Category: General Page 44 of 49

I bit the bullet today and stopped by Eddie’s Quilting Bee and bought this little baby. I have to say, she hums! I expect that this sewing machine will outlast me. And with this baby, I just might get back into quilting. I haven’t done any quilting in over 7 years. Stay tuned.

Help! I finally have decided that my ancient ElnaSuper 62C needs to be retired permanently. I need to buy another sewing machine ASAP for some boating related work (I need to sew some flags for sail course markers). It’s been ages since I shopped for a sewing machine. I don’t even know what’s available anymore. (I’ve had the Elna since 1985, and it was the one I used during college theater costume making days.)

What I need a sewing machine to do:
– general sewing/hemming
– flag making
– canvas work: outdoor seat cushions, sails, sail covers, boat covers
– although I don’t have time to quilt anymore, basic machine piecing and quilting would be really nice

Oh, and of course, it must be able to do steeks and hem handwovens without trashing my hard work.

I want reliability (and some brand recognition), service, parts availability.

Please, please, please, send me your suggestions. I’m desperate. South Bay Opening Day is in 8 days. I NEED to have these flags done ASAP. I would like to buy a machine yesterday.

And let’s have a moment of silence for the Elna.

Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat was a blast. Definitely worth going to. Just image an entire inn, taken over by the fiber addicted for 4 days. Add classes, food, and fiber vendors. What more could an addict ask for? I roomed with 3 other gals (2 from my old guild up in Ballard). So I went to bed talking about fibers. I woke up to fibers. I spent the entire day doing fiber activities. While not in class, I was able mingle with other like minded individuals for meals or just plain hanging around the lobby or fireplace, knitting and chatting. I learned just as much outside of the classroom as I did in the classes. Special thanks to Sarah Hauschka of The Magic Loop to teach me the fine art of using a single circular needle for sock making. My previous attempts were “eh” — not enough to convince me that it was something that I wanted to try again. But she shared some of her wisdom (the 32″ needle I used was too short for me, but the 40″ was much better — I feel like Golidlocks), and taught me the figure 8 cast on for toe-up socks. Mainly, it was to let go of the fear of a sloppy beginning. Leave it sloppy on purpose so that you can see your cast on stitches easily when it comes time to tighten them up.

Coming home and back to work was difficult. After being immersed with fiber activities for 24 hours a day to going back to the daily grind at the office. Ugh. And a house that needed unpacking. Double-ugh.

But I did squeeze in some knitting time yesterday. It was our quarterly off-site “fun” afternoon at work. Rather than partaking in the activity, I sat around to kabitzed with fellow workers and knitted the second magic loop sock. Unfortunately, I didn’t increase enough (56 instead of 64) and already turned the heel before I got home to compare it against the first sock. I’m now back at the toe region. Sigh. I was hoping to finish it for this weekend — Stitches West.

I’ll try to post pictures sometime this weekend of last weekend and this. But we are moving at the office too, as well as migrating to a new server. So things might get a little hairy.

Have a great weekend!