FOCUS is key to success

I've been learning so much about myself and how I function (or don't function). First, while I thought I was managing my stuff well, I wasn't. I was productive, yet I was struggling to meet deadlines. OK, I am productive, but I struggle with paperwork. And there are so many things to do. 

The same is true for my quilting. There are just so many UFOs, kits, and other things. 

I'm learning that focus seems to be a huge factor in making stuff happen. OK, so that's not rocket science at all. But when you have too much stuff in front of you, it's a huge distraction and hard to accomplish anything. You are really not focused if you don't have space to work. That workspace can be tiny, but it needs to be clear of crap! 

I've learned (and am still learning) to put away the crap that you can't deal with at the moment. Yes - I get that you should get rid of it, but depending on your style, you may want to go through it, like me. Don't harrass us slow learners - that's how our brains function. But the key is to keep going. And when you clear a spot, you have the choice to fill it with more crap so you can go through it or leave it hidden. I'm preferring to bring the crap out so I don't forget it. It looks messy, but it's hard to forget!

I think we would be shocked if we calculated the amount of time we are spending managing the crap we accumulated. But that managing gives me so much satisfaction, and I'm learning so much by dealing with stuff. It's easy to give it away or toss it, but to learn to manage it so you don't repeat history? That's for me!!

So what happened yesterday? Loads of stuff. 

First off, I got my desk organized. It wasn't hard - it was just a question of DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. The big shelf I had there before was taking up a lot of room, and there was no place to put my work. It's been like that for years. Why do we do that to ourselves? 

I moved that shelf to another spot on my other desk and will use it as a sorter until the paper is gone. Don't worry—I grab a couple of pieces of paper daily and deal with them. 

I bought a much smaller desktop shelf and put my little knickknacks on it. Yes - I could have gotten rid of them, but a person has to keep some little pleasures in life. My pending folder is on the far left, and my writing utensils are in a cup behind the lampshade. The pile of papers beside the pending is the current paper crap that I'm looking at. It will take me a week or more to go through that pile, but I'm making valiant efforts. Hopefully, it won't take a week - it's just that some stuff takes longer than others. 

The clear desktop

You can't really see, but behind the paper crap is a white basket filled with odds and ends that collect. My goal is to take ONE item per day and deal with it. It's incredible how much that little stuff creeps up on you! The one item for today is in the garbage! 

Perhaps I could do it at a faster pace, but I don't want to get overwhelmed by the crap. Slow and steady is my motto. Now I have space to work, although I still miss a space on my right-hand side to write, but I don't write that often, so I think I can live without it. I have space to spread out the current project and still have room to put the next thing - that makes me happy. 

I sent some emails yesterday that required spreading things out a bit, and it worked like a charm. I was HAPPY, and that's all that counts. WAIT—one more thing—I was PRODUCTIVE. That counts as well. 

Let's move downstairs to see what happened there. One more community project quilt got quilted. Diane made this flannel quilt from all the baskets and baskets of flannel that I bought over the years. 

Community project quilt

 I haven't gotten around to binding these, so I need to start on that. 

Quilts to be bound

When I started this group of twenty flannel quilts, I pulled a basket of flannel pieces that would work for backings and put them in a basket. I pulled twenty flannel quilt tops and put them in a bag. Yesterday, I could consolidate the backings and the quilts into the laundry basket. I know -- my brain works this way. I get things out, and then as I deplete them, I consolidate them. I think I ENJOY the managing of things. Which is good as I'll be sorting for the rest of my life. When I arrive at the nursing home, buy me one of those brightly colored sorting toys, and I'll be happy! 

Flannel quilts and backings for the remainder of the year

I think there are still at least a dozen quilts in that basket. As many as I've quilted, the numbers don't go down! But I gave myself until the end of the year to get them done, so I'm not behind and am realistic about my goal. 

That left the bag empty, so what does one do with an empty bag? You have to fill it! So, back to the storage room, and OH MY - I found another flannel quilt. Then I got digging, and before I knew it, the bag was full of flannel quilts. Where did they all come from? 

Another bag of flannel quilts

So, I got digging on the shelf that houses the backings/fabric that was set aside for community projects. I found a ton of flannel pieces large enough for backings, so those got set beside the bag of quilt tops. 

Large pieces of flannel

I found two NEW flannel kits. There is plenty of fabric for the backings—they just need some time to piece. 

Two flannel kits

I've left that bag and the backings in the storage room, but they are set aside. The two kits are on my sewing table, and I may start piecing them in a couple of weeks. They need to be cut first. 

Then, I surveyed the flannel to see what remained. Oh gosh—the basket on the left is full of scraps. My intent is to make improv flannel blocks from them, and I'm sure I'll get a couple of quilt tops from that basket. I've already pulled a small bag of scraps] to take to the retreat next week. 

Flannel that still needs to be dealt with

The bag is filled with green pieces. The other three baskets are more or less sorted by color. All of that is flannel! We ran out of time before Diane could finish. 

I've already been there this morning and rejigged it a bit. While lying in bed (pain-free) thinking about the day, I knew I had to further sort this. I pulled a couple of large pieces of red and put them in the backing pile. The green (in the paper bag) went into the now empty basket where the red used to reside. What remains is a basket of scraps and four baskets of flannel pieces that could be made into backings or could be cut into squares. I'll wait and see what happens when I get there. 

But I have made it my goal—and I need to write this down somewhere—that I want ALL the flannel in this area dealt with by the end of 2025. You thought I was going to say 2024, didn't you? 

I'm going to hazard that there will be about FORTY (that's being generous) more quilts of flannel to deal with! And I should be able to handle that next year. Slow and steady, focus on what's set out, which is the laundry basket at the long arm. Plus, I inherited a partially pieced flannel quilt from that donation. That is going to the retreat; I'll deal with it there. 

I'm using my batting bits, and I'm sure I'll have enough for all those quilts! 

What is nice is knowing there's a plan. A plan to use up the closet of batting, a plan to get rid of the flannel, and then it'll be time to tackle the cotton tops. But that's for another day!

Oh—and then some flannel quilts on this rack are done and ready to be donated, as well as a handful upstairs. I must dig those out. I've decided that I'll donate them at the end of the year. Yes, it would be nice to have them ready for Christmas, but that isn't in the cards, so they will get donated when I'm ready. I'm not rushing to meet a deadline. 

