Friday’s Post

What a title, eh??

The Rocketeer is home and set up.  I’m thinking I’ll call her Sally.  Here she is when we first got home yesterday:

I played around with the stitches and different feet last night for a bit.  She can do some neat things, but the best part is the sound she makes.  She really does purr.  The sound reminds me of when I was a little girl, listening to my mom sew my clothes on a machine just a few years newer than this one.  I still have that machine, it just needs a miracle…two different sewing techs have been unable to figure out it’s tension problems.

Here is what I did this morning with Sally.  We made coasters.  I found the pattern here…I’ve seen them before, but didn’t have the exact instructions.  But yesterday I saw a post at a new blog called Rainlight Designs and decided they would be a perfect first project for Sally. As you sew around the edge of the coaster, you are sewing through 6 layers of fabric.  Which was no trouble at all for Sally.

I whipped up 8 of these, 2 sets of 4, for the Weeping Willows stocking at 3 pm EDT today…which is noon my time and only about 2 hours after I got up!  My hubby is home from work today and is kindly watching the tribe and doing the dishes….what a guy!….while I sew.  I got them listed with about 10 minutes to spare, whew!

I also listed an apron at WW.  I’d listed this a few weeks ago, but it didn’t sell.  I decided it was too plain.  So I jazzed it up.  A little applique, a bright red pocket and red ric rac.  The red ric rac looked so good, I added some yellow.  Maybe it’s brightness will catch someone’s eye this time?

Before:

After:

Better, yes??

Well, that’s all for today, I think.  Since hubby is home, we are going to tackle some home projects…mainly the continuing effort to organize the basement.  Ugh.

My very own yarn

I’m part of a year long swap at SewingMamas called “Queen of the Month”. Each month, you send a special gift or gifts to whoever is the Queen.  Then, when it’s your month, you pace back and forth by the mailbox waiting for the mail carrier to bring you your loot.

Here is my first loot, custom dyed to my very own favorite colors:

It’s a lightwight merino wool yarn.   Custom dyed for me by Marcie, owner of G-Button Baby.  She named it Bayou, but it looks like Seattle to me….blues and greens and whites and creams.  She took my request, dyed it and had it in my eager hands in less than 10 days.  I’m very impressed!  She’s in the midst of moving between congos and also opening her own hyenacart shop, but is available by email.   Check out her flickr gallery of dyed yarns.  Beautiful!

Now the tricky part:  deciding what to do with it.  My first thought is: don’t mess up the yarn by trying to knit something with it.

My second thought:  Crochet something.  I’m leaning towards a triangular headband thing…you know, with ties, to cover my hair on windy days or days when it *almost* needs a wash, but I don’t have time.   It’s just so pretty and soft, I can’t wait to see how it comes together.

Check back tomorrow afternoon to see pics of my newest oldest machine.  Yes!  Thanks to the incredible gifts of two lovely, wonderful, awesome, generous friends, I’ll be picking up my new old Singer 500A Rocketeer tomorrow!  I am an incredibly blessed woman.

Drooling over a vintage machine

I spotted this beauty on my local craigslist today.  Ooh, isn’t she pretty??  No, I don’t *need* another machine, but I’ve always wanted one of these all-metal, sew all day without complaint, sweet stitching Singer Rocketeers.  The seller is asking $100.  Hmm, I don’t know if that’s a good price…the listing says it’s all tuned up and ready to sew, it has lots of accessories.   My dream is to find one at a garage sale or thrift store for $10, a price my husband would be happy with. 

 I keep checking the listing, wondering if it is sold.  Then I remember that I’m saving my pennies for an embroidery machine….(but this would only be a small detour, a teeny bump in the road toward my Babylock Ellure.)  I remind myself that I have enough sewing machines already…  (But I only have five, and two don’t work well and the other is a bright green Hello Kitty thing my children use.)  I see that the seller lives an hour away and gas is $3.50 a gallon and my old van gets pathetic mileage… (but I’m going over that way on Saturday in our great mileage compact car, maybe they would wait??)

In the end, I will continue to drool over the listing until it is gone.  Then I will continue to scan new listings everyday, hoping that someone very close to me wants to sell a Rocketeer and doesn’t know that $10 is way too good of a deal.