Quick wits and creative thinking saved the day!!!!

Yes -- someone mentioned that I took the time to clean up as I went and that Studio B will be waiting for me when I get home. Well, it would be waiting for me under any circumstances, but it will be waiting for me with open arms! I don't know why I took the time to put things away, or found a corner of the table to set aside the things that needed to be put away, and then I did it before I left, except for a few things. 

That didn't take that long, and since everything has a home, it really wasn't a big deal to put things away. It makes it so much easier to work. And I find it very therapeutic and satisfying to tidy up. So while I'm going to enjoy my time here, I can hardly wait to get home and get back to work. I really enjoyed those last couple of weeks, although lots of other things got set aside. The pace will be a bit more relaxed, and I NEED to empty at least one table of unfinished things before the end of the summer! 

For the most part, my travel days are pretty boring. However, yesterday, on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being very dramatic, it was about a 5. Let's just say it could easily have become a ten, except for some quick action! 

DH asked me if I wanted him to drive me to the airport. Hey -- if you are willing to get up early and get me there early, then I'm OK with that. I had a few last-minute things to switch out or throw in the suitcase, and then we were off. 

I haven't flown to the US in a long time, which isn't a big deal - it's just remembering how the airport works in that area. I got my tag for my luggage and put it on and then tried to figure out what was happening in the bag drop area. It was a zoo. Then I realized that there was no single line - it was just small lines in front of each of the drop-off conveyor belts. That was a disaster, as the machines weren't scanning properly and sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn't. 

People were getting very frustrated and trying multiple times; eventually, it would work, but not always. I was one of the lucky ones. I only had to try twice, and my luggage was accepted. However, the people behind me were getting impatient, and there was no need for that. Just patiently wait your turn, because the more you grumble, the less likely it is to work!

Then I got in the wrong line to get through security. I had to backtrack out and get in the NEXUS line, but that's OK. It was easy to fix. While this process was easy, there were lines at security since only one lane was working. NEXUS was easy, except I ended up in the wrong maze (again!) and had to backtrack. There was no lineup; I just went down the incorrect aisle. 

I had breakfast in a restaurant. Something I don't usually get to do at the airport, but I had left myself lots of time just in case. 

Then I got to the gate. As I was approaching the gate, I spotted this flight attendant, and I had to take a picture. OH - I didn't forward it to myself. From the back, she looked like Barbie. Her waist compared to her hips was so out of proportion. It just didn't look natural, nor did it look comfortable, although her belt wasn't really cutting into her skin. It was just weird. Turns out she was the flight attendant for my flight! 

Margaret joined me at the gate, as we were both on the same flight. The good news of the day is that I got upgraded. I know - I wouldn't usually use my points for a two-hour flight, but I keep missing out on the upgrades on other flights, and so many points were lost at the end of the year, so I take them when I can!!!!

This is the view of my city from the airport. Yep -- I live quite close to the airport, but not close enough or in the area that is directly affected by the noise. Almost all of those highrises are condos or apartments. They are NOT office buildings. It's such a weird city - I believe Mississauga is the seventh largest city in Canada, yet it doesn't have a radio station, a newspaper, or TV. All of that entertainment/communciaton comes from Toronto. We are a suburb of Toronto. It's weird. 

Mississauga skyline from the runway

And then we arrived in Nashville, Tennessee!!! This is my third time here. 

Welcome to Nashville!!!

We decided to take a cab to the hotel rather than Uber. That almost became a terrible mistake. We arrived at the hotel, and I paid the driver with my credit card. We got our luggage and went into the hotel. Margaret was in the process of checking in when I spotted this painting on the wall in the lobby, went to take a picture, and realized I didn't have my phone!!!!! Margaret quickly said the cab was still sitting at the curb, and he was just about to drive away when I ran outside madly flapping my arms to get his attention.  

YES -- when I went to pay him, my phone fell to the floor, and I didn't realize it. Thank god he was still there, and Margaret spun me into action, or it would have been an unpleasant day trying to track that cab driver down. Thank god I like to take a lot of pictures! 

Anyway, since we are in Nashville, there is music-themed art everywhere!!! 

The art in the lobby

The next issue was my hotel room. It appears that I didn't have a reservation. WHAT????? How could that be? Well, I realized after that we were EACH supposed to book our rooms, not just book ourselves into the conference. OH -- I totally missed that part of the email. We have some protocols for other events and don't require us to book our rooms. I think I was busy with the wedding when that email came in, and I totally misread it. Yep - that email came in on June 3, and I totally missed the big BOOK YOUR ROOM button!!!!

OK -- so now what? The hotel still had rooms, but not at the discounted rate. And there is a big price difference. I was happy to pay the difference since it was my fault. We happened to run into our great leader at the time, and she suggested that Margaret and I share a room since the suites are actually very large. I asked, and Margaret said that worked for her - we have roomed together before. So another HUGE thanks to Margaret for saving me some money. 

I am now totally indebted to her this week!!!! I will say that I'm a bit happy about that as I find it totally wasteful that each person has their own room, although I get that people don't like sharing. But seriously --- there are two huge beds, and the bathroom, and then this whole living room space, and there's a door to the bedroom. It works for us, and I'm set up in the living room so I can write the blog without disturbing Margaret!! 

