exciting day

I had a really great day yesterday, with one minor exception, visiting the dentist, but we won't dwell on that. It started with a Kuwait Textile Arts Association quilting group meeting. I am not a quilter, but it seemed like a good group to join and a great opportunity to find out more about quilting. good decision. I've been going now for 6 months, and have picked up so many little tips and ideas along the way.
Yesterdays meeting was my moment. I was asked to do a talk and show and tell about my C&G Certificate course in Embroidery, to give all the quilters a different slant on things. I am not a teacher or a public speaker, so I found it quite daunting, but once I got going I really enjoyed myself. Afterwards, one lady came and said I should have had the whole morning, not just half and hour, another said I should do a presentation to the main KTAA group at their monthly evening meeting, and a third asked if I would do a workshop on design techniques. Flattered? Swollen head?? Floating 3 feet off the ground??? All of those and more. I was just glad that folks seemed to like the presentation, and that I got through it ok, but then to have all that come at me was just amazing. I have also received a couple of emails from people saying how much they enjoyed it, and one lady asking about the distance learning courses so that she could explore the possibility of having a go herself. Result, wouldn't you say?
I also made the decision to buy a new sewing machine. One of the KTAA members won a machine at last years show, which she has not even taken out of the box. She decided to sell it and give the money to the Indian government Tsunami fund, which is still helping families rebuild their lives. So any way, now its mine, yey!! Its a Bernina Aurora 430. Any tips and advice gratefully received. I had a little play yesterday afternoon, and I think I am going to like this very much. My old machine, a 25+ year old New Home, (now Janome) has been fabulous, but doesn't seem to like doing the free machine stuff anymore, and always seems to have to think about dropping the feed or raising them again, which in not much good if you are in mid work. I will be getting the embellisher foot for it which is great as I couldn't justify buying the embellisher machine. One of the best parts of this for me though is that I paid for it with my earnings from my own business which I set up in December. I am a holistic massage therapist, and have been slowly building the business since Christmas. It gave me a lot of pleasure to realise that I had earnt enough to pay for the machine outright, without having to raid the joint bank account. Before getting remarried and moving out here last summer, I was a single mum/full time student for 3 years, and money was very tight. I guess this is my first reward/payback for all that hard work. And now to go and have another play.........happy dancing and big smiles all round!