Recovery day!

I had a great class in the morning at the Hobby Horse. A few unruly girls, but they know that so we're all good. The bottom line is that everyone got all the information they needed to finish the project and they're well on their way to getting it completed.

My sinus continued to bother me for most of the day and I have to confess that I was in recovery mode. I really didn't have the energy to do much. I did make it to the grocery store where I had forgotten one thing the moment I placed my items on the check out counter. How many times has that happened to you? Only to realize this morning that while I was charged for the item, the cashier must have put the item in a separate bag, not my basket, and I left it at the store. So I have to go back today to get my item. I hate when that happens.

Went to another grocery store for something else. Both places were a zoo. I know - the day before Thanksgiving - what was I thinking?

Then I have to confess that I spent the rest of the day curled up in a chair with a quilt and a book. I didn't even make it downstairs to the studio - other than getting my pattern for the morning class which wasn't right on the cutting table, but it was easy to find.

I started and finished an entire book yesterday. I was OK with that. I guess I just needed some downtime.

Oh - I should mention that I went to the library as well to pick up my two books that had come in and I couldn't help myself - I walked out with more than two books. That made 26 books on loan. ACK! How did that happen? Thank goodness borrowing books is FREE. Well, I'm happy to report that when I finished that book and went looking for another one to read, I realized that I had a couple of books that were out of sequence in their respective series, so I returned four books this morning.

Then I spent some time this morning logging in the books I've recently got my hands on or that I've read. So I'm pretty much up to date in my book managing. I need to have a list so when I hit a used bookstore, I have something to look for. How sad is that? That takes a wee bit more time since I will only buy a book if the library doesn't have it and that takes a bit of time to check out the library catalog. I'm done with book managing for today. I have work to do.

Today my goal is to drink LOTS of water and at least get that list of TODOs put together. If not, then I'm in huge trouble.

I promised some pictures and so here are a couple of pictures from my trip.

The first one is a picture of Kim (from Kimberbell) and myself with my completed journal cover. She is such a bubbly and fun person, you can't help but like her. OH - yes - I'm going to be working on my Hello Sunshine quilt and you're all going to be jealous!!!

Me and Kim from Kimberbell Designs

I think this is the FIRST time in the entire week that I removed my black sweater when I was in the hotel. It was super cold in the hotel. Apparently, because of the humidity outside, they just crank up the A/C. No thought to using dehumidifiers. That's a bit weird.


When I was at the airport, I popped into the bookstore to see if I could find a book about New Orleans. Nope - no books on local anything, but I found this in the magazine section. Should I have purchased it to get myself up to speed on all the lingo?

Cannabis Now magazine

I talk to some people about the upcoming legalization of cannabis. OK - so my parents - they think the world is going to hell in a handbasket the moment this happens. Well, Mom and Dad - hate to tell you but the stuff has been around for years  - just not legal. I hope I have a more open mind about things when I'm older. Heck - I could start using the oil - hmm - for what? I'm pretty healthy. Oh - I could find a reason, but not yet!

I'm sure you've seen tons of pictures of the architecture of New Orleans, but it's truly spectacular to see in person. Here's a snap of one building with two beautiful wrap-around galleries.  They are NOT called balconies.  The wrought iron work in the railings is amazing.

Two rows of galleries on a New Orleans building

Many of the houses in the French Quarter have windows (or technically doors) completely around the building on the ground floor, which can be opened up for ventilation. I think people used to sleep on the galleries in the heat?  I'm making that up!  But it's humid - there's no question that it's humid there and we were there in October - imagine what it would be like in the summer.

None of the houses have basements because of the extremely high water table so any bad stuff like torture usually took place in the attic. It's a pretty creepy place to be sure!  And of course, all the people buried in the cemeteries are in above ground vaults, not in a grave in the ground. It would have been neat to make it to one of the cemeteries, but that'll have to wait for another trip.

That's about it for today. I must get my butt in gear and get downstairs.

Have a super day!!!!!


Ciao!!

The Long Way Home

Seriously?  I just tried the keyboard on the iPad and it worked. I give up - silly thing.

But the best part - I'm home! I don't have pictures for you today - I don't have time. But tomorrow. I must make myself a TODO list of everything (the most urgent) things that need to be done this weekend. I do have a class to teach this morning, but then it's going to be heads-down in the studio. Quilts to be quilted, quilts to be made, samples to be made. Oh yes - it's going to be loads of fun!

