Books!

A Christmas present from a good friend were 2 sewing books. One was 201 Quilt Blocks: Motifs, Projects, and Ideas by Louise Bell and another was Making Your House a Home by Lynette Jensen.

These came right in time for my almost MIL to teach me a simple block quilt, which will be my first. When I started sewing I said to myself that I wouldn't do quilts, that it was too cliche and that I didn't have the room.

This, of course, was before I fell in love with sewing and when Ed and I were living with 2 other roommates in a tiny 2 bedroom condo. 5 sewing machines later to add to the collection and a nice fabric stash and I'm ready to tackle quilting. Plus I just love those little darning/embroidery feet and need a reason to buy one.

A Splurge!

I know I have pictures due, but right now I've caught a cold after a long week of flying to and from Oregon to pick up my MIL (she sews too). She and I went shopping yesterday, with Ed in tow and split the 26 pack of Gutermann thread. In addition it was half off and she had a 10% off your entire purchase coupon, so we made out of there like bandits. We divvied up the contents since she sews a lot of brights and I don't and I stuck all my other Gutermann threads in the box.

And to my surprise...she bought me a brand spankin' new sewing machine! Nothing fancy, but it's new and isn't as temperamental as my old Babylock. My recent used Babylock died on me and no longer will pick up the bobbin thread no matter what I do. Very sad, since I was so happy to find a nice one for so cheap. I'm sure once I get it serviced that it will be fine again, although who knows when I will get around to doing that. I have a ton more to service before that one. But the new one is my primary machine for the moment. It's just a little Brother machine, but straight out of the box it was sewing perfect stitches with no hang ups like I have with my others. I love it!

Everything I Touch Turns To Garbage - A Rant

I have had two duds in a row recently! I first made Simplicity 3990 for Halloween. It was the one with the pleats in the front and it turned out pretty well, so I thought that I would make another in a different version. I went for the plain button down with the slit sleeves and altered it for my formidable arms. Ok, they are fat but formidable sounds much cooler. That shirt came out ok but was still a bit tight when I stretched my arms forward.

I decided to cut out the next size and blend it to fit. I chose this pretty silky black and silver/gray leaf patterned fabric that I've been saving for something special. It's one of my favorite fabric pieces in my small stash. After cutting it out I sewed it up to the point before attaching the sleeves and tried it on. I LOOKED LIKE AN OLD LADY. Yep, my favorite fabric that I loved so much would have been better suited for a skirt because as a shirt it made me look like I shopped in the old lady section of Ross or Marshalls. Bleh. Into the trash it went.

Then I started on a muslin of Simplicity 5914 version A I believe (the long bell shaped skirt) and made a few alterations because a pin fit showed that it may or may not fit. After cutting the ugly fabric I sewed it up and tried it on, just cinching it to me without a zipper or anything. Horrid! I was trying to convert it to an elastic waist rather than a zipper (but not a really bulky waist) and I cut the pattern far too big. I thought that adding the elastic may make it better. Oh how wrong I was! This time rather than an old lady I looked like one of those poor women in those scary Mormon Fundamentalist compounds. It didn't help that I chose such a drab color for the muslin, which happened to be the only fabric I have on hand other than my *final* choice that was enough yardage.

So, bleh. I'm really rather over all these duds!