier to travel with and easier to show - not that we had any trouble yesterday, but I'm thinking of the future.

There was snow and ice on the car in the morning and it was snowing like crazy when I was eating breakfast. As a result a few people who were coming from surround areas weren't able to make it. Maybe we'll see some of them today. The snow didn't last long and the weather cleared up. It's not cold but it certainly wasn't as warm as it was back home. Shoot - I miss the one nice warm day although I hear we had thunderstorms.

I notice that there's a wee bit of snow on the cars this morning, but nothing huge. And thank goodness for my rubber boots. The snow doesn't get cleared very well here and there's a lot of slush around. My feet are nice and dry in those boots.

On that note, I'm out of here. Oh god - I'm going to try and squeeze in those last 25 pages. Otherwise I'll be wondering about Alma for the rest of the day!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!

What kind of machine do you sew on?

OK - today's the day! I was speaking to Patti Carey (who was our guild's guest speaker last night) and she asked me - what have I been hinting at? I made her a promise that I would reveal my "new role" today. But then I read something this morning that just solidified that today is the day.

Let me do a bit of preamble and after all that fuss I made, you may find it anti-climatic.

I follow Moda's blog. Well - March is National Quilting Month. Yeah - the whole month of March. Apparently every day Moda has a theme (the themes are in the blog post) and you can post your pictures on Instagram with the appropriate hashtags of course. Yesterday was all about introductions - which I didn't do because I didn't know about it.

Today, the topic is - sewing machines. See how I was waiting for the perfect moment! I unpacked this huge box which has been sitting in my studio for a month. I know - a month. I'm crazy!

Yes - that is a brand new PFAFF creative icon sewing machine.

creative icon sewing machine by PFAFF

Notice what brand it is? If you know me well, you know that I've been a Husqvarna Viking girl forever! I still have my first Husqvarna sewing machine and I use it for retreats and on Monday. It was top of the line 20 years ago and cost $6000 which I thought was crazy to spend that much money on a sewing machine.

Yes - that says PFAFF!!!

 Not only is it the top of the line sewing machine, but it's an embroidery machine as well. And last time Ronda was here, she said, wouldn't it be nice if I could get my Halloween quilt done for Halloween. I could, but I need to do some more embroidery.

Embroidery unit for the creative icon 

Let's not forget that on the opposite side of the table is the top of the line sewing machine for Husqvarna Viking. Although it looks similar to the Designer EPIC (the embroidery machine), it's the EPIC 980Q with all the features of the Designer EPIC, but no embroidery capabilities. I spent a week blogging about it on QUILTsocial. Here's the link to the first post for that week.

EPIC 980Q by Husqvarna Viking

Let's not forget that I have my Designer Ruby Royale deLuxe which is an older Husqvarna Viking sewing machine that does embroidery. It's set up for piecing at the moment.

Ruby Royale sewing machine - this one is MINE

There are a couple (OK - there are three Husqvarna Viking machines and a featherweight) of other Husqvarna Viking sewing machines (mine) tucked away as backups should I need.

So what's going on here? Well, I'm taking on the role of an Educator for SVP Canada. And what does SVP mean?  Singer, Viking, and PFAFF. That's where I was in January. I was on an education week learning about the machines and helping to set up curriculums for inspiring others through educational seminars. Isn't that exciting? As an educator, I get the use of one of SVP's top of the line sewing/embroidery machines. Since I know very little about the PFAFF line, it made sense that I get the one that I know the least about. It also means that I have a ton of samples to make or pull out from various corners of my studio.

The hardest part has been to dedicate some time to take it from the box. Now that it's out - I have to start sewing on it so I can familiarize myself with it. But I want to fire up the embroidery unit right away and get working on the remainder of the embroidery bits for the Halloween quilt.

What does this mean for me? I'll be doing trade shows in Canada for SVP, visiting dealers who run the quilting/embroidery/applique seminars. Teaching/talking/playing - right up my alley. One of the things that I've learned in my almost 20 years of quilting is that the BEST way to learn anything is to teach it to someone else. I know that sounds weird, but it isn't. I've had to learn lots to keep ahead of the students. Heck - I'm still learning and now I get to learn with the best toys while I dabble in all sorts of cool techniques.

It's a freelance job so that's right up my alley. Not a huge time commitment as far as the teaching goes, but lots in the learning department. It shouldn't add too much of a workload once those samples are compiled, but it means that I should be playing more!

On that note, I'm out of here to take pictures to post to Instagram of "my" machines!!

Have a great day!!

Ciao!

Ooops - I did it again!

You know it's sad when your memories on Facebook say "I survived a quilting marathon".  And you know that you'll go through that experience again and again.  Could I schedule things differently?  Not sure, but I can always try!   Part of the problem is that I don't always feel that I'm the one that dictates my schedule.  Perhaps that is just a major scheduling SNAFU on my part.

Well - I was going to write a post with some of the pictures that I have edited last week, except they are not loaded to the internet, so that isn't going to happen.

However, I'm happy to report that I went to the gym, had a super good workout.  The knee is starting to feel almost like a normal knee. I don't look like an idiot as I walk up and down the stairs. I could almost run up them!

Instead today I will leave you with a link to QUILTSocial where you get to enjoy another post about the Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC.  Yes, I do feel very grateful for the opportunity to review these sewing machines and in particular this one.  There is a surprise around every corner to say the least.
Yes, I want one, but not in my budget at the moment. I could use one as I have a ton of embroidery to do that needs to be done ASAP, so I'm going to use those projects to learn about the Designer EPIC. Can't wait - just need to eek out some time.