I had chatted to the concierge the night before and he recommended a restaurant across the street for breakfast. Yes - Daisy Duke's!  Breakfast for $5.00 - two eggs, bacon, a fruit cup and two slices of toast. That was a pretty good deal and I was set.

Back to the hotel to finish packing and off in a cab to the airport. When I got to the airport, I ran into a dealer from Canada and shoot - if I would have known we were on the same flight, we could have taken a cab together and saved some money. Oh well.

My suitcase was heavy and I wasn't going to check it, but when we got to the gate and they were asking people to check their suitcases, I decided why not. It was going to be free and would save me from dragging it through Detroit when we changed planes.

I was going to read through some reference material on the plane but decided to read my novel instead. I ended up finishing it just before we hit Toronto. Yeah - one more book finished. I've so many to read and I have to get to the library today to pick up two more that came in while I was away. NO more ordering of books from the library. Not until I get a wee bit of the backlog read!

Checked out the scale this morning - OK - so a wee bit of damage was done, but I was still in my buffer zone so I'm good and I should be back to normal by the end of this coming week. I like having that buffer zone - no need to feel depressed as I haven't hit that target weight yet. I know that doesn't make sense, but in reality, I don't want to hit that target weight - that means I'm going in the wrong direction and we're NOT going there.

I didn't have any issues getting through customs and basically walked out of the airport about 20 minutes after getting off the plane even though I had to wait for my luggage. DH was there (you got to love cell phones for that convenience) to pick me up and we went for dinner - our usual Friday night thing.

Need I say that there were two very happy girls waiting for me when I got back home. Jumping and licking and hugging. Yes - they were very happy. But they are not so happy this morning. It's raining out and I certainly don't want to stand around in the dog park in the rain and I don't need two extremely muddy dogs to contend with. I might sneak a wee walk with them both.

I'm not off to a good start this morning. I had a major issue with one of my sinuses last night. It took several hours to calm the darn thing down. An allergy pill helped a lot, but the darn thing wouldn't drain and that's pretty painful. But all seems to be somewhat better this morning. I wonder why one sinus is much more sensitive than the other one? Hmm - why is that???  Well, I guess I should be thankful that only one of them is hypersensitive - I'd be very unhappy with two painful sinuses. Bottom line, I didn't get a lot of sleep last night! Of course, I checked the internet and there are some tips for getting your sinuses to drain. I should dig out my Neti-Pot but I'm afraid to use it!

And I now have to hit the studio (which is a total disaster) and find the pattern for this morning's class. That should be an interesting task. I just hope that I had my wits about me before I left and it's sitting on the cutting table. Oh - that would be way too logical to have happened.

I have to say that it was nice to get home and put on a long sleeve garment. No more of this short-sleeved sweater business - I want long sleeves. I must make myself a "convention" garment. Something that's warm on the inside and slick on the outside to repel threads. I have a great short sleeved sweater that I love, but it keeps getting thread-covered and the sweater is black.!

Hmm - can I get a garment sewn before Thursday next week? It's the CreativFestival and we're going to be inside in a probably cold environment once again. Make sure you pop out to see me - I'll be in the Husqvarna Viking booth.

I unpacked last night. I swear that half of my suitcase was filled with stuff from the convention. Samples, papers and my four books. I'm surprised that it all fit in there. Well, I'm a good packer, but it was heavy! So I have to deal with all that today as well. Add it to the list!  It's great to be HOME!!!

And now to get myself organized for class. 


Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

Day Five - Convention

It would appear that my iPad keyboard is toast for whatever reason. I was trying to use it last night and no go. Hmm - now that means another call to those Apple people. You just can't get ahead of fixing things. Thank goodness I had the laptop with me. I don't want to carry both in the future, but both have good things about them so I'll see.

Yesterday, which was also the last day of the convention, was a fabulous day. We started off with a class on Westalee rulers. Other than a brief stint with them the other day, I've never used those sets of rulers.  OH MY GOD - the class was so much fun and I learned a ton. I never thought I'd be happy using the rulers on a domestic machine, but honestly there's a place for them and I'm super excited to get back to my machine quilting class (table runner class that's all about free motion) and tell them what I learned. For I learned several very important things about these rulers.

We only used two rulers in the class - the straight ruler and one of the circles. Lots of cool stuff can be done. And even though there were things in the class that I didn't agree with, as a good student, I kept my mouth shut.

