My Sad Sewing Machine
Poor machine. She’s eating thread and refusing to move the needle up and down, stubbornly locking up with the safety function. I’m sad, because it’s a snow day and today would be such a *great* day to sew some quilt blocks…
Oh well. Life goes on, and with shoveling every few hours to keep ahead of rapidly piling-up snow, I don’t actually have much time to sew. Instead, I’ll just bore you to tears with tales of my sad machine and pictures of the quilt blocks I’ve finished, piles of cut pieces, and rambling.
This is why I started blogging again, after Small Fry was born, you know…to bore you with babbling about my domestic life.
It’s a good thing you don’t have anything else to do today than read this. 😉
Last year I think I mentioned the quilt-along I’m doing, which is about 1 part amazing, 2 parts crazy, and 3 parts vintage awesome-sauce. Crazy, because what homeschooling mom of 6 really honestly has time to sew? Ok, ok, I admit it, I sew instead of cleaning the windows and toilets. My secret is out.
So the quilt-along is hosted by a quilter and blogger in Australia, and she organized a Facebook group, hosts swaps, keeps a blog running with tutorials by herself and other quilters. It’s pretty fun, this modern-day quilting bee. I’m pushing myself and sewing dozens of teeny weeny pieces of fabric into 6.5in squares, and by August or September, I’ll have sewn nearly 100 of them and then I will have the crazy task of putting them all together into a massive quilt. Or maybe I’ll sew a few smaller lap/couch quilts. I don’t know, I’m just happy cutting and sewing right now.
Funny, because about 10 years ago, when we first bought a sewing machine, it was for Fence, so he could save some $$ and sew his own patches on uniforms. Any time I attempted to sew anything, even the simplest kitchen curtains you can imagine, I ended up yelling at the machine and hating the process. For some reason I kept wanting to try sewing projects, and now here I am making a quilt with block designs from the the 1930s.
On Saturday, I took advantage of a 2-hour window between chores and life and having to make dinner to visit a local quilt shop. Oh.my. It was amazing. I may have touched and adored about 50 different bolts of fabric. The colors and patterns and quality beat JoAnn’s out of the park. I wandered around with no idea of what I might buy, or if I would, because I have a decent stash. But the colors…oh, they called my name. I also stumbled across a section of 1930s reprints, so I bought a few fat-quarters and a teeny charm pack so I can have at least one block in my vintage quilt using vintage patterns, too.
My sad machine. So broken and I want to play. In the meantime, I’ve been cutting pieces for a few more squares. When my machine is fixed again, then I can just sew. Forget eating and sleeping. I’ll sew.
It is so beautiful! I just finished my first quilt and it wa such fun and so very therapeutic.
that’s funny the sewing machine was originally for fence! i’m loving those farmer’s quilt squares. i can’t wait to get to that level of intricacy. wish we were next door neighbors so we could craft together on these snow days!
You are doing such beautiful work! I can’t wait to see the finished product. 🙂
Have you tried oiling your machine? Sometimes that helps if it is eating thread.