Follow Up

Last week I wrote from Tucson, AZ about Cheryl, Bobby and I being there for the Husqvarna Viking Convention. Now we have been to convention and our heads are spinning for several reasons, not the least of which are the great products and ideas that we discovered with Viking. Read further here to see what some of those are.

Saturday evening the three of us had an unbelievable experience at a local Mexican restaurant that was featured on the Food Network show called Man vs. Food. El Guero Canelo is a place where those of Mexican descent as well as their friends who have no Mexican heritage go for true ethnic food. One of those specialties is called Sonoran Hot Dog! There was a Spanish-speaking-only performer singing his heart out and LOTS of people negotiating the dining room; so we decided to eat outside where there was less commotion. Soon a white, well-used pickup truck pulled into the parking lot. As it cooed to a stop we heard a sound like "Maa-aa, maa-aa". Each of us looked at the other wide-eyed and then realized that we were hearing goats in the back of the truck! The additional backup music that began then was Native American drums!! Somewhere across the busy street there were Indians having some kind of ceremony or practice because it continued for the duration of our meal. We could hardly believe what was around us - great Mexican fare and personalities, goats in a run-down farm truck, and Indian drums. Live entertainment for our evening meal. We laughed heartily at our "good fortune" until tears ran down our cheeks.

Sunday at lunchtime, after having taken in the very intellectually heavy tour of Biosphere 2 (a scientific project of sustained living conducted in the late 1980's and 1990's), we decided to have our noon meal again at El Guero Canelo since Bobby missed getting the hot dog on Saturday night. Well, this time all the ethnics and their friends were coming in after Mass and Church for a quick Mexican meal. ALL the children were there too. Bobby thoroughly enjoyed the Sonoran Hot Dog, as you can see. We then rode through the desert highways until almost the border to Tubac, AZ, an artist colony, where Cheryl and I did some holiday shopping among the jewelry and pottery. We did a lot of wishful window shopping too. Unfortunately the Quilt Gallery was not open that day.

Then it became Monday and we started Husqvarna Viking Convention. Each of the next four days was filled with new techniques, new program modules, and service techniques. Now we just have to disseminate all this to you. In the next few weeks we will try our best.

Sara

H&C Feature of the Week: Fall Fabrics
At Heirlooms & Comforts this week we will feature Fall Themed fabrics at 25% off original price. Think apples, leaves, acorns, pumpkins, sunflowers, etc. Make great items for accent in you home or the home of a friend or two. Fall is just getting cranked up, so you can be ready when it hits us full steam ahead with 25% off this week on Fall Themed fabrics.

From Convention
A number of things were spotlighted at Husqvarna Viking Convention for 2012.

There are three new feet for your H-V sewing machine:

• Multilined Decorative Stitch Foot for sewing evenly spaced lines of decorative stitches found on your machine;
• Echo Free Motion Stitch Foot for sewing free motion quilting around an appliqué or a motif in the fabric;
• a Changeable Decorative Stitch plate for the Interchangeable Dual Feed Foot.

We will be able to demo these when you come into the shop. They are very useful.

Software

• 5D Stitch Editor Plus is an upgrade for all modules of 5D Embroidery. Cheryl has been certified for teaching and selling this upgrade and finds it very user friendly. At class on October 18th she will demonstrate this upgrade and explain how the package is to be sold. You don't want to miss this class if you can possibly be there.
• Also there is the new TruEmbroidery for Mac computers for which Cheryl is certified to teach. For those who have or who wish to have a Mac computer, this is a powerful program for designing embroidery. She will setting up a demo on this in a few days, so be looking out for the announcement of this time.

• A third program that is available for your pleasure is 5D QuiltDesign Creator with which you can create a quilting design to be sewn in the hoop on your embroidery machine or on your longarm machine. This program takes the guesswork out of making a design proportional to your border length or block size.

Sewing Machines

• Opal 650 and Opal 670 Husqvarna Viking sewing machines are ready for shipment. We were able to sew on these models at convention, and we find them to be outstanding models. Opal 670 has a touch screen, automatic thread cutter, bobbin thread cutter, and 200 built-on stitches with an 8" clearance in the bed of the machine. This is a machine that weighs only about 18 pounds, so it is very portable for taking to class. Opal 650 has 160 stitches and has a touch pad for selecting stitches.
• Ruby deLuxe is now updated to have the Deluxe Stitch System that portions the amount of thread that goes into the embroidery stitches and the decorative stitches. The front of the machine is redesigned to be very attractive with its red frame, and there are a few new stitches added to the menu.

Okay, I will be quiet for now. But, you may find me going on and on when you are in the shop about all these new items.