So that was a super fun and informative class. The other nice thing is that the Westalee people are here so we got all week to ask them questions and ask away I did. Hmm - got to rethink a couple of things when I get home.

Off to lunch - I don't think I'll eat for three days when I get home and I've been really good.

The last class was the most fun. It was a class with Kimberbell. That's the name of the company, the owner is Kim and she's super fun. I LOVE all the Kimberbell products and want to make them all. Can you believe that even though I have tons of her patterns, I've never made a Kimberbell project before. Shame on me!!!!  AND - I must get my Scan n Cut out and learn how to use it properly. I'm missing out on a huge opportunity (time saver) if I don't. One more thing to learn!  And I'm serious  - does anyone want to do her Hello Sunshine quilt??  Can be done sewing or machine embroidery. I was thinking of using it as a quilt along. We were going to have a class at the Hobby Horse, and people signed up and then backed out. These projects are so super cute - you can't not want to make it. There's a Christmas one and a Halloween one. One lady in our class had made all three. ACK!!!

We did two in-the-hoop projects yesterday and despite the fact that I'd never done embroidery on the PFAFF Creative Icon, I managed just fine. Had to change the hoop size, find the design and even had to restart one of the stitching sequences (I did get help for that one). That means that embroidery on the Creative Icon is super easy!!!

We made one of her Sweet Feet designs (we also have all the designs on the CD - back to the library to convert that to my USB stick) and then we made a journal cover. They are super sweet. And we have TEN different journal covers to play around with. I just hope I can find those sizes of journal covers back home or it's a trip to the US to find journals to fit them.

Kim is just the sweetest person around and she had some new stuff here (I got the official e-mail) just as we were starting her class - now how timely is that?  And there will be new stuff at Quilt Market.

We finished right on time. Yeah!!! 

As sad as I am to have convention over, I'm happy. It's been a long five days, lots to take in and I've lots to digest when I get home. On top of the stuff I already have to do, I've got a class to teach tomorrow morning! I'd better be making myself some lists and get down to business making samples. A good activity for the plane ride home.

After the class, I popped out to the used bookstore. I only went to one. One of the three was closed and I picked the one that was closest to the hotel. It was the weird little maze of a bookstore. I was looking for books on ghosts of New Orleans. Sadly, they didn't have any. The owner said that as soon as those books come in, they are gone. I'll have to search the internet and see. The urge to read about them will likely fade once I get home. But you never know - I've always had a soft spot for that kind of stuff. Even though it's creepy. I wonder if I could stay in one of those boutique hotels whose claim to fame is that it's haunted? I probably wouldn't sleep a wink.

I walked down Bourbon street on my way back to the hotel. It was fairly calm but the drummer boys and Lulus were out in full force. Never a dull moment on that street.

We had our last dinner and then all the goodbyes. I chatted with a few people and then I was in the room trying to pack my suitcase. I picked up a few things along the way (including the four books I bought) so it was a wee bit of a challenge, but I got everything in! I'm an excellent packer. I'm also an excellent traveler. There is NOTHING extra in my suitcase. Oh I lie - I brought SIX shirts to wear thinking we were at convention for six days, but in fact, I only needed five! I listened to a colleague and brought an umbrella (which I would NEVER even think of) and of course, the event was all in the same hotel so why would I need an umbrella. In future, I listen to my gut when it comes to what to pack. NO checked luggage for me, although this suitcase is now going to be a wee bit heavier to heave into the overhead bins, but that shouldn't be a problem.

I'm certainly in the minority here at these kinds of conventions. At one class, we got a T-shirt. Not sure that I'll wear it, but maybe I will. There were 7 different piles of shirts. The 4XL, the 3XL, the 2XL, the XL, the L, M, and S. The S pile was the smallest and that's what I got. Yes, the clientele at these conventions/Quilt Markets are - well - I'm not going to say, but I think you all get the idea. I only have my mother to thank for what happened to me!

I'm on my own this morning for breakfast, but I had a chat with the concierge last night about getting to the airport - cabbing it as it's going to be way easier than the shuttle (and only slightly more expensive). Instead of breakfast in the hotel, he suggested a place across the street that serves a good breakfast for $5. I'm there!

Just have to pack my tech toys in my backpack and I'm all set to get to the airport. It's going to be a long day - travel days are always long, but I've downloaded all kinds of sewing machine reference books, user manuals, embroidery software manuals and other learning material to keep me entertained. Plus I have my paperback book to read. It's going to be just fine!

