leaving california... (don't worry, i still came back)

ok, so yeah... 
i totally made it sound WAY more dramatic than it really was, but with this current covid situation, i knew that if i mentioned leaving the state it probably wouldn't go over well.
but it has been 2 weeks since my 2nd flight, and no symptoms, so i'm pretty sure i'm extra in the clear and can talk about it more. especially since my own dad said he would have just driven since it was utah.

thanks dad.

so i got to the airport with plenty of time, and my flight was DELAYED.

somehow, every trip i go to involving SLC airport, there is a delay.  i spent over FIVE HOURS there once...  but this isn't the time for that story.

got to get on the plane, they changed my seat, and now here i was with a row to myself!

couldn't get better than that.

plus, the way they are doing "snack packs" on delta flights are legit.
ziplock bag, mini purell, water bottle, cheese its and cookies.ok, so lets get to the reason of WHY i was headed to SLC.

about a month ago after a live show, joe was talking to tayva about another worker at the shop not wanting to travel right now go to a training.  they asked me if  i would be interested in going, and after hearing all the good details i said ABSOLUTELY.

what training was it?
it was a two day training at the grace company for using the quilt motion programing with the qnique long arm machines!  i have pretty much only used a self guided gamill, so using a computerized machine was a new and exciting adventure for me.  i got a crash course in the table from tayva before leaving, which combined with a few youtube videos helped me feel a little bit better about not having used the machine hands on at all.  the first day was so great, i took so many notes, and was really ready to get back on the machine as soon as possible.

look at this rosco cat i stitched out. could i have done that on my own by hand?
NO WAY.  it would have turned out looking like a derpy snowman, i'm sure.

we did block placement in multiple ways, used all three different pantograph (edge to edge) modes, and then got in to the cool gold features like borders and corners, fonts, and more!
here's some videos i took put together to show you the machine doing it's thing. besides the first one being a boomerang i saved from my instagram stories, these are all normal speed of it magically quilting on it's own.  isn't it the coolest!  i love that they created this panel for us to break each skill down in a designated area.  here's the panel broken down in to different sections so you can see all of what was done!  don't mind my untrimmed threads.  totally skipped my brain until i got to the last segment of this panel.  whoops.there were so many cool tricks we learned over the course of two days that left me so excited and anxious to get my hands on a machine again soon!  i should really finish up a quilt top or two, just so i can get something of my own quilted as practice, so maybe i'll throw something together quickly this week in order to do so... even though my list of other projects is also quite long.

but wait!  i wasn't only in SLC for training!

i was able to stay a few extra days and hang out with lisa and her crew before coming home sunday morning.  she picked me up from the training on friday and we drove out to 3 or 4 different shops, plus a nail salon for pedicures and dinner at olive garden before coming back to their place in layton.  

saturday was spent in the RAIN at football and soccer games, eating chickfila, cruising wal mart and eating twisted sugar cookies.  SO. GOOD.
it was a nice little get away to see people outside of my normal work/home/parents house routine, and be able to talk about all the crafty & quilty things going down.  sunday morning was an early flight home, and then back to reality of the next week and a half before my last day of work.

yep.  that wasn't a lie.

i totally did quit my job.

but more on that... next time :)