Karen Says Sew

Last weekend started early for me as I headed to Twinsburg Ohio for another round of Bernina training. You are probably thinking the same thing that my little sister was when I was in Chicago for training - "Don't you already know how to do that stuff?". The answer is yes, for the most part, but with our new Bernina machines there are so many features that it is hard to keep track of them! Seriously, the 820 and 830 are so packed with features and it is much easier to learn them by using them. Bernina seems to think that sitting 40 of us down in a hotel ballroom with a machine in front of us is the perfect way to get us to use the features. They are probably right, if I were here at the store I would never find the time. That would be a shame, because I would have never figured out virtual positioning or perfect placement and it only took me 2 seconds to fall in love with those features.

I made a quick dash from Cleveland to Wheeling, West Virginia on Friday evening to join my staff for the weekend. Each year I give the girls a retreat weekend as their Christmas gift. We schedule the weekend in March to avoid the holiday rush and hopefully have better weather. Normally I stay behind to watch the shop, but this year we had a few employees that had to skip the weekend for one reason or another so I left the shop in capable hands to join in the fun.

It is amazing how much can be accomplished when you sew for an entire weekend without having to stop and prepare a meal or clean up. It is also amazing that with all of the laughter we managed to accomplish anything. I can't remember the last time I laughed until my sides hurt. Are there any better friends than quilting friends?

We are also old and wise enough to know that what happens on retreat, stays on retreat and you shouldn't try to explain it to your husband. They just don't get it.

It has taken until Wednesday to recover from all of the fun and lack of sleep. If you look closely at the photos you will see a wine glass here and there. We know how to enjoy ourselves! We also know how to kid around and thankfully everyone on staff has an exceptionally great sense of humor - especially Harriett, who will never, ever, eat another chocolate chip cookie without thinking of our weekend.

If you have never been on a quilting weekend, I highly recommend it! Start planning one NOW. The hard part is explaining to your family and non-quilting friends that you really DO want to spend an entire weekend sewing. They tend to have a hard time understanding that you really are willing to drag thousands of dollars of quilting equipment to a remote spot and stay up late just to sew. As my husband said, he never thought he would see a day that I wanted to take my ironing board on "vacation" with me! Now that I have recovered from last weekend, I would do it again in a minute!