On that note, I'd better get dressed and get to breakfast.

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

Convention - Day Four

Hmm - ghosts and goblins and nightmares?

We had a free night last night and when I had popped out to pick up the geocache the previous night, I had picked up a couple of brochures on walking and bus tours in the city. I checked them out and decided that I could make the 5:30 PM walking ghost tour. There were bus tours of the cemeteries but they were much later and I didn't want to have to work my way back to the hotel by myself. Anyway, I popped down to the tourist office and got signed up for the ghost tour.

It was pretty cool to get some of the history of some of the buildings. Some of it was probably made up, some of it was not. Who knows? Anyway, it was fun. We ended the tour about 4 blocks from the hotel and on the way back, I found a restaurant and popped in for a beer and some dinner. I had had a large lunch so I wasn't too hungry, but had a salad and some chicken (or was that crocodile or alligator??)  Anyway then a wee bit closer to the hotel, I found a candy shop that made fudge, pralines (supposedly a specialty here) and chocolates. After tasting several samples, I ended up buying ONE praline. Even though I drank loads of water yesterday, my body is not happy with the diet. I could be better - I'll make it up when I get home. Although I am being pretty good.

Just so you know, the street I walked home on was much quieter and calmer and appeared a whole lot safer than Bourbon Street which was four blocks away. There are tons of boutique hotels (small hotels) and the rooms are tiny. We got to see a room where supposedly Elvis stayed and apparently Hilary Clinton stayed in this hotel (which is supposed to be haunted) as well.

So I get back to the hotel and I do a bit of computer work and chat with my roommate and then it's time to turn out the lights. On each of the previous nights, I fall asleep before the lights are turned out. Last night - not going to happen. I'm wide awake! Oh drat - now what? Why can't I sleep? Am I too keyed up??  Too many thoughts of ghost stories in my head? It wasn't a great night for sleep.

When the lights did go out and I'm tossing and turning  - at one point I see something and wonder what the heck it is.  Oh the wrist bands they gave us are glow in the dark! And they gave me two!

I thought I might have a nightmare as one of the stories (and places we stopped at) the story was very recent and the people were very well known.  If you want to read a gruesome murder/suicide story - check out Zack Bowen on the internet.

So did I have a nightmare? Well yes so to speak. My nightmare was that I ended up at the airport and after being there for about a half hour, I realized that I had forgotten to check out of the hotel (only because I didn't have my phone charger with me) and I had left everything else at the hotel. Nothing was packed although I'm a neat hotel person anyway. I had time to get back to the hotel, but what could I do? I asked someone if I could get the number of the hotel and I ended up getting an Maroon Five T-shirt with their phone number on it. Then I decided to go back to the hotel to get my stuff and a lady called a cab for me. It was an old decrepit thing with room in the front so I crawled in only to have the driver say - get in the back which meant crawling over what looked like car batteries in the space where one would put your feet. Then I arrived at the hotel and felt like I was having an asthma attack as I approached the elevators. Then I woke up!!!!

How silly is that?  Anyway, we still have one more day and will be making our way to the airport tomorrow. I think the phone charger was on my mind because I unplug it everyday and put it in my backpack. I had unplugged it before going to bed because my phone was charged and the charger cord dropped on the floor when I unplugged my phone in the dark. Amazing how our brains work.

So yesterday morning we had all the speeches and product introductions for the PFAFF side of the business. Some of it was repetition but that's OK - just another opportunity to solidify all that information in my head. Then we had another motivational speaker. At first I didn't think I was going to like this guy. He was a bit of a weird duck, but he thoroughly entertained us and then had some serious messages about attitude, customer service, NO complaining and stuff like that. I really enjoyed it and was glad that I stayed for that part. I know some of the others did not stay. Humor seems to be a big part of motivational speaking these days.

I had a class in the afternoon and I have to say that it was the first one that I was disappointed in. It was all based on software at the machine - learning the StitchCreator on the PFAFF side. It's a difficult class to teach and there were many in the room that didn't understand all the functions on the screen. I have to confess that I was one of those, but caught on quickly. The first half of the class where we were making (modifying existing stitches) was a lot of fun and I caught onto that pretty quickly. The second part was bringing in those stitches to create shapes to put on the screen so we could embroider them out. If you missed one of the numbers (and it was on a handout but only shown on the overhead screen) you were toast. There was one person besides the teacher to help. If we would have had the handout, we could have gone back and fixed the problem, but we didn't have the handout. It will be e-mailed to us.

