Change is coming!

I received some shocking news yesterday while I was at the gym, and big changes are coming for me! OK -- I'm exaggerating, but for me, it will be a big change. I will not be like my parents -- I will embrace the change, although it's very upsetting. What happened? 

I learned that Joseph, the most amazing spin class instructor, was LET GO!!! No one seems to know why, and I don't have his contact information, but I'm going to try to find it so I can reach out to him. I'm also going to write a few emails to the local club and to the head office in the US. 

I'm sure he would only have been let go because of complaints, since this is a person who went above and beyond to ensure everyone was having a great time in his classes. He prepped videos to keep us entertained while we cycled; his music playlist was amazing and so motivating. Apparently, the class participants found out on Wednesday (I didn't go because I was getting ready to drive to London), and everyone is in an uproar. 

Will there be an uprising? I don't know, but I'm going to find out. I'm not sure I will go to spin class on Monday—it's kind of... Should I boycott the classes because of what happened? Or embrace the change as if nothing happened and continue attending the class. I need to see how the others are going to react. He was so well-loved! 

He must be devastated (OK—men don't get devastated over stuff like that), but he was so passionate about what he did. I can envision TWO people in our class who would potentially have precipitated such an action. One of them I heard is no longer a member of the club. Apparently, she was asked to leave about two weeks ago. She was very annoying! She told the story of health reasons that caused this behavior, but somehow I don't think so. But let's just say that she was LOUD and very disruptive across the entire gym, and it's a huge place. When you notice someone is NOT in the gym, that means they were extremely visible or vocal. Let's call her Jane. 

The other person who could be involved considered herself a close friend of Jane. Let's call her Mary. Mary was so grumpy and never smiled. Once, when there was an issue with sitting on the wrong bike (we are creatures of habit and like to sit on the bike we have reserved), I mentioned after class that perhaps we could just agree on which bike each of us would sit on. I mentioned it to the other ladies who sat in this one area of the spin room. Mary looked at me with daggers in her eyes and said, "I need to be with Jane because Jane needs me now."

Meanwhile, Jane is chatting with Joseph with not a care in the world, but according to Mary, she is grieving because something happened to her son. Anyway --- it's a very mixed-up affair, and if this has something to do with Jane and Mary, I'll scream bloody murder. Thankfully, Jane is gone. She was very socially awkward. 

Obviously, there is more to that story between those two and their interactions with Joseph, but I never gave it more thought than that -- both of them liked chatting him up, but I don't know all the details. But if Jane was getting negative vibes from the club management, I can see her trying to take others down with her. 

I'm not sure you'll appreciate these next pictures. They show up, but not as well as seeing them in person. Here are two table runners that I've done - I stitched them with edge-to-edge quilting on my embroidery machine. The first one has a black thread on the front and back. See how the black disappears into the black fabric and stands out quite a lot on the lighter parts? 

The black thread disappears on the black fabric and is very visible on the lighter fabrics.

And the black thread is very visible on the orange backing. 

The black thread is very visible on the back.

Then I tried a gold thread on the top for the second one, and you can see it more evenly across all the different fabrics on the top. 

The gold shows up equally on all fabrics.

The orange thread on the back literally disappears into the fabric. I like the second one much better than the first one.

The orange thread disappears into the backing.

All the cables and tripods got packed up into their labeled bags, and it's great knowing that when I need them again, it'll be easy to find all the bits. There are a lot of other cables in that white bin, but all I need for Facebook is right here! I must remember to order a new power cord for that switch box, as I still haven't found it and am using the one from my Cricut machine, which I'm selling. So I will need a new one. 

The bag of cables for the Facebook Lives

I got some machine embroidery done yesterday, and while I was babysitting it, I decided to forge ahead and finish the puzzle. Yikes --- that green in the bottom was a bit of a challenge, and it was after 10 PM when I finally went to bed. That is very late for me, but I was determined!!! I will hang on to this puzzle, as it was purchased especially for me in anticipation of my upcoming vacation!

My Mount Etna puzzle is complete!

I'm not sure I'll start another until I'm back from my vacation, but we'll see how it goes. I also started working on the two online presentations for this weekend, and I have mostly completed my part, which is always the largest. Now I wait for the participants to send me their homework pictures, and I insert them. There is SO much to discuss. In a way, I compare myself to Joseph. We are both passionate about what we do, and we don't get paid for all that prep time, but we don't care. While I love the time I spend with the groups, I thoroughly enjoy the prep, especially when I have loads of time to do research. And OH yes—I've been doing some research!!!!

I needed to go back to the library yesterday—yep, I'm becoming very friendly with the librarians, and it's all in the name of research. Research that can't be done online! And that's all I'm going to say about that. And when I got back, it was warm, so I sat in the back with the girls for a bit. 

And guess who was up to her tricks? The instant I sat down, Murphy threw her stuffed fish into the pond. Dogs are very intelligent. She knows that she will get a reaction from me when she does this. 

MOM -- the stuffed fish JUMPED into the pond!

Thankfully, it was close enough so she could dig it out herself. Did you notice that Lexi is just happy to lie down beside me? 

MOM - I rescued the stuffed fish!

Not content with the stuffed fish, she went into the house and grabbed a ball, then dumped it on the ground. I swear she is losing it, though, because she stares at that ball like she expects it to move. 

MOM - Why won't the ball move?

And when it doesn't move on its own, she takes action and grabs it and throws it in the pond. 

MOM -- the ball moved - into the pond! 

Knowing that I wasn't going to get up, she decided to stare at it in the water. 

MOM - the ball is going to drown!!

And when I still wouldn't get up, she rescued the ball herself. 

MOMO - no worries - I saved the ball

The same thing happens when I sit at the kitchen table to eat. Murphy decides that it is the perfect time to play ball, and we are no longer going to play ball in the house. Well, then you can pet me!!!! She is relentless in her attention-seeking. I try to spend some quality time with her every day, but that is not enough. 

I put on my headphones and listened to an audiobook -- I have a few that I downloaded in the last couple of days. Focusing on the book put me in the zone, and I puttered around doing some machine embroidery, getting the tables back where they belong, and actually attempting to clear the cutting table. There is literally NO room on it at the moment, but I don't need to cut anything yet. 

Work continues on the two presentations for the weekend, as well as the in-person ones. I need to make a few samples, review the already-made presentations, and gather more samples that have already been made. 

And if you are looking for a retreat house and you live on the east side of the city, here's the link to the house I was at several weeks ago. It's called My Quilting Retreat. The house is large and in a beautiful, rural spot, but it is about 6 minutes from Annie's Quilt Shop. Lots of bright light in the sewing room and everyone gets a double bed!!!! Check out the link. 

On that note, I'd better get organized as it's going to be a lot happening today, but at my new relaxed pace! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!