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Thursday, July 7, 2016

American Embroidery Conference and Building Blocks

The American Embroidery Conference is an annual gathering of machine embroidery designers and vendors of all sorts.  This year’s event was held in Palm Beach Gardens, FL.  It was four days of instruction and, for the most part, fun.

Most of my classes were with Missy Billingsley.  She offers designs in everything from tea towels to cross body bags and tablet keepers.  I find her instructions very easy to follow.  I just loved her and her helpers.

Here is what I made in her classes.

Cross Body Butterfly Bag


Cute as a Button Zippered Bag



Quilty Tool Caddy

Various items including a mug rug and koozie

The conference also supports a charity, Kids in Distress (KiDs).  These are children who are removed from abusive homes in Palm Beach and Broward counties.  You can read more about them here.

The conference raffles gift baskets to raise money for KiDs and they also challenge quilters to donate as many quilts as they can.

I did step away from the embroidery machine to take one class on making a tumbler quilt which is to be donated to KiDs.  The intention was that you got as far as you could during the class and finish at home.  The pre-cut kit was provided.


The kit was a disappointment.  The fabric had been donated and it was a mix of all kinds…NOT quilt quality.  I persevered but it wasn’t enjoyable.


I found the conference to be a bit expensive.  You pay a hefty registration fee and then pay for each class separately.  There are mostly two classes per day.  I understand the charges but in retrospect, I don’t feel like there is much value there for me so I won’t be attending in the future.

On a happier note, I am making progress on my Building Blocks and learning a lot.

Block 2 is finished.  The lesson here was reading charts.


Block 3 is finished.  This was a lesson on yarn over and bobbles.  I had to tie on another skein of yarn and the block is wonky.  If the blocking process doesn't make it look better then this one will be a do over.  I won't mind as the bobbles were fun J


My husband and I are taking a long weekend, traveling to Alabama and north Florida.  A friend is going to try to restore my treadle’s cabinet or maybe replace the wood part all together.  So excited to get this baby going again.  My sewing machine guy has the machine itself serviced and says it is a gem.


I’ll share more about the machine later.

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Val’s Annual Piggy Bank Challenge


Hard to believe that it has been a whole year since Val began her 3rd annual piggy bank challenge.  The name has now changed to Piggy Bank Savings = Money for Quilting Challenge.



The goal was to save our loose change over the span of one year, count it up and share how we plan to use the ‘found’ money.


Well, I’m a debit card kind of consumer so I do not typically collect a lot of change.  And since I work from home now, I’m not eating in the company cafĂ© with an opportunity to use cash.

However, I was pleasantly surprised when I counted out a whopping $78.35!


I’ll tuck this away for another couple of weeks then use it for the Florida Lighthouses and Bridges shop hop that begins on July 16th.

Stay tuned for those adventures!


Oh! Val is hosting another piggy bank challenge.  Check out her blog for sign ups beginning next week and a linky party where you can see how others fared with their savings.