VERY EXCITED

I am way over the moon excited today. I just found out that Michael's craft store is coming to Montreal. YAYYYY!!!!!!!! Finally..... I know that it is not a good situation for the art stores in Montreal as their businesses will surely be compromised but it is such a good thing for consumers to finally find brands and products in a store rather than going online for all art stuff. As it happens now I buy most of my art products from Toronto,the States, or Europe. I think that I will be one of their best customers much to the chagrin of my family.

HOW MANY IS TOO MANY?

How many sewing machines are too many? Two, three, five????

Originally my sister had purchased a Kenmore in the late 70's and it sat in the box for what seemed like an eternity. Realising that she was never really going to sew (although it was a solid investment) she decided to hand it down to me. I on the other hand had only sewn my Barbie's dresses (by hand) mind you. I still can not recall how I was allowed to use a sewing needle. I guess it was the 70's and parents were not overly cautious about things as they are now, with good reason of course. You can never be too careful. Needless to say I was so excited. I had my own machine, even though I did not have the first clue as to how to use it. I didn't know how to set the thread tension, thread it or change the needle plate to use the zigzag stitch. Yes, of course the machine came with an instruction booklet but who has the time, and how hard can it be? Well, I broke three machine needles in one week. The first two flew by the side of my head, really fast.WHOOSH!!!!!!!!!! Before I even had time to get scared or realise how dangerous it was. I truly am not kidding.... I actually gave the machine to my father and announced that it had to be broken and please find me a repairman that could take a look at it and fix it. Boy, was I naive not to mention stupid. He obviously "thought" I knew what I was talking about so he took it in to be repaired. There was a repairman in our neighbourhood who actually worked on different kinds of sewing machines. The man checked it out and did not waste anytime in telling my father that I should read the instruction manual that came with the machine because I was trying to sew zigzag while all the time using a straight stitch needle plate, meaning the needle would strike the needleplate and snap in two. It was sweet sailing after I read the manual and was able to understand the different settings. I actually even broke one of the feet as the needle kept hitting it repeatedly, and it broke off. To this day I remember those days and laugh at my ignorance.

Fast forward to the 90's and my uncle was closing down his garment factory and tried to sell off most of the equipment. He asked me if I wanted one of the industrials and I leapt with joy!!!!!!!Who wouldn't? To this day it is still one of the best gifts I have ever received. In my eyes it is even more gratifying than owning a car. I know that only a real seamstress would ever understand that acknowledgement. But it felt like someone had gifted me the Hope diamond!!! I had to pinch myself, for real.

In the early 2000's I contemplated buying a serger since I would hand finish all my garments and thought I really needed one and could not live without. Thankfully the price of sergers was so high that my pocketbook took care of that decision and quickly nixed that idea. Good sergers go from $450 and up and it still doesn't look like the price will ever come down. Lack of space was also another factor so that idea got shelved for good and I quickly forgot about that.

Flash forward to this summer. I was getting antsy about computerized sewing machines and kept researching them on the net and thinking I really, truly, absolutely could not live without one. My still living Kenmore only had 12 decorative stitches and I was seriously crushing on the machines with 200+ that I could not see straight. My co-worker suggested I look into Pfaff. He owned one and sweared by its accuracy and solid construction. He suggested I speak to a dealer he had bought his from and so I looked into it very seriously. Let's just say that Pfaff sewing machines do not come cheap. I looked at other brands as well, but finally settled on the Pfaff Expression 4.0. It sewed beautifully had 200+stitches with a nice bright screen and automatic one step buttonholes (several different styles), it has an automatic threader, indicates to you when your bobbin is running low and the sewing foot is moved up or down at the touch of a button (believe it or not I still can not get used to the fact that there is no physical lever to lift the sewing foot). I caved. Yup, I bought one. It is the newest addition to my sewing family. Oh, and I also have a very small one for sewing up my cards. How many does that make? You got it, four altogether. Somedays I feel kinda guilty but when I can accomplish certain tasks with efficiency the guilt kind of dissipates and I feel very blessed. On the industrial (which happens to be a Brother) I have sewn hefty weighty materials on my Kenny I have sewed just about every type of material and he is my most treasured machine because I have had him for so long. The Expression is my proud realization of how far I have come and how much I have accomplished. I could not even adjust the tension on my previous machine and here I am choosing stitches and different threads to create amazing designs and figuring out how to sequence different designs together and save them onto the machine itself. I have also come a long way from sewing up a storm for Barbie to sewing up a storm for myself. Sewing is medecine for me and I guess you can never have too much medecine!!!!!!!!!!!