So while that wasn't a total disaster as there were rooms here, it would have cost me a lot of money for that mistake on my part! BUT all is OK and the rest of the day went just fine. Lesson learned -- check all the details of the email for upcoming conferences. 

I walked around a bit in the morning. We met up with others in our group, but they were going shopping. Seriously? I don't need to go to a mall to shop. So I struck off on my own. Shopping is the most boring thing in the entire world, unless you need something, which I do not. 

And it was super hot outside - 31 feeling like 39!!! 

I did some Geocaching and Adventure Lab stuff - of course I did! I spotted this Music City Walk of Fame across the street from the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. 

Music City Walk of Fame

And there were a lot of very familiar names along the walk. It was quite fun to read all the names. By the way, we are staying right downtown near the Music City Center, which is where QuiltCon was held in 2019, and a group of eight of us shared an Airbnb. 

Johnny Cash

I spotted a lady wearing this purse and had to stop to ask her where she got it. It's adorable, although I probably would never use it. They were from Pennsylvania, and I think they had bought it at the airport on a previous trip. They did not buy it here. And she had badges on her strap. 

Cute purse for using while in Nashville

I was at "our" restaurant back home a couple of weeks ago when a young lady walked in and sat down near us. She was wearing this gorgeous yet simple pink jacket, and the cut and color looked absolutely amazing on her. I stopped on our way out and complimented her on the jacket. People, even strangers, are extremely flattered and happy when you do that. It's something simple, but it can make someone's day!!! If you see something you really like, don't be shy about stopping them to ask questions about it or give them a compliment. It puts a smile on people's faces!!!!

As I was walking, I spotted this. Hey—if I can't eat donuts while I'm away, why not pancakes? Apparently this is a very famous pancake house, called Pancake Pantry. 

Pancake Pantry

I don't remember the time of day when I passed, but both times, the lineup was insane!!!! I am NOT waiting in a line in the heat to eat pancakes! And our breakfast is included in the room fee (oops - let's not say that too loudly), so I'll eat here. BUT - just for the fun of it, I could run down one morning - it opens at 6 AM. How many tourists could be out at 6 AM? 

The lines were long at the Pancake Pantry.

There is a large old bridge that was converted into a pedestrian bridge, so I decided to walk across it. It's called the John Seiganthaler Pedestrian Bridge and was built in 1909!!!! 

Sign on the pedestrian bridge.

And of course, there was a geocache on the bridge, so I had to get that. I had to use the hint, which is probably the only way I would have found it. There is a LOT of metal on that bridge, and a small magnetic box can be attached to the railings anywhere! 

The geocache

This is the view from the bridge. 

The view from the bridge

I decided to stop for lunch and went to The Diner, which was just down the street from the pancake house. By this time, the sweat was pouring off my face as it was hot outside, and it was the perfect time to stop. I don't know what those fries were spiced with, but they were the best fries I've ever eaten. And everywhere you go, they serve pickles. Good dill pickles!!!! 

So we have a thing about fries at home. I don't eat them, but they came with my sandwich, although I could have substituted them for a salad or green beans if memory serves me correctly. Because they were so good, I had to ask if they were air-fried or fried in oil. They were fried in oil! If they had been air-fried, I might have had to think twice about the air-fryer. But I don't think I'm ever going to change my mind about the need for one at our house. 

The diner is a multi-level restaurant, and if you click on the link above, you can see an aerial view of the area, including its proximity to the bridge. The owner loves all things diner-related, and there were many vintage pictures on the wall that I forgot to photograph before I left. WAIT -- that photo on The Diner's page is a 360-degree photo - just let it play, and it's quite cool to see downtown Nashville. 

I would go back there again!

What other oddities did I spot? Well, if you got cowboy boots, you need to flaunt them. I spotted lots of women wearing cowboy boots with shorts and dresses. I think it would have been very hot to be wearing cowboy boots yesterday. While I had shorts with me, which I changed into, I didn't have open sandals, and my feet were hot. However, we will be inside the hotel for the remainder of our time here, so there was no need to bring them. 

Cowboy boots are very popular items.

And this is a driverless car!!! To use it, you download the Waymo App, and away you go. I'm tempted to do it just for the fun, but I don't think we will have time. Look at the big honking sensors on its roof and the sides. They use an electric Jaguar I-PACE SUV. 

 

The Waymo driverless car

When I first left the others as they went shopping, I happened to walk in front of this Baptist Church, and the daily greeter tried to nab me!!! But I quickly got out of his clutches. It's a huge church, and while he was trying to be very helpful and friendly, I didn't need his help. I had my geocaching app! 

The First Baptist Church

Then I was back at the hotel to get to work. We weren't supposed to work, but what the heck else was I going to do, so I pleaded that I was bored and got put to work. 

There are boxes and boxes of the new PFAFF creative icon sitting in the hallways as they were unpacked and tested. We didn't get a chance to explore the new software features, but we will have that opportunity later today. 

Lots of new sewing and embroidery machines!!!

This conference is all about all new things for Singer and Husqvarna Viking as well, but the icon 3 is the big draw. Today is all about training and education for the staff, and tomorrow is the big day when we see dealers and their staff. 

Then it was back to the room, and I decided I had time to rip out those stitches that I didn't like. I got all three designs ripped out, and I hope to find a few minutes and the proper hoop to restitch them later today. Actually, I only had to remove the stems from the flowers - the actual flowers were fine. 

