It's a good news/bad news kind of day

Yes - it was a good news/bad news kind of day yesterday.

The first piece of bad news is that I'm NOT done the repairs on the quilt.  Partly because the job is boring, there are so many patches to be made, I'm slow, and I'm watching episodes of Season 6 of Modern Family while I'm doing it!  And the bad news with Modern Family is that I'm half way through the 5th last episode (of 24) and the screen goes blank. That was enough for me - I was out of there!  I'll try again tonight to see what happens with the disk.

The good news is that I'm almost done with the repairs and for real this time! There are SIX patches left to sew on the back of the quilt - SIX!!!!  The other good news is that the patches are made and just need to be sewn on. Then the label needs to be sewn on and I'm done!!!!   That is very good news, but the news will be even better when the repair is out of my house!   I think I ended up putting 15 on the front (so well done - they do NOT pop out - it was hard to count them,  resewed three seams and about 15 patches on the back!)

Patches on the quilt back

There is a lot of stuff sitting here staring at me, but I refuse to get sidetracked on anything in the event that I'll stop working on the quilt repair.  Now if I could only keep that same focus going forward. There are oodles of things sitting here that need an hour or two at the most and they would be done!  Where's that list of mine???  That priority list is working - well I'm getting better at making it work.  The hard thing is the volume - there is just so much - it's hard to choose what to do.  Do you finish a bunch of small unimportant things - just to get them done?  Or do you work on advancing those with deadlines???  See what I mean about prioritizing???  It's hard!


Another piece of good news yesterday.  I had gotten a call when I was away that my Rowenta cordless vacuum was ready for pickup.  We received this vacuum as part of a corporate event - it was one of the prizes or it was a door prize???  I don't exactly know, but I was pretty excited.  One because it was a Rowenta and second - it was a cordless vac - perfect for the studio.  I used it ONCE, recharged the battery and it would not longer work.  Since I've recharged batteries before, I was certain that I wasn't doing anything wrong.  I mean - just turn it on - right???

Finally decided it was time to get it fixed.  I went to the Rowenta web site and found the name of a local repair shop.  Took it in and was told (two days later) that the battery was shot.  OK - let's replace it.  No can do!  It's built in and can't be replaced.  That was the most crazy thing I had ever heard.  Do you know how expensive these vacs are ???  Close to $300!!!!   And the battery can't be replaced????

This bad news was delivered to me on the phone and at first, I was tempted to leave the vac at the shop for them to dispose of it. Then I thought - NO - Rowenta has a better name than that. I'm going to write them to see what can be done.

After several communications with someone at Rowenta, I was directed to ANOTHER dealer who was NOT on their web site. And told to NOT deal with the first guy as he was not an authorized dealer. Perhaps they should change that on their web site????

The good news is that the vacuum is FIXED.. Yes - the owner of the new place replaced the battery and the vacuum works like a charm.  I'm so excited - well as excited as one can get about a vacuum.  I'll post the store name tomorrow - I can't find it at the moment.  And imagine if I would have left the vacuum at the first store - he could have replaced the battery and then sold the vacuum - making money off of me!!!!!

Rowent Vaccuum

 This means that I don't have to drag the central vac over the stairs to vacuum the studio.  That is great news and I love the swivel head on this Rowenta.

Did I mention that even though I did not have a receipt and was well past the one-year warranty, that Rowenta covered the repairs.   Thank you ROWENTA!!!!!

And I had to learn how to spell vacuum.  Is that two c's or two u's?  I can never remember - That would be two U's!!!!

The other good news is that I'm not LATE!!!!!   You see, I needed to get the renewal sticker for my car.  Yes - it's been two years since I stood in line to get my sticker after missing the deadline. I was going to go this weekend, but DH says - just do it on-line.  Seriously????   And within TEN minutes from the comfort of my chair, I had renewed the sticker to my license plate.   It doesn't get much easier than that!!!!   And I have a paper to prove that it's updated in the event that I don't get my stickers on time.   Check it out - it was painless!!!!


I had to take a detour on my way home because of some paving of local streets.  Look what I saw sitting on the side of the road not far from my house.   Happy as a clam - watching people go by.  Not scared or shy at ALL!!!

Mr. Coyote

And with that - I'm out of here!  Perhaps I have to start using my time driving to and from work to set priorities for the quilting stuff?  Well I can contemplate what needs to be done, think of the pros and cons and then write it down when I get to my destination!  There are so many idiots on the road - on their phone and blowing through STOP signs.  I don't mean rolling stops - I mean BLOWING through at faster than the posted speed limit. The other night, I yelled (at the top of my lungs) at a man who didn't see me and Lexi as we were half way across an intersection and he was going to blow right by!  He stopped!  I hope I scared the crap out of him - but I doubt it. There is ZERO respect for STOP signs now - everyone is in too much of a hurry.  More people are going to get hurt or killed.  I'm almost afraid at night to cross this one residential street (right by the school) because  people blow through the STOP sign.

