I had scheduled today and tomorrow as quilting days – I wanted to get a good start on my Mystery Quilt. After tidying up a bit I changed the foot on my machine, got out my practice sandwich and tried out the pattern I’m planning to do. Two broken needles later, and still on my practice piece, I decided I should have the machine checked – it couldn’t just be me.

The husband of one of the Guild members is a certified repairman and he was able to look at my machine right away. When I dropped it off I explained the problem I was having. His wife, Shawn, is the woman who taught the free-motion quilting class I took in the fall. I got a call back this afternoon – he did some tweaking and Shawn did some testing and they think it is good to go. I’ll pick it up tomorrow and then, maybe, I’ll go back to my project.

In the meantime my machine problems gave me a day off. How many things would I accomplish? Not many as it turned out.

I started one of my Pay-It-Forward pieces last night but decided the pattern needed a little adjustment. Although I didn’t get a lot done, I think I’ll be happier with the way this works.

I thought another quick task would be to get a new story loaded on my website. I recorded a couple of stories last summer but never took the time to edit and post them. With my new website and updates to some of the software I use it took me almost all afternoon to get the editing done.

When I thought I had it right I loaded it onto Grandma Reads but, when I tested it, you could barely hear my voice. So it was back to the editing board and I eventually got the sound quality raised a bit. It is softer than I’d like, even with the volume cranked, but I know what I did wrong and I’ll be more careful when I start recording Flat Stanley.

Pat and I signed up for Italian lessons through the Library. We’ll be using Rosetta Stone software, which is supposed to be the best. Apparently we just have to log on to the Library’s website when we want to do a lesson and away we go. Perhaps I’ll start journaling in Italian just for practice.

Arrivederci!