On that note, have a great day!!!

Ciao!!!!

Tick tock.........

Yes - the clock is ticking - but I'm not panicking.  I think I have things under control.  I even made a list this morning of things (quilts) that have to be done in several different categories - quilts from scratch, quilts to be quilted, charity quilts, etc. It's a LONG list - but I am going to have to live and breath by that list or so help me - I'll just have to shoot myself.   Even though the lists are long - nothing would take more than one day or a couple of hours to finish.  So if I really really focused - those lists could be banished in a very short time.  My issue has been lack of focus in the past.  That is going to change!!!!!

I am the biggest procrastinator in the world.  Remember I wrote one day - if I do it today - there will be nothing to do tomorrow????   It's like I need to hang onto things so I am certain to always have something to do.  Seriously?????   Look at the studio - I will NEVER run out of things to do.  

The other reason that I have to get a grip is that I'm currently reading (I know - I can't help myself!) a book about HOARDERS.  Hoarding has been going on for a LONG LONG time. There just wasn't a name for it until fairly recently.  And there are several autobiographies about people who lived in a hoarding household.  Mostly the books (this is my second in the last month) were written by children of hoarders.  Shoot - I can't even remember the name of the other one.    Oh - here it is  - "After a While you just get used to it"  by Gwendoyn Knapp.  

"After a While you just get used to it"  by Gwendolyn Knapp

I didn't really find this a book on hoarding as  much as it was a book about a weird family.  So weird that I can't remember a single thing from the book. But I was entertained  and I guess that is all that counts.  It will come back to me - gosh - I just read the darn thing!!!!!

The one that I am reading now is a SHOCKER!!!!   I thought my Mom was bad, but we never lived in the kind of filth and horror that Kim talks about in her book.   "Coming Clean" by Kimberly Rae Miller

"Coming Clean" by Kimberly Rae Miller

Wow - hard to believe that someone could live in this kind of situation.  It was like the family had two lives.  And none of them were strong enough to get out from underneath the mess.  How sad - I'm about half way through the book and well - it's just crazy!!!!!!   I see that in my Mom - she is MAD - hopping MAD - at me mostly. Thinks I am a mean daughter because I won't let her buy stuff.   She has TWO houses already full of stuff and the apartment has no more room and still she wants more stuff.  I have to figure out some way to help her - I have no idea how and meanwhile the family is taking the brunt of it - not me - the rest of them.  Thanks to all of them for putting up with the day to day crap!!!!

Where did that come from - I had no intention of going down that route this morning - but it just spewed out.  Oh well - it is time for all of us to COME CLEAN.   You see - after reading Kim's book, I have even more ambition to get this office cleaned up.  I want to - I hate not being able to find certain papers and I want this madness to end!!!!!!

Oh yes - after scouring the internet - I did remember the first book.  But it wasn't as good as it is made out to be - at least from the clutter aspect - it is truly a story about a dysfunctional family!!!

On a totally different note - I bought a dozen eggs last week and everyone of them is a double yoker!  Now how does that happen????   Are these eggs really real????   

Double yokes in the entire dozen!!!

 Since I don't shop for groceries much - I don't even remember what was on the carton.  Maybe it said double yokes - in which case - how do they know that?????


OK - so this big tote bag - remember our big tote bags that many of us have made????   Well - I have several of them - OK - SEVEN of them and making more.  They are all filled and are excellent for carting stuff.  LOTS and LOTS of stuff.  This was my bag when I came home from work yesterday - plus my laptop.  It weighed a LOT and that election sign bottom is holding up just beautifully.

I've got lots of signs and well - we need to have a class.  Oh - I am teaching it at the Brampton Guild at the end of January so you had better sign up.  If you're not a guild member - well maybe they'll let you in.   Ask me and I'll ask them for you!!!!

The BEST BEST BEST bag ever!!!!

 I've made a few modifications to the original pattern so I'll be putting that together real soon.


It was time this morning to get moving on the constuction of the next project.  That meant I had some embroidery to do.   Hmmmmmm - the last time I did the embroidery, I was using the Husqvarna Viking Designer Ruby Royale  (follow the link if you want to know my top 10 reasons for loving that sewing machine).  Well - I don't have that sewing machine any more and while the new loaner  does embroidery - I didn't have time this morning to learn that aspect of it.  Luckily for me - I just happen to have my own Ruby - it is an earlier version - mine is the Ruby Deluxe.  Yes - I snuck that one in - bought this a while back and kept it a secret.   The Ruby, with the embroidery arm attached, has been sitting around the studio for a LONG LONG time and not getting much use.

When I went to set it up this morning - where is the power cord?????   No clue - thankfully it uses the same power cord as my regular sewing machine (that is also Husqvarna, but 15 years old - The original Husqvarna Viking Designer 1).

Interchangeable power cords - YEAH!!!!!

 I will find that power cord - it is somewhere - do you see my issue - I am pretty organized, but not 100 percent and that drives me crazy.

The nice thing about the Ruby Deluxe (and any of the new embroidery machines) is that I can select and do so much right on the screen!!!!!   I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE this feature!!!!!   No computer involved!!!!

Embroider away!!!!!

On that note - I'm home today - I feel guilty as I'm going to be hand stitching for part of the day, listening to a book on tape and sewing. It's a mental health day and I'm entitled to it!!!!!  Oh and I have a quilt to quilt.


Got to run - have an awesome awesome day!!!!!!   (have you been outside yet - it's like SPRING!!!)

Ciao!!!!!!!!!!!!!