Anita's University

So here I am, back at school.  Not really, but in this binder are the instructions to 100 projects you can do with your Brother embroidery machine.  This whole get-together is designed to make you fall in love with the latest and greatest machine, whereupon you purchase it for a ridiculous price.

They give out lots of free stuff from the drawings they hold, but alas, I have not won anything ... YET.  Of course my record of winning is short and sweet, but you never know.  We also got this handy dandy bag to carry all our crap ... I mean good stuff ... in.  It is rather large for the pen and paper they gave us, but the binder fits nicely.

All these things are called "in the hoop" projects, since you complete the entire thing in the embroidery hoop.  I know you are going to be SO jealous of this one.  It's a bottle skirt.  Did you know bottles had skirts?  I'm not actually keeping any of the projects because here's the thing ... there are 3 ladies on 1 machine, and you only make ONE item, not three.  I was crushed!!  Not really, this is not my kind of thing.

Lunch was magnificent, chicken with roasted potatoes and squash, with a green salad and a big piece of chocolate cake.  You can't beat that!!  Footnote: this would be great for company.

I might have had in the very far reaches of my mind, a notion to upgrade my machine for the fancy dancy one, until they went over the prices.  Here's the amazing deal at your feet!  $14,000 for a new machine.  Add to that $1,218 tax, for a total of $15,218.  They have five year financing for zero interest.  Heck my Jeep cost $17,000 ... it's like buying a car!

If I'm lucky, they would give me $6,000 for my current machine.  You can do the math if you are not faint of heart.  It all means I would be crazy to buy a new machine unless I was making thousands of dollars as an embroidery specialist.  I'm not.

So instead, I wandered around the edges of the room looking for new patterns, all listed at half price.  Some of these run $250 each, all the way down to $15.  I ran with the lower end, but still spent some money.  In addition, they gave us all a 25% off coupon for anything in their store.  That one works for me very well!!

Any finally, my funny of the day.  This guy's wife bought that fancy dancy Luminaire one for $15,000.

So this morning I'm going back for the second day and four more projects.  Truly, it's not the project, but the stuff you learn about your machine and it's capabilities.  Most of the things are not for me, like the towel toppers and the door signs we will be making today.  It's more about meeting the ladies who are SO much more fanatic about embroidery than I.  

Today I'm taking some scissors (the ones they gave us don't cut) and ear plugs, because the lady next to me never quit talking the entire day!!  I know you just can't WAIT to see what we make next!!