Are you recovered??

Rhonda Pierce from Schmetz Needles did an AMAZING JOB as our first official "Facebook Hostess". This picture is of Rhonda with her brand new Ipad and Ann Sagawa -- (who was the official "first I-pad buyer" on her block). Ann loves ALL-THINGS-APPLE...and these two were excited about the whole "share the show on Facebook" concept.

On Wednesday, the set-up day -- I was minding my own business when I received this very unexpected gift. FROM ALASKA, NO LESS...

Wow. There was FABRIC IN THE BAG, TOO -- and, oh -- did I forget to mention the food? Are you kidding me? SALMON STICKS?? In the future, I am going to try harder to suck up to people who have access to ALL-THINGS-SALMON. Pretty darn delicious, I'm telling you!!

On Opening Day -- one of the first people I bump into was Cathy Swenson. One of our fine CTA's -- Cathy opens her beautiful sewing studio every week so that young sewing enthusiasts can come, create, and learn something from the more experienced sewing veterans...

Cathy will be honored in April as Pierce County's "volunteer of the year" -- and I think there's going to be a ceremony -- maybe a dinner??

I'm sure it will be FULL OF HER FANS...and if I lived within 300 miles -- I WOULD BE THERE.

You deserve every honor they can dish out, Cathy. You are what Sew Expo is all about. You love sewing and you have always gone that extra mile to SHARE that love. You volunteer your time and you give of yourself...we are soooo lucky to have you on our team!!

Rhonda just posted a lovely big slide show on the Schmetz needles blog from the 2012 Sew Expo...be sure to go there to see if you can see yourself.

My own pictures are still a jumble...WHICH is why it took me three hours to write this post.....lol...every time I thought I had a picture that would fit into my train of thought...something very different came up.

This picture mess is like trying to bake a cake -- but all the ingredients are mis-labeled....I want salt but I get sugar. The cinnamon looks just like the cayenne pepper. And baking powder is actually Ajax...

But I have not given up. I have narrowed the problem down to 300 pictures that seem to be overlapping. Or flip-flopping. Or morphing.

AARGH...

GREAT SEW EXPO and H-E-L-P

Well -- 2012 was a GREAT SHOW!! You came, you learned, you laughed. I spent a few days after the show with my sisters doing what tourists do -- and OH MY GOODNESS WE HAD A WONDERFUL TIME.

During the show, I took over 1600 pictures on my camera. It's my old trusty Canon 1200. Great. I know the drill. If you read this blog, you know I take pictures all the time, of many things...

And, of course, we all know PICTURES is what makes a blog work. Nobody wants to sit and read a page of text...when, instead, I can let the picture tell the story...

Like this great picture of me backstage with Alex Anderson....no words are really necessary, y'know??

And I took a picture of our supper....yes, I know, it's pitiful -- but you have NO IDEA HOW GRATEFUL we were for a little food at that point...(well, to be honest, there had been a dozen candy bars throughout the day)...

Then -- I got this great picture of the audience that night -- holding up their embroidered Bernina bags....

Oh oh....

Do you see the problem?

When I pushed "open" -- I was selecting an audience picture from Saturday night. What uploaded was this random picture I took on Monday at Pike Place Market.

WHAT'S HAPPENING??

If anybody out there knows what I'm doing wrong -- please email me. ritafar@aol.com

I am terrified to take any pictures off my camera -- but it seems like I've overloaded her capacity...

My niece is a wonderful photographer -- but she just bought a new house and is busy painting, putting in new floors, while working full time and taking care of two babies...

I phone and I PAD users

Yes,there is free WI FI at the fairgrounds. And if you have a laptop, or a droid -- you can get on very easily. Search for the WI FI, click on "Fairguest"...scroll down and accept the agreement. DONE.

However -- it is not so easy if you are an APPLE user....

FOR I PAD AND I PHONE USERS...DO THIS:

1. GO into settings
2. Click on wi fi
3. Push blue arrow on "Fairguest"
4. Click OFF "auto-login"
5. Go back. Select "Fairguest"
6. Open Safari
7. Type in sewexpo.com
8. Fair agreement will pop up.
9. Scroll down to hit "accept"

seriously...I am not kidding...

good luck...

Here's a random photo of Karen on set up day, she earned "best accessory of the day" award...



YES -- we are having a wonderful time. Wish you were here.