I feel badly about walking out, but I wasn't the only one. Yes - I could have asked for help, but there were too many asking for help. I'm trying to think how the class could be handled differently so that wouldn't have happened. It could be done, but it was a tough class to teach and to follow. I'll do the exercise when I get home and then create the stitch-out when I can follow all the steps. I learned things in the class so it wasn't a total waste.

And then I went to my ghost tour! I went by myself which I'm OK with. Oh yes - I should mention that while I was in the restaurant, I was checking Facebook and Instagram and someone had mentioned that I should get my fortune told while I was here. I've never wanted to do that, but I thought - why not? There seems to be so much Voodoo and other weird things here. I asked the two young girls who were standing outside the restaurant (they belonged there as they were encouraging people to come into their restaurant). I asked them where I could get my fortune told. The one girl said - can I give you a recommendation? I said YES. She said - don't get your fortune told!  I laughed, said thank you and found the candy shop!

I'm becoming very friendly with the engineer guys from Sweden. Gave them two more suggestions based on my class - this time it was all about the software. Talked to a vendor about those cool sewing chairs with the storage in the seats and did you know that those chairs with the storage and the lumbar support are modeled after the old sewing stools/square benches that had a storage space in them? That is so cool.

Met more dealers in Canada yesterday - sitting with new people at lunch is a great way to learn stuff and to met some of the SVP people including Jamie. Everyone loves Jamie. He's a Scot who lives in Britain and helps design all those beautiful extension tables and other add on products that I love. Way to go Jamie! And he's a sewist/quilter so he knows his stuff. He has been for years. I also learned that they have people with textile degrees who are helping them design stuff by using the products. That's so exciting that we have people who use the products in a very heavy way that are helping to make the products better. I LIKE THAT and I have to say that it shows in the new products.

I'm thinking that if I had my wits about me, I could have bought a history book (ghost story book) about New Orleans when I visited the book stores earlier in the week. I could still pop out to one bookstore at lunch. All three of the stores are very close to the hotel and now I'm intrigued.

On that note, it's time to get ready for breakfast for which I am somewhat hungry, but I had better eat - I'm grumpy when I'm hungry.

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!

Convention - Day Three

Yesterday was a better day. Why? I drank three bottles of water and I didn't eat ANY bread or potatoes all day. I felt much better. Yeah!

Actually at lunch (and I felt a wee bit guilty), I took two sandwiches and then proceeded to set the HUGE pieces of bread (white) aside as I ate the meager fillings. But I felt so much better, I soon lost all guilt!

My first class of the day was to make a small zippered pouch. Shouldn't be that big of a problem? Well - it was with a brand new machine - the new PFAFF Ambition 620.  Except that I have no accessories for the PFAFF machines. Fortunately, I had a wonderful lady beside me who shared her circular attachment and I was able to borrow the remainder of the feet from the instructor. That's a nice sewing machine but when you're used to one that raises the presser feet automatically, the biggest challenge of the class was remembering to raise the presser foot. Which the machine reminded us repeatedly. We got a good chuckle out of that.

I love the zippered pouch. It's very cute and I learned a couple of new ways to use various feet and accessories.  I have so MUCH to do when I get home. So many samples to make and experiments to try out. I can't wait to get home! Well, I can, but you know what I mean.

I'm on my laptop this morning and I have to say that there's nothing that beats the keyboard on a laptop. NOTHING.  It's got the best touch and so easy to type. I wish we could buy a similar type keyboard for my home computer.

I've been filling my notebook with lists of product that I would like to get my hands on and stuff (supplies) that I would like to buy. Oh the list is long and I'm lucky that some of it I get to "borrow" so I can learn it. I wonder if I could get one of the super cute new chairs "on loan" or the super cool lighting systems. Somehow I don't think so as there really isn't a learning curve to putting your butt on a cool chair.

I'm not sure where the picture of the chair is, but I've seen the style before and I never thought I would like it. Actually never parked my butt on one before even though I've seen it around. Well I tried it this time and it's actually quite comfy. And there's storage in the seat. I like that.

And the lighting system would be so good for our retreats. Hmm.........

After lunch which is fun as every time I end up sitting with someone new and it's great to chat with the people from all over the country - this country. And fun to learn how people got into the business. Many people have been passionate about sewing for YEARS and started off with the #1 Plus sewing machine. That was before my time. Things have certainly changed since then.

