Doing the happy dance!!!!

So some days are better than others! Yesterday was not such a productive sewing day. I could be disappointed in myself, but seriously? What will that do? NOTHING! I rack it up to a sewing day when not much got done, and push for a better day today. 

However, something so monumental happened yesterday that I think I was in shock and couldn't really focus on anything else!

One of my goals for 2026 is to get my embroidery design files in order. That task is overwhelming because those files are everywhere. Where does one start and how? How to set up a good file structure, naming protocols, etc. I don't want to do all this work and have a crap system. 

The first step was to investigate what was on one of the five external hard drives I have. I know --- perhaps that's too many, but that's just how things have evolved. I looked at the first one—a total disaster. OK -- I'm exaggerating - not a total disaster, but not good either. 

But there were not many embroidery files on that hard disk, so I opened the next one. OK -- this is the one that I should be using. The majority of the files are here. I use the term majority loosely! 

And then I had a quick look at what else was on that hard disk. And then I had a wild thought. Could that missing quilt pattern be on this hard disk? 

What I'm looking for is an EQ7 file, and there's a directory of EQ7 files on the hard disk. So with bated breath, I timidly opened the folder and looked at the projects. Now, if I hadn't had a chat with my Monday group about the missing folder the day before, I would have missed it, because I was looking for a different name. But OH MY—there was the digital file! 

I slowly opened it - I mean that, since my desktop is so slow these days, even with a reboot - more on that in a second. And VOILA --- that was the file. BUT was the quilt actually in there and usable? I slowly swiped through the quilt's various iterations. OMG - I could have wept. The quilt's background is there! Do you know how many hours of work that saved me! I'll share the quilt tomorrow as I don't have time this morning. 

I was jumping around the house doing the happy dance because that was a monumental find. And this just goes to show why these files need to be cleaned up! I quickly saved it as a new file and gave it the correct name. So with the information (hard copies of the writing - thanks to my searching and to a fellow Monday sewing group member), I've found everything. It all means I can now easily recreate the pattern - it will take a bit of time to plug in the design, but not huge! I have a lot of typing to do, but that's OK. It's much easier to type and edit than to create from scratch!

I don't know what's happening to this computer, but even with having only a few windows open and rebooting it much more frequently, it is SLOW. And I have a ton of files to be shifting around. And I want to get all the boxes off the floor in the office, so the new computer box is open, and I'll get it hooked up this afternoon. That should speed up the file transfer process. I'm excited for that!!! 

There shouldn't be much, if any data to transfer, as I keep everything on those external hard drives. But it sure would be nice to go to a hard drive and grab the right one for what I need. Why so many? Well, I would love to have all my photos on one, all my embroidery designs and sewing machine-related presentations, etc on another, and then anything else on the third one. One can be used as a backup for all three of the others, and the fifth? Well, I might clean it and have a spare! Actually, the fifth one will be attached to the computer, and it's where the daily crap goes! Well, I'll figure it out! One is too big to travel with, so it will be the daily use one. 

I also want to stop using OneDrive except for active files that I'm working on. That's the only way to use AutoSave. I HATE that, but that's what Microsoft did to force people to use their online storage. 

So while it was not a very productive day in the sewing world, it was a very productive day in the computer world!!

And I also did some baking! Well, not baking per se, but I baked my squash in preparation to make soup. And DO NOT laugh at me, but I discovered that I could peel the squash BEFORE baking it, and I'm sold. I think I'll be making a lot more butternut squash soup. It was a pain to remove the squash from the baked skin. 

My baked squash

So that was super easy. I put the squash in the microwave for three minutes to soften it enough to cut it in half. Next time, I might try peeling it before I do that, but this worked OK. Then I got the vegetable peeler out and quickly peeled it. I had to use my sharp knife for some of the bits. In the oven with water, salt, and pepper. I will cut it into smaller pieces next time. And voila -- baked squash. 

I am so not into cooking or baking that it's a miracle when I figure stuff out! 

