I have been productive over the past couple of days.  Really.

*  I dumped out another quilt project that just wasn't working like I wanted it too.

*  I got my cutter to cut out templates for said dumped project.

* I started cutting out pieces for a table runner but got bored.

* While at a LQS, my girls decided they wanted some Minkee box kits to make their own quilt.  Turns out this company doesn't know how to make consistant 19 inch squares.  Same with the strips.  My girls don't care and they sewed them together by themselves.

Here's a pic of the one that is finished:

Minkee fabric is really heavy so I sewed the rows, but my 12-year-old sewed the blocks into rows.  She did really good on the accuracy. I had to fix a few seams, but considering this stuff is a pain, I'm really proud of her.

* While working with the fabric, my baby Bernina seemed to have tension issues.  Actually; it's had tension issues for some time, but I've just ignored it because the place I got it at didn't seem competent to fix it.  Now that they are out of business, I took it to another shop.  Turns out the timing was off some, but he insisted the tension was fine.

* Dealer tried to sell me a 4000 dollar machine.  Umm.  No.  I'm a Viking gal and I ain't changing sides.

If you got this far, the best part about going to the dealer was.....

They were having a quilt show by a local lady from the Lincoln NE guild.  While looking at the quilts I realized that she had used invisible thread for her applique.  I took a closer look since I've never seen what it looks like.  No way.  Hers was truly INVISIBLE and quite delicate looking.  Not anything like my disaster of an attempt.  It was beautiful.  I need to find this lady and hold her hostage until she teaches me how it's done.

As I looked at how she finished edges, I saw what a really small zigzag looks like.  Again, nothing like my clumsy attempts, but it looked beautiful as well.  I should have used the camera on my phone and taken pictures.  Darn.  Too bad I didn't think of that at the time.  

The other inspiring part?  After going through the quilts, I realized that I'm pretty darn good myself.  I'm not showing off, but I didn't feel intimidated looking at them as I've done some of the same quilting techniques.  Other than the applique techniques, they looked just as good as hers.

I think most of us quilters have a hard time realizing how good and talented we truly are.  If you are like me, the pedestal seems so high up there.  What we don't realize is that we are standing on our own pedestal and working our way up to the next.

I have been so down on myself lately.  I can't seem to get motivated and I anything I start just seems daunting after awhile.  After yesterday, I do feel better.

Now to call back the Bernina dealer, demand the lady's name and find a way to hold her hostage until she shows me how to do invisible applique.