In the afternoon, I was totally over my head. The class was on the multi-needle embroidery machine. Ten needles. Yikes - looks like a great big monster, but once we got through the instruction, it's relatively easy to use. Not having to change the thread would be a great option, but I don't think that I want to get into this kind of a machine for me personally. But lots of people are!  And if you're in the business of machine embroidery, you have no choice if you want to make money. We learned how to hoop a hat which was pretty cool and if you were in the embroidering hat business, you'd want this machine. While one hat is stitching, you hoop the second hat. Crazy!

Then we had some time to kill before dinner so I took a wee walk down to the river. I searched for a geocache (I know - WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?).   It's a small container that you find by following a map (now on an app on your phone). I managed to find it right by the water front after a wee bit of searching. That part of town is fairly nice but still security people always driving around on their ATVs.  Anyway, I found the thing and logged it - that makes 390 finds for me. I guess I'll aim to find one in each state or country I hit. I've missed a few over the past years so will have to travel back to get them. It's a fun activity to do in a new town or with kids to keep them entertained. Ronda - we have to look in Orillia!! Oh - we did already.

Back to the hotel to change back into pants (you do not WANT to walk outside in pants - although it wasn't too bad last night). I got my mask and I was ready to hit the masquerade dinner. It was fun - the room was decorated in yellow, green and purple. Masks and feather boas and beads were everywhere. They had a mask contest with a pretty substantial prize and there were over 70 people who lined up to have their masks judged. Mine was a simple mask (I wouldn't qualify anyway) and nowhere near being in the judging quality. I'm not sure who won as it was announced late. It took them forever to judge and there were some pretty amazing masks.  A load of fun and we got to try some more NOLA dishes for dinner.

Do you know what NOLA means?  Took me a couple of days to figure it out. New Orleans, LA (for Louisiana!!)

So far so good at the convention. Like I said, I've learned tons and millions of ideas swirling in my head and things to get, things to buy, things to learn, things to make - it just doesn't stop. I'm going to be a lean mean creating machine when I get home. OH yes - I've got ideas. I just need the time.

There are sort of two conventions here. The first couple of days were for Husqvarna Viking and the next days are for PFAFF. But there is crossover between the two of them. I've got three more classes and this morning is all the speeches for the PFAFF people which I think I'll go to just to hear the word from the other side although a lot of the product (especially the after market stuff) is pretty much the same).

On that note, I'm out of here and better get some clothes on!!!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

Convention - Day Two

I didn't even bother to pull out the iPad this morning. Stupid Apple products - silly support people. Why should I go through that hassle when I have a laptop which acts like it should around the internet. Don't get me wrong - I like the iPad, but I also hate it - if that makes sense.

Wow - information overload!  It's totally crazy here. Not only am I trying to meet as many of the Canadian dealers as I can, but I'm in two classes a day. Well so is everyone else so it's fine. The classes are about 3 1/2 hours long each and in some we're making a project and in others we're not.

Yesterday I didn't make any projects, but I got to learn some cool stuff. We started off with the new quilt frame which can be used for sit down or stand up. It's only five feet wide, but can be used for any sized quilt. At first, I wasn't sure that I was going to like it, but after spending a couple of hours on it, it's not bad. I think it would be very cool to use for small projects or when I need to downsize from my big machine at home.

Shoot - I can't find the link on the internet, but I will once I find it. And there's an impressive light stand that goes with it. Totally portable, totally separate from the table - I want one for the upcoming retreat!  We would be rocking with those lights in the dining room - hey Ronda? What do you think?  Here's the picture from our class.



It's pretty amazing to walk into a room that's filled with MANY of the same setup. One room I walked into had 30+ Designer Epics in it!!!

The other thing that's nice about the quilt frame - it comes with a stitch regulator. That's pretty handy and you get all the functionality of the machine that you put on the frame. So it works with the EPICs which are a very large machine or the frame works with a smaller machine as well. Then you can use all the quilting feet, all the stitches and whatever else you want.

We did use the ruler foot and some rulers which I had never used before. Pretty cool - it would take some getting used to, but there's a place for that kind of thing. Not for everything, but for some things. I see where this set up would be kind of handy for those that are afraid of free motion. A small frame, a machine that moves and the loading and unloading system is pretty well thought out.

