How much stabilizer is too much?

We are down to the wire! While some people may enjoy packing and going away, I don't! It just becomes a mad dash to see if everything can get done because there is a DROPDEAD deadline - the airplane won't wait for me! 

As I checked off the mental checklist this morning, I felt like the Christmas Poem - The Night Before Christmas. 

The presentations for this morning - DONE

Follow-up e-mails to class - DONE

Customer e-mails - DONE

Sample suitcase packed and weighed - DONE - (just eked under 50 lbs)

And the list goes on. 

I think the only left is to finish packing my office backpack, but I can't do that until the Zoom classes are over. And I need to pull the laundry from the dryer and throw some clothes in the suitcase - just in case I want to change while I'm away! That is always the last thing to pack. I figure, in the worst case, I can always buy what I don't have. 

I've got a rental car waiting for me, but I still need a hotel. I'll get that at the airport or when I arrive. How busy can Winnipeg be at this time of year? 

So, what was the chaos in Studio B? Since I do machine embroidery, I also have stabilizers, and there are four main categories. Stabilizers are categorized in HOW they are removed from your project -- tear away, cut away, wash away, or OTHER. 

I could go on and on for days about the difference between stabilizers, fusible webs, and interfacings because many people do NOT know the difference between them. 

The other day, I was talking to someone else in the business, and they hear the same thing! No - the terms and definitely NOT the products are not interchangeable - they are DIFFERENT. But enough about that. 

So this is the problem - I have stabilizers in various containers and drawer units, and now, a huge box is on the floor. It was driving me mad, and I needed to find a solution. 

A mess of stabilizers

I had purchased two tubs at the mall and walked them home. I had checked the dimensions, but those devils in marketing -- they measure the OUTSIDE dimensions, not the inside. How dare they do that!!!!

Hence, the 20" rolls of stabilizer wouldn't fit. Then my brain got thinking, and I had some different tubs (filled, of course), and I checked, and the 20" rolls would fit in those. So I played Switcharoo and still need to do some more organizing as I threw the contents of the old tubs into the new, and they are a mess. OK - slightly smaller tubs and the contents don't fit as nicely!

Measuring the stabilizer in the tub

I sorted the stabilizer by category, and I'll have a tub for each of the four groups. Do NOT ask, but let's say I do NOT need to buy stabilizers for a while. We organize because we think we are short and buy more because god forbid, we could run out! Then, when we take stock, we realize that we have a LOT of stabilizers. They are CONSUMMABLE -- I will use them now that I know what I have.

Two sorted tubs of stabilizer

I need to get two more tubs for the remaining two types. Then they can be stored on top of those drawer units, and I'm good to go. It was good to sort through them. I see a lot of embroidery in the future! I HAVE to use some of that up!

The stabilizer is half-sorted

My new vacuum arrived on Friday. DH decided to unpack it, which isn't good, but I don't have time. 

MOM -- is that for us?

I got the Animal 2 Pro with the pet hair attachment. I tried it on Murphy, and she was freaking out, so we have to do that in baby steps. Of course, all the packaging is all over the family room, and there is zero time for me to address that this morning. I'll take care of it when I'm back later this week. 

The Animal 2 Pro

At first glance, I'm not sure I'm thrilled with the design, and I hear stories from friends who have them that they rarely use some of the features. So why did I pay $700 for something I'll use half of? I'm not happy, but then it could be me. I'll wait until I can get a closer look before I vent and see if it's just me. The design of that hose extension seems lame! 

AHA -- Miss Lexi and I have NOT gone on the "urban" walking route in a few days, and look. That house is getting a completely new roof. You have to wonder how badly damaged the roof was to require replacing the rafters? 

Raise the roof

And thank goodness for shared drives. I have ONE more writing assignment to do, which I'll tackle when I arrive at my destination. Everything is prepped and ready to go and sitting on the shared drive. Hopefully, that won't take too long, as I NEED to finish it tonight. That would be AWESOME And shouldn't be a problem. 

OH --- here's the latest issue of QUILTsocial. You can read it online or download it for free. I have an article about the Husqvarna Viking Platinum Q160. Plus, there are some other great articles. Be sure to download it (for FREE until the end of December). 

And on that note, I'm out of here!!!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!

It's a good news/bad news kind of day

Yes - it was a good news/bad news kind of day yesterday.

The first piece of bad news is that I'm NOT done the repairs on the quilt.  Partly because the job is boring, there are so many patches to be made, I'm slow, and I'm watching episodes of Season 6 of Modern Family while I'm doing it!  And the bad news with Modern Family is that I'm half way through the 5th last episode (of 24) and the screen goes blank. That was enough for me - I was out of there!  I'll try again tonight to see what happens with the disk.

