In the sweat shop

Hmm -- what did I do yesterday? I spent the ENTIRE day, and it was a long one, in Studio B. What happened? Well, lots of stuff happened, just nothing I can share with you now. 

What kind of progress was made? Well, I made progress -- just not as much as I would have liked, but I'm almost at the point where I wanted to be. 

I had to do machine embroidery, and I swear I couldn't piece the blocks fast enough to get them embroidered! Was that because the PFAFF creative icon 2 is FAST? Or was the sewist (me) slow? Probably a bit of both! 

I have a "few" OK 9 things to prep before I leave on Tuesday, and I would say three of them are in pretty good shape and almost done. Although almost done, means there are still many HOURS of work to complete them. One needs the last border stitched on (cut), and then it has to be quilted and bound. The other two do NOT need to be quilted- thank goodness! The project is NOT huge - well, it's about 52" square. 

Thankfully, the remaining six projects are much smaller and hopefully won't take much time. 

Yes --- I had both machines (PFAFF creative icon 2 and Husqvarna Viking DESIGNER EPIC 2) going, one for embroidery and one for sewing. Yes -- my phone is still in French, and I'm OK with that. It's probably good practice for me! 

The monitor for my embroidery machines on my smartphone

I love being able to monitor the embroidery stitch-out, although, for the most part, I could glance over and see what was happening since I was sewing as well. 

Monitoring the embroidery stitch-out

Even the sewing machine was still in French, although I think I did switch that to English.

The embroidery machine language set to French

All the stuff I'm making has to be bagged and tagged, and in various stages of completion, so plastic baggies are in order. 

My plastic bag supply

Thankfully, my plastic bags are sorted, labeled, and in separate bags, making them easy to find if I want a particular size. They do NOT fall out of the cupboard, and I needed marking tools, so the drawer was open for that. And what you don't see in the photo is the small stack of plastic bags with the completed bits. 

My goal is that all this will fit in my carry-on -- I am not trusting it to check-in luggage!

My design was created on the creative icon 2 and saved in the mySewnet cloud; however, as a backup, the design is a USB stick. It's already in one of the plastic bags. The embroidery phase of the project is done - well, at least for this project. I might do some embroidery for the rest of the projects - but it won't take long to create the file and stitch it out. 

Saving on a USB stick

That's one thing that I LOVE about all these tools -- I do NOT need to purchase any designs -- with everything I have in the embroidery machines, the software, or the CREATE and EDIT tools in both, there's pretty much nothing that I can't make! I'm not good at making everything yet, but for what I want? Oh yes --- I can do it all! 

There were many ends of thread left over at the end of the day, and the creative icon 2 is now in sewing mode, waiting for this afternoon. 

Thread bits

I have two classes this morning, and everything is prepped. Don't ask how that happened, but it did! 

Oh --- here's a funny thing that happened. I LOVE my metal embroidery hoops (four different sizes, and I have them all!) and use them as much as possible. However, those magnets are POWERFUL and are attracted to anything metal on your cutting table, including your rotary cutter! I heard a loud SNAP and wondered what had happened. A bit difficult to cut with two big magnets hanging off the side of the rotary cutter. 

Magnets attached to my rotary cutter

Yesterday morning when I took the girls for their walk, it felt like SPRING. It was a glorious day, but as the day went on, the wind picked up, and the temperature dropped. I see it's below zero this morning. OK -- I'm ready for the warm weather to stay!

The neighbor's flowers are almost in bloom!

Flowers almost in bloom

Murphy has the funniest gait you could ever imagine. She's like a power walker and is just pushing the limit of the leash. She can't relax. 

MOM -- walk faster!

Even after the walk, she's still going strong. 

MOM - my bear needs help!

Lexi, however, is done! 

Mom -- I'm resting - no pictures, please!

Thankfully, Lexi doesn't come downstairs. Murphy does, and it's uncanny to turn around, and there she is, staring at me! It's kind of creepy!!!

MOM - HI!

You have to love them both! 

But oh my --- we are running into trouble with our schedules. With me on the road a bit more than usual and DH attending meetings or traveling, it's a bit of a challenge to make sure someone is around to take care of the girls. Thankfully, we've found a dog sitter who can stay at the house, and we needed her last week. I have a neighbor who can come in just to give them a quick trip to the backyard. So we are good, but I feel bad doing that, but we have no choice!

Life was good when the pandemic was around -- no one went anyway, so looking after the girls was not an issue!

Well, I must organize myself because right after the classes, I must return to Studio B and finish the three big projects today! I cannot go to bed until they are done! And I had better have also made good progress on the other 6. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!