OK - now I'm out of here.

Have a great day!!!!


Ciao!!!

Technology rocks!

I know - who would have thought I would ever write that as a title!

Let's face it - I'm an impulse kind of girl!   I can't even remember why, but I came home from work on Tuesday all fired up to shop for a new cell phone. Mine was working fine, although it is slow - it's three years old. I went to the mall to the Bell store.  Hmmm - that would be $250 to do an upgrade. Plus all the accessories. That's a lot of money - not sure I want to spent that at this time.

Back home for dinner. DH says to check our rewards program from the credit card.  Nope - they only have Apple iPhones.  No offense to the Apple lovers out there, but I wouldn't be caught dead with an Apple product.  I absolutely HATE the way they are so proprietary!  (YES - I have an iPod - because it was the only thing that I could use for audio books without using my phone).   But we won't go into that today.

So can't get a phone for free.  Hmmmm why not check Best Buy to see what they have.  Got my tablet and while having dinner, I shopped for a new phone.  OH MY GOD - same phone is on sale THIS WEEK at Best Buy.  Do I really want to go out?  It's already 8 PM!!!!   YES - I want that phone.


If you haven't been to Best Buy in a while - WOW - I barely recognized the inside of the store.

Cell phone shopping at Best Buy

I had to wait a few minutes to talk to a sales person.  There weren't many in the store and they were all SUPER busy!!!!!    But it was so worth the wait. Originally I wanted to get this phone.  the Samsung Edge 6S. 

Samsung Edge 6S

Now isn't that a cool phone.  However the sales person cautioned me that the fancy edge requires a bit more battery power and putting it in an Otter box - I would lose the EDGE.   But it looks so cool. 

I got a Samsung 6S instead.  The new one (7S) is coming out on March 11 - I don't need the latest one - I just need a new phone. A faster phone!   (Mine was the Galaxy 4S)

This sales person was good because the advertised price of the phone was $74.99.  He gave it to me for $24.99.  The stupid Otter box was double the cost of the phone, but he also knocked some money off that, as he did for the glass cover.   I needed a new charger for the car as my old one was toast. With the SIM card, the installation of the glass cover and all the accessories including the phone - the ENTIRE bill came to $169.00 (including tax).   Definitely can't go wrong with that. 

And the phone???   It's blazing fast!!!!   There is also this cool APP that you can install on the new phone and the old phone and the data swaps automatically.   And it worked!!!!!!!  

Transferring data from the old phone (right) to the new phone (left)

I love love love this new phone.  It is fast. It is fast. It is fast!  Can you tell how fast it is?  It is a bit slimmer than my previous phone and well - I'm so glad I upgraded.  Now if I could only remember why I had a bee in my bonnet that night to upgrade.

I'm even deleted text messages because when the data transferred, I saw that there were over 4000 text messages.  Who on a regular basis deletes text messages??? I never think about it. Now I'm trying to delete messages, add those contacts to my contact list and saving any pictures that I wanted to keep from the messages.  I've also learned how to create albums and moving my pictures into albums for easy reference. And you thought I couldn't learn something new!   I do have to get the settings properly set so any pictures I take go on the memory card, NOT the phone, although I do have 32 GB of storage on the phone.

Now that I have a blazing fast camera phone - guess what - I can actually be ready to take pictures.  Guess what I saw this morning?

I'm out with the girls and I see tracks in the snow. I thought it was dogs, but NO people prints.  AHA - there are two tracks and that would be our friends the coyotes!

Coyote tracks

Little Sammy knew they were close by because she wasn't happy and next thing you know - BAM - there they were.  My first thought - do I have my phone?  Yes - it was in my pocket so I whipped it out and got pictures!

Coyote right on the trail

The other one was in the bush and very hard to see because of it's colouring.  I wasn't going closer than this.

And then the darn thing proceeded to lie down in the middle of the path. This was in the direction we wanted to go.  We turned around and walked on the street this morning!

Coyote lying down on the path

Wow - and then Lexi and Little Sammy asked me to take pictures of them so I did. I'll share those with you another day!

Now I have an extra charger for my phone as the old phone and the new phone use the same charger so that is great.  Now I can leave one at work - just in case. Got to set up all the e-mail accounts in the new phone and bring in all the pictures from the old phone that didn't get transferred over - not sure why.  But that card should probably be just downloaded into my photo hard drive.  That is something that I really really need to work on.  

