I had a super fun day yesterday at Sew Productive. We made MONSTERS, which you'll see in a moment.  I presented a couple of lectures on Husqvarna Viking accessories. I will give one more on Friday and a lecture on quilting at Thimble Quilts and Sewing in Lasalle, Ontario.  I have written so much about Husqvarna Viking sewing and embroidery machines and almost all the accessories, and you have access to all that information.  Where do you find it? Well, on QUILTsocial.com, of course.  So here's the deal: I can't provide links to all the posts. But here are a couple of them a ..read more

I can sometimes be my own worst enemy. My alarm went off this morning, and I felt tired, but I jumped out of bed. I came downstairs and sat at the computer to write the blog. Good grief—2:00!!! Oh shoot—when we were in Hawaii, I had to set an alarm for 2 AM so we could get up in time to see the sunrise on Haleakala!  How many weeks ago was that? And the alarm was still on my phone for Wednesday morning? Let's say the alarm is gone now! And I went back to bed and to sleep!  Yesterday was a long but fun day as I got to be in front of people and share my samples and knowledge with two d ..read more

With a little bit more focus and NO priority, this is what happened yesterday.  Yep --- I was at the embroidery machine and trying to get as much of the border on Green Tea done as I could. OK -- I wanted to get all the two flower motifs completed.  And while trying to achieve that goal, I emptied three spools of thread and three bobbins. Well, that happened throughout the last couple of days.  Using up supplies! I spotted this on the floor at one point on the Monday Sewing Zoom. Seriously? How many times have I passed the Swifter and missed this? The big question is ..read more

The title of today's post says it all! I was very productive yesterday but wasn't working on my next deadline. So why do I do that to myself? I'll work on the deadline today! I returned to Fabricland on Saturday to get something else to work with, and I had a bit more time. I spotted the two staff members I had sort of ignored the previous day, and so while they cut for me, we had a chat—and I apologized for chatting on my phone!  I also had time to look around, and wow, some gorgeous fabrics are out there! But I can't just buy for the sake of buying; I need to be making!  Embroidery ..read more

The Heartfelt Sampler class is done! We started it in October and completed it right on time! I had seen the quilt somewhere online. The quilt was designed by a local quilter. She originally made the quilt for herself, which was displayed at a local quilt show. So many people asked for the pattern that she put together a pattern, which you can buy on her Etsy Shop. She also designed a mini version for those who did not want to make so many blocks! Here is Sandy's original quilt. Yes, I screen-captured that from the Etsy website! Notice the background is made up of small squares. In keeping wi ..read more

It's our show-and-tell for The Heartfelt Sampler, and I really wanted to have my quilt top done. I have the presentation ready to go for this morning. All I can say is—you have to wait to see what I accomplished. There is one thing I'll say—overall, I'm happy with the results, but there is definitely room for improvement. So, guess what? I'm down a new learning path! Or should I say REFINING the knowledge that I have.  The girls don't know it yet, but I'm sacrificing some of their walk time this morning to get a bit further ahead on my quilt top. SHHH!!!! Speaking of walk time, this is th ..read more

OMG --- For real, I'm back! So much to say today! I have to tell you about this strange phone call I got. I was about to call someone in a different area code when I received a call from that area code. It wasn't the store I was about to call—it was neither of the two stores in that same area code that I needed to contact. There was no name, and although it said "verified number," I didn't answer.  Funny enough, I received a voicemail, so I listened to it. "Hey Muhammed, I was hoping to blah, blah," the caller said, identifying himself as working for the County of Blah." That sounds like ..read more

I'm back!!! I finally had a proper sleep within the right time frame, meaning I got to sew this morning. Does it feel strange? It's totally weird! Let's hope that things are back on track because I have lots that I want to do.  I hope not to offend anyone with this next sentence, so forgive me if I do. WAIT -- before I say that, let's say this has happened to all of us! Most of us anyway! But hopefully, after the first time, it will never happen again.  That is the text message (or e-mail or whatever) from a "friend," and that could be old or new, or it's from an unknown number. "Hel ..read more

I am a slug on a rug!! I did NOTHING yesterday despite the fact that there are quilts to quilt, emails to answer, sewing to do, and so many more things. First, it was a gorgeous day outside, and I didn't want to be in the house. Second, I got reeled into The Rose Code (an audiobook), and while I could have worked while I read, I didn't. Thankfully, the book was finished. Excellent read (it was recommended by someone here). Anything by Kate Quinn is a good read! I also know what happened to make me feel like a slug. I had a dentist appointment in the morning, and I know better than to book ..read more

OK, so I caved and binge-watched all the episodes of that romance scam. Then, I started to do some research. OH MY GOSH --- you would not believe it, but the amount of money involved in romance scams is HUGE!!!! I believe this statistic is worldwide to the tune of $1.3 billion (involving 70,000 people). That was in 2022, and the numbers are probably much higher. And that is of the people who came forward. How many others did not?  This is just for romance scams, not any of the other types of fraud. It is big business for the scammers!  However, there are red flags, and you should be ..read more