Cutting the jacket

You are the BEST!!!! Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. I don't have time to digest them this morning, as I need to be on the road shortly for my guild presentation. I'll be at the Thames Valley Quilter's Guild, and it's an hour and a half to get there. Their meeting starts at 9:30, which I think is the most civilized thing I've heard from any guild. A large percentage of guilds meet in the evenings because many members work, but I would no longer go out to an evening guild as a member. I would do the occasional event, but not every month. I need my beauty sleep! And not a fan of driving at night if I don't have to. 

The good news is that all the quilts are packed in the suitcases. I need to throw those in the car - I hate doing that the night before. Even though we've never had issues in our neighborhood, I would hate to see two suitcases of quilts disappear from the car overnight. 

I also have everything set up for the Facebook Live later today. I think that's the first time I've done an in-person and an online event on the same day!

Remember, the Facebook Live is today at 3 PM EST, and it's all about metal and magnetic hoops for the embroidery machine. I'm using the Husqvarna Viking hoops, but I'm sure that ALL brands of embroidery machines have similar hoops, so it'll be informative to anyone who comes and listens. OH  -- and as a bonus, we'll be chatting about edge-to-edge quilting and EXACT Positioning, which is the same as Design and Precise Positioning. So loads of good information in today's event. 

It should also be live on the YouTube channel.

I have never figured this out, but I think if you go to the YouTube channel, it just goes live when we start. The same with the other, but you may have to REFRESH your screen. So be patient, bring your questions, and I'll see you at 3 PM. 

It was such a joy to set up all the lights, cameras, and cables with my new system. All the cables required for each camera (there are four, so you get a real up-close-and-personal look at what's happening) were in a separate labeled bag, and I set them up one by one. It was brilliant, and I think the only thing left is to plug in the final light. Oh—and I need to hang up a couple more quilts. But I'm good to go!!!

Then it was time to get the embroidery machine fired up because I have something to embroider and I can't wait any longer! I decided to make a jacket for the upcoming wedding this month! I found the fabric at the thrift store, and it's fuchsia! I needed to find a design to embroider on the back, but there were so many options that I couldn't choose. So while I was away, I went through a ton of ideas and found something I liked. Guess what? I used a magnetic hoop! 

Then I had to trace the pattern onto pattern paper, which I did on the kitchen counter because all the tables in Studio B were occupied by samples. 

Tracing the jacket pattern

Notice that I got my pattern rulers out, and I graded the bottom of that jacket from one size to the next. Let's see what happens when I try it on. The pattern was published in 1996 by a quilt company, and let's say the instructions are sketchy at best. I will be rejigging the sewing method somewhat because I'm not doing it the way they say. 

I have some of the other pieces traced out, but I needed to go downstairs to start this embroidery. I finished the embroidery this morning and am saving the piece for show-and-tell during the Live presentation. Then I'll share with you tomorrow. I'm quite pleased with the design I finally went with, and it looks great on the back of the jacket. I'm not done yet; I'm going to add a few more motifs, and I think I'll add a band to the sleeves as well. 

There's that trouble-making girl of mine! One of the pattern pieces fell to the floor, and she took the opportunity to toss her ball onto the pattern. And then she stared at it as if that would make it move!!! I have to stop throwing the ball in the house; the floors are too slippery, and I'm afraid she will hurt herself. She is just too intense. 

Mom -- I'm going to make it move without touching it!

Since the cameras and such were all set up for today, and I needed to babysit the embroidery - well, I didn't really, but I decided to work on the puzzle. OH MY --- look what happened. I got a little carried away!!

Progress on the jigsaw puzzle

Actually, I did need to babysit the embroidery because I hadn't combined the colors correctly, and every once in a while, I had to manually switch their order. I tell you -- I learn something new every day. No, make that I make mistakes every day. I must have done that intentionally because it meant that I had to be with the machine, and therefore, it was an excuse to work on the puzzle. I really should have been clearing off the cutting table, which is completely covered in stuff. But it didn't make sense until after the presentation today, when all the tables were back in place. 

I had to finish the embroidery this morning, and well, there are a few more pieces in the puzzle now. I should easily be able to finish the sky tonight. And then I can get to that tree area in the front. The spot I picked to start will now be the final spot to work on! Hilarious how each puzzle is completely different in how it gets assembled. 

I stumbled across this quote yesterday, and can you imagine how life would be if everyone followed this? I recently finished a novel, and this premise was badly needed. So many lies - no wonder the people were confused! But if we didn't have the lies, there would have been no book! 

We now have a new cleaning service for the house. We had a private person for years, but well, it just wasn't working out any longer, and she left in January. Now we have a company doing it, and two wonderful ladies were here yesterday to clean the areas from top to bottom. What a nice change it was to know that all surfaces were cleaned. 

Yes -- I could clean the house since I have more time now, but we decided years ago that a cleaning service was something we wanted, so we always made room for it in the budget. I hate to say it, but I've done that my entire adult life. There are other things I'd rather be doing; however, I have no issue with cleaning, and I'm in charge of Studio B, which I seem to be vacuuming constantly. And I see it needs a good vacuuming after a week of me not being there. 

Well, I must get organized as I have a few things to do before I leave the house. The girls are not going to be happy as they will likely NOT get a walk today, maybe after my online presentation. We'll see how the day goes. 

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!