Guilty Pleasures

Over the past couple of years I have picked up card making (I am an avid collecter of rubber stamps) I use them to stamp on fabric but mostly on paper. I guess I love creating them because it challenges my brain to come up with different designs as well as color combos.







I guess my favourite stamps are Hero Arts, Papertrey Ink and Impression Obsession. I have several clear bins of my favourites and it has become my guilty pleasure. My New Year's resolution of this year has been to organize my craft area and not buy so much!

Can anyone tell I love making baby cards!!!

CELEBRATIONS

I hope that everyone has had a Merry Christmas and that the New Year brings everyone health, happiness and a renewed outlook on life. I thought that Christmas crept up on me very quickly this year and between work and taking care of my mom it was a little difficult to go all out and decorate and pay attention to the details. So almost last minute I remembered that I had bought a Christmas village complete with little people one year but had squirreled it away. So I got it out and then was sort of stumped as to how to decorate it with the lights I had just bought. I tried to go around each little house but the thick green wires were exposed and oh, what an ugly sight that was. Then I took the chance and shoved all the lights underneath the polyester fiberfill I had in my stash and used for snow. I absolutely loved the results. The "fake snow" glowed beautifully. I was actually afraid that the little lights would get very warm and may start a fire, so that was why I was hesitant. The lights didn't even get warm, so that showed me that it was pretty safe.

I loved the results. And so did my family. Check it out.

What attracted me to these little houses was that they are little ceramic miniatures of art.The glaze on them is just delicious. There is so much shine, color and texture on them and they are small in scale so I can scatter several all around and it does really resemble a tiny village. I have a general store, a dress shop and a church and a schoolhouse and the little people are just as varied. I have a father and son, a young couple, an older couple and two friends and just love imagining scenarios for them and placing them in different locations. I got the fence from Canadian Tire and it was my last add-on purchase. When I saw the fence I fell in love I thought it was spectacularly perfect. It adds a touch of reality to the whole scene. Now I just have to find small little trees to complete the look. This village was my tree replacement for this year and it seemed to be a hit with everyone.

I just can't wait till next year to add more accessories to my little village. Just planning and dreaming of the outcome is what I enjoy the most.

BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

Today is the first day in over a month that I have actually breathed a sigh of relief. My mom had cataract surgery in one eye to remove a "very mature" cataract. Even though this surgery is very common she was terrified to have the procedure done and so went years without removing it. When I mean years, I mean many, like a decade. When the doctor removed it he said it was a biggie so for the past several months we have been going to doctor's visits and she has been dreading having the surgery and along with that I have been feeling the stress that has left me with many sleepless nights. There have been many arguements between us as she had dug in her heels several times and refused to go ahead with the scheduled surgery.
When we left the doctor's office on Thursday I bombarded her with a series of questions like, "What color is this and this and this....." I pointed to my blouse and to the stop sign on the corner and to the green jacket I was wearing and time and time again she had the correct color. Whereas before I would get the same answer. Everything was either beige, brown or dark grey. She could not see color for ten years or so. Not just color she could barely see anything. I cried like a baby in the middle of the street because I was so happy and relieved that the surgery was finally over. I have had several years of pent up stress and frustration over this situation and praise God that everything has gone right.

