Serious question folks...

Honest question here folks (hey, my title promised you quandries, so here you go!):

I really like the motif I've been working up, theoretically for my Mom for her birthday (can you tell that plan might be changing?), and I feel that it needs some, well, dramatic tension to unpretty it a little. Well, ok, to *ugly* it a little...

The motif is very organic-under-the-microscope looking (a poor-womans-Bryer-Fallert), and I have this huge urge to throw sort of a railroad spike right through the middle. I'm not sure how much I would vary the hues in that zone (going from the dominant reds and oranges into sort of a extoplasmic/toxic green sort of appeals to me, in a sort of militant-environmentalist-gone-way-awry sort of way - very '90s), but the image of this spike itself is very compelling (and solves another design issue by neatly dividing converging figures in a dynamic way).

I'm thinking that my thinking about this is fueled by my own reproductive issues; I was thinking of the Remembering Mama challenge, and part of my piece looks like giant breasts, so I thought of the spike as my Mom's breast cancer surgery, and then I thought of it more as the problems that I am having getting pregnant - the spiking of trees used to happen so folks couldn't harvest the trees, just like I seem to be unable (sor far!) to harvest the fruit of my body... My feelings of fear and doubt aren't really toxic to me, but they *are* very present and noticable in my psyche. I'm thinking of railroad-metal-grey for the spike.

So the big question is this: do I leave the spike out, solve my design issue in another way, keep my motif whole, and keep my personal issues out of it, OR, do I put the spike in, write an artist statement explaining my thoughts here, and potentially take the 'pretty' out of the piece? Doing the latter might also violate one of my personal philosophies for living as well; namely 'Take yourself just seriously enough, and no more seriously than needful.'

I'm all for expressing the human experience in Art, but usually feel a bit more-esoteric-than-thou when I go there personally, and I don't really *like* that version of myself very much... especially out in public! (You can't take me *anywhere*!)

Anyway, I'd really appreciate your feedback on this, for while I *do* actually enjoy the tension this is injecting into my process, I'd really kind of like to get into the *fabric*! Thanks in advance!

So... it won't be a scarf...

It will be a quilt instead. I drew up the pattern this morning (bright and early) and made it the right size for the hankies, but I really like the motifs and want to really *play* with them, and I'm just not that good at silk painting yet, so... Mom's going to get a quilt for her birthday!

It looks like it would be a good piece for the Straight and Narrow challenge, but I jumped back into the ArtQuilt pond a little too late to join in on that one, so mine will just have to be an unofficial entry!

Speaking of challenges, I am psyched about some I've been reading about - the Weird Quilt and Merit Badge challenges should reasonably please both sides of my personality. You know that song that goes "I'm a bitch, I'm a lover..."? I love dancing to that song, and thinking about both my sweet Girl Scout Gold Award side and my shaved my head in college side, and laugh out loud at the idea of them hashing things out in my subconscious... So I think I'm going to work these two challenges simultaneously, and see what they inspire in each other.... Maybe I should make the 'rebel' quilt about my parent-pleasing side, and my merit badge about my wicked, snarky side.... Hm....

I was thinking about trying to get my photos up again tonight, but I am just too darned motivated to get back into the studio after my afternoon with my college roomie/best friend and her 7 month old twins in sunny, gorgeous, loose-the-sweater-warm Burlington today! I'm *trying* to keep my unread digests down under 100, but I'm not sure I'll have much luck... ah well. Enjoy!

La!

Ok - I actually got some spark of creativity burning this afternoon, and I just tidied up the results! My Mother's birthday is coming up, and I thought that I would paint her a silk scarf. Rather than ordering a long one, I thought I would connect 5 hankerchiefs (which I already have) with beads to make one long piece. Her favorite color is red, so I started sketching out ideas, and just couldn't wait to play with the main motif, so I made a postcard of it!

I don't often use fusibles, so I tried some again (not WU though...) and had decent success. I *know* that the fabric is going to pull up in some places though... hopefully it will make it through the mail first!

