The good, the bad, and the why did I keep this?

 

The writing assignments are up-to-date. However, I owe a few people some e-mails confirming classes. I'm working on it. I need to get some invoices put together. I'm working on that too. Well, those will be tasks for today, and I'm working on the next group of presentations! The fun never ends!

But that doesn't mean that I'm slacking off in other areas. I'm still walking over 10 K a day. I think it's the only way I'm surviving! The fresh air, the exercise, and just getting out of the house are beneficial to my mental health and ability to get things done. 

And it was on the walk yesterday morning with Murphy that I found something GOOD. For the most part, people seem to be pretty good about their garbage/recycling, although I'm amazed at the quantities since we put our carts out once a month if that. Some households do not appreciate what it is to prep the garbage for the trucks to pick up. I think those people should be made to do garbage truck duty for one day so they can appreciate the garbage trucks and the drivers who do a great job of keeping our city functioning. 

But I saw this yesterday, and I wanted to jump for joy. I wanted to shout to the heavens. I should have knocked on their door and thanked them for brightening my day. 

The yard waste VERY neatly assembled

These people moved in a couple of weeks ago, and they obviously trimmed a lot of the bushes on their property. See how neatly they filled the bags, and then when they probably ran out of bags, they bundled the twigs neatly and tied them up, and placed the bundles neatly in the driveway. I could have wept with joy!!! 

I know it doesn't take much to get me excited. I bet the garbage guys took pictures as well! This house deserves a gold star. 

When I got back from my walk, the Bell technician was already here. Wow - we were the first appointment of the day. He seemed to take a LONG time doing his testing and whatever else he needed to do. I'm going to know more about how our connections work than I ever want to know. There are two phone lines to bring the service into the house. There are two connectors at the junction box, a block away from the house, and there is another box with two connectors right outside our house. It's for our street - just happens to be in front of our house. 

He changed three of the four connections saying that they were not good. So, if they were not good, how come the other people couldn't see that? I'm a patient person, but I'm losing my patience, and I feel that we have no options. Yes, we could change service providers, but who is to say that we won't have issues. I don't see anyone else on our street having problems. Maybe they don't have the same provider? Maybe I need to set up in my neighbor's house and see if that makes a difference. 

However, despite his efforts to fix the problem, the internet went down AGAIN. THREE times during the same presentation. All I can say is that the attendees are patient. I don't know what else to do. I was on the phone immediately after my presentation was over, and we have another technician looking into it today. I'm going to escalate it yet again if this doesn't work. 

The way the modem should look ALL the time

This is what our modem should look like all the time. But it seemed to like to reboot itself throughout the day. It took longer than usual to get it back up on one of the drops. I'm on Zoom, a LOT - I need a stable connection. I know we can't go back in the past, but I REGRET that I ever called to make a change to the service!!! But I won't go there! 

If it doesn't get fixed after today's visit, I might have no other choice but to switch providers and PRAY a lot that nothing gets screwed up. I hate to do that, but I might not have a choice. I don't think they use the same lines. For whatever reason, the addition of the second line has screwed us up big time. I might call around and see what my options are. 

Then I was going through a box of scraps to find some fabrics for a project. Oh boy - what the heck is this???

A skinny strip in the scrap box

Seriously?? I kept a strip of fabric that was ½" wide? What was I going to do with that? It must have been one of my thrifty days! Needless to say, the scrap is now in the pet mat box. 

I did get a laugh as I looked at the shoebox of black scraps. I tipped it upside down so I could dig through it. 

The contents of the black scrap box

The fabrics were so compacted that they retained the shape of the box. This was supposed to be a box of black fabrics. Well, it was, but there was black with colors and tone on tone black. The solid black scraps are in another box. 

I only wanted the tone on tone blacks. So then it became an archeological dig as I worked my way through the layers and sorted the fabrics. 

Black prints with colors 

The shoebox is pretty much filled (with a lid that now closes) with black scraps with colors. What to do with them?? I could cut the pieces up and make a string quilt. I might just do that because what else would I do? Well, there are lots of things to do with them. But this now becomes the box of black scraps with color. I have a new box for the tone on tone black fabrics. I did cut what I needed from the box, and I'm good. 

I was busy all day, and there was no time to get to the long arm as I had two embroidery machines going all day. 

