Murfee the Irish setter is a sad little setter right now.  Albeit a strong-willed and rambunctious little setter.  He was neutered last week, just three days before his first birthday....I didn't want the neuter to be his birthday gift because he'd dislike me forever if I did that to him!  But he was making weak attempts to jump the 6-7 foot fence around the property, and sadly, we get a lot of dogs dumped in the desert, probably not spayed.  So I couldn't take a chance on him running away, chasing some unknown little floozy girl puppy into the desert.  And after all, my girls are spayed to under the Equal Protection Clause, my boys should be neutered.  Although Zoltan (tech) thinks my decision was cruel and irrational, and I have to wonder if he shared his opinions with Murfee!  But the deed is done and it's a moot point now, but I am having to deal with the aftermath of the dreaded E-Collar.  That's a nightmare worse than the surgery! 

He can only look forward, when he wants to look everywhere.  And so he bangs into everything, as many of you know all about!  Had to take my metal sculptures off the walls, pick up the rugs, heighten his water and food bowls, and find an easy way to get him in his crate at night for sleeping.  The crate is large enough for him, but the door into it is a challenge, and due to the location of his stitches, I can't just lift or push his rear end through the door.  That's a fun new, late night challenge I hadn't pre-considered!  But we're working on it.  Can't take his leash off him until he's fully in, and then he keeps wiggling around and turning circles while my arm tries to follow his moves to unclip the leash.  When we get that mission accomplished, he wakes me up all night long shifting his body position in the crate, and I wake up every time the E-Collar goes "brrringgg" across the crate bars.  And there will be two weeks of this!!!  When my girls were spayed, I put them in baby onsie teeshirt, knot it over the back with the soft bottom part  below the suture line, and done.  That trick works like a charm, by the way, on females.  Not worth a darn on males!  I'm thinking child yoga pants right now.  Just ordered a smaller inflatable inner tube type ring and should get it today, so we'll see!!  Wish us both luck! 

But you won't need any luck filling your week with new and fun things here with us at SVQ!  Remember that Thursday, 10-22-20 at 10 a.m. Arizona time will be our FREE OESD VIRTUAL EVENT!!!  I hope you have already registered for this, but if you haven't, here's the link to click on to get registered: Virtual Embroidery Event Registration 

OESD will email registered customers 1.5 hours before the event as a reminder, and they will give you the link for accessing the event.  They will allow for a Q and A during the live event bundle prices of their products for you which are only available to you through the event and your computer, so take advantage of the deals they will be offering.  One hour after the event, OESD will email a link to registered people which will include a coupon code and a reminder that you have just 24 hours to purchase before the code is deactivated.  Do yourself a favor and register and know that while live is best, you will have the next 24 hours to view.  

Want to learn about piecing?  How to cut?  How to select fabrics? How to make your first quilt something you're proud to share with others?  Then sign up for Andi's Jump Start Beginning Quilting class.  It's a two day class, Friday and Saturday at 9 a.m.  You are free to leave your machines set up in the classroom, and size of attendees is limited, so sign up now!  That way, you'll have nothing to un-learn and will gain confidence and know-how quickly.

 

Monday, 10-26 is our Open Sew Day, at $10, and you can come in to our comfortable classroom with large solid tables and work on any project you have going.  It's a relaxing and fun time in a monthly class with a great group of ladies to chat with.  Everyone is masked and one person per table.  A good way to get out and create something and laugh with us! 

Tuesday, we're having a Kimberbell Open Sew Day at your request.  Bring in ANY Kimberbell project and get some gifts and decorations created.  We have some kits, patterns, Kimberbell fabrics, embellishments and more for you to purchase to individualize your creations, from towels to runners to small bags to cards, and more. 

 

And finally, I'll mention the Beginner's version of Rulers Can Quilt with Marilyn, taking place on Wed. 10-28.  Marilyn is an excellent instructor on Ruler Work for quilting.  It has a small learning curve to it, and the more you practice with the rulers, the better you get!  I've watched new students turn out some great work!  You will need the special ruler foot to go with your machine and we have templates/patterns for you to purchase.  Marilyn will guide you to the most used, the easiest, the more difficult templates to fit what you want to achieve.  She has done over-King sized quilts with rulers and her domestic machine, and they're beautiful and impressive!  Class starts at 9:30,  and you can get set up and browse from 9 o'clock till class starts, and it will be over about 4.

 

The next day Marilyn is back with a similar class for more advanced ruler quilters.  Both classes are limited to 6 people to ensure that you get maximum attention, so sign up early. 

Halloween is quickly approaching, and we will be having our Annual BOO BASH so long as we have enough interested people.  So please let us know that you'll attend on Halloween Day, Saturday, Oct. 31.  It's an open sew day, and you can dress for the event or not, your choice.  Dress up in Halloweenie costumes, that is, or in regular clothes, but please plan on wearing something!?!?!

BERNINA and Q'nique are both continuing with the specials I've been telling you about all month, and know that we are here for you:  to answer questions, demo to you the machines as well as letting you try them out, tell you all your advantages of purchasing with us, show why our low tax rate of just 6.3% will help you, and anything else your little heart desires to know!  We really do appreciate your business with us, and we want you to be able to make the best of your experiences here at SVQ and with us.  We want you and your machine to be a bonded pair, and as soon as pre-ordered machines arrive, we are sewing them out for you in the shop and calling you with the good news that they're ready for you to pick up, as well as the dates for your mastery classes so that you can learn your machine from a real live instructor who can answer most any of your questions; this is what aids the bonding process I mentioned!!!  So we hope to see you soon, and remember that we have NO INTEREST financing available when you qualify, if this is what you're looking for.  Stay safe, stay healthy, keep smiling behind those masks, and know that we're here for you!  And Murfee might be here to greet you also since I'm not able to trust Bubba Murfee to be on his own yet.....but he did want me to tell you Hi, and to not put anyone else through such an experience as he's just had!