Used this Period: 1 yards
Added this Period: 0 yards
Used Year-to-Date: 208.62 yards
Added Year-to-Date: 86.89 yards
Net Stash Decrease for 2020: 121.73 yards
I spent a week doing nothing with sewing/quilting. Guess I took a break. Then, this week I decided to use the embroidery module to make blocks from the bear collection for a baby quilt. This was one of the early purchases I made of embroidery designs. I had used it once for a baby quilt years ago--not sure where that quilt went--maybe donated. It hadn't been that long since I embroidered the funky snowmen, BFC cupcakes, and Animals 2x2. But I had nothing but problems between the computer and the sewing machine. It wouldn't let me "send" the designs from the computer to the machine and anything I tried on the computer gave me an error message (Windows System Error--shut all programs; Error xxx, Can't communicate with the sewing machine, etc.). I unplugged all units and walked away for a couple of hours--that didn't work. I checked all connections--all secure. I reconfigured the embroidery software for send--that didn't work. I tried to Reboot Safe to correct the Windows system software--that didn't work. Finally I got one design sent to the machine (don't ask me how!) and embroidered a bear; I then got 3 bears done before I stopped for the night to get dinner. Who knew whether it would work the next day or not. I decided I would just do 9 bear blocks and assemble it with sashing.
Sure enough, when I tried it the next morning, it didn't work--error messages on the computer and no ability to send designs to the sewing machine. I went through a lot of the same things I had done the day before--and finally got the last 3 bear blocks completed. Then I shut it down for the day, knowing it probably would not work the next day and deciding I needed to make notes before I took it to Pinedale for repairs. I decided it was time to quit trying to do the embroidery (would have to postpone embroidering the "Children of the World" designs for the Triple Irish Chain quilt) and take the embroidery arm off. So, I shut down the computer and when I turned to shut off the embroidery unit--there was the last design I had tried to send, waiting to be embroidered!! So, I decided to try sending one of the "children" designs to the machine to see if it would work--and it did. I have no clue what made it work like it had before all this--I think it was the threat of taking it to Pinedale! Anyway, that day I embroidered 3 of the "children" blocks--and it worked again the next day! As of last night, I had 15 designs embroidered--13 to go. The computer and embroidery unit worked just like they had before--for several years! Yesterday I embroidered 3 Steamboat designs and then took off the embroidery arm to sew 3 face masks. I will try to embroider the last 13 designs tomorrow (the 11th), which will then be ready to make the quilt. Guess I will make sure I use the embroidery software/computer often to keep it happy!
While I was messing around trying to get things to work, I started looking for software disks for the Windows system and the 4D embroidery system (which is quite old already!)--which led to finding things I hadn't used or even looked at for years. (In addition I tried to find where I put the key for the treadmill when the grands were here several months ago--I hid it because I was afraid they would get hurt on it.) Never found the Windows software--I think it was already loaded when we bought that laptop computer. I finally found the 4D software--right where it should have been!! I also found a lot of the small disks that were used for embroidery designs several years ago--and found the 2 disks that contain the fly fishing designs I purchased from Great Notions several years ago. I have them loaded on the computer (from when DH put the designs on CDs for me) but the folder shows that it is empty. I'm sure they were in HUS format, but 4D software still shows the HUS formatted designs--just not those! Anyway, we have no machine that reads those disks anymore so I threw most of those disks away--except for the purchased ones (who knows why I kept those but I did). Got rid of a bunch of stuff--and will continue to throw away things that can no longer be used in future weeks. I found the 2 panels I was going to have the girls use to make lap quilts--amazing what all is tucked away in the studio!!
I can't count the fabric usage for the "children" yet (until I get the last 13 blocks completed), but am counting the fabric for the "bears" blocks.
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