Hi! Thanks for all your wonderful comments about my faboo new sewing machine and my fantastic husband - he definitely spoiled me this year. (Last year, a proposal; this year, a sewing machine - he's going to run out of mind-blowing Christmas gifts soon!)
I've started a tiny fabric stash already:
Whee! Note the Amy Butler contingent (the rolled fat quarters and pattern book) and the not-at-all-surprising fabric choice. (Bright, designer fabrics with big bold florals and modern feminine designs?? NO!!) I love my sewing stores and their wonderful coupons.
I've also worked on a little project, just something to get used to cutting fabric (thank you Joann's for having a huge fat sale on the Olfa self-healing mat and rotary cutter set) and sewing straight lines. (And so I could practice breaking needles. One down...turns out selecting the right presser foot for the stitch really IS important. Sewing into one of those things will flat eff up your machine.)
Wow. Look. Coasters. Four inches square (interpret the word "square" loosely, wouldja?) and with a bit of cotton batting in the middle. (I'll never use polyester batting if I can possibly avoid it.) No, no, it's okay, I don't expect you to tell me how great they are. They're the first thing I ever sewed, and they'll be a Christmas gift for someone who will appreciate the thought and not be horrified by the craftsmanship. But!
This one. This ONE turned out actually pretty well. I stopped trying to chalk the poor thing to death to guarantee a 1/4" hem, and just let the marks on the machine and presser foot guide me. Maybe intuitive is best.... (Don't look at the bottom left corner. I said don't look!!! You looked, didn't you? Yeah, well, I can't be perfect at EVERYthing.)
Question for sewing people, though: Really, I gotta wash my fabric before I sew with it? Should I wash it as soon as I get it home, or whenever I'm getting ready to use it? (I think the washing and pressing is going to be the hardest part for me - I just wanna sew, I don't want to do all the laundry involved...)
In work news - kinda - El Capitan enabled longer sewing hours:
Sometimes it's good to have a visible addiction. It makes Christmas shopping much easier for friends and coworkers. I actually HUGGED this basket when I found it sitting on my desk. "I love you, caffeine!" (The mugs! I love the mugs!) Go boss!
I just made Travis change the channel away from an interview with Barack Obama - not because I don't like the guy (though frankly, I can't get excited about any of my choices, despite there being about seven dozen of them,) but because Obama and the interviewer were standing about eight inches apart in a large open area. I was starting to feel very uncomfortable watching these two men converse in WAY too unnecessarily close quarters. I kind of felt like they were going to kiss any minute...which would be fine, really, if it weren't for the fact that they were talking about Obama's wife. Two men should not snuggle while discussing one's marriage. That, and man, I get SO uneasy when someone invades my personal space - watching it happen to someone else is almost as bad.
So, this was fun: We got home from errands Sunday and the door to the house was standing WIDE open. EEEK! Ignoring any insructions we've ever received about how to react when you think your home may have been invaded, Travis leapt out of the car (uh, without putting it in PARK first! mind you, not the first time he's panicked and abandoned ship, leaving me in a moving car) and flew through the door. Turns out someone (*ahem*) had gone out onto the porch before we left and forgot to latch the door. A light breeze will blow the door open if it's not latched, and it was a very windy day, so I'm sure it blew open the moment we left. Fortunately for us, the dogs were in their crates and miraculously enough, the cats were still inside, as were all our possessions. Thank you, thank you, thank you God. Would have been a big damper on Christmas to get robbed blind and have our cats run away - losing the cats would pretty much destroy me. So yeah, that was probably the scariest three minutes of our lives, trying to locate the two of them. I've no doubt Rooster came and went as he damn well pleased the whole time we were gone because he likes to prove that we are not the boss of him sir and he can go outside any time he likes, thankyouverymuch, but at least he was in the house and looking innocent when we got home. And I was so relieved to find everything in order that I didn't even really chastise Travis for the goof. It happens. (One time. And only one time!)
Finally: I'm binding off the Hemlock Ring!
And this thing bound off and blocked by the time we leave on Saturday? Boy, I hope so.....
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