Yesterday was not quite the productive sewing day I had envisioned.  For some reason (because technology has it in for me?) the Penguin Stack pattern (which I thought had a future as an tree ornament for Patti) would not sew right.  Sure, the first 5 or 6 colors came out great.  Then it got off; feet that are not connected to bodies, and eyes that end up in their stomachs, sort of ruin the whole effect.  Here's what it was supposed to look like:

After the first fiasco (which of course wasted fabric, stabilizer, thread - and one needle) I thought I knew what the problem was. 

Obviously I was wrong - anyone surprised? If so, then obviously

The second try didn't flip out until even farther along, raising my hopes and using up even more thread.  After the third try I decided Patti will be getting something else as her gift.

A call to Carolyn seemed to indicate that I did everything correctly.  Tom suggests deleting the pattern for the USB stick and then reloading it, but at this point I don't want to waste all the materials only to be disappointed with the 'finished' product.

Patti had come by in the morning to pick up Gary's gift stashed in our garage (too large a box to conveniently hide at their place) and she was appropriately impressed with the bags I learned how to make in class on Friday, and also the embroidery blocks I've done so far.

She and Elmo had a great time visiting (I know Patti still really misses Shiloh.)  Since I ran out of the special bobbin thread while we were visiting (at that point the Penguin Stack was humming along nicely) and I had no vehicle (Alex was using it to do some much needed shopping) Patti offered to drive me over to Carolyn's.  (Maybe Tuesday I'll finally be able to pop down to 35th Ave. and replenish Carolyn's stock and also get some for me)

I popped Elmo into his crate - even though we were only gone 10-15 minutes - and when we returned home I (finally) got to hear him bark!  If I translated it correctly, I'm pretty sure he was telling me not to forget that he was trapped in that big, bad cage in the bedroom.

Yesterday wasn't a total loss; I did get to watch some fun movies on TV, including The Wizard of Oz.  Which of course reminded me of my sister Marilyn since it's always been a favorite movie of hers.

During commercial breaks I learned that in the book Dorothy's slippers were silver, but for the movie ruby red photographed better.  As did chocolate syrup for the tin man's 'oil'.  See, television can be educational.

Being Monday, I have my workout at the gym in the morning, and PT in the afternoon.  And at some point I need to do some grocery shopping and cooking for Wednesday.

For all you teachers and students, a reminder that it's Monday; since schools are closed for Winter Break maybe you didn't notice!