Pun Completely Intended!!

Look at my fun, super cool, awesome, so shiny and pretty new sewing machine!!!

Way back in October my sewing machine died. I only found one repair shop in the area though I admit I only looked in the yellow pages. And it was farther into town then I typically go, so I’ve never made it there.

But Chris needed his uniforms fixed and I always sew the patches on. This saves a little bit of money but more importantly, I am MUCH faster then the tailor. Like I can get a uniform done in maybe a half hour, but the tailor always quotes at 10 days to 2 weeks. So we bought the Euro Pro Shark Intelli Sew (from Target! $50 off the regular price!) because it’s been so long, because he needed the uniforms, because I just needed a new one! The other night I got the machine out, read a few pages about the basics and within probably 10-15 minutes I was sewing.

I. Love. This. Machine. Sure I have some of that “this is my new toy and wow it’s so pretty and shiny” going on. And at first I was just floored at how cool it looked LOL and then all the hidden stuff. Case in point, the top:

Everything is hidden away! So the top of the machine is nice and smooth. The bobbin winder works well and the display has a picture of a bobbin being wound when it is working. LOL There is also a list of every stitch available and a graphic to show how to thread the machine.

There are like a million fee that this came with. Okay, not a million, maybe 12? 17? I don’t remember. I don’t even know what more then half of them are for! I only ever used the regular all-purpose foot (or maybe the walking one?) on my old machine. This compartment also has the tools that come with the machine - screwdriver, little brush, a few extra bobbins, etc.

Now this is cool. See that red? That’s a package of needles that I bought and they are in the secret compartment! Or at least I think it is a secret. LOL And over to the left, see that box? That is … I think it’s another foot of some kind. Anyway, it came stashed in that other compartment! How cool is that! And last but not least, see that indent that looks like a thumb? You can lift up the top compartment and there is another stash of stuff under that! It had another bobbin (three or four came with it) plus the thing that holds the thread (wow, don’t you love my technical wording?) in place on the top of the machine.

The led display is very cool. The light near the needle is very bright and florscent and reflective. Also the foot that it came with (all purpose? walking? Sheesh, I really should learn the terms!) isn’t exactly like the foot on my old machine so it took me a bit to get used to. I just mean - you know when you are sewing, and you can see down the foot to the needle, and that helps you keep everything lined up? This one has a that - but also has a small what looks like a ball of metal - it’s attached and supposed to be there, but I don’t know what else to compare it to - and that ball is what the needle is lined up with.

But the sewing - wow. Fast and easy. Maybe my old machine was just slowly breaking but this one was so great. And it has the fun feature of having a start/stop button! I used that for half of it and then the foot pedal for the other half of the sewing. You can set the speed so that was nice.

Ah, so cool! I really like this machine and can’t wait to figure out when I will start my block a day so I can use it more often.

A few years ago my Mom and I went to the Tacoma Quilt Show (I can’t find a link, it isn’t the machine quilters show that is first in a google search though). It was SO fun! We saw presentations and wondered around the booths. There was so much great fabric and project ideas there. We ended up buying a few small things - fabric and a pattern for a rag quilt for one. I still have the fabric here with me as we never started working on it.

In keeping with the great stuff I’ve missed while not paying attention to craft blogs, over at Booga J, she’s started doing a quilt block a day. What a great idea! I love that she is following the thinking that 21 days of doing something forms a habit. I’ve always been told that and admit to rarely following along. But this, this I could do!

I’m thinking I may start this in February sometime and send some fabric to my Mom so we could quilt along side each other. Or maybe I’ll wait until she comes to visit. She is planning on staying for three weeks and we could get a lot of quilting done in that time. Decisions, decisions!

Well, not really - it’s still broken

See that grey piece of material stuck in the needle? That’s my pincushion from the pincushion challenge. I can’t get the needle up in order to get the material out, no matter what I try.

But I finally got out the phone book and called a repair shop - the only one listed in the book! They are only open until 5PM and I wasn’t able to get to it today. Hopefully tomorrow - and hopefully it won’t be very costly. I was - still am! - hoping to make the kids halloween costumes and we really don’t have much time left.

I am SO excited!

I finished the baby blanket I was making. The last time I talked about it, I needed to do all of the edging. Well my friend emailed over the weekend and said she was going to pack her hospital bag because she’s been having braxton hicks contractions. She isn’t due for I think six more weeks, but the body is obviously gearing up!

And there is it! I am so happy with how it turned out. I did one edge on Tuesday night and the other three on Wednesday night. After I washed and dried it, there it is!

Close up of one of the corners - I always have such a hard time with mitering the corners. Three of them were easy this time around but one gave me heck. I had to put it down, walk away, and then go back and finish. I have to say I am glad that I put the blanket away for a little while - I don’t think I could have finished the edging in a day and a night if I were working on it right after putting it all together.

I’m mailing it off either tomorrow or Monday - I’ll let you know what she says!

In preparation for homeschooling, I’ve been cleaning up the craft area. I need to do this often otherwise it just get too out of control! LOL I found a small box of already cut quilting squares (embarrassingly enough, I actually bought them off of eBay a little more then five years ago….and never used them!) and a sack with already cut material and a pattern.

I love this material - the colors go perfect with each other and they are bright and vibrant. I think it is a wall hanging? Just according to the pattern I found with it and if I remember right, my Mom and I bought the material together as we were both going to make one. I think this will be next on my sewing list of to-dos ~ after a few doll pillows and blankets my daughter has requested.

Really, it’s the cutting that always slows me down. I admit I’ve usually had my Mom around to help me with the cutting of material - or she does it for me and mails it to me. I’m spoiled like that. But now that we are across the counry from each other, at least I’m finally doing all of these projects I was supposed to do!

I even found material for a skirt for my daughter. I know it was for a skirt, now to just find the pattern for that.

I whipped that baby blanket up in no time flat right - only to be stuck on the binding! The binding is always the hardest for me. I think it’s partly because I make it hard. Once I get started I know it will be easy to finish.

So far here is what I have done:

See those three pins? I think I have a total of seven pins in there. I know! It’s barely inches on that thing. *sigh* I know I need to just sit and get it done, but I just feel stuck. I almost feel like putting it away and coming back to it after I do a few other things. But my girlfriends baby is due in two months (from today!) so I know I can’t put it away for too long.

Maybe I’ll just put it away until the end of August. Then I can finish it in a couple of days and still get it in the mail to her in time. Hhmmm, there’s an idea….

Let’s see if these show up correctly! These would be the finished quilt top (before I tied it) and one pillowcase I am embroidering.