Animals aren't collections, even if you do have several, okay 6 cats and four dogs. China isn't a collection...you use it. Besides, some of it was my grandmother's and some mothers, and I really liked the soft pink abstract rose on that set and you need Christmas china, and of course, you need different china for the grandkids at Christmas. I suppose having 350 different daylilies means I must admit to collecting them. But all the Christmas decorations are just decorations, not a collection...except maybe the Dickens Villiage is a collection. And Josh, I am really impressed with all of your languages. In addition to English, I speak only Spanish and German, and, like Melissa, I can read French, but I do not speak nor understand the spoken French. And like Susie, Books are not a collection any more than food is. kay

Beverly I understand completely LOL!!!! I finally have my own sewing room, but it is small. I have a 6 foot table that I cut on, holds my embroidery machine, and it holds the quilt when I MQ. I have a sewing machine desk with 4 drawers and I leave the ironing board open. I have the small closet full! To baste I set up another 6 foot folding table in the den. I keep my sewing room door closed at all times LOL!!!!! I try to keep the rest of the house uncluttered, but my sewing room needs help. I think that regardless of how large my sewing room was I would find a way to fill it up. Rosa

The question to ask yourself - will you use the software to design quilts you will make? Or will you design, and then never get around to making them? LOL, this was my trouble with the very first iteration of EQ. Damn, that was such a clumsy, clunky program. It wouldn't even take input from a mouse because the writers didn't think quilters were computer-literate enough to use one! Insulting, and I disabused them of that notion pretty quickly, LOL. I b#tched so much in my letter of disapproval that they even sent me the next generation software for free. My original was copy 127, if I remember correctly. I also gave them some input into how to make it more user-friendly. So I know the program is good. I also discovered I was designing more than I was quilting. For me the right answer is I fritter away too much time playing and never getting anything actually done in fabric. I still have an old EQ. And even though they quit assuming quilters were computer-illiterate and vastly improved the ease of use, I won't buy another copy. I never scanned fabric, I just used colors to see how blocks would look from a distance. YMMV - I found I spent more time on the computer and less time quilting. If you want to make complicated blocks using paper-piecing, you can do it. There are many things one can do with EQ. I found that for me, it kept me from actually sewing. It is seductive, LOL. Mary

SketchUp is one of your best options for good visualization, albeit with a learning curve. A lot of pool companies use viz terra/pool studio, which takes the realism and aesthetic down a notch - think using the graphics engine from an old first person shooter, like Goldeneye, for creating the graphics. Still gets the job done. The challenge with taking your own design ideas too far before calling a landscape designer is it's easy to get invested in one approach, when there may be a better one out there. If you're worried about losing control of the process you need the right designer. We're honestly not unique in that we do a lengthy on site meeting to learn as much about our clients as we can, we do a "sketch and concepts" meeting part way through the process to check in with the clients and make sure we're all still on the same page, and then even after the plan is presented we usually have a little revision time built in. If the pool co can't give you what you want I guarantee that we're far, FAR from the only landscape design firm in the country that does everything. There's bound to be someone close to you.