Did I mention that I am #*$#($ tired of hot flashes? It just isn't warm here yet, and I should NOT be sweating for hours on end. Stupid hormones. My next ultrasound is on Sat at 8 AM, and Kevin is not thrilled, as that is his birthday, and he wanted to sleep in before his birthday breakfast. Oh well... I'm going to break in the new waffle iron after the appointment, provided it isn't terrible news and I'm not too busy panicking about how we'll afford to use injectible fertility drugs next month... I think that is why I've been doing so much stocking of my stash lately - I think I know that I'm not going to be able to shop again for a LONG time...

Still no progress on posting pictures. Wish I could figure this out so you could all decide that I'm a hack and stop wasting your time reading my blog... ;)

Flickr take 1

Ok - let's try this again. I have eaten (jelly beans) and been to the loo, so now is the time to try and figure out how to show y'all my pictures again.

Here goes: (this *should* be a picture of a little quilt that I made for my turtle, Tata, last month - 10" x10")

Nope - still wouldn't work. I got the quilt into Flickr no problem, but then got a message saying "Your HTML cannot be accepted: Tag is not allowed" etc.... bleah...

NOW WHAT?!?!?!? I suppose I could do it through my aol ftp process, but that is just a royal pain in the caboose. Any other ideas?

(grumble grumble - this just should NOT be this complicated!)

ArtQuilt Digest Overload

How is it that I can still be more than 100 digests behind? I some every day, and I guess I *do* go away some weekends, but sheesh! I'm down to 110, and just a week ago I was all proud that I was under 30! How the heck did that happen!!?!?!?!

Restarting the Hmong piece just doesn't sound terribly exciting. I suppose that I *could* just finish it as is, even if it doesn't measure the same as I had designed it to... Sounds like one of those days when I need to remind myself of one of my favorite personal mantras: "Progress in a day, not perfection in an hour." Perhaps I'll get all fussy with my measurements on the NEXT piece.

Can you believe that NO ONE has wonder under? Very depressing. Might just have to order a whole bolt all for my very own. (go on - twist my arm - you know I want you to! >:)

Another Tuesday down...

Well, the ultrasound went ok, and I go in for another on Saturday. My nurse made noises about 'if I don't get good results on Saturday, there is still hope.' Yikes! 4 follies growing away, and here she is talking injectibles! I'm all for aggressive, but let's do one cycle at a time, eh? Sheesh!

ANYWAY - Kevin decided to medicate me with fiber - we went to three shops an hour away, including what will soon be my nearest quilt shop with art-oriented fabrics! He didn't even bat an eye when I got one of those beautiful Vietnamese rice baskets that I've had my eye on for ages and found at a great price at a yarn/bead store we stopped at to ask directions!

I reorganized all of my prints and fat quarters today too - yipee! - and actually mended Kevin's jeans; he deserved it, and the less money spent on clothes, the more there's left to spend on fabric!

I also pulled out some of my UFOs. Oy. I'm actually pretty pleased with how much I got accomplished before I knew anything, and didn't play with any cool tools at all. Ah well; second long day of shopping in a row, and I'm beat, so off to bed. Ttfn!

Motivation... what's that?

Ug. Another rainy day in Vermont. Did WAY too much shopping yesterday (and they were out of both Wonder Under AND Steam a Seam 2! The noive!) including a trip to the soon to be closing Quilter's Courtyard... got some Mediera threads and a rolly cupboard cheap though, so that was nice! Also got DH one of his birthday presents and skimmed through New Zealand Quilter at the bookstore. Not much happening studiowise though... I didn't even go into the ROOM yesterday. Talk about denial!

Ah well... I have the first ultrasound of a monitored cycle in 30 min - (trying to get pregnant part *#$*#$), so I need to dash. Not sure I'm going to want to get into the studio today either... it feels like another curl up and watch a movie day - yesterday was "seven brides for seven brothers" day. Can you believe that my husband had never seen it? I've been humming "lonesome polecat" to myself all morning...