Ripping out stitches in the hotel room

Then we had some snacks in the hotel dining area, but snacks are not enough for me. I was trying to be very good, so I drank plenty of water at restaurants and tried to eat healthy. I was on my own for dinner and struck out to eat in a place right beside The Diner. The Pancake Pantry is not open in the evening. 

This was quite the place (Champy's) with all the lights, and the food was decent, but dressing on the side, please!!! Thankfully, I asked for that because they brought me two small tubs of dressing. 

Dinner at Champy's

I spotted this on the menu, but I didn't have any!!!!

Sweet stuff at Champy's

And then back to the hotel. OH MY GOD -- the one thing I forgot, and I keep forgetting, is my darn toothbrush. Seriously? I need a dedicated travel bag of toiletries, as I've done this so many times that I don't know why it doesn't register with me. So I had to put my shoes on, and I was getting tired at this point, but I went downstairs, where I got two tubes of toothpaste - I have some in my luggage, but couldn't find it and my very flimsy but serviceable toothbrush. 

Well, it's time to get this edited. Be sure to look back on the post with my upcoming class information. I had said to not send me emails before August 1, but I see some people sent me emails yesterday. So guess what -- send me the emails, and I'll just sort them here, and that is OK. I see that Out of Hand is sold out of the pattern, but if someone calls them, they can order more! I'll send them an email. Be sure to include the class name in the subject line, as it makes it much easier for me to sort them when creating distribution lists. 

I just emailed Out of Hand about the 40 Shades of Grey pattern. If you contact them ASAP, they can place an order from Australia or wherever they buy them, which will be more efficient. If you let them know you want a pattern, they can place an order and get one for you. 

So yesterday was an interesting travel day, and it could have been a total disaster. But thankfully, it all worked out. No one yelled, no one panicked, and all is good!!!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

Nashville - Day One

What a great day!!!  Hard to not be a great day when you're away with friends.

The house isn't the best designed for 8 people to sleep in total comfort, but the price is right compared to what some of the others are paying at hotels in the downtown core. I'll go with cheap any day, although I did have trouble getting to sleep last night. Jan arrived yesterday and is sleeping on the day bed in the second-floor loft. When I couldn't sleep, I turned the light on in my room and shoved a quilt under the door so the light wouldn't leak out!

I got a bit of sewing done in the morning and making good progress. Not sure that I have enough fabric with me, but whatever I get done here is less than I have to do when I get home. All is good! I'm very happy with the progress.

We spent some time in the morning trying to figure out exactly what we would do for the day. Some went to the mall to get Lego and Pandora charms, some went to the Grand Old Opry, some went to the Frist Art Museum and other places. I decided to strike off on my own. I wanted to get some walking in and I have zero desire to go to a mall.

It was raining a bit when I left so an umbrella and rain boots were in order. It really isn't that far to downtown from the house but you have to go in a bizarre way. Through the back alley, then I had to walk along the grass beside a one-way street (almost an off-ramp from the highway) into the area where we are and then I'm on the main street. It's that close. Cross over the highway and then the railroad tracks and voila - right downtown.

It's about a 17-minute walk for me. I walk fast and I was happy as a clam. Never mind the lady who didn't see me in the crosswalk even though I had the right of way. Let's just say that she scared the crap out of herself when she saw me as she started to drive. I'm wearing my bright orange jacket so it's not like I'm not visible. Oh well.

I started the day off at the Frist Art Museum. I met up with Linda and Tish although they took a cab to get there. There were two entrances and of course, I went to the second one which was locked. I waited under the awnings for the museum to open and was perfectly happy there. Only to be rescued by a security guard. The other door was open, but I wasn't walking back. It wasn't raining hard so I could have done that.

The museum was great. Mostly paintings. I remember years ago, my ex MIL was really into art and almost every painting in their house was a dark portrait of someone. Well, there were some of those in the galleries. Paintings of horses, dogs, and other things. It wasn't that bad and I did pick up some ideas.

Where we had fun was in the kids' section upstairs. The artwork by the school kids was a hoot and I picked up some great inspirations there. Then I found Tish in the maker section and we did a print onto paper. That was fun. Her little sheep looked awesome. My geometrics were also great.

As I was strolling through the pictures, I realize that I'm attracted to graphic design. The bolder the better.

Met up with Linda in the gift shop where we had a good laugh over the Bob Ross self-painting mugs, the Bob Ross finger puppets and other various Bob Ross items. Ever since Cherrywood announced their theme of Bob Ross, he seems to be everywhere.

Back to the house for lunch. The others were back from their mall expedition and we had lunch together. I did a wee bit more sewing and then figured out what to do in the afternoon. Hey - there's a used bookstore not far so I was off to that. OH MY GOD - it was totally crazy. The stacks of books, the narrow aisles, I couldn't find a thing. But eventually, I found the novel section. Of course, I didn't have my list with me so I went by memory. I found one that I'm certain I don't have. It was $5. Even if I don't have it, it's not a huge expense.

Then off to the craft section. There were a lot of quilting books. I like the historical ones. There are about three or four books about American quilts that seem to be in every bookstore around. Now, why is that? Anyway, I did find a book on Kentucky quilts and that got tucked into my bag.

