The Big Scam, bastards almost got me!

to spare all of you with all of the details that make me out to be even more gullible than I, but make you all aware that it certainly could happen to you, the story goes like this...

September I am contacted by what appeared to be a nice young lady wanting to visit Morro Bay while on a break from her overseas university to learn about quilt making. I do teach quilting professionally, this this was not too absurd, especially due to the fact that I am not the average quilt maker. It was to be all so easy, her father, a high ranking military official contacted me to set up travel plans and payment arrangements. Still no problem. October came and went and she never showed up. Oh well guess it was a scam, but neither party gained anything, so maybe a practical joke played by one of my friends (however, none of them are clever enough to pull off something this elaborate with multiple email addresses, government officials and quilting) November, I get this email stating that the lady will be arriving in five day in just a few days, her exams had gone long (never heard of that before - fall break being delayed by five weeks) and the money, $1000.00, would be arriving to cover my fees. At this point I am pissed off that they think I can just drop what I am doing and accommodate this gals needs, but being that a grand sounds good, i figured I could work her in. On the day she was to arrive, the Money Orders did show up. Wow, I tore into the envelope air mailed from the US embassy, and found $4600.00 in money orders. Most tipping happens at the end of my events, so I became even more skeptical. I then received an email on the following stating that I had been accidentally shipped all the funds and I was to simply deposit all the money orders into my bank then send out the funds less my fees of course. The student to be was now stuck without her travel money so I needed to do wire the funds to two separate accounts overnight. RED FLAG! Fortunately for me I was always leery, so prior to cashing the total money orders, I asked the Bank, they said if I cashed or deposited the money order, the funds were my responsibility just like a check. If they were counterfeit, oh by the way they were counterfeit, I would have been out the money. If I would have sent the funds back, I would have really been out the money, Money orders take several days to clear the banks, but they will give you funds on demand. So, if you ever find yourselves in a situation where you were "overpaid" in money orders, never give a refund until you check the bank of origin of the money orders to make sure they are legit. As for me, all they got was a bunch of my time in correspondence, I understand that many have not been so lucky. Yes, it is their job to try to rip you off, so they may spend several months setting you up for the fall, if it feels weird it most likely is so be careful.

Highs and Lows (and highs agian)

Wow, what a roller coaster the past week has been. First, my wife went to colorado for a few days, that left my 5 year old son, my 3 year old daughter and myself to find something wonderful to do. We did. A Dads and Kids camp out on the beach, with the off shore winds, it would proove bo be quite nice ieven in october, but the winds changed and we froze. Not the whole time, just in the mornings and at night, so most of the time. We did servive, heck, we did great. Well the racoons ate all of our breakfast foods, but we still did great.
A long weekend fell heavy into a long, busy week. The climax was learning that the retreat that has been planned and sold out for november, was never really on the books at the lodge. Yes, I had to scramble, but luckily almost all the gals planning on coming can make the change of date to the following weekend. I love to host the retreats, and to think I had messed it up that bad was heartbreaking. The embroidery Collection, may show up soon at the shop to start filling the orders, but untill then, I just released four quilts that have been shot with a mega high resolution camera and my bubbies at Foreverstoked matted and mounted some as prints. So now we can offer 8x10 or 16x20 prints of "La Playa Loca", Scuba Time", "Beyound the Tides" and "The Twizzleman Poject" all that in one week, life is never dull.

Nice to know

Well now that I have been able to retrieve my password for this blog, I can once again let you all know what is happening in my world.

First the surf was been way too good to spend much time on my website, designs or even going to work. I did get some great feedback on "Born to Sew" my premiere collection of Tattoo Inspired Embroidery designs. The disc are due in any day, we had some fine tuning to finish, but they are coming. I also have started to sell some custom embroidered shirts. I am happy to work with anyone personal level to create an awesome, one-of-a-kind Shirt. I only use the finest blanks, threads and stabilizers. Most short sleeves will set you back about sixty bucks and the long sleeves with free motion embroidery on the arm, a cool hundred. Worth it, only if you want the coolest stuff around.

New Embroidery Collection!

Wow, I am sitting in my deluxe studio (the back of my garage) with embroidery machines running in stereo. A Pfaff 2170 to the left and the Creative Vision to my right, she is testing my extra large, punk rock style embroidery designs. The 2170 for the medium and small Tribal pieces. The collection must be finished before tonight and I am so close I can almost taste it! "Born to Sew" Embroidery Collection should launch at Pfaff Convention the first week of August. I will also be doing a custom and limited edition clothing line that will be for sale at The Cotton Ball, select boutiques and on my website, www.robappell.com

Behind The Seams and Pfaff

Check out Behind the Seams at www.nowsewing.net to see some great sewing tips. I have been part of the BTS Team for the past several tapings and have just returned from yet another session. Big Things in our future with PFAFF. Did I say Q-Bot the automated computer for your Grand Quilter and Frame - super cool! I have other secrets but I can not tell you until after Pfaff Convention. Even if you bribe me with chocolate chip cookies.

It is about time

So I hear this blogging is pretty cool, a great way to get your ideas "out there" and very addictive. Great just what I need... another reason to stay up late at night. So why now, well I got to know are you out there. I would love to use this site to help communicate ideas and pass creativity from my Family's store The Cotton Ball and myself. All I need is one person to type the words... go one give us some more.