Yesterday I lost my last working sewing machine. Oh my. My 1530 has a fried mother board or something else equally bad. I think it is a doorstop but the repairman will have the last word on that. it died before I left for France and I chose to put off the inevitable until later.

Later happened. My 1130, Linda's old machine, started making really bad noises yesterday. Bad enough that I had to stop sewing. Oh my again. I didn't have a machine to piece on and I really needed one. Today I packed them both into the car (well, Steve did that part) and I drove them south to Plano to the Bernina shop. After doing the repair paperwork, I started the hunt for a new machine. I looked at Berninas in Plano, then I looked at a couple of Pfaffs farther south in Richardson, and then I went to the Bernina store in Dallas where I finally settled on this baby:

I found out that the activa 220 is on its way out. It doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles but it is a good, solid machine that didn't cost a fortune. I need a reliable machine to piece on – no embroidery or fancy stuff. I have the Sweet Sixteen for machine quilting. I think this is going to be the perfect machine for me and I'm happy to have found it.

However, this experience made me realize that this is how I end up with most of my major purchases. Cars, washers, dryers, sewing machines, computers… I wait until what I have fails and then I have to buy one. Usually right then. Forget that slow shopping around – I buy the best thing I can find that fits the bill right then. I should change. I know other people who shop around for these sorts of high dollar items. I know that I should do the same. But you know what? At 55 I also know that this is who I am. So today, when I needed a sewing machine, I found one!

…is on a really cute mug. I found it in Canada. It traveled with me through France and I managed to get it home in one piece!

I am back to drinking a cup of coffee in the morning instead of tea. I wish I liked coffee black, but I just can't seem to love that. I'm using vanilla soy milk instead of cream or milk because it appears that I really am lactose intolerant. Instead of sugar I'm adding a splash of sugar-free caramel syrup that I got at Starbucks.

Have you ever read the ingredients on the sugar-free syrups? For 2 tblsp there are no calories, no fat, 25 mg of salt, no carbs – but 29 mg of sucralose. For something with this much flavor it practically doesn't exist.

I got the houses set together. I decided to use ribbon for the grass beneath each house to ground them. My plan was to applique words in the borders but that just wasn't working. The scale of the letters was all wrong with the houses.  I didn't want to do a vine… I flailed around for a few days before I went to my drawer of interesting trims.

I've started hand sewing this string of flowers to the borders and they look good. It's coming along! My quilt will be called "I want to go home."

Four weeks away from home is just too long to be gone. It's true that I did enjoy the places I visited but Dorothy was right – there's no place like home.

I promised to share more from market so here goes. This is what our booth looked like. We featured the new fabric (Treasures & Tidbits from Kaufman) and the new pattern, Fresh Picked Posies. The pieced quilt in the corner is Off The Rail from Jaybird Quilts and the little dresses are from an Oliver + S pattern and are made with our new fabric.

All of the fabric you see is from our new collection, Treasures & Tidbits, that will be on our site in July, when the fabric ships. I didn't end up taking many shots inside the convention center because I rarely got out of the booth. Here is a new children's pattern that will come from Kwik Sew made from the new fabric. This fabric is really cute!

You know the tags we have on our site that say PS I Love You and Happy Birthday and Sweet Dreams? There are going to be more of them. Wendy showed a variety of ways to use them in quilts – like the birthday tag on the cupcake quilt below. She had them sewn into the sides of zippered bags and pincushions. My photos didn't come out or I'd share them now.

This was a really pretty display of embroidery floss at Anna Maria Horner's booth.

Outside the weather was beautiful! It was important to keep your eyes open because there was interesting stuff everywhere you looked. There were art pieces related to flight all around the central part of town. You had to look up to see them. I really liked this one…

My friend, Amy Marson, spotted these birds on our morning walk. That is a quail, isn't it?

And there were flowers everywhere.

I saw a couple of houses that had sculpted their trees to be flat. This is the way trees are grown in some orchards. It's an interesting idea.

And there were lions (but not tigers or bears that I saw).

My sister was in the hospital over the weekend but she's home now and feeling better. Life is good!

I got out and about a little today between setting up the booth and the Schoolhouse presentation. I won't get outside much after this. It's late but I wanted to share some of these photos.The flowers around the Temple aare spectacular!

This is the front of the Temple in the morning…

…and the back of the Temple in the evening. Isn't the sky an amazing color!

This is the City & County Building in the morning light.

Salt Lake is clean and the beautiful to look at. I love the diversity in the buildings. Even the demolition sites are interesting…

I think these stones are from a demolished structure. I would LOVE to take them home with me!

Tomorrow I'll take photos inside the convention center!

Oh, and I almost forgot this lady. I took her picture as she was deep in thought looking at a fountain. I love her stance, hands clasped behind her back, and the careful choice of comfortable shoes with her skirt and sweater.

When I posted last I was in Huntsville, TX. I left there Monday evening after my lecture and drove home. Tuesday was a blur as I unpacked and re-packed. I am now in Salt Lake City for Spring Quilt Market. Linda is home sick with a really bad cold. I already miss having her here but she really needs to be in bed so there you go.

On the upside, I am in a very nice hotel compliments of the company who makes our fabric, Robert Kaufman. The Hotel Monaco is almost across the street from the Salt Palace Convention Center. Here is one side of my room:

The desk is on the other side with a marvelous desk chair that is the perfect height for the desk. I can type on this laptop and my hands are not up by my ears.

There are two thick terrycloth bathrobes in the closet – leopard print! This could be mine (or yours) for only $90! And there are socks with rubber grips on the bottom that can also be yours (or mine) for $15!

I gotta say, this is not my normal hotel experience. I am happy when I am in a safe, clean, comfortable hotel (which is most of the time) but I do enjoy an over-the-top experience. Check out the drawer of offerings for the traveler who got here craving a Snickers bar in the middle of the night. It would be $2.25 which, under some circumstances, might seem reasonable.

But the thing in this drawer that really cracks me up is this. Look at the back, right side of the offerings. There are two thin packages, wrapped in clear plastic. The white one is a first aid kit, the black one is an intimacy kit. An 'intimacy kit' is not something I have seen before in a hotel and did not expect to find in Salt Lake City. it's got pretty much what you would expect (x2). I'd be interested to know which has to be replenished more often – the candy bars or the intimacy kits.

The attention to detail is pretty wonderful. The spare toilet paper is wrapped in twine with a bow on the back of the toilet. That is a nice touch! As are the colorful key cards below.

The lobby is beautiful, the elevators are fast, the restaurant is really good (but not inexpensive). Linda, if you are reading this, I know that you would love it so I am going to have to love it twice as much for both of us!