Next up was to find the Downtown Antique Market. Holy cow - the building looked like it was going to fall down. It was a crazy place and all kinds of little booths within the building. There were a few leaks because of the rain. I mean - it was in seriously bad shape. I saw a fair amount of quilts but after some investigation, all of them had significant wear and I didn't think they were worth the price that was being asked.

Near the cash, I saw a couple of trays filled with old photographs - black and whites from the '40s and '50s. There was another tray filled with old postcards. EACH item was selling for between $2 and $7. Holy cow!!!!!   Are you kidding me?  DO NOT throw your old photographs away. I would love to have some old photographs to mess around with. I have some great ideas about what to do with them and I just need the photos. I'd be happy to buy some, but I'm not paying $2 a piece.

I was going to buy one from the antique mall but decided to keep my $2.

It was drizzling by now, but I didn't have far to walk back to the convention center where I was going to register. Oh, I forgot to mention that I had a quick peek around the show floor (don't ask) and saw the two charity quilts that I was involved with. Said HI to some of the vendors and a quick peek at some of the quilts.

I had said to my group that registration from 5 PM to 7 PM wasn't going to be long enough. Everyone is enthusiastic and wants to get signed up. The line opened at 4:30 and it didn't me long to get through. But the line just got crazier and crazier and they had to delay the awards ceremony because of that. I knew that - why didn't the organizers know that? That line should have been open from 3 PM onwards.

The others from my group arrived and we got them registered as well. While they were in the registration line, I was in the swag buying line and buying stuff for them. It was a totally crazy experience, but loads of fun to see some of the gang from back home and to see friends from previous years here.

I wanted to see the awards ceremony in person, but like most things, the darn thing was completely sold out. You didn't have to buy a ticket to attend, but you had to register. I was told that if I showed up, I would likely get in because there would be no-shows.

Well - I'm totally disgusted. The awards room was HUGE. I mean HUGE. I and a few others had to wait outside - I'll say there were about 20 of us waiting. Once all the registered people got in which took time because they were stuck in the registration line upstairs, we could go in. The room has about HALF FILLED.  Yes - there were a ton of no-shows. Seriously????  What is wrong with people?  That's very disappointing for the rest of us who would have liked to get in early and get a seat near the front. Not the end of the world, but just frustrating that all these crazy quilters get themselves signed up for stuff just for the sake of getting signed up and have no intention of following through.

The rest of my group went out to dinner to a BBQ place which after I heard their horror story, I'm thrilled that I didn't go.  I had leftover pasta once I arrived back to the house. I felt perfectly safe to walk back after the awards ceremony were over.

All in all, it was a fabulous day. I walked almost 20,000 steps!!! 

Today, the show starts at 10 AM and I plan to be there and probably stay for the day.

On that note, I'm off to sew. Most everyone is up now.

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

Travel Day - Day Two

I have to say that we survived the cold night in the hotel room. About 4 AM, I took off my sweatshirt! Although there was a breakfast bar in the hotel, it wasn't really adequately stocked. Waffle mix and the cooker, cereal, with no milk. There was coffee and orange juice of which I didn't have any.  Needless to say we passed on the breakfast. I almost broke down and ate one of the packaged danishes, but I was not allowed.

It was my turn to drive so I grabbed one of my protein bars from my snack bag and I was good. This was the final leg of the journey. Nashville here we come.

We agreed that we would stop at a Denny's and a few searches revealed that one was not that far away. However, we had to turn off to a different highway and Denny's was in the opposite direction. Not going back. Then we started to see signs for Crackerbarrel. Two of us had never been so that become the new destination. Finally, after two hours on the road, we stopped for breakfast. Don't ask.

Surprisingly, they had a yummy bowl of steel cut oats on the menu with a bit of fruit and nuts. It was perfect. Then we were back on the road. I think we were about two hours out at this point. Thank goodness for the bag of snacks, because I wouldn't have survived without eating something. I need to eat.

The roads were dry and it was a pretty uneventful trip. Except that I have very rude traveling companions. I saw lots of stuff along the road and wanted my travel buddies to answer my questions - like what chemical (2587 or whatever the number was) is in that truck? and they wouldn't find out for me. So I started to ask Alexa! Of course, we have no Alexa in the car, but don't you think that would be a good place to have Alexa? I was politely told that we have Suri and Google, but no one had them working in the car.

So hard to find good travel mates!  We did see a few barn quilts along the way. No one bothered to take pictures. Good grief - I can't drive and take pictures!

At last, we were in Nashville. We were early to check in at our house which we rented through Air BnB. We found the house just so that we knew where we were and then popped off to the grocery store since we plan to mostly eat in. Not just to save money, but to eat healthier. It was quite the experience. I think many of us bought the same things but the kind that we like. Each of us bought yogurt! Seven different brands I believe!  I found the only one with the reduced sugar.

A lot of carrots, celery and fruit were on the menus. It was a wee bit of a challenge to get it all in the house and into the fridge when we arrived. There's not really a pantry in the house.

We arrived at the house to discover that there was a 1204A and a 1204B. Oh, shoot - which one is the one we have rented? The note just said 1204. AHA - one of them is for sale - we doubt that that one is the one we've rented. We tried the code on the door lock and yes - we were in!! When I checked back on the very first confirmation, it did say 1204A.