Quilts ready to be donated

Then, I spent some time dealing with computer files as I have to migrate from the old laptop to the new one. My desktop was sluggish, so I deleted some of those OneDrive files that were synced to the desktop. Oops—that also started to be deleted from the OneDrive shared drive, so I CANCELED pretty quickly.  

I wish someone would tell me exactly how that DARN OneDrive works. I have an account that allows me storage and space to save my work. I dislike that we are FORCED to use that drive if you want to use AUTOSAVE, which I always use when writing a document. You don't want to write for hours and realize you didn't save. And you can NO LONGER do that on your computer. 

OK—so move on! Then, when the sync function is turned on, it somehow links the files to the hard disk on your computer. NOT an external hard drive—oh no—you can't do that. It has to be the computer's hard drive, which I hate as it takes up a lot of space. 

When I realized what I had done, I thought, "Great—I just deleted some files that I need." Many files I don't need are gone, and I'm OK with that—they needed to go. Then I went to my laptop and found the files still on OneDrive, but they didn't appear on the desktop OneDrive. Why? Yes - it's all about syncing, but it's a mystery and how it works. 

I was able to save the missing files onto an external hard disk. 

I don't understand why the darn thing doesn't sync to everything simultaneously. I'm glad it didn't, but what a mess. So, if anyone knows a guru who understands OneDrive, I would like to talk to them. Or I should Google it as part of my paperwork this morning and get it set up once and for all. Wait -- it's set up, but I want to know HOW it works. Reading anything online is like having your teenage grandchildren show you how to do something. They just do it, but you don't learn anything from it!

I believe the files have been transferred from the laptop, and the missing files have been saved. So, I can now start deactivating my programs on the old laptop and reinstalling them on the new one. 

OK—I found the Microsoft training for OneDrive. It tells me how, but I want the WHY. 

I had a good chuckle as I was digging through a journal. Oh my - this was when the EPIC 2 was released. And the lighting makes me look like I have a clown nose on!!! What fun! 

Three Amigos

A quick update - the physio thinks my issue is nerve-related, not strictly muscle, since I've done everything I can to release the muscle, and she doesn't think it's that tight. So she gave me a couple of simple exercises to take the pressure off and told me that the ones I was doing were likely exacerbating the pain. I've learned to sleep with a pillow under that leg and NOT move at night. Side sleeping was my issue the previous night, and I paid the price. She suggested I get an X-ray and see if a disk or something is out of place. So I'm good. I'm just careful, and today, everything is good! 

I'm like Murphy. All I need is a stick, and I'm good!

Murphy and her stick

But it's a challenge to get any exercise in with her around. The instant she hears that mat touch the floor, she is there, rolling around and trying to be helpful. You can't help but laugh, and laughter is good! Love you, Murphy!!!!

Here is another blog post on QUILTsocial. 

All about embroidery with the Husqvarna Viking Designer Quartz 29

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!!

Travel Day

I'm HOME!!!  Murphy was quite happy to see me when I arrived home. Lexi was outside and came out from her outdoor home under the shed to say hello and then stayed out. I'm NOT that exciting in her world. She's like me - very independent and likes to be alone!

Holy - it's the Friday of the long weekend! How the times flies when you're having fun. It was a bit tough to get up this morning, but now that I'm up - it's time to get rolling. I've got Sit n Sew today and I haven't even checked the status of the studio. I know machines are sitting on the tables that need to be moved, but I think that's all.

And I'm having oatmeal for breakfast! Yeah! I didn't step on the scale - that's a job for tomorrow. I don't think I put on any weight with all the walking. It's more what I ate than how much I ate. A wee bit too much sugar but that can be fixed. I noticed that the meals were very heavy on the meat where we were. I'll suggest that we have less meat and more veggie options for next time.

Since we had to move to the casino hotel, it's been great to have the coach buses to transport us, however on the last morning, we had to use the hotel shuttle. Hey - no problems. One must be very flexible about travel. Things happen. It just happened that a lot of people were transporting their luggage as well. BIG suitcases. MULTIPLE BIG suitcases. It became a game of how many people and their luggage they could get on the shuttle.

This is where strategy comes into play. If you get on the shuttle to help load luggage, then you're guaranteed a seat because you can't get off! My large suitcase was back at the other hotel, so I had nothing with me as we were coming back later to the casino hotel to check out. Phew!!!

On the hotel shuttle

It was a small group at breakfast. The dealers were on their own. It was a wrap-up breakfast and then we were basically dismissed from duties. Well, the freelance educators were. Our flight wasn't until much later in the day so I pitched in to help. I mean, what else was I going to do?

It was about 10:30 when the Canadian crew was able to leave. Back to the casino hotel to kill a couple of hours. I took care of the luggage for our team as they continued on the shuttle to the Outlet Mall. I got the last of my luggage packed, ordered our transport to the airport and then I had time to kill.

I decided to walk to the Outlet Mall. I mean - it wasn't far. I wandered through the casino and popped out the door closest to the mall.  A short walk - I mean 10 minutes and I was at the mall. Matter of fact, there's a nice pedestrian pathway to the mall. TEN minutes. I was looking for something to eat. I wanted something healthy so I found a nice salad and a protein shake. I was in my glory!

Inside the casino

The day was gorgeous. I walked back to the casino hotel and found one of my travel mates in the lobby. It was getting close to pick up time so I got my bags from the room and all the luggage that I had temporarily checked. Pam and I sat and chatted and one by one, the rest of the team showed up. Our Super Shuttle showed up. Oh boy - that's a LOT of luggage for 6 people. I did mention on the reservation that we had TWELVE suitcases (might have been a wee bit more) and I think the driver was going to faint. But it all fit in the back of the van and we were off. It doesn't look like a lot here, but there were at least TWELVE large suitcases.

Our luggage

Having a NEXUS card means I'm always in the TSA pre-check which is most helpful when getting through security. I was through in no time, but we had to wait for some of the others. We didn't even have to remove our electronic devices which is nice. 

We met up with a dealer and proceeded to our gate. Along the way, the others stopped for lunch while I continued to the gate. I had been worried that my luggage would be over the 50-pound limit. One of my colleagues graciously offered to check it for me (she was allowed THREE bags because of her status). My suitcase only weighed 40 pounds. The lightest of her three bags!

