An Eventful Week

This has been a busy week. I continued to work on my Faces of Joan Elliott SAL. I got a reasonable amount of work done on during my travels to and from work, and during our trip to PA for my husband's grand nephew's First Communion. I have yet to completely finish a single face... waiting till the end to add the beads, do the backstitching, and the metallic threads, but I'm still feeling good about my progress. Still thinking I might get it done in time to make it into a pillow and gift to my cousin for her birthday in November.

Which brings me to my next accomplishment for the week. I learned how to sew. I took a beginner's class at Joann's Fabrics and made a pillow. 

Now, if you could actually see the poor quality of the seams you would be asking why are you proud of this? Well the answer is that I know its not very good, but I learned how, and now I can practice. And I have confidence that with practice... and maybe another lesson or two... I will be able to sew well enough to make my Faces and future projects into 'nice pillows for gifts. And that is my goal. 

Obviously, to sew pillows I'm going to need a sewing machine. I've been wanting to open my mom's sewing machine and see if it still works ever since we brought it home, but I kept putting it off. This morning we went to the cemetery (we have to put down some grass seeds). It was the first time I could get myself there since the burial. When we got back, I was ready to open the sewing machine. 

It was scary, and at first I thought it was lost, but my husband wouldn't give up and got the electricity flowing into it and even got it to stitch a few stitches. It hasn't been used for at least 20 years, and it seems to be stiff, but we got it moving a little, so I think if I take it to the repair service, they will probably be able to clean all the old oil out, put fresh oil in, and it will work perfectly. It's such a beautiful machine I don't want to give up on it until I have to. And since it was made back in the day when things were made to last, if they can get it cleaned up, it will probably last me for the rest of my life.   

And finally, above is my entry into the TUSAL for this month. These are my current ORTs. The Strangeway's glass is from my HAED that I stitch on at night in my stitching corner in our bedroom. The boot is from the end table on my side of the couch where I stitch while we are watching TV. And in the center is a zip-lock bag full of ORTs. While I was on the cruise I didn't want my threads to accidentally fly into the ocean. So I started collecting them in a bag. When I got back home I decided I would keep the baggy with me when I stitch "on the road"; in the car, on the train, during my lunch break at work...

Well, thank you for visiting. 

Please leave a comment if you'd like.