Wish me luck on the ultrasound! GooooOOOOO Follies!!!

Too many Jelly beans

Ug. Long ride home (my sweetie drove - again!), but great weekend with my husband and parents, and a nice if brief visit with old friends. Went to the local quilt shop - the Cambridge Quilt Shop, on the border between Cambridge and Belmont, Mass. Nice, helpful, fun to chat with folks. Anyway, about halfway through my shopping my Mom announces that *she's buying!* Wahoo! I didn't get anything that I wouldn't have gotten anyway, but we still got out of there pretty cheaply. (If only they'd had more Moda marbles...) Anyway - new loot, and a new bobbin ring - MUI importante, since my old bobbin box is overflowing! Got some of those new space dyed threads too to make my stipple work spiffier, plus two more spools of monofilament since I liked my experiment with it on my postcard so much.

Speaking of my postcard, how bad is it that I had to explain it to both of my parents, and even walk my Dad through the various symbols in it to get the joke? Oh well. He doesn't get sarcasm either, but he's still a swell guy.

Anyway, enough of my babble - my ovaries are *very* peeved at having had a seat belt mushing them for four hours, and I'm hoping to make it through the next two weeks without going back on the narcotics. First ultrasound for this ttc cycle is on Tues, so *fingers crossed!*

btw - I think I am going to start the Hmong piece over again - with freezer paper and foundation piecing. I'm just not happy with not having something come out the way I designed it and having to adjust my vision to fit my project. I'm calling it a 'learning experience.' Lol...

So much for that theory...

I can't believe that I actually thought I'd have time to upload pictures today - I forgot the massive list of errands that I've been putting off all week and the drive to my parents in Boston for the weekend for a combined birthday celebration for Kevin and I. Kevin *still* has to do all the driving, unfortunately (not much of a present!), since my car is still iced in with a dead battery...

Yup - we are still under snow here in Northern Vermont - but my deck is mostly clear now, and shrubs are sticking their heads out of the tops of snowbanks, so hopefully it won't be long now!

Anyway, I guess that I won't be able to check out Flickr (thanks Arlee!) until Monday, so you are all just going to have to try and survive the weekend without having been graced with images of my work. ;)

Virtuous Girl

Oi! I had a VERY productive day (especially surprising seeing my last post!) - I pieced and appliqued the center on the Hmong folktale quilt (I simply *adore* redesigning as I go when I discover things don't fit anymore, don't you??? NOT!!!), I went for an errandy walk with my hubby after our healthy-girl-salad lunch, only bought one magazine at Borders (the latest Quilting Arts, which I liked, for once), and then used said magazine as my inspiration to go make my first postcard!

I had thought that I might do Tarot postcards, and got out my Robin Wood deck (by FAR the best deck I have found to date), shuffled, and turned over the top card - Ace of Swords: Strength from Adversity. Hm. Well, I got this great idea for showing the silver lining of a cloud by slicing it in half with the sword, but by the time I got into the fabrics, the sword itself had been deleted from the scheme altogether! So much for my tarot cards!!! Lol... anyway - my card has a picture of a storm cloud on it, and a slit that lets you peek behind part of it to show the silver lining! I painted text on it that says "See? Told you so." The question mark is HUGE and bright red, and is the only real color on the front of the card. It seemed pretty bland without the splash, and it seems to me like sometimes it is hard to believe the platitudes in a bad situation, so that is part of it too.

Anyway - thanks to your hints, I hope to actually put up pictures of all this dreck on the morrow when my eyes have recovered from my first foray into nylon monofilament; I love the stuff, but WOW is it hard on my eyes!!!

Getting nasty with Picasa

Howdy. My pictures *finally* showed up in Hello, but won't transfer to Bloggerbot. Narf. I just sent in my THIRD help tag, asking them to either a) FIX IT or b) refer me to a service that actually works! ARGH!!!