Thanks to whoever enlightened me about the entertainment on Air Canada Rouge. I figured out how to connect to their WiFi and watched movies all the way home. I watched Toy Story 3 - OH - I loved the movie, but it's quite sad in some places, but it all worked out.

Our plane landed a wee bit earlier than anticipated even though we left 20 minutes late. We must have had a massive tailwind!

This is another spot where that NEXUS card shines. I was through the security line and waiting for my luggage within mere minutes. I was very lucky as both of my bags came through fairly quickly and I was out of the arrival lounge before the others even showed up. Hey - I wasn't waiting to say good-bye - that's what texting is for. DH was waiting and I was gone!

Of course, it took a wee bit to fall asleep with the time difference, but then I was out like a light!

So the convention was fun. Lots of hard work in case you think we sat by the pool all day, but so worth it. Let's just say that I was extremely happy, learned lots, networked lots - at least with the other educators, but there's no place like home - right Dorothy???

Other than a couple of days of local travel, I think I'm done with road trips and travel for this year. Oh NO - I'm going to miss that!! Well, perhaps I'll have to chat with my travel cohorts and see what can be done about that. But I'd be perfectly happy (I think) to stay home and sew some of the inspiring things that are percolating in my brain. By the way, if you have a neat idea for something you'd like to embroider, e-mail me. I want to try everything and anything!

On that note, I'm out of here to see what needs to be done downstairs before the ladies start arriving at 8:30. I have to unpack my challenge as well as I don't want it squished in my suitcase.

Have a super day!!!!!

Ciao!!!

Last day of convention

Phew - the convention is technically over. I feel like I've been away from home forever! Today I'll be heading home but much later in the afternoon meaning I'll be getting home close to midnight. Yeah!! And I have a Sit n Sew tomorrow. Let's hope the plane isn't late or those ladies will be sewing without me. There's so much cool stuff to play with at my studio, they might actually like that!

So I was the helper on the last day of class which suited me fine. Now, you might think that being the helper would be easy. NOT!!!!  Marsha had a cute cushion cover that was loaded with techniques. We used seven different feet in the class and therefore seven different techniques. That kept the students busy and it kept me busy as I hopped from person to person. I was handing out feet for those that forgot their feet at home or for one reason or another were not able to get them in time.

Then it was trying to remember who had used the feet and get them back. There were loads of pieces in the project so that required assistance as well as we wanted people to use the correct pieces. And let's face it, some of the attendees weren't familiar with the Husqvarna Viking EPIC 980Q which is the sewing machine that I used the previous day and Marsha used this day. If you're into a quilting/sewing only machine (no embroidery), this is a beautiful machine and has loads of space for quilting.

A good majority of the participants went home with the pillow top together which was a HUGE accomplishment.

I did get to chat a wee bit with some of the vendors, but mere minutes. It was crazy as we were either in the classroom, grabbing a quick bite or having a quick pee break. There wasn't a whole lot of time to do much else and once the classes were over you had to prep the room for the next class/day.

I can't complain. This is my first "working" convention and I LOVED every minute of it. I realized that I never got a chance to get out and get my picture taken with Sue Hausmann. I totally forgot about it until I saw someone else's photo with her. Oh well.

So when the final students left the classroom, it was all hands on deck as we started to pack up the sewing machines. Now it's one thing to pack up one sewing machine, it's another to have 24 of them to pack. Some of us got the accessories ready to put away. Then the power cords, remove all the thread and bobbins, and finally, it goes back in the box. Those machines are a tad heavy but with two people doing the lifting, it was very quick and easy work. We managed to get those 24 machines boxed up very quickly.

As we were doing that, the hotel staff were removing the walls that separated the three classrooms in our area. Then we moved to the next room and helped them put their machines away. A good team effort!!

I should mention that we had a team meeting at breakfast every morning. The winners of the challenge were announced yesterday morning at our breakfast meeting. By the way, I took closeup pictures of all the pieces so you could see them better. I'll post some of them when I get home. The first place was extremely innovative and out of the box, the second and third place winners were jackets. One that I would LOVE to own and the darn jacket fit me! Emily (my Canadian colleague) and I both won honorable mentions!!!!  To say that I was thrilled would be an understatement.

It's not that my piece was the most beautiful, the idea was to use the embroidery stitches creatively. The dealers (and I suppose anyone who wanted to) did the voting. Here's my project.

Side One - the beginning

Side two - growth

Side three - the flowers are coming

Side four - the final

 So what is it????  Read the label. Sorry, it's sideways.

The label

It's a grow bag made from landscape fabric. I was first introduced to grow bags when I visited Katheleen earlier this summer. I never thought anything further about them.

Then when this challenge came out, I thought a grow bag would be an innovative idea. The theme was organic and you can't get much more organic than a grow bag.

I have to laugh though about finding the appropriate fabric. I watched a couple of videos on how to make the bags to see what type of material they were using. OK - a heavier landscape fabric. When we were on our road trip to North Carolina last month, we searched high and low at Home Depot, Lowes, and Wal-Mart for the right stuff. Nothing. Oh darn - how am I going to make this work because I seriously thought I would have a much better shot at finding the right stuff in the US than I would in Canada.

I came home empty-handed, but not defeated. I went to my local Rona store and VOILA - they had exactly what I needed. I'm now the owner of 50 feet (less what I used) of heavy landscape fabric!

Now I most likely wouldn't use this grow bag outside, but I could. And I might except that it makes a great sample. I might make another one and this time, make it a wee bit smaller. This one is quite large as I used the designs at full size. All those designs are new builtin designs to the Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC 2. NO - I do not have a Designer EPIC 2  - we were provided with the embroidery files.

I love challenges and I'm up for a challenge again!  Let me know if anyone wants to also do a challenge - this is how we learn and how we grow and how we keep our minds active. Let's just say that there was a LOT of stitching to get my bag completed. I didn't do the exact count, but well over 200,000 stitches. But it was fast. Oh and I should say that I used my SewMonitor app to babysit the embroidery one night when DH and I were watching a movie. This app is the BEST.