Of course, we had to check the place out and secure our sleeping places. It's a bit weird for 8 people to sleep, but for a couple of nights, it'll have to do. For the first time in all the time of renting houses or going to retreats, I secured one of the rooms (there are only three bedrooms) where I'll be alone. Of course, it's right by the bathroom and yep - everyone had to get up at least once during the night. I'll survive.

The house is very modern and modular and on three levels. It's a bit weird. Not sure that I could live here, but for a temporary stay - it's not bad. We are about 1.4 Miles from the convention center so I don't mind to walk, but I'm not sure that the rest of them will walk. If I don't, my Fitbit is going to go crazy. Of course, the weather forecast isn't great - lots of rain.

Matter of fact, we had huge thunder last night and this morning there's been lightning and thunder. It's supposed to rain a lot today then I think it gets better over the next couple of days. Oh well - I have rain boots and three umbrellas. I think I'm going to be OK.

About an hour later, two more of our group (Susan and Tish) who had flown in arrived. And one more (Linda) who had arrived the day before and staying in a hotel for one night arrived. Just missing one more person who will arrive today.

We had pasta for dinner last night. It was easy to cook and then no one needed to do their own thing after traveling. Ronda very graciously drove the others to the grocery store so they could also stock up.

There are no official Quiltcon activities today. Well, there is the awards ceremony which is totally sold out. Now, how the heck did that happen? It's never happened before. The awards ceremony was always sketchily attended. Oh well.

I brought my sewing machine - forgot the extension table at home and I couldn't find the toolbox. But no worries. When one has a deadline, one must do what they need to do and that is to sew!!! The two days of drying stuff put a damper on my getting this project complete. I did bring an iron as well and a small ironing pad, but there are irons and ironing boards here in this massive closet in my room. So I'm sewing in the open kitchen and running up the stairs to iron. I love it!!!!

One thing I love about the house is the concrete floors on the main floor. For some reason and I don't know why - I want concrete floors and exposed brick walls. I love them. Of course, the concrete is polished so it's smooth. Yes - I realize that it can be cold. That's why you would put radiant heat in that floor. My brother has radiant heating in the shop where he works in and you can control the heat in zones. I love it!!!  Yes - I know concrete can be hard on the feet - that's why I would wear shoes all the time.

How the heck can you damage a concrete floor? That's why I want one for the sewing room, but it's not going to happen. Oh to win the lottery and then - well - that's a pipe dream. I noticed that the power ball lottery here is 282 million. That's totally insane!!!

I see some people are up, but I bet they could still hear my sewing machine if I started it up so I'm going to wait a bit before I do that.

We were going to take the Hop on Hop off bus today, but with the crummy weather, that's probably not the best idea. I'm going to check out what to do in Nashville and find something fun that's indoors.

On that note, it's time to get the day rolling.

Have a super day!!!!


Ciao!!!!!

Education Week - Day Four

Hm - I was all mentally set to go for my walk yesterday morning and then I realized that it was pouring rain. No walk. Now I could have been good and did the stairs a few times, but I did not. But I take the stairs all the time to my room on the 4th floor and totally at the opposite end of the hall from that staircase. I did make it to about 5000 steps yesterday so I'm good with that.

I've been able to avoid all the bad stuff although I was so hungry the night before when we sat down at the restaurant, that I did have some chips and guacamole in the Mexican restaurant. See what happens when you don't keep those hunger pangs at bay?

Anyway - something very interesting happened yesterday. I normally do not eat bread. I might get the occasional piece in but I can't even think of a particular instance when I've last eaten bread. I eat pasta with gluten so I don't think gluten is an issue for me. But yesterday at lunch, I decided to have the vegetarians wraps and instead of eating only the filling, I ate the tortilla as well. ONE tortilla was all I had. I was so bloated by mid-afternoon, I felt sick. Why was that? I'm not sure it was the tortilla - but I didn't really have anything else. Going to have to do an experiment on that one. It was NOT a good feeling.

At least, the rest of me is healthy. One of my colleagues had to fly home yesterday morning after she missed the day before while she hung out in her hotel room with what we think is the flu. She was not in good shape and it hit hard and it hit fast. One of the managers wasn't feeling well yesterday and hopefully, they did NOT pass anything along to us.

Today is the last day of education week. While I'm sad that it's coming to an end, it's time to get home. It's been an incredible learning and team building experience. The connections, the networking, the learning, my head is spinning.

What blows me away is how giving everyone is of what they do. They're willing to share and my head is exploding with ideas and things I want to do, things I HAVE to do and all kinds of other stuff.

What's interesting is that the more I learn, the more I realize what I don't know and as I always say - the day I stop learning is the day I'm out of here. Well, according to the list in my head - I'll be around for a long, long time!

Not sure if you saw the pictures of the geckos on Facebook and Instagram. It's a class - if you want to make one, get in touch with your Husqvarna or PFAFF dealer and have us book one for you! They are super fun to make and well - I think you're going to see a lot of geckos around. I didn't get mine finished before I came here. I'll show him to you when I get home. But the fabrics - well - there are some pretty spiffy geckos. Now I'm on the hunt for shiny, stretchy fabric. I'm sure I have some at home - I just need to put my hands on it.

