I feel like I come home to turn around and grab another suitcase to leave again lately. I have had a lot of “other” travel engagements besides the teaching trips and I am racking up some decent frequent flyer miles.

I am off to Canada to play with the lovely Marigolds Applique group in beautiful British Columbia. I am just about prepped and ready to go.

The picture you see is a taste of a project created for another article in Machine quilting Unlimited Magazine (always the tease aren’t I?). It has to do with a quilting design I am always asked about. The article will be in one of the fall issues. I think.

Due to the serious lack of time, it is also fused and machine appliqued–<gasp>. However, I think it turned out very well for an article on machine quilting. I also got to play with a variety of new threads for the hand embroidery. I am loving that silk pearl. I have had some but never used it and I don’t know why.

Jason is now working with me to help me get ahead and is doing a lot of the packing, stuffing and packaging that has taken all of my time in the last six months. It gives him a paying job and I am now on the cusp of getting caught up so I can actually stitch again. It has been literally months.

His keen observation of pattern (the Autism) is amazing since he can spot a mistake instantly that I may have overlooked several times. He also makes it a point to look harder because I pay him a bonus if he finds a biggy!

When I return, for the first time in a long time, I will be able to accomplish some serious stitching!

Oh, that reminds me….When it has been a long time since I have used a needle and my finger becomes raw and very, very sore from lack of use, I put a light coat of super glue on the area.

The dried glue creates a tough exterior that the needle never gets through and creates a pain proof Band-Aid (plaster) for the finger. The last but most important benefit? I don’t feel like my finger is covered by anything artificial and the touch feels natural.

I can’t tolerate any artificial implement like a thimble, pad, etc., on my applique finger(s).

Also, if you are on blood thinners like me and you find a simple little needle prick makes you bleed all over your work, super glue seals that and you don’t keep bleeding! The glue covering wears within a couple of days for me. Or remove with nail polish remover (acetone).