For dinner last night, we had a food truck event in the parking lot of the hotel. It was great fun. We got to meet Corona (the donkey who carried two cases of cold beer around). So sweet although I don't think she was very impressed with everything that was going on. To be honest, I wasn't very hungry, but I found something to eat. I really want to have something light and raw when I get home - like a salad! Not that we haven't had salads here, but I just want a LIGHT lunch. I'm not sure if I'm going to stand on the scale when I get home. But yesterday was another 15,000 + day of steps and there was no walk in my day.

We're back to the convention center this morning as there will still be stuff that needs to be packed up. Then we'll be free to go!  We need to hit the airport around 2 PM so there might even be some time to head back to the Outlet Mall as I know a couple of my colleagues would like to go there. I might just even sit down for a change! I don't know how that will ever work!

I was thinking that I should download the Air Canada app on my iPad so if I choose to watch something, I can watch on a large screen, not my piddly phone screen.

Got to meet some new Canadian dealers, revisited with some I've met before and all in all it was a super time. I know my calendar for next year is getting full and I'm excited about that as we have new projects to teach next year.

I'm so excited to get home and fire up the embroidery/sewing machines and sergers and dream up new samples. It's going to be insane. Now all I need is to focus and have a wee bit of time!

On that note, I see it's getting close to time to head downstairs and get on the bus that will take us back to the other hotel. Then I'll collect my sample suitcase before heading back here to get the rest of my luggage and then head to the airport. So much fun with all that luggage, but I'm pretty much packed and ready to go once we get the go-ahead.

Have a super day!!!!!

Ciao!!!!

Teaching Ruler Work

At the last minute (I knew late in the afternoon on the day before we left), one of the instructors wasn't able to attend the convention. My classes had low attendance so I was asked to step in. I was asked first if I was comfortable teaching the class which I was. So my class got canceled and I stepped in for the full class.

I didn't have any samples of the ruler work but I had my own quilting samples (and embroidery) packed. That's what got hung up in the room.

The two classes were full! It was a wee bit unnerving as you're not sure of the timing - how long will each step take, etc. I had a helper who was awesome. Thanks, Marsha.

The classroom was completely set up when the students arrived. It's always a mental challenge when there are dealers in the room that you know and will be teaching/lecturing at their stores. But then one must always be a professional in this business because you never know who you will meet along the way.

After running a wee bit short on time in the first class, we sped through the piecing in the second class so we could get right to work on the rulers.

I have to say for the FIRST time ever teaching rulers that the class was pretty successful and people thanked me for the knowledge and the class. I'm sure there will be a few comments about that first session especially since we ran out of time. But that's life and what can we do about it? Move on - that's all.

One lady (who was happy with the class) asked me how long I've been teaching the ruler class. I wonder why she asked that. I didn't confess that it was my first class (well, technically it was my second). But it's also hard when you're teaching a class that someone else prepped and the only fabric and thread you have are what's in the kit. Let's just say that we made do with what we had.

Each day has been totally hectic from the moment we arrive at the convention center until we leave at the end of the day. I haven't had a chance to visit with a couple of the vendors and certainly no time to see the other products that we have on display - the irons and ironing boards for example. Do I need a steamer???

Today, I'm a helper in the class. Now that doesn't mean I can skip out because Marsha was there for me. But it does me that it's going to be a much more relaxed day. Yeah!!!!!

I hope to pop out at lunch and chat with a couple of people. I've got to know my fellow educators a whole lot more during this convention and that's been a very good thing. They are my support peeps and my inspiration. Some of them have been in the business for many, many years. Their knowledge is incredible and just shows me how much I don't know. There are so many samples that I want to make and well - I could be making samples forever. I need to create some that will do double duty!

But that's for when I get home.

Back to the hotel and it's still somewhat light out and somewhat early. It was now 6:20 PM. I hopped on the shuttle bus that would take me to the Premier Outlet Mall. I was told I needed to take a cab (or shuttle) as there was the main highway between. Well, there wasn't but the shuttle driver told me I shouldn't walk through the huge parking lot loaded with huge semi-trucks by myself. So I took the shuttle there and back.

 Now who in their right mind goes to the outlet mall and walks right through the entire length of the mall without stopping to look. Not even window shopping. I thought about it but what do I need? Nothing.

Hanging out at the Phoenix Premium Outlet Mall

I was on the hunt for my geocache so I could claim a find in Arizona. Not that I'm competitive or anything. The cache was slightly beyond the parking lot. There's no grass here and the cache was located in some short scrubby trees. Good god - while it's not pitch black, it's dark. I did think about the night creatures who live in Arizona, but only for a moment. And oh - there's a walking track just beyond the trees. I had no choice but to use the flashlight on my phone. Although as I walked into the trees, I noticed some rocks that didn't look naturally positioned, I still walked around a wee bit.

The cache is hidden in the rocks

After nearly having a heart attack as two jackrabbits hopped out of the bush, I moved the rocks to find the cache. Yeah!!!!!  I logged the cache, got the Arizona claim and I was walking back to the pickup point for the shuttle.

I made it to the cache and back (it was over .5 KM to walk from the shuttle drop off to the cache and then another .5 back), I made it onto the next shuttle back to the hotel.

The cache was hidden in these trees

Now here's the funny part - as I was leaving the hotel, I ran into a couple of educators who had just arrived. They were having dinner in the restaurant and I could join them if I wanted. I didn't think I would make it to the mall and back and still meet up with them. By the time I made it back to the hotel and into the restaurant, they hadn't even ordered their drinks yet. I walk fast, but holy!!!!







So today really will be a totally relaxed day. It's all about networking and now that the class is over and well - it's the last day. What doesn't get done today won't get done until the next convention.

I'm having a total blast although it's a long time to be away from home. Not that I'm homesick, but I do miss the girls and I miss not being able to sew or do my own thing and I miss eating my own food!

We have the tear down to do tonight and tomorrow before we leave and that's always a fun job! NOT!!! Imagine putting all those sewing machines back into their boxes to make them look like brand new! Oh yes - it's a fun task. Thankfully there are many hands. Like last night. Once my class was over, a group of educators popped out of nowhere and helped pack up all the stuff we used in the ruler class. Our fearless leader really is on the ball and things are VERY WELL organized - at least from my perspective.

On that note, I've got to get ready for today!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!