The PFAFF creative icon doing embroidery

And the Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC 2, which was tucked in the back corner, was also fired up and doing machine embroidery. 

The Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC 2 doing embroidery

That kept me hopping as I babysat both of them and stitched out some samples. I'm making a book which I'll show you soon. It's almost done - I think. Just when I'm almost done, I think of something else to add!

What was I stitching? Remember all that ribbon that I bought? Some of it was to make this lion using the ribbon embroidery attachment. The face gets embroidered first, and then I wound the gold ribbon onto the attachment, and away it went. 

The ribbon embroidery attachment hard at work

You can see a bit more of the ribbon in this photo. 

The embroidery machine stitching out the lion

The lion is absolutely gorgeous. 

Embroidered lion head

You can check out the official version of the lion on mySewnew library.  And if you want to see what one of the other educators did with the lion head, check this out. 

I love it!!! So this ribbon embroidery attachment was available for the Designer EPIC 2, but it wasn't available for the PFAFF machines. Guess what? Very soon, it can also be used on the PFAFF creative icon. 

OH -- when I walked to the grocery store yesterday afternoon, that guy was hanging out at the bus stop. Then he walked to a palette leaning up against the fence nearby and spent a long time messing with it. I don't know what's going on, but he's become a permanent fixture on that corner. I had crossed the street, so I didn't have to deal with him, although at this point, he appears to be perfectly harmless. 

On that note, it's time to get the day started. A lot to do, one presentation this evening, and all the prep work is done. I just have to switch the brands in my film studio and pull out the basket of samples, and I should be good to go!! But I've got two presentations on the weekend, and I need to prep for one of them. So never a dull moment in this house!!

Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!!

Internet woes

 

I was so hopeful. Last week, we had no internet issues, and then POOF - this week has been crazy. Of course, there's a certain someone in the house who denies asking for a higher internet speed - I can't remember his rationale for asking for the change, but it wasn't related to speed. Then I heard that we have too many devices connected to the internet, down there! Down there would be referring to Studio B. 

Ah - let me just say that the internet went down early yesterday morning when there weren't many devices connected "down there." Sadly, I lost connection on both of my presentations, but it was during our preamble and not the actual presentation. And one of the times, it took forever to come back up. 

Needless to say, I was on the phone with my special phone number and my open ticket. This time, the technician could see something wrong on the lines. Why is that sporadic? A technician is coming this morning to try and see what's wrong. Let's hope that they find something! And through it all, what can I do? Get mad? What will that change? Be firm and polite!

The pattern is finished! The pattern cover hasn't been updated on the web page yet, but I'll direct you there when it is. 

I've got the next article written, it just needs proofing, and that's a task for this morning. Then, believe it or not, I'll be up to date. But just for a day before it's time to work on the next one. And I've still got some software to learn! Lots of new stuff - it just never ends. But I'm OK with that. I love learning. 

I got a customer quilt done and ready to be trimmed today. 

Customer quilt - DONE

I was hoping to get the next quilt on the long arm, but that didn't happen. I had some running around that had to be done, and I ran out of time. I went to Best Buy to buy another electronic toy, and they didn't have it in the store. Ooops - I didn't realize that I could PICK it up at that store, but that it wasn't on the shelves. I'll be back today to get it. I should have sat in the parking lot and ordered the darn thing. It's odd that the item is not on the shelves, but it is in their back room. Oh well - it's good to get out in the car, so I don't forget how to drive! 

Since I was there, I checked out the NEW Galaxy S20 phone. NO - I'm not in the market for a new phone. You can do so much with this phone, and I barely know how to use all the features on the one I currently have. I just don't know that I would want that larger size, and can you just slip it in your back pocket? I don't think so. Do you know how much these phones are going for? The top of the line would be almost $2,000 if you bought it outright. That's crazy! I can get a laptop for less money! I swear, these phones are getting so sophisticated it's totally insane. Perhaps a bit too sophisticated for me. 

Then I stopped to buy some ribbon. Oh my - it's my lucky day. It was 50% off, so that was a good thing, and I bought yards and yards of ribbon. 

My ribbon purchase

I ignored the rules! I wore a mask, but I plunked my stuff down on the cutting table and then stood by the table. I was asked politely to not stand next to the table while the employee was cutting. ACK! One of the ladies asked me what I was going to do with all the ribbon. Why machine embroidery with the ribbon attachment, of course! This employee has the Designer EPIC, so she knew what I was talking about. I think she's going to join the Zoom group on Monday nights for machine embroidery hosted by Sew and Serge! 