The fun thing about what we're doing in our projects is that we work on all kinds of fabrics. Yesterday, we made a small scissor holder in the hoop and it was made with gorgeous cork. That Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC had no issues to embroider through two layers of cork. And then go to vinyl and stretchy fabric? No problem.

We had a free evening last night. And a few of us wanted to hit a couple of shops. We went to Wal-Mart first so I could get my journals that I've been searching for. I made some journal covers in three different sizes. We can only get the large size journal in Canada so I was able to get some of the medium and the small journals to fit inside my journal covers. I was happy. Total spend $5.61 or something like that.

Then we popped off to Hobby Lobby. I didn't really want to go in - I didn't need anything, and I ALMOST bought some shiny stretchy fabric but I didn't. I found (and bought) two bicycle appliques which I thought was hilarious since we're here to learn how to make embroideries. NO worries - it's research. I bought a couple of other small things. Total spend was $15.40. I also bought a magazine the other day for $6.99. I don't think I'll be over my limit when I cross the border later today.

It's all about being realistic. As I walked through Hobby Lobby, I saw some very neat stuff, but nothing that I really, really want at this stage of my life. And besides, there's NO room in my teeny tiny suitcase that I've already paid as check-in luggage because of my snips and not wanting to have to potentially deal with that at the airport.

Off to dinner with the small group of ladies and one last pit stop at Target where someone wanted to get a specific T-shirt. I didn't even get out of the car. The discipline, but then I'm not really a shopper so that's not surprising.

I've been watching the weather. I see that we're back up to getting 10 cm of snow back home tomorrow. Oh yeah! And they're going to get a ton of rain here. I guess I'd prefer the rain over 10 cm of snow and cold, cold temps. But that's life.

I still have at least an hour to kill before my walk but I have a bit of computer work to do so I'd better get that done.

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!

Education Week - Day Three

Another super successful day!

My head is just spinning with what can be done with a sewing machine.

I went for a walk in the morning. It was minus 2, but the brisk walk was great and I almost made my 10,000 steps for the day. Everyone is pretty friendly around here. The crossing guard said HI, as did the one other person that I met along the way.

We started off the day with a show n tell. At first, I thought I was going to be totally intimidated by what the others have shown, but I'm very proud of the two items I brought. One is an item that I created for QUILTsocial where I did embroidery and then created a wall hanging using the embroidery and quilted it. Here's the link to the embroidery in case you didn't see it. This link shows when I assembled the wall hanging. There are two links to the quilting process. Here's the first one and here's the second one.

I can't share the second one with you. I currently only have a picture of it - the actual item is being photographed for a magazine and will be published in a month or so. But I shared the photo with the group. It's pretty clever - at least I think it is. I used embroidery on it and the software to help create the embroidery.

Quality and creativity of my trunk shows is not my downfall. My downfall is in the number of items that I've got. Oh yes - I have tons of quilts, but for the most part - they are "just" quilts. They don't show off the fancy stitches and techniques that can be done in the sewing machine and the software. Let's just say that I'm making lists and need to prioritize those lists and get working. I see that my machines will be running day and night to get everything done!

It's a totally open and creative process and well - my imagination is the only thing that's stopping me from getting this done. I have days scheduled for "play" dates in my calendar. And when a weekend freed itself up recently, I almost gave it away to a group sewing day, but I did NOT!

We had a presentation about the embroidery software which is capable of so many things - my head is still spinning from that presentation. I think sometimes the problem is that we have the tools, we have the creativity, but we don't know what we have exactly. Does that make sense? We don't know what our tools are capable of and that's why we tend to stay in the box. I'm not sure if that's it - but it's my goal (and my job) to show people what you can make those sewing machines do! Yep - it's going to be busy at my house.

The other educators are so extremely helpful and I've had great conversations with almost all of them and that will help me enormously as I go forward. I have a "job" that a friend asked me to do. Oh yes - it can be done - the question is how. I have a much better idea how - I just need to try it out. I know they're going to ask me this morning if it worked, so I had better make an effort this morning to find out! I need to find a certain picture first.

We went out to dinner last night in small groups. I really like the small group thing. We had another topic of conversation and this one was much harder than the first night. I'm not sure that we really got some good answers for the question, but we tried. The team here has really made an effort to make us all welcome and that's pretty awesome.

There's so much to plan and so much to make! We played around in the afternoon to "pretend" we were students making one of the projects. Something I'd not really done much of and that was stitching on cards. Using the decorative stitches to make cards. Some pretty fun and funky things happened in class. Again - it all goes back to understanding what tools you have in the sewing machine. I learned a LOT.

After we got back to the hotel, a couple of us sat in the lobby and chatted a bit. Between driving to and from the office and splitting into groups, they have tried to put us in different groups all the time but there are a couple of people that I haven't really touched base with and I got to chat to some new people in the lobby last night. It's all about networking and I feel I'm pretty good at it. The gift of the gab and I'm not afraid to ask questions! Thanks, Dad!

On that note, I'm out of here. Got some important e-mail to be done this morning.

Have a great day!

Ciao!

Education Week - Day Two

The days are long and I couldn't stay awake as I tried to read a bit before turning the lights out last night.

I started the day off yesterday by taking a long walk. I made my 10,000 steps in the day and most of them were made on that walk. Thanks to Google Maps, I found I nice circuit around the hotel that took about 40 minutes of fast walking. If the circuit thing wasn't going to work, I would have gone out 20 minutes and then back 20 minutes. I felt great after the walk.