Sorry that I'm grouchy, but waking up in pain does that to me; my ovaries are happily responding to my meds (trying to get them to #*#$* ovulate), but that means that they swell, and when they do that, my fibromyalgic physique makes the blessed things hurt like heck. I didn't need much in the way of narcotics last cycle, but the three before that I was on some *serious* drugs, and I'm really hoping that I don't have to go back on them! I wouldn't mind so much except that said serious drugs keep me from my teaching job (I've been out since NOVEMBER) and don't get rid of enough of the pain to let me get any real work done in the studio either... My poor husband Kevin gets the brunt of my grumpiness, but he, sweetie that he is, takes it in stride and tries to help however he can.

So - someone offered me a hint on ANOTHER photoblogging option, but I couldn't find the program when I googled it. Any suggestions about what to replace Bloggerbot with would be GREATLY appreciated.

Meanwhile, it is time for my meds, and going and whumping stuff in a computer game for a while. Hopefully I'll get back in the studio this afternoon...

In the Ring!

Yipee! I got into the Artful Quilters Webring, and folks are posting comments and being VERY welcoming and supportive and that is just SO EXCELLENT!!! Thanks for the warm welcome ladies; nice neighbourhood you have here!!!

The Folktale quilt is in process! I finished the sketch this AM (and added opium poppies, a major crop of the Hmong in Laos before the war) and started cutting and sewing this afternoon! I've got the 2 outer rings cut and pieced (NEVER precut. NEVER precut. NEVER precut. Argh...) and I'll get back to the next ring and the beginning of the applique in the morning when my back has recovered some...

Bummed that I can't see my best girlfriend and her 7 month old twins tomorrow since I got exposed to Roseola last week, but at least it will give me more time in the studio before I leave town for the weekend...

Loving life is all about the silver linings...

Fabric time

So - I finished my drawing of the round quilt top based on a Hmong folktale. I took a spiral image common to Hmong art and used it to represent the spirits, and came up with a pretty decent looking Pegasus for the center. I'm thinking of doing all rainbow solid cottons, but perhaps doing the pegasus in the center as a silk painting using the serta technique... I'm not sure though how quilting through silk would work, and if it would look ok with the rest of the quilt being done in cotton... ideas and suggestions are most welcome!

So, I need to go through my fabric stash and see what shows up. If I'm missing colors, it will be off to Joann's for me! (Terrible, that!) >:)

Write what you know...

So - 2 hours later, here I am - sweaty, covered and graphite and have a stiff neck from leaning over my studio table. I've been reading a book about the Hmong; refugees from Laos that came to the US in large numbers in the 1980's, mostly to California. It is called "The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down" by Anne Fadiman. Anyway, in the first chapter she refers to a Hmong folktale about a shaman who flies a horse over the twelve mountains that divide the earth and the sky so that he/she can ask the spirits to send a child to a couple.

Kevin and I have been trying to get pregnant (I've been trying for over two years now), and it is pretty much the major thing on my mind at any hour of the day or night. I'm almost done with the book, but that passage from the first chapter keeps showing up in my mind's eye, so I did a very folksy interpretation of it just now - concentric circles of mountains and little couples, the sun and rain pouring down on them, and little streams in the valleys... wish I could post a picture here, but I still haven't figured out how. Anyway. There is another story in the book that dreaming about having a snake in your lap means that you will be pregnant soon, and I've been thinking about that too, but not for this piece.

I've got another idea (which predates my reading PamDora's blog, btw) of doing a piece about EPTs - a MAJOR closeup of the data spots and filmy ovarian and blastular shapes in the background. Trying to have a baby is the biggest thing in my mind, so it just seems fitting that it should start showing up in my art.

This Hmong folktale piece is very innocent in feeling, but I keep seeing sort of it's evil twin too - rivers of blood for when I get my period, and the rain is my tears; the sun beating down is the ultrasound rays and chemicals pouring into my body to try and make it ovulate, and the sun is the Reproductive Endocrinologist that I must obey as if she were God in my world of Assisted Reproductive Technology. At least my partner is still at my side in all of my pictures now, and if anything was going to be a constant in this seemingly interminable journey, I'm glad its him.

