Being old enough to remember the Bicentennial means that I’ve celebrated at least fifty Fourth of July days. There have been some with big parties and some with neighbors and friends, but the last few years I have been by myself. This is by choice, my Dh likes to go back east and celebrate, I would rather not leave the house this week. I have a strong dislike of crowds and traffic, two things that are very much prevalent on days like today. Not to mention dodging a major heat wave that 2/3rds of the nation is facing. I am getting lots of sewing time in, a little of this and that in the garden and playing with the puppies.

I have two tops from kits (Pretty Scary and Pawsitivley) ready for quilting, as soon as the TBQ pile is lowered. I finished the Winnie the Pooh and Postcards from Sweden ones yesterday, those need bindings. I was starting to put Happy’s Place (top finish 10/25) on the frame when I realized I hadn’t sew the appliqué edges down. That became my morning project, and after a few hours it was on the frame and being quilted. This quilt is from a free pattern, I used left over backing (pieced) and a franken batting, I may make a profit on the materials when I sell it. I seldom make a profit on labor sadly, but my machines are paid off and I still have money in my business account.

I have been cutting the gazillion pieces for the dragonfly quilt. I have all the parts for the flowers cut, just need to settle in for some chain piecing. There are fourteen flowers and six dragon flies, lots of flip and clip corners. I may do another section of the Enchanting stars first, as they are cut and ready to go. I also have to make two more bucket hats and a fabric shopping bag (for myself) this weekend.

Yesterday in a fit of self sufficiency I decided to download the files and update my 790+. Simple, down load to a USB and then plug it into the machine. This update came out in April, and I have been putting it off doing it for a few months. Most of my reluctance is that I always have issues downloading Windows files to my MacBook and then transferring them to my machine. This time was no exception, I really tried to get it right the first time. I downloaded the files to my Longarm computer (windows) machine and unzipped them and put them on the small USB stick I have for this. I have to use a small 1GB one, as the 790 doesn’t like newer ones with lots of GBs. I plugged it into the 790 and it got hung up trying to find the files. I turned it off and then back on, and it still had the looking for files screen. UGH, now what had I done? On a holiday weekend I was not going to be able to use my machine because I couldn’t get it out of the updating mode. Bad words were stated. I left it for a few hours, rechecked and it was still the same. I turned it off and left it again. I redownloaded the files to a different stick, this time reformatting it and making sure it was fat32. Plugged it into the machine and it worked like it should. Thankfully. I am writing this down here so next time I remember how to do it the first time.

I managed a little cross stitching time with the mermaid last night. Got her left arm done, so now I can move on to her hair and face. The Berries are almost done now, maybe by the end of the weekend. I am thinking of starting a knitting project, something simple that I can do before falling asleep. I saw a cute top down short sleeve cotton sweater pattern the other day. Now if I can only remember where…got it – Icemaker by Elizabeth Smith

Be Kind.