The second class was on the sewing network that is available on the DESIGNER EPIC and the EPIC 980Q which are the higher end machines, but here's the great thing. On the new machines - the DESIGNER Brilliance 80 and the Brilliance 75Q, they have now incorporated the internet capabilities. It's totally crazy, but with all the online features, these machines are totally awesome and can communicate with each other. Well so to speak. I have to do a blog post about it in the future - it's pretty amazing and we got to see a little bit of what's coming down the pipeline and well - it's pretty cool.

Oh yes - we got to see some of the other cool products that are launching now and a few that are coming. I'll take one of everything please!  With yards and yards of stabilizer - and can someone please clear my schedule - I've got a date with a couple of sewing machines.

I've been popping around to the various classrooms and taking pictures of the other projects and there are some adorable ones. We do have access to the instructions for all of those so that's awesome. Lots and lots of eye candy to say the least.

So let me tell you about the meals here. Again the food is pretty good and I don't think I'm overeating, but I'm so NOT hungry. And I'm not drinking enough water so I have a water bottle and my goal today is to fill it three times today and drink it. We were on our own for dinner last night so Margaret and I decided to head out for a walk. We both agreed that we need to get out to walk.

As we were leaving the hotel, we ran into two other couples (both couples owned dealerships in Canada) so that was good - more people I got to meet. We walked down to the water front. Hard to believe that the area was decimated a couple of years ago by Katrina. The flood wall is there, but wouldn't have scratched the surface of the onslaught of water from that storm.

We happened upon Cafe du Monde - apparently the most famous restaurant to get beignets so we had to stop. You got THREE very decent sized beignets for $2.73 so we each had a plate full. I had a chocolate milk to balance it out. I wasn't even hungry and yet it was 6:30. Then we walked down to the French Market which closed at 5 PM.

Decatur Street is a much "nicer" street to walk down. There are all kinds of tourists shops selling voodoo dolls (I almost bought one with wild orange hair), beads, T-shirts, masks and whatever else. It's totally crazy, but then it's also the same as any other tourist attraction area - they're just selling different stuff.

Our ultimate goal was the outlet mall down by the water. We did end up there and Margaret and I hit Chico's. OK - confession time - never even heard of the store - that's the extent of my clothes shopping - total denial, although I did buy four pair of pants before I left home, but I went to Mark's. In and out of that store in about 20 minutes with four pair of pants.

I did end up buying a T-shirt at Chico's which was on sale so that cost me $10. I don't want to carry a ton of stuff back home and I don't need anything either.

While we were in the mall, it had rained so the street was wet. We're walking along quite briskly and I stepped on a solid metal plate and next thing I knew, I was flat on my butt on the ground. It was darn slippery and I didn't even had time to save myself. What a sight! I'm OK! and I popped up and continued back to the hotel.

Our Fitbits were quite happy for that excursion and we were well over 12,000 steps for the day.

There's a HUGE snack shop tucked into the back of the lobby and I bought a granola bar in the event I was going to wake up hungry. Well, I'm awake and I'm not really hungry although I did just hear my stomach growl. What are they feeding us that is making us not hungry?  Totally crazy. Guess I need to eat even less today. Must be the soup!

Another good night's sleep -yeah and all revved up for two more classes today. I can't even remember what they are - but I think I'm making something in one and learning about a new machine in the other.

On that note, I'm out of here.

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!

Convention - Day One

Well that was weird. I tried to use the iPad to blog this morning and the darn keyboard didn't seem to want to work. Thankfully, I have a backup - a laptop! There's just one problem - one is a touch screen and the other is not so it's a bit weird. But with all this technology around me - I have no problem and I was able to easily connect to the internet! You have to love the fact that we all have free access to the internet. I mean, all our devices need to be hooked up, the sewing machines needs to be hooked up to Wi-Fi so it makes sense to have it free everywhere.

I'll start off by saying that the food here is AMAZING. Considering there are hundreds of us to feed, the hotel (Marriott) has done an amazing job with the food. I didn't get a whole lot of steps in yesterday - I think of Helen Anne who has gone for close to 700 consecutive days at 10,000 steps. I would have failed dismally yesterday. Today - a walk is in order whether at lunch or after the day is complete.

After breakfast we all went to the ballroom to hear all the speeches from the head office. Lots of inspiration and great plans for many exciting future opportunities. That's encouraging. I've been a user of Husqvarna Viking products for over 20 years and I love them. Even having access to a PFAFF machine, doesn't convince me to convert over.