And as quick as a wink of an eye - I started not one, but TWO quilts this morning.  They are the same quilt - just making it twice.  When you see it - you are going to want one as well.  It is so adorable.   I cut fabric from it yesterday at work and it's going to be one more to add to the trunk show. One of them is for the office.   Wait until you see it!!!!!!     I still have to get my magazine quilt cut and sewn as I have one week to get that done.  And I cut fabric for not ONE, but TWO of those. Two different fabrics - then I can choose the one I like best.  The beauty of working for a fabric company!!!!!

On that note - I better get my butt in gear and get to work.  Loads of stuff to do today. 

Have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   (ack - sorry for that - I just love punctuation!)

Ciao!

Oh Oh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy to report that I am making progress on my task list for this week.  However - there have been a couple of times (and it's only Tuesday) when I've had a few panic attacks.  I didn't put frivolous things on the list.  I put things that NEED to be done this week and YIKES - the list is long.  And when am I going to find time to do them.  On top of it - I slept in this morning and lost 1 1/2 hours!!!!!

The other thing that I NEED to learn is to let things go.  I needed to print THREE labels and I like to print the labels on fabric using the printer.  Of course - I have so many issues with my computer/printer/wifi that it is driving me crazy.  And rather than letting it go - I spent almost FOUR hours on Sunday evening trying to fix the issue.  I know - I was obsessed with getting it to work.

I must admit that I am defeated!   Once the on-line guru said that WI-FI printing can be finicky - well that was enough for me.   I have decided to get a cheap printer and just hook it up with a cable directly to the laptop.  I mean really - this technology craziness has to STOP.  It's not good for my sanity and not good on my time schedule.

I was able to get my labels printed because DH's computer seems to work just fine with the printer. So I made the labels - e-mailed them to him and he printed them off.  ON THE SAME STUPID printer that I can't print on.   I have a feeling that my laptop is NOT functioning the way it is supposed to.

Now I had pictures for you for the blog this morning - I finished editing them this morning, but I FORGOT to upload them to the internet.  So here I sit - with lots to say and NOTHING To show.

That post will have to wait until tomorrow.

However the morning was not without some excitement.  I went to take the girls for a walk and decided that we would try walking in the forest although Lexi gets so excited that it isn't worth the struggle.  I opened the back gate to find a COYOTE   about 20 feet in front of me!!!!!!    Yikes -  Lexi went MAD!   Thankfully she was on her leash.   The coyote was quite brave and DID NOT run away and there I am WITHOUT a camera in my hands.   I even thought about taking my cell phone with me before I left the house, but thought - why bother.    GRRRRRRR.    The coyote just walked away and then lay down and watched us the entire time.  We didn't venture far or long since Lexi wasn't on her best behaviour in the forest.   I ran back into the house to get the camera and of course - the coyote had left by then!!!!!!!

We had received a letter from the City saying that coyotes have been seen in backyards - meaning they jump the fence.  Yikes - I think we had better get a bigger fence in the back yard - not only to ensure Lexi doesn't escape, but to ensure the coyotes don't jump in.  Hmmm - anyone know a good fencer????


On that note - I'm out of here.  I'll catch you up on the latest quilting venture tomorrow!


Have a great day!

Ciao!

The killing ground

They say it's important to have a catchy title on the blog posts.  Did you like this one?  I will warn you - there is a bit of blood involved so if you are squeamish - then don't read on. BUT - no person was hurt.

I did leave on relatively good terms from my parents.  My mom has a major issue with space - she wants everything in the apartment and there isn't room.  She just doesn't get that. She is perfectly happy to have boxes of stuff stacked around her.  A classic hoarder if ever I saw one. And even worse - she isn't physically able to deal with the stuff.  It makes for a very frustrating situation for all involved.

Yes I know I should be happy that they are still alive, but I feel for my Dad as he will have to bear the brunt of her rampages. I told him to escape to the common room and watch TV.  She won't follow him.

Oh boy - the joys of getting old and I can't wait for my turn to come!  While I have my quilting stuff and granted there is a LOT, there isn't anywhere near the quantity that they are dealing with.  And here's the other extremely frustrating thing - many of these things that she wants - she hasn't touched in years - I'm talking 15 years or so  (that's because the stuff was behind another row of furniture and you couldn't get to it!).  So if the stuff sits on the shelf in the heated and well lit garage instead of in the apartment - why is that a problem????   Makes you want to scream and makes you want to throw things away.

