I Am Really Dying to Sew, Only. . .

My sewing machine is broken. I found a ton of totally fab patterns from the late 60s at a garage sale a few weeks ago. For five cents each. In my size (or really, really close to it). I'm itching to sew one.

Sheesh.

What did I do to deserve this? My mom gave me her old (as in practically antique) Bernina--you know, the kind that are all metal, and built like tanks, and designed to last for 300 years, maybe longer if they keep making the parts and if you regularly and tenderly feed it oil. It's the machine that I learned to sew on when I was a little girl. As soon as she gave it to me, the cord from the foot petal pulled out of the back (I don't want to point fingers, but there are four children around here--I'm just saying). I've tried to see if I could find a replacement foot petal online, but they look like they might be expensive--like more than $50.

And, my digital SLR has definitely died. Well, maybe not died, but it's not healthy. It reminds me of the coughing you see in historical movies; you catch a glimpse of red on a white hanky. You know this person has consumption, and that he or she is doomed--he or she will expire before the end of the film in a very dramatic and tear-filled manner. I'm afraid the end is likewise nigh for my camera.

When I take a photo, half of it is dark. Anyone have any experience with this sort of thing? I'd love to upgrade, but I'd also like to have a working camera. I was about to take photos of all those fab patterns when it died--or caught consumption. Whichever. It's especially annoying, because I was hoping to replace my laptop, since I use it for all my schoolwork. The laptop is still functional, except it doesn't close anymore. And the screen has started threatening to break off from the rest of the body. It's making really loud threats. Curse words are involved. It's a bit scary.

You'd think with the way things break around here that I torture them, or throw them around, or drop them off the Sears tower (except, I don't think they call it the Sears tower anymore--what is UP with that? Pretty soon they are going to start changing the Eiffel Tower to the Rolex Tower and the Statue of Liberty to the Statue of Liberty Mutual).

I know I'm probably not as careful as I should be, but I think things should stand up to normal use. I shouldn't have to treat them like they are made of blown glass or spun sugar. It's all cacluated by corporations, who want things to only last so long, so then you'll have to go out and buy a new one. Perhaps I'm feeling a bit bitter as I'm surrounded by all bits of the breaking things right now. Have to blame someone.

Except, I have to admit that my Bernina was made when things were made to last. I think I might be able to figure how to fix it myself. But first, I need to clean the craft room. Because I can't actually reach it. I'll keep you updated.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Project Progress: Hexagon Quilt

Hey there!

Contrary to any rumors you might have heard (or not, considering I'm just making that up right now), I have not fallen off the end of the earth or taken any voyages into space or moved to Mexico to escape the law.

I haven't posted in forever because my kids started school, and then I started school, and between the two and getting a new routine down, I didn't take any pictures of the projects I was working on. Then I started writing a few posts to explain, but they sounded all strange, so I gave that up, and thought I'd just update once I took some photos.

Which I did yesterday! So hurray! Except that my camera might have died at the end. I'm hoping it's just being a tempental artist, but with my luck since we moved, and it's age (six years seems long for a digital camera), I'm guessing it's surrendered to my heavy use.

Short story: there's a post today. Which I'm going to do a lot more often, now that I'm into my 2nd week full week of school--it's not so bad. If you're curious, I'm taking Public Speaking and Organizational Effectiveness this semester. I go to school all online, so I find it kinda hilarious that I'm taking a public speaking class. Good thing someone had the good sense to invent web cams. Anyway, I'm writing my first speech, which is about crafting! Of course. How could it not be? I might post it here once I'm all the way done.

Onto my new project progress! I've started a hexagon quilt. These things are deadly serious. This is not the type of project to start if you only kinda feel like making a quilt.

I picked out a bunch of fabrics from my stash--mostly scrap-ish ones and fat quarters--I think there are 19 different fabrics. I love these colors. They are so cheerful.

Then, the next step is to make about a billion little hexagons. I did mine by paper piecing, which basically means you wrap a rough cut of the fabric around a piece of cardstock (or paper, but I like cardstock better), tack it down at each corner on the back, and then pop the template out of the middle. It takes a surprisingly long time. My hexagons are 1" hexagons, which is the measurement of one of the sides. Yeah, still doesn't make them too big.

That isn't all the different kinds, but most of them are there.

I've been working in a sort of leap-frog fashion. So, I make six hexagons of each type of fabric (so about 120 hexagons), and then sew the hexagons together. Because I'm too impatient to make all my hexagons and then sew all the seams. Oh, and you whip-stitch the seams together. By hand.

You can see my progress so far in this photo.

And a close up. If you look closely, you can see my tiny stitches.

I'm making a lap quilt, so I would guess I'm about a third of the way done, or close to that. I'm scared to guess how many hours I've already spent on this thing. I really like watching BBC mini-series and hand-sewing. I've watched an embarrassing amount of them so far.

Not that I'm not enjoying myself, mind (do you see what they have done to me already?). I am, tremendously. I might finish this time next year. The BBC might have to ramp up their production of mini-series to keep up. We might have to start resurrecting dead novelists to keep up with the demand for material. But, in the end, I'm going to have a beautiful quilt, and I'll be able to fake an intimate knowledge of Middlemarch. Always good for an English major.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.