Project Progress

Tatting is still my main focus for the moment. I have not wandered off to "create" other things. So far I have finished 1/10th of my project. Not even near the middle. I have done the top half of my edging. After this I have three more insertions to make and I will attach all of them together and crochet or sew them to the edge of my scarf.



I showed a co-worker of mine what I was doing and the amount of work which I still had to do on it and the only thing he could tell me was that he hoped I did not forget it on the bus because then all my hard work would be enjoyed by someone else. I don't even want to think of that scenario, let alone live it.

My mother says that it will be too ornate but I figure I want to go all the way on this one. I am glad that I picked this color though. It reminds me of the color of sand which is always wet as the water keeps running over it.

My progress is very slow but steady and I am trying not to get bored very quickly like I always seem to do. Its not hard to catch my attention but very hard to keep it! For the moment this is the only picture I have of my progress.

The only negative thing is that the tendonitis on my left elbow is acting up but the pain is manageable for now. I am hoping that it does not get too bad before I could finish the whole thing. Will keep everyone posted!

NOAH'S ARK

Well, I have already mentioned that we have kitties living in the back yard under the balcony (in the shed) where we keep our rakes and extra "stuff". I neglected to mention though that there are birds nesting again in the front of the house under my sister-in-law's balcony. They managed to construct a nest in a small crevice under the balcony where a wooden board was slightly loose. They knitted together twigs and fibers and created a little home and had their babies. Every morning the babies chirp incessantly waiting for their parents to feed them. I can even hear them when I wake up in the morning and the window is closed. Let's just say they can be heard clearly every morning and afternoon. I still do not understand how they managed to squeeze into such a small space. I am guessing at the dimensions but they may be somewhere like 3 inches long and 2 inches deep. There is definately more than two birds in that crawl space. Too tight for my taste.
So aside from those little critters, I found out that I had even more visitors coming my way. Let's see, their Head of State is a Queen and they set up colonies immediately when invading a territory. Unfortunately, they are not of the British variety. Neither Wills nor Kate, but I did get colonized pretty fast. My kitchen that is. Instantly saw those little suckers when I dropped something on the floor and stooped to pick it up. I started to realise that I was outnumbered. I did a stupid thing right off the bat, I vacuumed them because they were everywhere, now they are probably colonizing in my vaccuum. Not too smart!!!! I tried stepping on them hoping they would not send signals back home that they had found a new country and to send more troops but that didn't work either. .....They kept coming, one on the water cooler, 5 on my kitchen table. I wiped, I cleaned, I disinfected but to no avail. I purchased ant traps from Canadian Tire and set them up along the corners and in front of the patio doors. I stepped back and hoped that they would check in to eat the tainted peanut butter in the traps. The scent of food brought them out for sure, in high numbers, but they just scurried along the traps, stopping to smell the trap and then go on their merry way. I was livid and pulling my hair out by this point because they kept coming in and I would check outside but could not see a point of entry. I drove my brother crazy, so we took a little trip to Reno Depot and I perused through the aisle where they keep the insecticides. I finally settled on a small little bottle of "Raid: Liquid Ant Killer", main ingredient: 7.7 % borax....... Enough said. I went home and squirted the liquid along the baseboards, in the corners and in front of the patio doors. In two minutes I had used up the entire bottle. They came in droves, I tell you. They drank and drank and drank, I actually thought that some of them looked slightly hammered because they would wander off and bump into the wall. I don't think that they could get enough of this stuff!!!!! It was like nectar. In the evening I was literally inondated. I got grossed out, so I closed the light and ate in a different room of the house.
In the morning, I checked and there were only two or three wandering on my kitchen floor. When I came back from work yesterday evening there was only one walking across my floor. My brother joked that he was wondering where all his friends went. I thought that was funny. This morning I saw nothing. No activity, I am hoping they are out of my house. For anyone out there who has ants and is trying to get rid of them, ant traps DO NOT WORK.........Get the liquid stuff, it works like a charm (for the time being). I am just hoping that I have seen the last of them.