Weekend with the Dachsies With Moxie!

A couple of weeks ago I set out from my home to Cleveland, Ohio to attend a two day Anita Goodesign seminar, but the main reason I was heading out there was to meet Agnes, Geoff, and the Dachsies With Moxie. You all know how fun it is to strike up a friendship among fellow bloggers, but seldom do we actually get to meet in the flesh and fur. Agnes and I bonded over the making of the Fearless Five Quilt so I jumped at the chance to meet her when she invited me to stay at her home while attending the seminar.

I have to say that the Dachsies with Moxie did not disappoint and I soon fell in love with one of the gang.

My new BFF Tasha

Sweet Tasha quickly wiggled her way into my heart. She is a real snuggler and loves to give kisses. Since Agnes and I were gone all day Thursday and Friday I didn’t get as much time to spend with all of the gang as I would have liked, but they are all so adorable.

I can see why Max (da odder weenie) has fallen head over heals for beautiful Miss Anna Rose. I love her long locks and beautiful dappled coloring.

Anna Rose

It took Anna Rose a bit longer to warm up to me, but according to Agnes I am the first overnight guest they have had since she joined the flock so having someone other than her mom or dad prowling around the house was a bit startling for her at first.

Mr. Chip is the guardian of the home, besides Mr. Geoff of course.  He was always the first to let us know if someone was walking down the street and to be sure we checked it out.

Chip and Anna Rose share a secret

The sweet old man of the bunch is the Thai Master. Because of his infirmities he doesn’t move around with ease, but if he gets it into his head that he wants to get somewhere there is no stopping him.

Sweet Thai

The second night I was staying with the Bullock clan there was an “incident” that occurred while we adults were dining out. When we got home I discovered there had been a break in and some snacks I had packed for my drive had been removed from my tote bag and were now on the floor.  I guess I didn’t realize that mini-dachsies could jump as high to get up on the bed where the tote bag was stored.  Needles to say the treats were stored in a secure container after that. Later that evening as I was chatting with my husband and lying on the guest bed I discovered that someone had left me a “gift” on the bed. According to Agnes and Geoff only two of the four dogs can do stairs, Tasha and Chip.

I am innocent!

The bedding was swiftly removed, thrown into the wash and was clean before bed time. It certainly wasn’t the first time a dog peed on my bed. I find it difficult to believe that my sweet BFF Tasha would do such a thing, but before we left for dinner Tasha and I were having a very nice belly rubbing session.  Maybe she was upset that I stopped and then left for a couple of hours.

One of the amazing sights at the Bullock home is Mr. Geoff’s trains.  Here is just one picture of the huge train set up he has. You should click on it to make it bigger for the full effect.

Geoff’s trains

This shows only a quarter of the entire set up. There are lots of cool sound effects, lights and even two different types of draw bridges.

After two days of seminars it was time to pack up and head home.

Tasha all packed up and ready to go

I tried to get out of the house with Tasha packed in my tote bag, but Agnes and Geoff gave all my bags a pat down and found her before I could get her to the car 😀 .

Me, Tasha and Agnes

After one last snuggle with my BFF it was time to say farewell to the Bullock gang.

The Bullock family
Chip, Agnes, Tasha, Chip, Geoff, Anna Rose

I have a feeling this won’t be the last time we see each other.  Thanks to all the Bullocks for the hospitality (well except for that one incident) and friendship. I had a great time.

 

 

 

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Flat Stanley Meets Anita Goodesign

A few weeks ago, Zachary, one of the co-workers at I Have a Notion asked for some help with his homework. He requested that we print out a Flat Stanley and take him on an adventure and then let him know about it.  I decided that since Zachary’s mom likes machine embroidery I would take Stanley to the Anita Goodesign seminar I went to in Cleveland, Ohio. I hope I’m not too late in posting this Zach.

Almost 2 weeks ago I travelled to Ohio (I live near Rochester, NY) to meet Agnes and the gang of the Dachsies With Moxie (more about that in another post). Besides getting to meet Agnes and her gang, I was also there to attend a two-day seminar presented by Anita Goodesign, a company that creates machine embroidery designs. I thought it would be fun to let Flat Stanley learn how to do machine embroidery and decided I would take him to the second day of the seminar.

The first thing Stanley wanted to do was learn all about the sewing machine we were using. We had a Baby Lock Ellisimo Gold and Stanley was fascinated by all the decorative stitches it could do.

The embroidery we were going to do was this cute “Shrinky” lamb.  It is called a shrinky because you use a special type of stabilizer that you stitch on in a certain pattern and then when you put an iron on it the stabilizer will shrink up and make the fabric all bumpy.

The white fabric is in the proper position in the embroidery hoop.  Now all Stanley had to do was press the start button and hop off the hoop.

After the fabric for the lamb was stitched and shrunk Stanley helped to secure it to the background fabric. After some more stitching someone had to cut around the shape of the sheep before the next step.

Oh No!!!! Stanley how did you get under there?  You better get out of there fast before we are ready for the next step!

Stanley was rescued by the lovely Holly, our presenter from Anita Goodesign. I think Holly was smitten with Stanley and very impressed with the work he was doing so far.

After meeting Holly, Stanley would not stop talking about her and a few of the ladies at our table had enough. Once he calmed down we removed the tape and Stanley behaved himself after that.

During the seminar all the machines we were using were for sale. To show that the machine was sold a balloon was tied to it and the machine we were using was sold on the second day.

Stanley thought it would be fun to go for a balloon ride.  He started lifting off the ground so we had to rescue him quick.

After all that excitement Stanley was starving and decided to have a snack.

Those peanut butter M & M’s that Agnes brought with her really hit the spot.

Stanley had fun meeting everyone at the seminar and insisted on getting his picture taken with everyone that was at our table.

That is me with Stanley in the lower right of the picture and Agnes in the upper left.  Some of the other ladies at our table came as small groups and two of them came by themselves, but by the end of the two days we were all new friends. Agnes discovered during the two days that she had a connection with a few of the ladies at our table and I am sure she will be keeping in touch with them.

All in all it was a very fun, exhausting, and exhilarating two days. A special thanks to Agnes for inviting me to join her at this fun event.  Also thanks to Pins & Needles for hosting this event and thanks to Stanley and all the ladies at our table for such a fun time!

 

 

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