The good news is that I'm almost done with the repairs and for real this time! There are SIX patches left to sew on the back of the quilt - SIX!!!!  The other good news is that the patches are made and just need to be sewn on. Then the label needs to be sewn on and I'm done!!!!   That is very good news, but the news will be even better when the repair is out of my house!   I think I ended up putting 15 on the front (so well done - they do NOT pop out - it was hard to count them,  resewed three seams and about 15 patches on the back!)

Patches on the quilt back

There is a lot of stuff sitting here staring at me, but I refuse to get sidetracked on anything in the event that I'll stop working on the quilt repair.  Now if I could only keep that same focus going forward. There are oodles of things sitting here that need an hour or two at the most and they would be done!  Where's that list of mine???  That priority list is working - well I'm getting better at making it work.  The hard thing is the volume - there is just so much - it's hard to choose what to do.  Do you finish a bunch of small unimportant things - just to get them done?  Or do you work on advancing those with deadlines???  See what I mean about prioritizing???  It's hard!


Another piece of good news yesterday.  I had gotten a call when I was away that my Rowenta cordless vacuum was ready for pickup.  We received this vacuum as part of a corporate event - it was one of the prizes or it was a door prize???  I don't exactly know, but I was pretty excited.  One because it was a Rowenta and second - it was a cordless vac - perfect for the studio.  I used it ONCE, recharged the battery and it would not longer work.  Since I've recharged batteries before, I was certain that I wasn't doing anything wrong.  I mean - just turn it on - right???

Finally decided it was time to get it fixed.  I went to the Rowenta web site and found the name of a local repair shop.  Took it in and was told (two days later) that the battery was shot.  OK - let's replace it.  No can do!  It's built in and can't be replaced.  That was the most crazy thing I had ever heard.  Do you know how expensive these vacs are ???  Close to $300!!!!   And the battery can't be replaced????

This bad news was delivered to me on the phone and at first, I was tempted to leave the vac at the shop for them to dispose of it. Then I thought - NO - Rowenta has a better name than that. I'm going to write them to see what can be done.

After several communications with someone at Rowenta, I was directed to ANOTHER dealer who was NOT on their web site. And told to NOT deal with the first guy as he was not an authorized dealer. Perhaps they should change that on their web site????

The good news is that the vacuum is FIXED.. Yes - the owner of the new place replaced the battery and the vacuum works like a charm.  I'm so excited - well as excited as one can get about a vacuum.  I'll post the store name tomorrow - I can't find it at the moment.  And imagine if I would have left the vacuum at the first store - he could have replaced the battery and then sold the vacuum - making money off of me!!!!!

Rowent Vaccuum

 This means that I don't have to drag the central vac over the stairs to vacuum the studio.  That is great news and I love the swivel head on this Rowenta.

Did I mention that even though I did not have a receipt and was well past the one-year warranty, that Rowenta covered the repairs.   Thank you ROWENTA!!!!!

And I had to learn how to spell vacuum.  Is that two c's or two u's?  I can never remember - That would be two U's!!!!

The other good news is that I'm not LATE!!!!!   You see, I needed to get the renewal sticker for my car.  Yes - it's been two years since I stood in line to get my sticker after missing the deadline. I was going to go this weekend, but DH says - just do it on-line.  Seriously????   And within TEN minutes from the comfort of my chair, I had renewed the sticker to my license plate.   It doesn't get much easier than that!!!!   And I have a paper to prove that it's updated in the event that I don't get my stickers on time.   Check it out - it was painless!!!!


I had to take a detour on my way home because of some paving of local streets.  Look what I saw sitting on the side of the road not far from my house.   Happy as a clam - watching people go by.  Not scared or shy at ALL!!!

Mr. Coyote

And with that - I'm out of here!  Perhaps I have to start using my time driving to and from work to set priorities for the quilting stuff?  Well I can contemplate what needs to be done, think of the pros and cons and then write it down when I get to my destination!  There are so many idiots on the road - on their phone and blowing through STOP signs.  I don't mean rolling stops - I mean BLOWING through at faster than the posted speed limit. The other night, I yelled (at the top of my lungs) at a man who didn't see me and Lexi as we were half way across an intersection and he was going to blow right by!  He stopped!  I hope I scared the crap out of him - but I doubt it. There is ZERO respect for STOP signs now - everyone is in too much of a hurry.  More people are going to get hurt or killed.  I'm almost afraid at night to cross this one residential street (right by the school) because  people blow through the STOP sign.

OK - now I'm out of here.

Have a great day!!!!


Ciao!!!