Needless to say, I think this is a theme that will be showing up more and more in my work if I let myself really put myself on the canvas, rather than just trying to please the public eye. I'm glad that I'm starting out with a sweet story though... especially since I'd love to believe in happy endings.

Off my keister

Ok. Ok. Just skimmed some Artful Quilter blogs, and WOW. PamDora (PamDora.com) knocked my socks off with her witty autobiographical cartoons; simple, splashy colors, and funny! Then I saw Dijanne Cavaal's (sp?)pomegranites and shazam! Motivation hit like a train... She made that terrific piece with two colors of fabric, and a great design. I've been sitting here playing with EQ5, and working on baby present stuff (during the most recent of which I was *bemoaning* the cartoon nature of my drawings!!!! Thanks to Pam for turning THAT attitude around!), and I could be...

gasp...

MAKING ART!!!!!

Those of you who have read the last few days of my ramblings here will know that I am pretty sincerely grossly lacking in self-esteem when it comes to my artwork, so it should come as no surprise to any of us, myself included, that I have been hiding behind the tools a bit lately... SO. Kevin is off at class tonight, and I have the house to myself. PLUS, we ARE getting cable TV (they called with an offer that was just excellent) so images will be coming my way soon too! Since my day started with a repeat Pap, I think it has gone in a pretty darned good direction... Now then - off to the studio and really loud tunes!

Blogger Blues

I am NOT dumb, but I just CANNOT get stupid pictures on here... I keep getting an error message from Picasa, and am on my second help tag about the issue. Ah well...

Good news though - I am on the list to join Postmark'd Art in Aug, and am on the list for Art2Mail NOW! I'm psyched to get some juices flowing here... Now if only I could search Stash from within EQ5, but no such luck. Rats. That would have been just too easy, I suppose; I have to sweat for my art, right! Lol...

Pressies!

My package from EQ arrived today - Block Base and Stash Fall '04 from DH for my birthday! The fabrics are terrific, but I am wondering if I can search them from within the EQ5 software... they were really helpful on the phone the other week, so hopefully it won't take long to get an email response from them as well...

I wonder if Kevin knew that his present basically guaranteed that I'd want to order fabric once a month? Hm...

Also, I'm on the list to join Postmark'd Art in August, which gives me plenty of time to practice with Franki! Hurray! I'll probably *start out* with mailing them to non-quilters, and work my way up to more critical eyes...

trying to upload

Ok - here's a mini-quilt I did for my stuffed baby-girl turtle, Tata. Don't ask. It still needs a big red button in the middle to match her spots, but I haven't been out to the store yet. Meanwhile, this serves as a test that I am not completely computer illiterate, and I beg you to read my prior post about treating me delicately when it comes to my work...

here goes...and nada. I had to send a help message, and who knows when they will get back to me. Guess the world will just have to wait to view the brilliant quilt I made for a stuffed animal... yeah - right!

into the abyss?

I have no idea if this will get posted or not (several posts and my Artful Quilters navigator; essential for membership - argh! - are missing from yesterday!!!), but I just have to say... (btw - I am not talking politics here - just frustration about media coverage)

What the heck! I just heard on the radio about Terry Schiavo (sp?) and the House making new laws to get her case put back in the courts. I have no problem with that - parents and husband disagree; it *should* be a tough fight, both ways. My problem is with talking about how it is just unconscionable that Mrs Schiavo has been without food or water for *58 whole hours*. ::growl:: What about the MILLIONS of people on this planet for whom only 58 hours between meals would be a GODSEND!?!?!? Sigh.... if only THEIR cases went to the House twice...

Semi-politcal rant over. I don't and won't do them often - don't worry.

Now I need to figure out how to put pictures of what I am up to in here... but that will need to wait until DH is up!