I see the temperature is below zero this morning, but I still plan to go out. Interesting about the temperature. It's minus 2 - the same temperature as back home, but back home that is also the high whereas here - the high is supposed to be 13. But I see we have a snowstorm forecast for Saturday the day after I get home. Oh darn! I was going to potentially pick up my new car, but not in a snowstorm.

Yes - I got the VIN yesterday so will pass that along to the insurance today. The Matrix rims do not fit on this car so have to buy winter tires so they can be installed. Buying a new car is an endless stream of revenue outflow!

I've been so good with eating while I'm away. We had sandwiches at lunch - I ate the filling of two of them and left the buns. It's not that I can't eat bread, but it such a filling thing and there's not much nutrition in a white bun except the calories which then turn to sugar. I didn't eat the cheese either. But I'm certainly not hungry, we did have a salad to go with it and there's fruit on the snack table and baby carrots in the fridge. I bought some hummus and cauliflower so that rounded out the day very nicely. I've been very diligent about drinking water. I'm going to float away soon!

Off to a BBQ place for dinner. Oh boy - what to have? I ended up with a burger and a salad. Didn't eat the bun. The meat could have been cooked a wee bit more but I ate it anyway. Then someone ordered the most amazing piece of carrot cake with warm cream cheese frosting. I did NOT touch one bite of it. Looked amazing, but I've made a decision that that kind of food is no longer in my diet. It wasn't that difficult to say no. I think about my lifestyle change and I know that is the right decision.

Being healthy and happy with different choices is more important to me than going home stuffed with BBQ ribs and carrot cake. Just like driving a smaller car is a choice I made and I'll be happy with it.

Now onto our day! Each of the groups that went out to different restaurants the previous night got up and talked about the topic that we discussed the night before. OK - so what would you want to have in a sewing machine was the topic. Well - some very creative ideas came up and some improvements came up. The best part - some of the folks from Sweden are here and we got to share our ideas with them.

Yes - if they decide to take any of the ideas into consideration, we realize that it'll take months or more likely years to make anything happen but it's nice to have that connection. Some of the ideas were amazing.

But I'm already so impressed by what the current top of the line machines do and I don't know the half of it. Gosh - I learned something so simple yesterday that I'm almost ashamed to admit it. I really need to sit at the machines and start poking all the buttons and touching stuff without even sewing.

Then we got to spend the day covering two new products that were introduced at Convention last fall. I was very happy about this. While I've had training on both the products, I had questions and I was able to get them answered. Now I need to digest that material and figure out how to portray that to potential customers. One was the Multi-Needle Embroidery machine - 10 needles. Thread it up, load the hoop and walk away. Come back and VOILA - embroidery is done!  The other is the fabric frame which allows one to load their quilt, or project and be able to work on it without moving the fabric.

That took up the entire day! It seems that we have no spare minutes as we often work through lunch or have a short lunch. I don't have a problem with that - there's so much to learn and I'm OK filling up the day. But my head is spinning.

Let's not forget the information to be gleaned from the other educators. Some of them have been sewing forever. Well - I have too, but I've been so focused on quilting that I don't necessarily use all the features of the sewing machine. It's time to step outside the box!

I see it's time to run downstairs to see if they have a banana. I didn't see any last night, but hopefully, they're stocked up for this morning. I love it - just popped downstairs and they have these almost too ripe to eat bananas. Perfect for my smoothie. I got two - one for today and one for tomorrow.

Here's an interesting thing happening in the craft world. This has to do with knitting. This lady knit a scarf showing the delays on her commute by train. It's kind of neat. I see other people are making temperature quilts which is a neat idea. Do a Google search on temperature quilts. It's quite the thing and there are loads of variations.

Have a super day!

Ciao!

Education Week - Day One

Day One of Ed Week is done. My head is already full!

I think I mentioned it yesterday, but the immersion blender and my little food supply have worked out just fine. I've already pilfered a banana from the breakfast buffet this morning and I'll make my shake in a bit. It's weird as I would never have thought of bringing the blender, but it's great. And I get my healthy shake. Oh yes - I know there is chef downstairs who is prepared to make me a fabulous omelet, but I'm not eating eggs at the moment and I figure I don't need all that other stuff that goes with the omelet.

I'm happy with my shake and that's all that counts.

Self-control - it's all about self-control. We got a little bag of goodies yesterday and in it, there were some bad snacks. Chocolates, some sweets, and other things. I removed them from my bag and put them on the little counter in the meeting room and I think they are already gone. Along with the bowls of "bad" snacks, there's a bowl of fruit and little bags of carrots in the fridge. So I'm good for snacks. I certainly appreciate the good snacks.

OK - so what did the day entail? It's like there's even too much to cover. A "formal" introduction to all the education team. We heard from the top people who are running education - well they're running the activities for the week. It's great to hear right from the top what the direction is and where we want to go and how it's going to happen.

It's nice to know that I'm not alone in the education world! It's nice to have this "team-building" time together.

We learned about the new classes that we'll be teaching in the upcoming year - some pretty cute and exciting projects. Yep - I get to make all of them when I get home.