I wish I had the time in the next couple of weeks to deal with everything of mine, but I have quilts that need to be done by Christmas and all my spare time is going to be for that.  Right after Christmas!

I had a great flight home last night - the airport was deserted. I was the only one in the security area when I went through.  There were about 6 staff and just me. Then up to the lounge to wait for the plane. I think there were only two planes leaving and neither were full so you could have shot a bowling ball through that area. Plane was maybe 10 percent full?????  OK - maybe 20.

When we landed - it was very foggy - well in patches, but around the airport - you couldn't see a thing.  The wheels pop out and we are getting ready to land except there is no ground or lights visible. Pilot did an excellent job of bringing us in.

Then I caught a limo home and that where the day went to hell. OK - I'm exaggerating.  When we turned the corner and approached the house, the car lights caught the eyes of animals. My first thought was that someone was walking their dog although it was 1 AM.   Oh crap - it's the coyotes - practically on my front step.  As the car approached, one trotted down the street and the other waited across the street. Whoa!!!!   What's going on????   I get out, get my luggage and the car drives away.  The coyotes have disappeared, but as I walktup to the house, I catch sight of an animal lying in the driveway.  It's a bunny that they were in the process of ..............................    Well you know what.

That was very disturbing and of course - I couldn't sleep all night.  They never came back to claim the bunny and I had to move it this morning.  I won't go into details - it wasn't pretty.   I felt very badly.

Needless to say - I have been a basket case all day as I try to get some sleep, but can't really sleep.  I think I was also so exhausted both physically and mentaly that it will take a day or two to adjust.

I also read a very distrubing book today as I dozed on and off.  It is caled Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese.   It is a fiction book about a young Ojibway living in Northern Ontario.  While the book is fiction - what happens in the book is not and that is just awful.  It is a very fast read and I would highly recommend the book.  It was on our library book club list last year and I didn't get a chance to read it.

Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese

On that note - I'm going to try and get something done tonight. I'm in very slow motion mode.

Have a great evening!

Ciao!!!!

An "exciting" morning

When I took on this job, technically I was replacing Patti, but wasn't sure exactly what that meant.  I still don't and I think we are making it up as time goes on. I do know that the marketing department is putting together a list of what I will be doing since my expertise is very much involved in what marketing does (marketing to quilt stores and ultimately quilters) and hopefully I will have that task list soon. Meanwhile, I am getting up to speed on fabric lines and who does what.

While quilters like fabric, they also like to see what can be done with those fabrics. In the past, Patti designed a lot of quilts. This was evidenced by the numerous quilts that we saw from Patti in all the quilt magazines. As the number of collections increased and the pace got more frantic, this design process became impossible for one person to do. As a result, pattern designers were encouraged (and are still encouraged) to get involved with Northcott and design quilts that will be used on some of the marketing material, displayed at trade shows, patterns sold through Northcott, etc.

Check out this link to meet the Northcott designers.  (There are fabric designers and pattern designers -two tabs).  If you are interested in becoming a Northcott designer, there is a link on that page for more information. Let's not forget that these pattern designers get to use the new fabrics when designing. Technically NOT the new fabrics themselves, but the images of the fabric.  EQ7 is a wonderful tool.

I don't have an official title yet, but unofficially, I am the quilt expert. I've already given my expertise on some quilt designs that were created by several of the designers that work with Northcott. Obviously, Northcott wants to ensure that these particular quilts showcase the fabrics with lots of WOW factor, easy to sew and appealing to a wide range of sewers. I will be working with the designers to ensure the quilts are doable (Oh boy - I will be realistic since everything is doable if you know how!), offering up some advice which isn't easy as I found out yesterday when you have to provide "advice" on why you don't like a particular design.  But all is good - it worked out perfectly and I should get the new designs with my suggestions back today!  so far, I don't consider this work!   This is fun!

I hope to get some designing done today.  Been checking out the collections - and trying to mess up my office.  Funny how people keep stopping by and saying that they have never seen the office so clean!!!!

Fabric swatch cards to play with

Pre-cuts to cut up - hmmm what will become of these?

Yes - I want to design something for the walls in that office.  I've got a couple of ideas in mind - and hope to break out the sewing machine next week.

Oh - the other task I did yesterday was to pick the classes I want to take when I go to Market in Houston later this year.  OK - that is going to be fun!   They are short classes that take place before the Market opens each day but I signed up for some interesting things with new products. Can't wait!

I will be glad when this first week is over.  It is the not knowing that drives me crazy so once things settle into a routine?   - it will be much better.