Visual Underload

Ok, I did the unthinkable; I told Kevin that I want our cable TV back. Gasp! I've been without it for over a year now, and with my not getting out as much anymore, I am simply not getting enough visual stimuli, and it is showing in both my attitude and my creative output. I have been making a point of looking at other artists' work every day, and am flipping through old issues of National Geographic, but it just isn't shaking my mental cobwebs loose.

Plus, I think I could really use a creativity penpal. Please let me know if anyone is interested in filling this daunting position!

Right - enough procrastinating. I am GOING to go work on the binding on Declan's baby quilt now. Then hopefully I can wade through the pair of crib bumper sets I promised for my friend Tracy's twins while I am working on something more, well, LESS target-audience directed (ie for viewing, not drooling on!) My new software should be here tomorrow, so that will be nice. Should I promise not to play with it until the borders are done? Nah - I don't have that kind of willpower, and Kevin says that one of the keys to leadership is never to issue an order that you know won't be followed, so...

Creative Crump

I think that I need a creativity buddy. Now how do I find one? Hm...

Happy Equinox!

Happy Birthday to me!!!

Well, 33 dawned with quilt related pressies from DH - Block base and Stash Fall '04!!! Both got ordered only yesterday, so I have to wait (rats!) but I am very excited - the two big weaknesses I saw in the EQ5 software should be sorted by these two products, so I am VERY happy!

Not really feeling like sewing though - that binding foot just is NOT working for me, and I am realizing that I am going to need to use better quality thread to free-motion quilt with it, as it has been ravelling my other generic threads... NOT what I was hoping for! I think this entire industry is determined to make me spend even *more* money on my work than heretofore. If I had known about this conspiracy, I might not have tried to make all these technological (software and sewing machine) jumps!!! Or at least not all at the same time!!! Sigh...

Anyway, I am *delighted* that my family is so supportive of my work. THAT I will NEVER complain about! On a different note however, DH is in deep #*$#!!!! He had the audacity to put ALL 33 candles on my cake, and it was a little one, so it looks like a *bonfire* in my picture!!! (I will get my revenge - *his* birthday is next month! >:)

binding foot blues

Sigh. The new machine is great (and QUIET!! WOW!!) but I can't get the binding foot to cooperate - messy results, and just not wide enough. Now I'm waiting for the shop to open so I can call them and ask about a wider version.

Also waiting for Electric Quilts to open, so I can ask them what the heck I need to fix to get my EasyDraw to work - I added the extra drawing features in, and now it won't lock to node at all, so I get about 5% of my patches showing up on the color screen. Argh!!!

Did I mention that DH got me FQ bundles of batiks? :) Very excited to play with them once I get these other problems sorted. In the meantime, we're having the bathroom floor (including the wood!) replaced today, so it is probably just as well that I'm not engrossed today, as I doubt I'd be getting much done.

Soon, though - Soon!

New Machine Happiness

My new Huskystar 224 is home and set up, with the binding foot ready and waiting for me! I had never heard of such a thing before last week, and, if it works, WOW will my hatred of the finishing process vanish like smoke on a windy day! Yipee!!! DH actually went and got it for me since I wasn't feeling well, and came home with two big bundles of batik fat quarters for me as well (I'd NEVER have gotten away with buying them for myself - maybe I should stay home more often!) and my birthday isn't even for another three days, and he insists that the fabrics are NOT part of my present! He came home with chocolate and potted daffodils too - plus he did me HUGE favors over the weekend.... good thing HIS birthday is coming up too! Lol...

Mail's Here!!!

My EQ5 arrived today, which was perfect timing since I need to leave bright and early in the AM for a funeral, and would LOVE to be able to play with it in the car. Anyway - it arrived 4 hours ago, and I've only just come up for air. I've done with the 'getting started' book, but still have bunches of questions...

I'm thinking that art pieces are going to take WAY more understanding of their drawing system, and that there are no where near as many blocks or fabrics on the software as I expected. I understand that they want to sell their Stash CDs, but only 16 contemporary blues? Sheesh! I have more than that in my personal stash, which is riduculously small to begin with! I'm also glad that I have hand-drawn out so many blocks over the years - I'm going to need to recreate most of them in the software! Fortunately, it doesn't appear that that will be hard to do... as long as I can get the grid system firmly locked in my mind.

