Picked up Edna Elizabeth today. She was supposed to be done Thursday. She was not. She was not done Friday, either. And not on Saturday. And today when I stopped by the shop to pick up a free motion foot while we were in that area of town, it turns out that she was just sitting there, done, waiting for me since late Saturday. No one had called.
So we got her in the car (and they scratched her up a bit). And I got her home. And we moved furniture. And set her up. And got all ready to plug her in…but her power cord was nowhere to be found.
Not loving my sewing machine repair guys right now. Not loving them one little bit.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Posted in gifts
For my Nana’s birthday Friday, I made her an oven mitt and potholder to match the apron I made her for Christmas. I was really excited about this idea…until I was talking on the phone with my Nana and heard what my cousin was getting her. My cousin was taking her to Disneyland. I was like “Oh. I made you a potholder. That’s probably the same.”
(PS–See my shiny new oven? Our landlord replaced our previous oven–the same model the baby Jesus bought HIS grandmother for HER birthday. The nobs correspond to the actual temperature and everything. It’s pretty fancy. You know, not as fancy as a POTHOLDER, but pretty fancy.)
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Posted in aprons
I have a bunch of projects from late last week to share. We’ve had a bit of a whopper of a month. In addition to Nic’s concussion after falling down the stairs, I dropped my camera and lens down a set of stairs and broke the lens in half, Nic totaled his Jeep two days before Christmas, and Will spilled a glass of water last week and fried my laptop to the tune of a $1200 repair. To quote my father’s favorite phrase, we are hemorrhaging money. So it feels a bit like the universe has it out for us and I’m more than a little scared about what is around the bend.
Anyway…without my laptop the downloading and uploading pictures process doesn’t happen quite as often or quickly, since I have to go to the office and do it versus getting to do it while doing 18 other tasks downstairs.
On Thursday I finished the last of the aprons from what I will forever think of as the 2010 Apron Extravaganza. I’d cut the fabric for this after doing the second or third apron, thinking how much I loved the pattern and how much Will would love it if I had a Dr Seuss apron. I didn’t consider that by the time all the gifts were made I might be seriously sick of sewing aprons. So it took a little while and I dragged it out, but it’s done, and cute, and Will already borrowed it.
On Friday Will got to use the sewing machine for the first time. He got to operate the foot pedal and then sew the scrap I use as a lead/follow piece to conserve thread. This quilt is super exciting to me–I love the way it’s coming together.
The number one question I’m asked is how I have time for crafts. Part of it is luck–my kids play super nicely together and will happily play around me as I sew, and Nic has his own hobbies so we’re both happy to spend an hour or two in the evening together, but working on separate things. Part of it is habit–I never ‘just’ watch tv–I watch a lot of tv and movies, but I’m never just sitting–I’m always editing photos or sewing or folding laundry or emailing. Part of it is staying up really late–the kids go to bed at 7, so if I stay up until midnight that’s 5 hours of non-kid time! And part of it is efficiency. So maybe I don’t have time to get out the sewing machine, sew, and clean it all up before dinner, but the kids are playing nicely and I have ten minutes before we have to leave for an errand or preschool or playdate. I’ll use that time to pick out fabrics for the next block, or maybe cut fabrics for the next block, or get a pattern selected and cut out for a gift. Then when I’m able to get out the sewing machine, everything is ready. (Picking out fabrics ahead of time is also great during the winter months if you do the majority of your sewing at night. Indoor lights really skew colors, so it’s easier to select fabrics during daylight hours!) Here were the fabric stacks for blocks 6, 7, and 8 all ready to go for me when I had time to cut and sew.
At this time yesterday I was sitting at the bottom of the stairs, listening to the 911 dispatcher , holding a towel to the cut on my husband’s head as he lay unconscious on the floor. Both kids had woken up to the sound of me screaming Nic’s name, trying to wake him up, running to grab the phone. Ellie was in her crib crying, Will was at the middle of the stairs, tears streaming down his face as he took it all in, asking “Is Daddy dead? I don’t want Daddy to die!”
Nic steadily came to, the EMTs arrived, he went to the hospital and got the stitches and CAT scan and EKG and bloodwork. His memory started to return and we took him home. As Nic lay on the sofa and remembered that it was January and all the little things that had first evaded him, and Will replaced the trauma of the morning with the audaciousness of the little boy next door NOT SHARING THE PIECES they had been playing with, I was filled with the nervous energy of having glimpsed an entirely different world. And so after the dishes were done and the blood and vomit and EMT bootprints were wiped from the floor, I picked up pieces and sewed them together.
Will sat on my lap and operated the foot pedal and we made this lastest block #9 for the sherbet pips quilt:
We have to get the dragon, Jerk.
Will, to Nicolas while playing WOW. APPARENTLY someone has picked up on game smack talk. A quick discussion about that not being an appropriate thing to call your father, EVEN IF IT’S A JOKE followed.
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A.J. Dub - Stinkers! Hope you get a refund or discount or something!
Fran - Grrrr! What a giant disappointment!
Alli - Oh no! That’s so sad, especially since you specially mentioned how much you loved your repair guys. 🙁