An EPIC experience

One good thing about the convention is that the three days of classes start with the most intense day and it slows down each successive day. Thank god - I'm not sure how long I can keep the pace up!

The day started when we took the shuttle to the convention hotel which is an easy process of hopping on a big bus and letting the bus driver do all the hard work. After breakfast and a quick meeting, we zipped off to our respective rooms where we were assigned for the day.

I was in the Husqvarna Viking DESIGNER EPIC 2 room. No, let me rephrase that - I was in one of THREE rooms filled with DESIGNER EPIC 2 sewing and embroidery machines. Wow-what a spectacular sight when you walked into the room. I hope the dealers recognized all our hard work in prepping those rooms.

Forty DESIGNER EPIC 2 sewing and embroidery machines

The first day of classes was called CORE where the attendees were split into groups and traveled to each of the four core classes. This ensured that they would all see and hear the same things. I thought it was well done. While some of the classes were lecture style and so for the helpers in those rooms, there really wasn't anything to do. There may not have been helpers but in the DESIGNER EPIC 2 room and the AMBER Air S/400 serger room, there were helpers.

Matter of fact, there were four helpers although one of our helpers wasn't as mobile as she would have liked so she helped at the back of the room. We were working on TWO of the exciting new features on the DESIGNER EPIC 2. One of them was the laser pictogram stitches. You HAVE to see these in person to appreciate what they do. Loads of dealers were taking videos - but we didn't have time for that. The second thing we helped with was the NEW TECHNOLOGY which allows ribbon embroidery. It's stunning and again - you have to experience it in person to appreciate it. One of the cool things about being here? We get to chat with the people who came up with these products!!!!

There was ZERO time for us to be videotaping anything. We were hopping amongst the 40 attendees and answering questions. I did almost 13,000 steps yesterday and there was NO walk in my day!!! Speaking of walking, when I was walking to the bus stop to catch the shuttle on the way home, the bus driver commented that I was a fast walker! You bet - no time for dilly-dallying!!!

After the first class left, we had 30 minutes to get the sewing machines back in order before the next group arrived. We're talking FORTY machines. And the fabric that needed to be hooped. Let's say that we were fast. The process also got better as the day went on so that was a good thing.

It was a super day and we had a load of fun - well I did at least. Let's just say that if I stumble when showcasing the new Ribbon Embroidery Attachment at the upcoming CreativFestival - well, I know I won't because I did it many, many times yesterday or assisted many times.

So guess who was in our class yesterday???  A well-known TV personality from years gone by. The class had already started and someone was struggling with the door so I opened and there was Sue Hausmann!!!  I got her settled at a machine. A very nice lady! But no time for photos!

Here's something else that's super fun here. If you have a problem with a machine, guess what? The techies from Sweden are here to help. It doesn't get any better than that. We had someone jam a machine and help was quickly on its way.

It's also a bit shocking, but then I shouldn't be. The knowledge (or lack thereof) of some of the people attending the classes. Some of them have no idea how to operate the sewing machine. One guy was a service guy attending with his wife and he never sews, but he did pretty well. And you have to be VERY clear on what you say and how you say it. We learned that as the day went on.

All in all, it was an exhausting, but fun day. I learned a ton, got to chat with some of the Canadian dealers, my fellow educators and it was a super day! Needless to say, we were all pretty wiped when the day was over.

But it wasn't over yet! Oh no - I had to go to my own classroom where I'll be teaching today and get that room prepped. I'm stepping in for an educator who was ill and teaching her ruler class. I've got 24 people in each of the two classes. Each class is 3 1/2 hours long. Yikes! All the supplies had to be distributed to the machines and I had to finish quilting my sample according to the instructor notes. It's one thing to teach a class but quite another to teach from someone else's notes.  My sample is far from perfect, but it's a super teaching opportunity.

I still have to change needles in all the machines - I sure hope my helper shows up today because I don't know where she was assigned yesterday. No worries. This is life. And a couple of the other educators came in last night as I was setting up to help. Bless you, Gina and Gail.

After a quick shuttle ride back to the hotel, we went to one of the restaurants in the casino and had Chinese food. I think at that point, we didn't really care what we ate - as long as we ate something.

Once I was back in the hotel room, I decided that I NEEDED to repack and organize myself. My suitcase which is normally very tidy when I travel was a disaster. I NEVER unpack all my stuff. Now the stuff that I'm finished with is all packed. My outfits for the remaining three days are spread out on the desk. Garbage is in the garbage and I'm good to go! I feel much better for getting that all organized.

I'll be happier when today is over and all that will remain for me is to be the helper in someone's class tomorrow. But I know how to quilt and I know how to quilt with rulers. So it really shouldn't be too difficult to get through these two classes today. And since I don't have to do any set up for tomorrow, I'll be able to chat with a couple of the vendors here (Kimberbell and Lunch Box) and hopefully, get back to the hotel in time to walk to that darn geocache. Now that we started that up again, I'd be truly disappointed if I couldn't get my Arizona cache before leaving here.

On that note, I'm out of here. I hope to catch an early bus to the other hotel so I can get those needles changed before breakfast. Oh - and in case you think - that I have a cool job and how much fun it is. It is a cool job and it is a lot of fun. But seriously - you have to work at it to make it fun. Since I'm still a big kid at heart, that's easy. But I see people much younger than I am who are totally wiped at the end of the day. It's all about taking care of your body!!!!!  I don't need a soak in the tub at night. But it's hard work. It's hard to be "UP" for an entire day and teaching when you never know what's going to happen. I love it and wouldn't change it for the world.

One other thing I forgot to mention - as educators, we were issued a challenge to use the new embroidery designs for the DESIGNER EPIC 2 and make something. The finished items are super impressive. I'll try to get some closeup shots another day, but here's the entire grouping of items. Can you tell which one is mine???

Challenge pieces made by the educators

Have a super day!!!!


Ciao!!!!

Let the convention begin

My last walk in the desert - at least for this trip. I'm going to miss that the next couple of days, but then there isn't going to be as much time either as the classes are starting today and we need to have breakfast, get to our classrooms and get organized before the dealers arrive.

The days are going so fast, that I can barely remember what we did yesterday. We did spend the morning during some rehearsals. I'll tell you why in a minute. After lunch, we had some "free" time whereupon I was in my classroom so I could get my class sample finished. Actually, I decorated the room before so that would be done. By decorating, I mean hang up my samples of projects I've completed.