I need to figure out how to make my quilting stencils too - I recreated a plan of Declan's quilt (baby quilt for friend during who's binding stitching my Kenmore bit it), but couldn't figure out how to make the quilting onscreen match my quilting from real-life. I don't want to find that I'm limiting my creativity at the sewing machine to what I can readily depict in pixils!

On the sewing machine front, it looks like my Kenmore is going to be running for between $150-$200, but it will never be as good as it was. Stupid me for running it into the ground, eh? Oh well - I'm getting it going again just for odd fabrics, painted surfaces, and sticky stabilizers; stuff that I won't want to risk on my new machine. I'll be getting the Huskystar 224 early next week - $450 plus the maintenance plan that let's me trade it in for full value within a year if I want to do so. Not an enormous step up, but a significant one nevertheless.

Now I just need to design something ravishing to break the new machine in on... I *refuse* to have the first thing I do on my new machine be twee little crib bumpers that it would be nice for my best friend's girls to have before they can walk! Ah well... in the meantime, I'm going to finish the machine portion of the baby blanket binding on my Mum's old Singer tomorrow after the funeral, and then hand sew the rest of it before washing and delivering on Sunday. I will be *so* excited to get back to stuff that (hopefully) grown-ups will drool *over* rather than that babies will drool *on.*

Sticker Shock

Sigh. Took my Kenmore in for an estimate yesterday, and looked at what else they had available; NOTHING in the used section worth my time, and $450 for one of the Huskystars that is a step above my trusty old Kenmore. Going to check the household budget and see if I can swing that one (the 224) if my Kenmore is shot. The variable speed control and the needle up/down function make for the sharpest stipple ever produced by these hands... hard to cough up $380 for a machine that won't do anything new, when $450 will put in one that DOES.

Ah well. In the meantime, I have NO sewing machine (stupid me for lending my other one out to someone with a history of never staying in the same place long), and my QE5 software hasn't arrived yet. I'm getting through lots of back ArtQuilt Journals, but little else. Hopefully the software will be here soon, and console my creative leanings until I have a working machine again!!!

What a way to start...

Hi all - I've been thinking about doing this for a while now, and today seemed like a good day to start. Why? My sewing machine went Kafluey last night, 1/3 through a binding for a piece due on Sunday!! It is a 13 year old Kenmore, and I have put it through heck and back, but it has served me well, and I am reluctant to part with it, so hopefully it will not cost a fortune to repair. I *am* toying with the idea of actually buying a 'real' sewing machine at this point (especially since my Mum said that maybe that could be my birthday present!) but I don't even use the stitches and functions on my Kenmore, so why look at a Janome or Huskie? I didn't even know that I HAD a blind hem stitch until last summer, and still haven't figured out how to use it! Lol... One thing that DOES sound really nice about the low range Huskies is the binding foot - I didn't even know that those existed until yesterday (I've been machining the front and blindstitching the back by hand all this time). Nice perk... Besides - I find myself wondering what all the fuss (and expense) is really about; my Kenmore goes forward, backward, and makes a nice zigzag stitch for applique. That HAS been all that I've needed. I've also noticed though that many people seem to judge how seriously one takes one's work by how much money one has invested in their sewing machine... and apparently the Sears brand just doesn't carry much weight! Lol... I shouldn't wonder though - folks had the same attitude when I had invested tons in my looms; even though I have done WAY more work on my sewing machine than on all of my looms combined, folks always assumed that I was more of a serious weaver than sewer. Oh well... I think I'll play around with the fancy machines at the shop, maybe pick up a used one, and get my Kenmore fixed as well. If it ain't broken, don't fix it, but WOW I wouldn't go back to handwashing every dish for all the money in the world, so maybe I should look at the next gen sewing machines too...