We had one of the educators give us a trunk show of her samples. I'm blown away. I know this educator is good, but honestly - you wouldn't believe what she can make a sewing machine do. I took tons of pictures and now it's going to be my turn to go home and do my take on some of the techniques and stitches that are builtin to those two gorgeous machines that are sitting in my studio. If I thought I was pressed for time before? Well - let's just say that some of these ladies spend ALL their free time making samples. Yikes!

I know that many of us are itching to get back to the sewing machine, but I really think that I need to do some planning. What do I need to make? What stitches/techniques will I use in the piece? How to make some of the samples so they use more than one technique on each. That kind of thing. Then get the materials and get to work.

I need some planning time. And actually, I have planning time here. I get up at my usual time and we don't have to be ready until 8 - that gives me a couple of hours of planning time each morning.

We got a tour of the building. While the offices are just like any other office - except for the very fancy coffee machine in the lunch room. Good grief - you almost need a degree to run the thing! We did get a peek in the warehouse. HOLY! It's huge.

There are posters of old sewing machine ads (Husqvarna and PFAFF) throughout the building which are fun to read. There's a display of older machines in the lobby. Oh my - it's been 25 years this year that the Husqvarna Viking #1+ came out. The first embroidery machine by Husqvarna Viking. It's hilarious to look at how small the bed of that machine is. But hey - it did embroidery!

They also have a PFAFF 1222 on display. I laugh because this is Gail's favorite machine at The Hobby Horse. She buys one whenever she finds one. They are a workhorse for sure! They are also lots of treadles, hand cranks, and other sundry machines including a Diamond SE or one from the Diamond series. Yes - sadly retired but replaced with something that is truly spectacular in the Designer EPIC and EPIC 980Q. 

There's also a display of all the current machines both PFAFF and Husqvarna Viking. So nice to see them all in one spot. But the thing I love is that the educators are all so passionate about what we do, but almost everyone in that building knows the business side but has no clue what we do with what they sell. Isn't that just the weirdest thing? I guess not - but for some reason - it just seems weird to me. But no worse than when I worked for Northcott - few employees actually use the fabric they produce.

That's why they depend on freelance people like myself to spread the word.

After the formal day was done, we split into groups and went to dinner where we were given a topic for discussion. It was a very interesting discussion and I really enjoyed it. We're going to review the outcome this morning. It's going to be interesting to see what the other groups came up with.

But more than that - I'm learning so much. And realizing that I know absolutely NOTHING about this industry and the machines. OK - that's not true, but I feel like I know nothing. I'd better sit down when I get home and do some serious playing. I've got a couple of things that I'm going to plead total ignorance on so someone can give me a lesson while I'm here. Hey - I've got a room full of teachers so I should take advantage of that.

The only negative thing about the day - well besides that I seem to be cold. But part of that is my negative thing - I barely got any steps in. Less than 3,000 for the day and that's barely any in my world. I need to go for a walk before we meet to leave the hotel - otherwise, there just isn't time in the day.

On that note, I'm off to make my smoothie and get myself organized for the day. Can't wait to see what today brings.

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

A half day of travel - part One

Yesterday was a travel day - I’m in Nashville so I guess it was a travel day. But it was unusual. When I travel, I normally book my flights first thing in the morning and then I’m running around half the night getting last minute stuff done. But my flight was at 3 PM.

That meant that I had loads of time to get stuff done before I had to leave. I was doing laundry, machine embroidery, taking photos, editing them and uploading them. I accomplished quite a bit.

The last thing I do before I leave - always - is to pack. One of these days, I’m going to get to the airport and realize that I don’t have any clothes with me.

The headquarters for SVP is in Nashville and I’m here along with the other educators for a week long education week. It’s going to be great - going over classes, learning new stuff, and getting tips and tricks from the other educators. I’m probably the newest of everyone so I’m the one that’s going to benefit the most.

I’m on my iPad this morning. My laptop is open and at my blog page, but for some reason, it won’t let me log in to do a new post. I can only read it. Oh well - I’m good at some stuff, just not all the time.

Here’s what happened at the airport. I arrive in plenty of time and get to the NEXUS line. Oh - shoot - I have to show my boarding pass which would NOT come up on the screen of my phone. I normally do that in the car on the way there so it’s ready to go. But once you get to the airport and you’re asked to join the Wi-Fi, then total chaos ensued. I never thought to turn the WiFi off. I ended up going to the kiosk which was right there and getting a paper boarding pass. No big deal.

Then into the security check line where I was pretty certain that my luggage would get flagged. You see - we’re at a sewing event and I have scissors in my bag. Yep - it gets flagged. You have a blender in your suitcase? Yes - I brought my immersion blender so I could have my smoothie in the morning. Oh - that was allowed. Well - of course, the blades are tiny and inside a round metal base. You have scissors in your bag? Yep - I do. So they allowed my 8” long bent handled scissors, my 6” (with a 3” blade to go - although they are JUST acceptable so the supervisor’s call - they let them pass). What they didn’t like were my tiny little snips. The darn things are 4” long in total and they wouldn’t let those pass. Are you kidding me??????  That’s just ridiculous.

I was escorted back outside security where I could check my bag. I’m never going to get to the gate!

Once I had checked my bag, I was able to get through everything with no further problems.

Since I’m on the iPad, this buffer thing is going to be a problem so there is a second part today.