I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but one of the educators was unable to make the convention, so I'm taking over her class on ruler work. Both classes are FULL - 24 students each. That's going to be a hopping class. The class I was originally supposed to teach had fewer people in it, so it got nixed. I'm OK with that. That's just life and one must be flexible.

I had managed to get the sample for the new class partially completed before I left so I was attempting to finish it off yesterday. So that was a fun couple of hours working on the sample. I'm not quite finished so I need to eke out an hour or so later today so I can get it done in time for tomorrow.

Today, I'm a helper in the classroom. There are 40 in the classrooms today for the NEW Husqvarna Viking DESIGNER EPIC 2. Matter of fact, there are three helpers so that should help to keep everyone happy.

Last night was the opening ceremony. We listened to some very exciting and very upbeat speeches by the top - and I mean the very top of the company. It's refreshing to hear their plans and goals and they are NOT just for the upcoming year. Set the goals high - have a bar to aim for and go for it. I love it and can't wait to see what's coming down the pipeline in the future.

With Husqvarna Viking, it's not all about the sewing machine, although that's a very important part of the business. But it's also about the technology and marrying the sewing machine to the technology which is something that we're seeing with mySewnet which is something that I'm very excited about.  There's a new tab on the mySewnet link called Library. EXCITING!!!!!  You can click on mySewnet link and get the pulldown menu.   Click on the library button to get all the details of what's new.

If you don't have a mySewnet account, you should go and have a peek.

So why did we do some rehearsing? Because the educators did some skits to "introduce" the new products. We had been split into groups and I was in the DESIGNER EPIC 2 group. How exciting is that???  Thankfully, the skits were to be funny so we could have a bit of fun with it and not be so caught up in the logistics. We're not professional actors folks! But we all had fun and I think the audience was entertained and that's all that counts.

Two local Native dancers then took the stage. They did a hoop dance. One did the dance while his brother played the drum. Unfortunately, when we left the stage, I exited right and my phone was on the other side of the room so I wasn't able to get pictures. I know!!! It's tough to sit there and NO PHONE!!!!!  I'm sure others got some pictures so I'll try to find some from someone else. It was very entertaining and very colorful!

This is when the two brothers unveiled the FOUR colors of the Husqvarna Viking DESIGNER EPIC 2. The standard and ongoing color is burgundy blush. Three special colors were also introduced for a limited time. You can't buy one of these colors any longer. There is a blue one (I've forgotten the official name, but it had Indigo in it), there's a mint green one and there's the Vivid Sunset (bright orange and pink). I had to get my picture taken with it. Of course!!!!

I match the Vivid Sunset color of the Designer EPIC 2

Oh - the other thing we had to do was to switch hotels. A small detail but necessary due to some delayed construction at the resort hotel. Now we're at the casino hotel. But the whole transfer was pretty seamless as there were big buses to transport us back and forth. The only SNAFU? I was going to leave all my luggage in my classroom. However, I decided that I could bring my backpack over since I wouldn't need anything from it.

The casino hotel lobby

Back to the resort hotel and then realized that the rulers I needed for the ruler work were in my backpack. Fortunately, the folks from Sew Steady are here and I was able to borrow a set to get my work done. My set of rulers is with my bag for today.

I will say something about the hotel system. I think they must look at me and say - you can walk the furthest so you get a room the furthest from the elevators. At the last hotel, my room number was 66 which was very far from the elevators with the last room being 84. This time, my room number is 4. Hey - did I get close to the elevator? Nope - the smaller the number, the further from the elevator! I love it and my FitBit is going to need that anyway since there's no walk in my future. Now I'm 1.1 KM away from the geocache so I have to figure out how to sneak that in one morning. It might come down to blog or geocache and I know that you all want the blog.

I'm at the end of the hallway

I do miss the open window and the balcony, but that's life. One must move forward, not backward.


We had a lovely dinner on the outdoor patio and got to visit with the dealers.

Then it was off to bed as it's going to be quite the day today as we introduce the dealers to some of the amazing features of the new DESIGNER EPIC 2 and the NEW air threading serger, NEW home, and sewing essentials (garment care, irons, presses, multi-needle embroidery machine accessories), and NEW applications in the mySewnet ecosystem. OH - I should mention that there's a NEW quilting option in the long arm area for those that don't have a large space.  NEW, NEW, NEW.

On that note, I'm out of here.

Have a super day!!!!!

Ciao!!!!

Set Up Day

The group has been doing set up for the last couple of days and as each of the rooms became available more set up was required. Yesterday, we were called upon to help with set up. I knew we couldn't get away without doing something. But it was so much fun and I know that everyone will call me crazy, but this stuff is exciting - even the setup!

NEW NEW NEW - there's a lot of new out there. My head is spinning with all the new stuff and starting TONIGHT, we get to share that with the dealers. That's even more exciting because then I get to share that with you.

I did get out for a walk again. I saw a lot more people yesterday morning and even walked a wee bit with a couple of them. When I got back to the hotel, I still had time so I decided to find the other shorter walk that I had heard about.

This one followed the "river". There's a man-made river on the property and I followed that. Near the end of the river, I saw more buildings and what's that??  A western town?? So I did some more exploring. Oh yes  - there's a whole western town. It's used for special events. Holidays, concerts, and other such stuff.

Downtown Rawhide

This cannon was in the movie Wild, Wild West with Will Smith

I also noticed that there were two boats along the way. What for?? I found out later in the day that you could go for a ride on the boat. So when I came out of the hotel and saw the boat waiting at the dock, I hopped on board. Nothing like striking out on another adventure. I swear - being independent is truly a fun way to live. All I can say is thank goodness, M learned that from us as well.

I chatted with the lady driving the boat all the way to the end and back. I learned a lot about the property. Near the end of the boat ride and the place called Rawhide place is the OLD casino. People could stay at this resort and take the boat to the casino and the western village. Now the casino is moved a couple of miles away and attached to a hotel - a big hotel which is where we're going today.

View from the boat as we left the boat dock

View from the boat along the river

I had asked about wildlife and she said she had spotted a bobcat just 40 minutes earlier while driving the boat down the river. No way??? Yep - she showed me the picture. The bobcat had something in hits mouth - carrying food to its baby. It swam across the river and up on the other side. I would have loved to see that, but I got to see her picture. Close enough!

