Finally!

Here's Debbie on our stopover in Denver on the way out to Portland for Quilt Market.  I think she's on the phone to Bob giving some instructions, no doubt!  Debbie and I travel pretty well together and I've figured out why--I don't have to share my coffee because Debbie only drinks tea, I don't have to share my chocolate because Debbie doesn't like it(really weird), and I don't have to talk because Debbie talks enough for both of us!  I'm a much better listener, and Debbie agrees!  The picture to the right shows part of the line of women waiting for the doors to open to Sample Spree, which is held the night before Quilt Market opens.  A lot of the vendors set up a small table (or in the case of fabric companies a big area) and sell bundles of patterns, fabrics, notions, etc., directly to the attendees.  We found some samples of new patterns made up by the designers and bought a few to bring back to the store.  Also pictured above is Debbie with Mary Herrschleib of MH Designs, one of our favorite designers and transport company!  That's her husband hanging out on the left side.  They drove out to OR from Hudson, WI, and graciously hauled a bunch of our purchases home with them so we didn't have to ship.  Thank you!  Even though our industry is largely women, it is great to observe the many husbands (and other guys) who pitch in and help their spouse during an event like this.  It really is a very big undertaking to prepare and man a booth for 3 days, and it's good to see the support for so many small businesswomen.

I should maybe explain a little about why the big gap in my posts.  Partly just overly busy, but partly due to technical difficulties.  Just before our trip, I received a wonderful new Canon Elph digital camera for Mother's Day from Bob and Brita and Dan.  It does a lot and has proven to take some good pictures even by a beginner.  So when we got home it was time to install the camera program on our home computer which proved to be a problem.  Our PC is experiencing "deterioration of the registry", which sounds fatal to me.  And costs to have serviced, so we came to the point of "do we put more money into this PC that is doomed anyway, or do we bite the bullet and buy our MacBook?"  You all have been there, whether it's a computer, a car, or even a house.  So I am writing to you now on our shiny new MacBook!  I've got a lot to learn about this machine, but I have already started getting into some classes/training at the Apple Store and next week we will have Dan here to tutor us.  I think these Mac people are like a cult, they have a need to convert others to their way!