ACK - a bit too much excitement this morning.   First off, I am writing my blog and I hear a lone bark from Sparky. She is outside and well - she can just stay there. Then I hear another lone bark. Good grief - she never barks like that. Then I hear BARK BARK BARK.  What is she doing????   I go out and oh crap - the gate is open.  Well she has to be close by since I can hear her. Then she really starts to bark and I'm thinking that there is another dog on the street.   When I find her, she is at the front door asking to come in!!!!!   Since I didn't answer on the first BARK - she was escalating the situation!!!!   Snart dog!


THEN we went for a walk in the forest.  I was certain when I was falling asleep that I hear the coyotes yapping in the forest, but I could be wrong about that. Anyway - we are off on our merry walk - the dogs are behind me somewhere and I'm off in my own thoughts when I hear Sammy barking and she never barks. I turn around and there are TWO coyotes.  I don't know what happened - I don't know if they tried to attack Little Sammy or whether they were getting close to her??????   She wasn't all that far away from me.  Poor little thing has a tremble in her leg, but she was shaking all over. Her ears were pinned back - she was not a happy camper!!!!  When I turned around the coyotes ran. But they didn't go far.   They appeared very aggressive this morning and were hanging around that area and kept following us. I decided to turn around and come back on the main path and not cut through the smaller path. As if the coyote would respect the big path!!!  But at least I would be easier to find should I have been attacked!

When I looked over my shoulder - there was one of them again!   Needless to say, I kept looking over my shoulder all the way home.  I did see someone running through that part of the woods, but he was too far away  - I guess I could have yelled at him, but I figured if I was big enough to scare them off - so was he.

Crap  no camera.  I know - why run away when you can take pictures.  I did have my phone but I can't say that I am happy with the camera on my phone.  It must be me.  Every picture I take is blurry.  I guess I am so used to the big camera where I can almost anything I want and pictures are good. And I try not to make it noticeable that I am taking pictures so I rush!   I also have so many pictures in the memory of my phone that I can no longer do upgrades so I must clean them out and get them onto the memory card, NOT the memory on the phone.

Anyway - here is what I captured this morning.

Look at the colouring of the first coyote.  He blends into that forest so you can barely see him.  He is right dead center in the photo!  Pretty scary because you could be upon before you see him!!!

Coyote chameleon

 I took this one when the other guy was following us.  He stopped as soon as he realized I saw him and before I could get the damn camera app open (is it just me who has that problem???)  He had turned his back. He is much brighter in colour.

Second coyote

Now I will carry my big camera for days and I won't see them again. And that is fine by me!!!!


On that exciting note - I am out of here.

Have a great day (and who thought I would have nothing to write about!)


Ciao!

I need a GUN!!!!

I am a pretty loosey goosey kind of person.  Not much scares me. So I am walking in the forest this morning.  It sounds ALIVE as the acorns are raining down. Now whether this is because of the squirrels or just because - I don't know enough about acorns.  But it is pretty cool to walk and hear them falling.

We were not far from the house and I was waiting for the girls to catch up. I had taken Sparky's brush as her fur is coming out in clumps.  I bent down to brush her as we waited for Sammy and OH MY GOD!   There is Sammy sort of running down the path and a coyote on her tail!!!!!   Not I don't think this was a prey stalking kind of walk, but the coyote was there. Probably 20 feet away as there was a bend in the path.

Gulp!  I yelled NO at the coyote who stopped, looked at me and took off into the bush. Sammy ran to me, Sparky attempted to run after the coyote. I yelled at her and she stopped. Yikes - that was a bit close for comfort.

Sammy was like velcro to my leg. Problem was - she kept looking back which made me want to look back too.

Then a little further on, we heard this big growly noise - oh god - now what. Oh - just a raccoon.  So we continued to walk and feeling a bit more confident. But I kept looking over my shoulder. Now when you do this - you never see anything - right?

Well - I looked back at one point and CRAP - there was the coyote - watching all of us.  OK - this is getting a bit creepy.  It eventually turned away (down to where I think the den is) and we continued on our way.  I think Sammy was very happy to get back home. OK - so was I.

Since a gun is probably NOT a good idea - I was armed with just a rubber dog comb - perhaps a sling shot would be in order.  I had better get one and start practicing.  I could kick myself as the darn camera was sitting on the table. Poo - no picture.  I know - what is more important - a picture or staying safe!!!

I did notice on the last two nights of walking that there were NO rabbits and normally the area by the forest path is littered with them at night.

We were also out in the forest a half hour earlier than normal, but it wasn't far from the back of our house. Then I have seen it walk right down our street!!!!


Oh well - on that note - I am out of here.


Have a SAFE awesome day.


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