At one point on the riverwalk, I saw this in the concrete. Back home, we might see footprints, here we see critter tracks. Very cute.

Critter tracks in the concrete

We're now into eating all together instead of our smaller groups. Fun to see and meet the people that I met last year. A few vendors or outside people are also here with their products. Can't wait to have a chat with some of them (that I know).

We had a group dinner outside last night on one of the patios. I was back in the room by about 7 PM and have to confess that I was in bed about 8 PM. It was a long day and over 20,000 steps. My feet were happy to be out of the shoes.

Of course, that meant that I was up in the night. I mean - I'm not that tired that I need 10 hours of sleep so I read a wee bit, checked that I have access to the Air Canada Rouge app (it was already installed on my phone - I just didn't know what I had to do) and then back to sleep for a bit.

I'm going to pack and then get ready for my walk. It'll be my last one as there won't be enough time in the next couple of days as we have to get to this hotel and have an early breakfast in order to start the classes at 8:30. It's not that the hotels are far apart, but you have to wait for a shuttle and well - anytime you wait on someone else, you know it will take longer than you planned.

I took photos of the rooms that we set up and the machines so I'll post those once we get going on the classes. It's pretty darn impressive to see rooms and rooms of sewing machines - lined up perfectly like soldiers. I think we all did an amazing job. And more than once, I was thanked by my colleagues for "taking charge" for some of the tasks. Dang it - I can't help that. It just comes out because I can't stand to waste time or effort. Make a decision, assign people to do it and keep them happy and entertained.

Two things I should mention about the walk. First - the walk is a total of 2.5 miles. I thought it was 2.5 miles out and then 2.5 miles back. Hey - I had grand visions that I'm a super-fast walker. Alas, the total walk, out and back is 2.5 miles. That's OK - that's a nice morning walk. I think it was the first day that I saw a runner just coming back as I was going out. He had a headlamp on. Seriously??? It's one thing to run in the dark, but another to run in a strange place, in the desert with a headlamp. But there doesn't seem to be much wildlife around, although it is around because you can see poop on the path.

Not going to worry about it - just keep an eye out and keep moving.

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

More training

I'm happy to report that I ate much healthier yesterday and my stomach thanks me for it. I guess I'm just not used to all kinds of sauces and rich food. Still, the portions are huge but when it's a salad with no dressing - that's OK.  The meat portions here are HUGE. I don't mind to eat meat, but the portions would feed me for a week back home.

I can't imagine eating all this food and not getting some exercise. We have a couple in our group who are into the gym. I don't need to do the gym here. If I have a chance to get outside and just walk, that to me is way more exciting than going to some boring old gym and working out on a bike. I can do that at home any time, but walk in the desert? Nope - can't do that at home.

I was out again yesterday into the desert. OK - so it's not really the desert, the trail basically winds alongside the road on one side and the golf course at some point. I'm amazed at how many people are freaked out because I went out by myself. Seriously??  Where is your independence people? If I had to wait for someone to be with me to do things, I'd never get half of the things done that I want.

I'd never have half of the adventures that I have. Nope - I learned years ago, just do it! Take that hike. Go exploring. Besides, I LOVE the solitude. I truly appreciate being here, but sometimes it's just crazy noisy and it drives me nuts. Like our team dinner last night. So loud in that room, I thought I was going to die.

So when we're all sitting in the nursing home - remember to use your inside voices, please!!!

We had another very exciting day training on some of the new stuff. Oh my goodness. That's all I can say because if I say more - well, I can't until it's been released to the world. But super exciting. There are a couple of features on the Husqvarna Viking DESIGNER EPIC 2 that I thought I might not like or I couldn't really understand them, but holy - when I got to experience them in real-time? Oh yes - these features are super cool. That's all I'm going to say for the moment.

That took up the entire day! It's a lot to absorb and so many people are trying to complicate their lives by making complicated samples that they can carry with them. I go for simple. Wait until you have dedicated time to make complicated. I'm perfectly OK with that.

I have to say that I feel very lucky to be part of this team. We get to see and touch and play with the new stuff before anyone else has a chance to see it. OMG - I can hear the coyotes howling outside the window. Just for a brief moment. Now they're gone.

Plus we get to meet the people that create this stuff and that's super exciting. How the heck do they come up with the ideas? There's going to be a whole lot more of that coming up as the week progresses. That's what I like!

OH - so yesterday morning, all the educators brought their challenges to our meeting. We didn't get a chance to see some of them. Mine was so big that I didn't have a bag for it so most people got to see it. I did see some of the others. HOLY - what level of creativity. I'll be taking pictures of those when they are finally on display. It just amazes me how much people can go in so many different directions with the same instructions. Sometimes, I feel like I'm not worthy to be among these super creative people. I know I have my own skill set and I'm proud of what I know, but sometimes.....  But I don't let that bother me.

It's a super opportunity to learn about things that I never thought of and that's from some of the other educators. I'd love to pick the brains of some of the educators because they know these machines and techniques and adjustments inside out. I guess I do as well, but there are times when I become stuck in a rut and I don't think to move outside the box. I know - now that I think of some of the things I learned yesterday, I wonder why I didn't try a different thing. I'm pretty good at trying different things, but sometimes - well we just get stuck!!

I'm trying to touch base with all the educators because they all have a different skill set and the more options I have to get information? The more I learn!

I don't have pictures for you this morning. I took a couple, but I'm not allowed to post them until things get underway here which will be sometime late tomorrow afternoon. Then it'll be three days of heads down, assisting in classes, teaching in classes and so on. I can't wait!!!!!

Gosh - what am I going to do with myself? Breakfast isn't for another two hours!! I do have my walk to do and then I still have one small part of a sleeve to sew on a quilt. I guess I'll get that done this morning.

On that note, I'm out of here.

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!

Training day

Oh, shoot - having trouble connecting my laptop to the hotel Wi-Fi. I can't imagine why as I doubt anyone else is up at this ridiculous hour. Well, it's not ridiculous for me - it's 5:14 AM. Perfect timing. I was all prepared to load some of the photos from yesterday using my phone as a hotspot but that's not happening.  I just tried again and I have pictures for you. YES - I know I edited pictures before I left, but it seems so out of place to be blogging about them while I'm here!