If you have no idea what Ribbon Embroidery is all about, you can check out my QUILTsocial blog, where I did some. It's loads of fun and super easy - the Embroidery machine does all the hard work. It's a great texture to add to any project. 

I'll be firing up the Designer EPIC 2 this morning to get some samples made for my presentation tonight. Along with learning, there's just never enough time to make samples. But I do what I can and don't worry about the rest. 

I had to laugh when I saw this in a Zoom window yesterday. One of the ladies is quite the card, and I never know what to expect. She set up this skeleton as her avatar on the Zoom call. Last week, she had a mask on that she had embroidered. I love it!!!!

A Zoom avatar

 

It was another gorgeous day yesterday, and I went out for my walk with the girls in the morning, and then I went out again in the afternoon. I took the LONG way to the library to drop off a book. That used to seem so long, but now, the time flies, and before I know it, I'm done!

YES -- there is a virtual retreat this weekend. But of course, someone else took control of my schedule (OK - so I forgot to block the time off). On Saturday evening, we'll start at 6 PM and go to 9 PM. If my afternoon event gets canceled (unlikely), then the start time will be earlier. And on Sunday, we'll be running all day from 9 AM to 8 PM. I'll post the Zoom link tomorrow - so join us; it's going to be loads of fun (as usual). 

I'm just checking my schedule - there's always the fear of missing an event, so I check very frequently these days. I have four more events to host this week. Next week, there are six, so that's good. The following week? TWELVE!! That's going to be a brutal week. Most of the events have been prepped, but there's always something to change or add!

On that note, I'd better get myself organized as I have a lot of work to do today. E-mails to send, invoices to create, and get that article out the door, so I can start on the next assignment!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!

A STUPENDOUS day

Ever have one of those days when everything goes right? They don't happen often, but yesterday was one of those days. Even though I forgot to do two things which gave me a nightmare last night. I dreamt that I had arrived at an event and had forgotten to pack samples. I had nothing - I don't think I even had my suitcase. Weird!

Let's just say that some things could have gone wrong - very badly, but I was on top of my game. I was merrily quilting a quilt that had been given to me by Quilts of Valour.

The robot got to the end of the row and I ran over to it and hit "advance to next row". Only to realize that the bobbin had run out partway across. Oh, shoot!!!

That was the bad news. The good news is that I know how to easily fix this. Go back to the previous row where I'll manually reset the pattern. The best news? I managed that reset the pattern PERFECTLY.

Can you see the restart??? 

Trust me - I've gone through a huge learning curve to figure that out. But it's done and I can move onto other things - like upgrading the darn system. I've been trying to do the upgrade since December, but I think I missed the deadline yet again. I MUST check that date today.

Then I turned on the Husqvarna Viking DESIGNER EPIC 2 so I could finish my UFO homework.

OH NO - some amazing new designs came through on the blog. You see, when you turn on the sewing machine, you get to see the blog. And once a week, new stuff comes through the blog. It could be embroidery designs (if you subscribe to the mySewnet library), or sewing instructions or what's new or other things.

New stuff in the mySewnet blog

Yes - all this gets delivered right to the EPIC 2 since it's connected to the WiFi. No need for USBs or cables or wasting time - just get to it! BUT before I could do anything that was on the blog, I HAD to get some work done on my UFO.

I love using decorative stitches for applique. One of the challenges is knowing where you are in the stitch sequence, especially if you've done a sample stitch-out of the stitch. Well, no worries with the EPIC 2 as it has Stitch Re-start (don't you just love those ORANGE buttons?) By pressing that button, the EPIC 2 goes back to the beginning of the stitch sequence of whatever stitch I've chosen. This is just the best!!!!

Stitch Re-start function

 I choose a stitch and then got to work on the LAST block for my UFO.

Stitching around the flower shape

And there it is - the last block. I'm not going to show you any more of this project until after the UFO group meets tomorrow. Will I get my homework completed? Will I do more??  You'll have to wait to see what happens.

