I Had A Thought...

I read some of my favorite blogs yesterday, November 1.  Some of them were a little discouraging to me.

Does everyone have monthly goals or lists except me??  Wow!

Sometimes it's days between the times I get to actually spend time in the sewing studio.  And often when I do get in there, I have to spend an hour straightening up and deciding what to work on next.  Sometimes I just can't get focused.

Well, at least it doesn't look like this anymore!

I did manage to get my machine set up about a month after my knee surgery in April, so I really had no excuse.  Then my favorite sewing machine, Valkyrie the Viking, had a complete breakdown and went belly-up in the pool.  

I fixed that by buying two machines and tossing the Valkyrie into the nearest dumpster (after being told by the Expert that it could not be fixed for any amount, reasonable or un).

My first purchase was a Babylock Aria.  It was a little pricier than I was hoping to spend, but after I pulled out the last of the gift cards I received on my retirement in 2018, and dug into my purse for loose change, it was manageable.  I have to say I have no regrets.  None.  It was a very, very good and wise decision.

Here she is, on a new-to-me table, next to my serger.  The perfect combination!

The next purchase I made was totally serendipitous, but it's something I've had on my Bucket List for a long time.  I blogged about it several years ago, whining a little about the fact that finding a Singer Featherweight in good working condition for less than a small fortune can be challenging, what with some people buying six or seven and all that.

I have had elbow and shoulder issues in my left arm for a while, and some portable machines are so heavy in their cases that it makes dragging them to classes a chore.  So one day in conversation about machines a lady told me she had one to sell and the person who had been interested in it decided to pass on it.  The price was within my budget, and although there were virtually NO accessories or parts other than the foot pedal, it was in good working order so I grabbed it.

She is beautiful.

I signed up for Featherweight University at a local quilt shop, and learned how to lubricate and oil her up.  The instructor tuned up her tension, and she sews the most beautiful straight stitch I have ever seen.  I am in love... twice over.

So you see, I ought to be able to think of something to sew each and every day.

Maybe I need to make some lists of the projects in my bin to start or finish, and the projects rolling around in my brain.

Think about it... and sew on!

Thank Goodness for YouTube!

Today I needed to finish the toe of one of a pair of cuff-down socks I have been knitting for months... don't ask.  It was actually the second sock of the pair, so I don't feel too terrible.  I could not for the life of me remember how to start doing the Kitchener stitch to do the finish.  I did it on the first sock.  Months ago.

Did I tell you I have a good memory, but it's short?

Oh well!  Now that I can watch YouTube on my TV (as opposed to my Kindle with the tiny screen), I can see what's being knit in glorious detail, big as or bigger than life.  I know that there's a video of the Kitchener in slow motion, so I watched it, and finished up the toe lickety-split.

Thank goodness for YouTube!

As long as I was sitting there knitting, I picked up another project and kept watching other videos.

Most of the teenaged girls I know have long hair.  Some have REALLY long hair, others are 'growing their hair out'.

My grands have what I consider to be long-ish hair, long enough for buns and pony tails and the like, but not so long that they're sitting on it.

I used to have long hair, because my dad thought girls SHOULD have long hair.  Not because I like it, because I have a sensitive scalp and I HATED having my hair brushed from the youngest age.  Long before the days of No More Tangles shampoo and cream rinses to de-tangle, my mom would go at my wet hair with a comb and I would cry the whole time.  I remember crying through half an episode of the Perry Como show because that's how long it took to get all the tangles out.

If we are ever invaded, I do not have to be tortured to give up any secret they want...all they have to do is pull my hair and I'll tell everything.  I will make things up.

I digress.

Last Sunday, Grand Number three, Miss A, asked me if I knew how to make scrunchies.  You know those bands of fabric and elastic that girls put in their hair to either a)hold their hair in a pony tail or b)make a fashion statement by matching their outfit.  Or c)both...

I said "of course I do"... so she asked if I could teach her how to do it, now that she has her own sewing machine and her own stash.   Uh, sure.


Therefore I did what every dedicated grandmother does, and turned to YouTube, since I was already watching, to find out what size fabrics I should be cutting, and to see if there were any good tutorials for making scrunchies.



And there are THOUSANDS.  Since it's so easy to upload videos to YT, and literally anyone with a computer can have a channel, I sat and watched an hour's worth of videos on how to make these little donuts of fabric.

Some used regular elastic.  Some used the pony tail bands.  Sometimes they used the pony tail bands whole, and sometimes they cut the pony tail band and used it like someone else used elastic.

Whew!  Who knew this could be so complicated!!

Suffice it to say that I did eventually make it down to my sewing studio and made two, yes count 'em, two scrunchies.

It turns out that the hardest part of this operation is deciding what color fabric Miss A might like.

Sew on...

Followed Closely be Winter?

It was bad enough Tuesday, when we got a light layer of snow on top of the green grass and the piles of leaves.

But today -- oh boy this day takes the cake!!

SO FAR we've gotten 5 inches of snow.  On October 31.  It's the snowiest Halloween since like forever.  The weatherman on channel 12 says it's officially the snowiest Halloween on record.

Oh well, at least this year I don't have to shovel it!

Sew on...