Purling Sprite

Patchwork Pincushion FO

The holidays are around the corner, usually this is a time when I get a little sad and I drag my feet. Loneliness creeps in and the reality of my no-family situation in this area hits home.

Thanksgiving is almost here and we will be spending it all by ourselves--the four of us eating probably a roasted chicken with some savory side dishes. While my Mom and my little brother have their Thanksgiving also by themselves in NY. Both sides probably wishing that we could be closer and spending time with each other. Life sometimes is rotten but a little glitter was thrown into my day today. Mom called and she said that there is a 90% chance that she may come to spend Christmas with us! I was looking at tickets and trying to see how we could arrange everything (time and finances). She only gets 8 days off, including weekends and holidays, so we are working on a very short-time frame and the busiest time of the airline season. However, my heart is rejoicing and I can't wait to tell the children that this Christmas Grandma will be here with us! I am so excited and I am hoping that it will come about.

After chatting with my Momma on the phone, I was feeling so good and happy that I wanted to make something crafty. On Friday, I took my zoomer for a little drive and I went to the craft store and picked up some material to make some pincushions that I read about on Sew Mama Sew. I followed the tutorial on Leah's blog for the Patchwork Pincushion and now I have a pincushion for my T-shaped blocking pins. The tutorial is superb! Easy to follow and answers every question a newbie might have. I am a huge dumbo when it comes to the sewing machine and I was able to do it in about an hour. The hardest part: sewing the pretty buttons. I don't have any good thread around here just 100% polyester and that broke off a couple of times. I definitely will be looking for the waxed linen thread that Leah recommends.

Thanks Leah for the great tutorial and for giving my creativity another outlet.

And guess what...I am nearing my 500 post and my 5000th comment! I wonder if I can do it before the end of the year! That would be sooo neat, momentous occasions both.

Meet my Nemesis

Arrgggh! I am still upset. I wanted to wait long enough to make a nice post about it, but I cannot get over it. I suck at sewing!! I know why I have been given the gift of knitting and loom knitting--cuz if the world ever ends, I can knit my family and myself some clothing, cuz if I have to depend on a sewing machine, we might as well just wear blankets around our bodies like a toga!

I broke down and bought a sewing maching on Saturday--nothing fancy, no bells and whistles. Granted, I wanted to open it and start sewing the rectangle to line my bag. But instead, I spent the first 2 hours trying to figure out how to fill the bobbin with thread---argh!! Why doesn't it come ready to use! Bobbin, what the heck is a bobbin? The instructions were vague to everything, I guess they expected me know how a sewing machine works....especially, how it is supposed to be threaded. I guess, I am the perfect candidate for a book entitled: Sewing for Idiots

A few tries later, I finally had the bobbin (little plastic thingy) full of thread. Funny, all I had to do was step on the scary pedal and the thread just wrapped around it--pretty neat. I want something like that for my yarn :).

Threading it was out of reach for this dumbo, so I called my dear friend Dlandra and crashed her Sunday afternoon. It only took the Sewing Goddess about 30 seconds to thread the thing--mind you wihout instructions!! Of course, once I saw how to get it thread it, it sunk in--I guess I am more of a visual person.

The machine ran fine at her house, nice stitches, no loopyness, but that changed. Once I got it home (I think it got bumped on the car ride) the tension was completely off and all the stitches were messy, loopy, the fabric kept getting eaten by the little hole that goes down to the bobbin. It was irritating, it was midnight, and no one to help me, not even my wonderful hubby was  able to help me :(.

After grueling hours of cussing at the thing, I managed to make two little rice bags (bean bags).

Bryant already requested: pajamas, a new pillow case, and slippers---and yet, all I can do is little bean bags!

I shall conquer this sewing monster, even if it gives me gray hairs!