We had a keynote speaker who was funny, but I'm not sure that his message really got through or that he was as inspirational as I would like. Anyway, I won't even mention his name. Then it was off to lunch and then at last the first class.

The educators in the US developed some classes so we could learn new things or new ways of doing things with the sewing machines, the software and other fun stuff.

The class I was in yesterday was a project made on the EPIC 980Q. This is a high end (GORGEOUS) sewing machine that I've had the opportunity to review on QUILTsocial. If you get a chance to sew on this machine, you should. Since I knew the machine and I had brought all the right feet, except for the ruffler foot, I was good to go. I was OK for the first half of the class and was up to speed on what the instructor was saying. The lady in front of me was struggling a little bit so I helped her. There were 27 machines in the class - that's a bit overwhelming when you walk in considering how much each of these machines cost. But after the break, I couldn't get my head around what we were doing so the lady in front helped me, but after a half hour, I was good to go.

Since I'm typing on the laptop, I shouldn't have any issues with the buffer in the blog. As it just went past the first screen, I'm thinking that the iPad can't deal with the scroll bar that comes up. That must be it. I'm going to call again when I get back home.

We tried all kinds of techniques on the pillow project. Ruffler foot, yarn foot, braiding, decorative pop up stitches. I knew how to do most of the techniques, but I did learn a few and that was very exciting. I also learned a few shortcuts with the EPIC 980Q and some of its features/stitches so that was helpful.

They also have some vendors/partners here and they have booths set up so we get a chance to chat with them. Oh my - that's not a good thing because I have plans. I've spoken to the software vendors (think embroidery) and I have some ideas. Already sent off some e-mails and we'll see what happens. Could be a sew along brewing in the back of my mind.

I'll be making a list of what I'd like to get my hands on and then see what's the best way to actually get it into my hot little hands. The only problem is that there are so many ideas generating in my head and I've got to find the time to make or do them. That's OK - I'd rather have my head swimming with ideas than to have nothing up there! I can't wait to get home!

The other thing that was very exciting was that there's a dismantled sewing machine on display. I should get a picture of it. I can't remember what model it is - I think it's one of the new machines that was released. I'm going to be blogging about one of them coming up in a couple of months and I can't decide if it's better to have the embroidery model or just the sewing model. Any thoughts on that? Not sure how many of you have access to an embroidery machine. It's on QUILTsocial anyway so not that you have to follow along if you don't want to.

I might as well plug the new machines. There's the Husqvarna Viking Brilliance 80 - This looks like the baby sister to the DESIGNER EPIC. It's in a different price range, but has a LOT of the fun functionality of the higher end machine including access to the internet. And that's exciting. And there's the Husqvarna Viking Brilliance 75Q.    There's something else new, but I'll wait until I get my hands on it (here) before I tell you about it.

My iPad has auto-correct and the laptop doesn't. It's very weird. But this laptop is small and I love it! Great for typing in bed when your roommate is still asleep. Thankfully it also has a quiet keyboard.

OH - so back to the disassembled sewing machine. Two of the ENGINEERS are here. These are the guys that design the sewing machines. OH MY - I had a fabulous chat with them and they are taking suggestions. ACK!!!!  I know I have a couple, but I can't for the life of me think of them at the moment.  I did leave them with two small issues that I've been having and hopefully they can figure it out when they get back to their drawing boards. I told them to tell whichever team was responsible for the extension table - that's my absolute favorite accessory. I've got to study the sewing machines and see what I can come up with for a suggestion. I know - the case!  The darn case needs a place to put the extension cord and the foot pedal!  OK - I'm good to go with that. I'm sure I'll be thinking of a few other things as the week goes on.

After dinner, a couple of the Canadians (obviously the French Canadians) and a couple of others were headed off to Bourbon Street for a drink. Hmm - I was there in the daytime and that was sufficient for me. No need to be among an even crazier group of people - the French Canadians on Bourbon Street. I sat in the hotel room and sent out e-mails based on what I had seen in the day.

I'm having a blast here and it's well worth my time to be here. Learning tons and trying to network all the connections in Canada to make my being here even more worthwhile.

Having a roommate at an event is not as bad as you would think. Shirley - there's hope for us! We're only in the room for a short period of time so it makes perfect sense. I do like some down time though - I have a talker! But that's OK, I'm learning lots.

On that note, I have nothing else to say!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!