The last block in the UFO

Then I decided to be bad and stitch out that poodle. I took a few minutes to attach the embroidery arm, found some fabric, threads, and some organza ribbon. That poodle is in the embroidery library that you can subscribe to through your mySewnet account. I grabbed some organza ribbon and wound it onto the Ribbon Embroidery Attachment. Then I checked how much ribbon was required. OH - I don't have enough. WAIT! I have another bag with ribbon - I bet I have some white organza ribbon in that bag. Yep, but that piece wasn't quite long enough. Now what?

I improvised and sewed the two pieces together.

Sewing the two pieces of organza ribbon together

I then wound all the ribbon onto the Ribbon Embroidery Attachment. Set up for embroidery and let the DESIGNER EPIC 2 do its job. I could then monitor it on the MySewMonitor app on my phone. I know - the technology is crazy. But when you think about it - there are so many advancements in technology to everything - cars, TVs, phones - why not the sewing machine???  It makes total sense.

Once the supplies were gathered and the machine set up - I hit START. 

Embroidering the body

Once the body was done, it was time to add the fluff! I attached the Ribbon Embroidery Attachment to the EPIC 2 and hit start.

What the ribbon embroidery looks like

And that big thing is the Ribbon Embroidery Attachment.

The ribbon embroidery attachment

So while the long arm was working (I was babysitting it so couldn't be far away), and the EPIC 2 was embroidering, what was the PFAFF creative Icon doing?  Oh - it could have been embroidering as well, but I wanted to piece. Unfortunately, it can't do that on its own!!!

Nothing! So I did a bit of piecing. Which you'll see another day.

The bottom line? The quilt for Quilts of Valour got finished. I now have a HUGE stack of quilts to trim. A job for today.

Quilt for Quilts of Valour - DONE

And the poodle got stitched out.

The ribbon embroidered poodle

Darn -- I wish I had used a brighter color for the collar!!!  But it's a girl poodle and I didn't think bright pink would show on that dark red background.

Studio B? It's a huge mess. Those are the quilts to trim.

Quilts to trim

The drawers of embroidery thread are hanging open. I did remember to put in a fresh bobbin when I started the ribbon embroidery. You do NOT want to have to change the bobbin or have a thread break or run out of ribbon when doing ribbon embroidery. I've had that happen and while it can be done - you don't want to have to go down that road. 

Thread drawers hanging open

The stuff from my dressmaking class is strewn on the floor and there's my helper. Actually, she was hoping I had a treat for her.

Dressmaking supplies on the floor

And the basket of trimmings? Overflowing yet again.

The trimming bucket on the cutting table

We went out to dinner last night with some very engaging conversation about how the world is going to hell in a handbasket (very quickly) because of the negative aspects of social media. I won't go into that today. Then home to finish a book. The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter by Hazel Gaynor. A very good book recommended by Rose. A very interesting twist and I admit that I peeked ahead a couple of times to see what was going to happen. I hate it when I do that, but I was compelled.

I'm listening to the Radium Girls by Kate Moore while I'm walking on the treadmill. I find it so appalling that so many health officials did NOTHING despite the number of girls that were dying. Anyway - I could go on about that, but for today, I don't have time.

I'm so proud of my kid! She walked when she went to do her errands!! I tell you, once you get into the habit, it's fabulous. I walked to the grocery store yesterday. Seriously - if you dress for the weather and set your mind, it's not cold! The girls were thrilled. We did NOT detour to the mall.

On that note, I'm out of here!!! I've got a super busy day planned.

Have a great day!!!

Ciao!!!!

CreativFestival Day Three

OK - so this CreativFestival was an anomaly! Usually, the third day is the slowest, yet we had a steady stream of people right up until the show closed! How did that happen??

It was so nice to reconnect with some folks that I haven't seen in a while and I got to meet some blog followers that I've never met before. I wish I could name everyone by name, but then I would miss someone. Whether we had a conversation or just a quick wave - it was great to see you!!!! 

Like I said, we had a steady stream of people into the show and into our booth. I had fun chatting up the various components of machine embroidery and what price points get you what. I stayed in the PFAFF booth for the entire show. Imagine that! Last year, I was so tentative in the PFAFF booth because it was new to me. I'm still learning things, but I think I have the models down pretty well. Guess what that means? They will change them just to keep me on my toes!

I did pop over to the Husqvarna Viking booth so I could make a sample using the new Ribbon Embroidery Attachment that comes with the Designer EPIC 2.