The other thing that happened in the kitchen is that I got all the wax out of my pie dish, so now I can make the pie crust machine embroidery for it! I'm super excited!

My empty pie dish

But I had to go shopping in the morning because Miss Murphy had NO dog food left. I even had to give her some of Lexi's food in the morning. Since I was close by, I stopped at Michael's. Do they have a candle-making section? 

Oh yes!!!!

Candle-making section at Michael's

That's huge, and at first, I was a bit overwhelmed, and started pulling products off the shelves - wicks, wick centering sticks, paste for the wicks, etc. THEN I had a clear head and put it all back, but I did purchase ONE glass jar with a wick already pre-stuck in it. I'll use that to experiment with, and we'll go from there. 

What I need now is a double boiler. NO - I'm not going to buy one, but I'll McGiver one with something -a glass jar or a metal bowl, and one of my existing pots. I was going to go to the thrift store to see if I could find something suitable. Then I can safely melt the wax and see how my new candle fares. One experiment, and that will become a thing or not! It'll be fun to try. I do know enough to NOT use the wax melting pot as a kitchen item! It would be great to find a Pyrex glass measuring cup with a pour spout. Maybe the dollar store would have that. But it needs to be at least a two-cup one, and I need to find something metal to put at the bottom of the pot so the glass doesn't touch the bottom. Like a metal trivet! 

But oh my—there are loads of fun things at Michael's. Look at these giant balls of yarn! They are HUGE!!!!!

Massive balls of yarn

And puzzles in a truck-shaped tin! All I bought was a baseball hat blank and a small pack of felt wreaths. All things that I can experiment with on the embroidery machine! Do I seem obsessed with that or what? 

A truck-shaped tin for a jigsaw puzzle

I stopped to get Harvey's for lunch. And YES --- those frings and french fries are full of fat. I'm OK with that. But I bought a bottle of water instead of a pop. The only time I bought a pop was when I ate fast food. BTW - I don't eat fast food often! Well, no more. Now that Brooke (personal trainer) and I are on board to get this BMI down, all sugar needs to be removed from the diet. Make that refined sugar! 

Water, not pop, is my drink of choice now!

Don't tell me about zero-calorie pop, or sugar-free or whatever. The goal is to eliminate pop from my diet. Forever! 

I promised to show you the results of the thin thread when quilting. Here is the front of the quilt, which is light-colored, so you want a lighter-colored thread for it. I aim for medium or light-medium so the thread shows equally on all parts. This was a light-medium grey thread. 

Light-medium grey thread on the quilt top

But what to put on the back, which was dark!!! So I grabbed a light-weight grey thread, and it virtually disappears into the back. This is a 60-weight thread on the back. 

Light grey thread on the back

The bonus is that, even with great tension on the long arm, the bobbin thread sometimes appears on the top when stitching a point. But with this combination? The quilting is perfect!!!!

I have another example that I'll take pictures of today and show you. The difference in thread weight is much more dramatic! 

And I did manage to finish another customer's quilt! And I got the other two trimmed. 

Customer quilt - DONE

It had a dark green backing, and I used a medium green thread on the back. With the thinner threads, the quilting is visible, but not shouting in your face as if I had used white to match the top. I'm sold!!!!

Did you check out the QUILTsocial posts? They are so cute, and there's a lot more cute coming this week. 

Here's day three - more felting on the embroidery machine, and I show how I finished that mini pillow cover! So cute!!!! Oh shoot—the link isn't available yet. Well, go to QUILTsocial, and it should be up by the time you get to reading the post. I'll add the link when I get back from spin class. 

Well, it's time to get ready for spin class. I feel pretty good this morning, and I hope it'll be a productive day! If not productive, it's going to be busy -- I need to get that new computer up and running - I'm tired of this crappy old one. 

I will mention that when the alarm went off, I was tired and even considered not going to the gym. BUT then I told myself to get my butt out of bed because I need the cardio and I need the stretching. If I don't go now, it won't get done today! So I'm off to the gym! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!