How many years have you heard me complain about these beasts? Worse yet, the End-o-Quarter buggers? Yeah, I know– still today, all things considered, went really well. My current workload, after sending out notices, emails, and sundry requests, is requiring that others get back to me so my day was fairly light by comparison to other Ends-o-Month. I was exceedingly pleased, needless to say.

Tomorrow is training on the new machine and then, 3 days (less church and Quilter’s Bible Study on Sunday) of sewing, embroidering, and quilting. I can hardly wait!!

My camera is downstairs, in the sewing area, taking pictures of things for the website. I’ll get finished with that this weekend, too, I hope! There’s going to be a lot of stuff available, particularly in the knitting category for the first few months. The stock will, of course, grow but it takes awhile to get there.

I’m hooked! I never watched this series when it was on television but, on Netflix streaming, I’m hooked! The good news is that I would’ve gone insane watching it from week to week and then May to September– I am currently watching at least three episodes a day (Breakfast, Lunch, and after Dinner and sewing) but, if I could, I’d watch more. The good news is that I really want to do things on my New Toy and on my other toys, too, so I don’t watch it constantly. I had no idea there were 8 seasons of this stuff!

Today, I ordered fabric to make my new embroidered quilts with in a few weeks. They are gorgeous!  I can’t wait to get started cuz with my new machine, I can thread it and walk away– it runs on its own and I can quilt or sew all I want while it runs out! WONDERFUL!!

So a couple of weeks ago, I went to a seminar on embroidery designs.  When I left, I came home with a Brother 6-needle embroidery machine!  Wonderful!!  It looks like this but I couldn’t get training on it that day.  In fact, I scheduled it for Tuesday, August 14 and the, lucky me, I caught Brian’s cold.  So I cancelled that session and now have it rescheduled for this Saturday.  I’ve been running it pretty successfully on my own and with the help of a Yahoo group or two and the Dealer that I bought it from when it comes to questions.  Pretty cool beans though– let me tell you!

This weekend, after my training (or maybe before, depending on how my week goes) I’m going to start taking the pictures for my online catalog.  Brian will need to help me get it set up but I will get that started before Christmas!  (I know EVERYONE wants to go shopping at my place: Marcia’s Makings.

Yeah, I know– been here, done this but maybe I’ll start being more vocal.  It could happen.

I just got back from my second trip of the summer to Michigan.  I spent two days with my brother and his wife and five days with my sister and her husband seeing the AQS quilt show in Grand Rapids.  It was their first show there and it was okay.  Not as big as Paducah but then, my wallet can’t handle Paducah so much anymore– not if I ever want to retire, that is.

I’m glad I got to spend time with my brother, Rich, and his wife, Lorrie but, it was my intention to only see them in passing.  Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to be involved in the life of my step-daughter, I can’t because my ex-husband came back on the scene and I won’t expose myself to that situation again.  As a result, I spent two days with Rich & Lorrie which was lots of fun, despite being tired at the beginning of the trip.  I don’t sleep well when making plans to go someplace so, of course, I was tired when I arrived in Michigan.

On Monday, I went to my sister’s house and Karen, her daughter (Faye), two grandkids (Kaden and Amelia) and I went to Shipshewana, Indiana to go to a flea market on Tuesday.  Wednesday was the beginning of the quilt show so you know where I was: walking the vendor booths!  Karen and I had a lot of fun and spent Wednesday and Thursday there.  We were supposed to go back on Friday but we had seen everything in the two days we were there so it didn’t happen that way.  We missed seeing our cousins, Barb and Shirley, but we were able to start and nearly finish a quilt together.  Sewing with Karen is always fun!

Saturday I flew home to my husband and dog– boy, did I miss them!  It feels good to be home and I’m even looking forward to going back to work!  Yes, I know– that’s a shock for all!

Several things to work on tonight before I get to that part so I’ll sign off for now.  Hopefully, I’ll be back sooner, rather than later.

. . . at 9am, I thought to myself, I could/should be walking into the Convention Center right now.  Then at noon I thought, “Boy, I’m getting hungry and the smell of the grilling food outside, wow– the pull is stronger than the Fabric Cafe’s chenille!”

Yes, I miss Paducah and the Quilt Show and all that goes with this week.  The good news is that had I made plans to go, I probably wouldn’t be able to go this week.  My boss had surgery last week and took part of the week off this week.  Nope, it wouldn’t lend itself to going to Paducah this year but, I sure do miss it!

And maybe not for awhile . . .

I’m talking about going to Paducah for the AQS quilt show.  It is the best (but not the biggest) of their shows but this year, they are adding a show near my home town of Grand Rapids.  I can kill a multitude of birds with one trip: see siblings, see daughter, son-in-law and grandson, and the quilt show all in one fell swoop, airline trip, and car rental.  I just hope the show there is half as good as in Paducah and then I won’t feel so bad about not going there.

My cousin, Barb, had wanted to go to Paducah with my sister and me and her sister and her in 2015.  That may still happen but I’ve gotta watch my pennies now in order to do that!  (I’ve always gotta watch my pennies– watch them fly right out of my wallet!!).

I really thought I was going to be more faithful to posting but between repetition (I do the same thing, over and over again!) and the fact that I don’t get out much, that hasn’t happened.  Sorry about that!

Homage to the “don’t get out much” category today comes from Bobby at Toyota of Bowie.  I called last week to schedule service on my Beautiful Lorena (Red Solara Convertible) and told him she was a 2007.  Okay, “So what’s the mileage?”, he says and I tell him “twenty-one thousand, eight maybe nine hundred”.  “Whoa” says Bobby.  “Yeah, she’s not going to get traded in any time soon,” says I.  “No kidding!” says Bobby.

When I get to the dealership, he checks my car in and just smiles the whole time cuz that car is a beauty, thanks to my hubby who keeps her cleaned and shined for me.

I am blessed.

My "Five Yard Quilt" that turned out to be an "Eight Yard Quilt"

I made this quilt for the neighbor down the street to give to her son for Christmas; I thought I’d posted it before but apparently not.

The pattern provides for a five yard quilt but I had to make it bigger because of the difference in bed sizes (twin to full).  As a result, it ended up being an “Eight Yard Quilt”.

My husband is so wonderful!  After 14 years, he still takes my breath away . . .

Just saying . . .