Stitching out the octopus 

I added some ribbon seaweed. WAIT - there's going to be a lot more embellishment added to this piece.

My ribbon octopus

He has an extra piece of ribbon hanging from one of his eyes which I haven't had time to trim. It's a pretty cool attachment and there are very interesting designs. I don't have this attachment yet - I can't wait to get it.

I did the same octopus the previous day but used a green ribbon. Seriously???  Why did I use a green ribbon?? You couldn't see the darn octopus. I only had one piece of this fabric so I ripped out the octopus and used pink ribbon! Much better. I used a satin ribbon about 3/8" wide. This attachment works with organza ribbon (my favorite) and various other types. It will be fun to play with when I get it. We learned a lot over the weekend with the ribbon embroidery attachment.

There are so many NEW things coming and I hope to share them with you just because I'm excited about them and I NEED to tell someone. So watch for some cool technology updates in the next couple of months. This is NOT your grandma's sewing machine. When people asked the price of the top of the line machines, I thought some were going to faint while others were totally fine with the price.

Honestly, the day passed by very quickly. Actually, all three days passed quickly. I did pop out to get one thing - a die for my GO cutter. Sorry - that one is long gone! Then I popped out to get some thread. Oh - wait until you see what I'm going to do with this 12 weight thread from Wonderfil. I can't wait to have a wee bit of downtime or when my sample making days come. It's going to be gorgeous!!!

Tear down wasn't as bad as what you would expect. It took us two hours to pull the booths apart and get everything packed away which isn't bad considering we have all the machines, power cords, booth structure, supplies, etc. Tear down is never my favorite part, but we had a few laughs when trying to pack up some of the machines. The easiest machines to pack up became quite unruly when we tried to fit them back in the boxes. However, the humans conquered and all machines went into their respective boxes.

If you follow the blog, I'm sure you realize that I try very had to keep my attitude glass half full (never half empty). I want to do a follow-up blog about my Ten Reasons you should attend the CreativFestival post. I don't have time to go into it today- but people did come to the show after they read my blog. And they were happy they did.

I did have a brief chat with someone who was working in a vendor booth. Oh boy - this is a half-empty person to say the least. As I chatted with this person, I felt myself getting very frustrated. I tried to acknowledge her point of view and then - well I said something that I think ALL OF US NEED TO SAY. Her attitude made me think about my comments during the Mary Fons presentation the previous night.

Here's the gist of what I said. If you have a negative opinion about anything, especially if you're working an event. If you go home and tell your friends - that was a terrible event, guess what you just did? You just POISONED your friend to ever attend that event again. And the negative nellies don't just tell one friend, they tell ALL THEIR FRIENDS, who in turn tell all their friends. Guess what? The next time that event occurs - all those people will NOT attend.

I'm fed up with the negativity that I hear from people. If you have a complaint about something you're getting for free - STOP COMPLAINING. It's free. You don't like it - don't use it, make it or whatever. If you needlessly complain to me - OH BOY - we're going to have a lesson in searching for the silver lining. I'm tired of all the complaining. We have enough legitimate stuff to complain about.

Here's the other thing about complaining. If you complain, you're only poisoning other people's perception. If you look on the positive side - guess what? There's hope for the future. There's always a silver lining - sometimes we have to look a little deeper to find it, but there's ALWAYS a silver lining. For those of us who live in the silver lining world, our people are MUCH happier!

Oh boy - you didn't expect that did you? But seriously - we really need to think about what we say. I was very polite in how I phrased my words and this person didn't know how to respond. That's good - because by complaining, she's shooting herself in the foot. Instead of complaining, we need to provide constructive feedback so things can get better. Only WE (that's right YOU and I) can make changes. If we wait for the other guy to make them, it isn't going to happen!!!

PHEW!!!! 

On that note, I'm out of here. We have Sit n Sew today AND the UFO group. I ran out of Sundays to host both events separately. I think I'm the only one in both so that'll make for interesting parking on my street! I still need to get my homework finished this morning but I had to clean the tables off as well. That's done - I'm ready for the groups to arrive - I just need to get that homework finished. Yikes - I do not want to cough up $10.

Have a super day!!!! Don't forget the Brampton Quilt Show is on today.

Ciao!!!!!