Let's just say that my new found information on my phone has been most helpful and I was hoping to test out transferring photos this morning. Alas the internet connection has thwarted my efforts, but only temporarily. I have to do some more work on the Wi-Fi transfer of the photos. My phone doesn't seem to want to find my laptop or I didn't give it enough time. No worries - e-mail works just fine.

Still, I'm super happy that I know how to do some of the cool things that I can do on my phone so reading this book has been a great exercise so far. I wonder how much more I could learn if I actually read more books like this or the instructions??

There is so much NEW going to be announced at this convention. NEW this, and NEW that. If I told you - well, I can't. Not yet!!!  That should all be announced on Monday. The only thing I can tell you because it's already out there is that there is a NEW Husqvarna Viking DESIGNER EPIC 2. And oh my - it's pretty spiffy.

I found out that there's a walking trail near the hotel. So I had time to kill before breakfast yesterday and I took myself and my camera (I mean my phone) for a walk. The trail starts just at the end of the hotel. The hotel is 3 or 4 stories high, but it's LONG. Ask me how I know as my room is 66 (out of 84) and it starts at 01 at the elevator! But I take the stairs - god forbid that I would wait for the elevator. Thank goodness I'm a fast walker. I think I've got the entire place nailed down - I know how to get from A to B.

Unfortunatly some of us have to switch hotels in a couple of days. Half of this hotel is under renovation and it didn't get completed on time. So the staff gets moved out and the dealers get moved in. A bit of a nuisance, but the other hotel is very close and is much closer to the geocache that I NEED to get while I'm in Arizona. That'll make Ronda and Laura jealous, although Ronda may have an Arizona geocache. Not sure about that.

The walk was amazing - the length was 2.5 miles which was a perfect walk in the morning. I walked all the way to the end and then back again. Less than 1 hour. And that was stopping for loads of photos. I don't need to take photos this morning. It's an interpretive trail so there was all kinds of information along the trail. I took pictures of all the plants and the info boards.

Start of the trail

There are two main Native American tribes that live in this area. The Pima and the Maricopa. Did you know that they grow cotton in this area. Now if you're a quilter - think about it - Pima and cotton. Yep - this is where PIMA cotton comes from. Who knew????   The things you laern when out on the trail.

PIMA cotton comes from this area

I was a little hesitant to strike out when I saw the sign alerting us to be on the lookout for wildlife - like rattlesnakes, bobcats, coyotes and scorpions. At one point, the sun was in my eyes and I couldn't see anything even with my sunglasses on. The only wildlife I saw was a jackrabbit! It was a beautiful walk.

Danger alert!!!

Sunrise in the desert

I should say that I started out with my fleece jacket on and pants. It's cool in the morning - OK - it was 18 C. I know compared to back home that that's HOT, but it was cool. Remember, I like to be toasty warm. Well, when that sun came up, the jacket came off. It doesn't take long for the temperature to rise when the sun is out. I had pants on as well. This morning, I'm going to tough the first part of the walk with no jacket and shorts. Then I'll be totally comfortable on the way back.

So what did we do all day yesterday? We learned all the amazing projects and topics that we're going to teach next year. Holy - some of these educators are so darned creative! I'll be making those up in December to get ready for the upcoming year. Yeah!!!!

We also helped stuff bags and assemble kits for the attendees that are coming on Sunday.

I'm not a picky eater, but holy - the portion sizes here are HUGE. One plate is enough for two people - easy. It's such a waste. I had soup and a small salad last night with shrimp. I'm not sure what it was, but it didn't sit well with me and I couldn't digest it very well. I'm feeling much better now, but holy. The one meal I eat fairly healthy and it doesn't like me! I didn't sleep as well as I would have liked because of that small detail, but I'll be just fine1!!!

The educators had to make a challenge for the convention. We had access to certain embroidery designs and a theme of organic, we had to make something. If you watched the video in the link for the DESIGNER EPIC 2 above, you understand the whole organic theme. Holy - that took a little bit of thought to come up with an idea, but I'm happy with the one that I made. We get to reveal them this morning to the other educators and then they will be whisked away to be put on display for the dealers to vote.

I needed a small piece of string to finish my project off and I had forgotten to pack one. So I went to the hotel check-in to see if they could find me some. Not in the bell closet. She was going to wait for this morning to ask the purchasing department. I doubt they would have some, but could she check the kitchen - they're bound to have some string. As I was waiting, I was looking at all the artwork - there is tons of it in the hotel. I saw some string balls but I thought it would be highly frowned upon if I scooped a piece of string for my project. Luckily, the kitchen had string!!!

String art

Here's a quilt with wild horses on it that I found on one of the walls. Apparently, there's still a huge herd of wild horses that roam not far from here. Well, in the Wild Horse Pass which is a ways away but still in the area.

Small quilt as part of the hotel artwork

Information on the horse quilt

It's going to be interesting to see how the others interpreted the challenge. That's one of the reasons why I love challenges. To me, the BEST way to learn something or to grow or to encourage your creative side to come out is to participate in a challenge. I've given you the links to several upcoming challenges for the Canadian Quilter's Association. One of them is a postcard, the other is the Trendtex challenge. Seriously - you should think about participating. If you want, I'd be happy to run a lecture on how to tackle a challenge. It's so much fun. Trust me - I've made some duds in my time and I've also been quite successful in my challenges. Each time I finish is a win for me as I'm bound to have learned something.

So think about that!!!!!  The postcard challenge should be super easy. It's really just making a postcard. Hey - I could have a post card class at my house. They used to be all the rage and they are so darn easy. I'm making up a list of classes that I'm holding at my house so if there's something that you want to learn - let me know.

I'm going to see if I can connect to the internet to bring over some pictures. Just hang tight!

Oh - here's a picture from my balcony last night. The quality of the S10 phone as a camera - well in some cases, it beats my full-fledged digital SLR. I know!!!!

View from the balcony

OK -- still have 20 minutes before sunrise, but I'm going to ready to go the minute it starts to get light. I figure the snakes and scorpions won't be out until it gets warm. Coyotes and bobcats?? well - I'll just yell a lot!!!

Have a super day!!!!!

Ciao!!!