2010 convention 8-1
Hi All,
We’re Back!!!! Convention was exciting, fun, tiring , educational and ultimately totally great!! Our flights were uneventful except for the steward named Raoul (more about him later). We arrived a little early, so of course, we hopped the first transit available and headed off to The Mall of America. Quite a place. I’m not an enthusiastic shopper, so my favorite part of the Mall was the Aquarium located at the bottom level. The fish were beautiful and it was my first time in an aquarium where the fish could swim over my head. There was also an exhibit just for the seahorses. Loved it. Second best thing at the Mall….. a Haagen-Daz shop. Wow! Minneapolis is a lovely city with beautiful flowers all over the downtown. They have a large Farmer’s Market with all sorts of fresh flowers and vegetables and condos are nestled in amongst the hotels. It’s large and yet gives a small town feeling. Many little green areas with fountains and there’s even a life-size statue of Mary Richards (The Mary Tyler Moore Show) throwing her hat into the air on the corner where it was filmed.
The city made a huge hit with me when I noticed the man-hole covers had pictures of loons on them. No, they wouldn’t fit in the suitcase and also would have put it over the weight limit.
The convention you ask, well, lots of new things. The “gem” of the event was the introduction of the Ruby. A really nice machine that fits nicely between the Topaz and the Diamond. Yes, before you ask, there will be a Diamond update available in the coming weeks. The Ruby has a smaller screen than the Diamond, but it is a full color touch screen and has many, and I mean many, of the same features as the Diamond. It comes with two hoops, the 360x some other large number and the 120×120. Of course, it has the longer arm like the Sapphires and Diamond. One should be arriving soon and we will be so happy to show it to you. I got to sew and embroider on one and I really liked it.
There are new embroideries of course, some from Viking and others from a company called Lunchbox. From Viking, there are cutwork designs that are digitized to be cut in the hoop with specialty needles. I know, can you believe it? Also some beautiful bobbin lace embroideries and a new set of quilting designs that are really nice and fit beautifully into the NEW 200×200 hoop. There are also two new plates that attach to our interchangeable dual feed feet. This is just the beginning of the list so you will have to stop and see all that arrives. Needless to say the days were jam-packed and the models of all the “stuff” were beautiful.
I haven’t seen all the new things at the Nook (not having been there for a week), so we’ll talk about them next time. We’ll discuss Raoul as well. Have a great week and come see the unstoppable excitement at the Nook.
TTFN
Mary
