I give up...

I missed blotting yesterday and have nothing to say to day. I am a blog post writing month failure.

Failing at blog writing sucks less than I imagine failing at novel writing would. Glad I didn't try that.

I am so looking forward to next week and a long weekend of sewing. This week has sucked, and this weekend is shaping up to be sewing free :(

So tired...

Tonight is the monthly quilt guild meeting, but I am so tired I don't think I will enjoy it at all.  This makes me mad because I wait all month for things like this.  Why am I always so tired?

Don't say low iron. Last time I tried to give blood, my iron was fine!

Edit: I'm glad I went. It was a good program, I picked up 3 charity quilts that need quilting, and I won 2 fat quarters as a door prize. The program was "naked quilting" which is the next short cut from strip quilting. It was all about taking traditional construction and reducing seams. I've been doing this for years, if only because I didn't know the traditional way. Turns out my laziness is a technique. (I don't think it always works though. Sometimes missing seems changes the look of a quilt. Maybe not from a moving horse, but when is that ever how we really view these things?)

Day 8: I've got nothing today

I am busy doing homework. I am taking statistics this session, and it is a weird class. The course load is really light for two weeks, then insane, then light again. We get homework for 3 weeks at a time, which you would think would allow me to work ahead, but you need all 3 weeks worth of information to complete the homework, so you basically HAVE to wait until last minute to do it.

In other news, my knee is not good right now. I've made it almost all year without going to PT, so I hope it just gets better, but I have my doubts. I did NOTHING to it. I have no idea why it hurts so badly. But it does... I can't walk on stairs, sit cross legged, stand up out of my car, or jump in ice skating. The only thing I can think of is that my knee is allergic to the Bronze freestyle test, and it knew I was getting close to meeting the passing standard :(

Oh well, off to homework.

Day 5: Cool Embroidery Thing #2

This is an embroidered towel, but even more than that, it is an appliqued towel! The fish is made with super soft Minky fabric.

The embroidery machine can do applique, but I need better scissors to do it well. You do not precut the shape- the machine sews an outline of it, you place your fabric on top of the outline, the machine does another outline, and then you clip the fabric as close to that line as possible. You may be able to see some yellow past the outline stitching- that is because I did not clip enough. After clipping, you put it back into the machine, and it does all the embellishment.

This was a really cool technique. And if I can ever afford stabilizer, one I see myself using more in the future.

One website I found: PlanetApplique.com has adorable alphabets and designs, so I will probably make some holiday towels as a Christmas present.

I need more thread!

Day 4

...and already I have nothing to say. I have more embroidery to show, but I am so tired I have not taken pictures yet.

I listened to the Book of Mormon musical today. Most of the songs were really good. I imagine the show has some great dance numbers, based on the music. I definetly want to see it. One song, which had a great beat, was so vulgar I nearly turned it off. Unfortunate because it may have been one of the best songs otherwise.

Day 2: Bernina Mastery Class

It's November 2nd and I'm still doing National Blog Post Writing month! Woo, that's commitment.

Today I spent the day in Cedar Rapids learning how to use the embroidery module on my Aurora 430. Let me tell you- this thing is COOL.

When you buy a Bernina, one of the selling points is lifetime "free" mastery classes. Pine Needles kind of sells this in an off putting way. They tell you "all your classes will be free". But they don't mean all the classes they offer, just the Bernina Mastery series- and many of them (heirloom sewing, garment sewing, home decor) are rarely offered. The "Meet My New Bernina", the embroidery class, and the class for the Bernina Stitch Regulator (which I don't have) seem to be the most common.

Anyhow- after waiting a few months for the embroidery class to show up on a Saturday, I gave in and took the day off work to take it. Of course, the calendar for November was put out yesterday and the weekend after Thanksgiving, the class is offered on Saturday- sigh.

So, they tell you that these classes are free. And yes, the classes are free ($75 if you bought your machine elsewhere). The supplies, are not. Which is to be expected, but they are EXPENSIVE. The kits for the class (you need 3) are 8.95, 12.95, and 5.95. The bonus is that if you got your machine at Pine Needles, then it is 20% off. Okay- so $22.28 plus tax for kits- I can totally stomach that.

But unlike the Meet Your New Bernina class, this class's kits didn't come with thread or needles. So I bought Isacord thread online to save money- I got an assortment, as required, but I only used 3 today, so that's another $12 (more if you bought them in store, plus you have to use Seraline bobbin thread and that is $9.95 . Then the needles are $5.25 for a pack of 10 Organ brand embroidery sharps (only need 1). So now the kit price is up to $49.30, plus tax. Still- reasonable for an all day class, I think. (The kicker: we never even used one of the kits! Ran out of time and got sent home with instructions!)

But here is what has me annoyed. They never mentioned when telling me the price of kits that I'd also have to buy a CD of embroidery designs specifically for the class (which means they aren't ones I necessarily care for). The price: $55! Fifty-five dollars for 10 designs, of which we used 4, and have instructions to use another 1. The software that comes with the machine comes pre-loaded with designs! Why not use those?

So now my class is over $100!!! Over $100 for materials for a single class is just too much!

But, I actually spent twice that, and I'm pretty well over the cost of the embroidery designs due to a deal they were running. They had all their embroidery packs on buy 2 get 1 free, and our class kit counted as 1. Then, all their premium packs were $30 off.

So, I got an adorable set of Current Calendar designs (99 designs) for $100, and a set of quilting designs (you can quilt in the hoop!) for free ($55 value). But they also had a deal where every $60 you spent you got a pack of 13 Christmas designs for free. and for some reason they gave me credit for buying the free pack, so I got three sets. Two of the three are actually really cute designs, so I'm pretty pleased with the value. (They are marked $89, $79, and $25)

All told, my day at my free class cost me $200, but I came home with a lot of designs,

So, now I have a ton of embroidery designs, but no money to buy stabilizer, and a quilting design CD on order- and that one I could actually use- you don't have to stabilize quilts to embroider.

I bet you want to see pictures of everything, but, well, I have a lot of blog posts to write this month, so you will just have to wait.

Also- if you hear me talking about buying ANYTHING else this month, yell at me. I need to start saving money again!