New Home

Testing out my New Home machine again. It's been a long time since I have used it and last time I had trouble with thread breaking and bunching up. Today I put in a new needle and tried to find the best tension/ refamiliarize myself with the dials. On the first test run it seems fine. One thing I noticed is its straight stitches are slightly diagonal. 

Just barely, but enough for me to notice. 

Anyway 2 out of 4 machines working is good! My dad got this machine for me at a yard sale, so it has been sentimental to me. Plus it has fun colors! 

Back to sorting and trying to organize!

Stitch by stitch

So. The secret Christmas Present making continues. I got a lot of knitting done on a project when we went to see a movie and only had a few mistakes to fix the next morning. Since the pattern was simple it was easy to drop down 10 rows and fix the stitches. I love not wasting time and often knit in the car too, if I am not the driver.

I have finished 3 projects (sewing, sewing & knitting), and am in the middle of 4. (They involve knitting, knitting, embroidery, and painting/glitter). Trying to keep a list so I keep everything straight.

One of the projects I finished used up some stash fabric and was pretty quick to make once I had all the pieces cut to the same shape. It felt great to be able to use stash as I have not been sewing much this summer, and a lot of my stash is smaller pieces. I am looking forward to my new craft room so much!

I love vintage sewing rooms: Here is a 60s/70s one. Main things I need: Lots of light, Storage ( I already have one big piece of storage furniture.) Ironing board (My husband is hoping to build one that comes down from the wall. I will need to locate a good chair I guess too.
I do hope someday to fix a few of my machines. I guess I have 4. Only one that works well. There is one I do not have cords for, one I'm not sure if I have cords for. One my dad got me at a yard sale that probably just needs a tune up. Hopefully someday I can take them in to a repair shop and see what we can do. I may not need 4 machines, but two might be good in case I need to lend one, or have a friend over sewing. I would love to get a surger someday too, I really don't know a whole lot about other machines.

Here is a West African beans and rice recipe we like. I made curry lentil soup last night because it is cold outside.

Next time I blog we may have our new house and be painting furiously!

Springtime knitting

Here are some current photos of two projects I am working on. Knitted socks for me.

              Please excuse the basement apartment lighting... I'm sure I have said before, this is my lunch time knitting and keep-in-my-purse knitting. 

Baby sweater for a friend. Using the Baby Sophisticate pattern for worsted yarn. It is a really pretty navy (not so dark as the photo). It looks small but I realized the collar will add to the width around. I am doing a 12 month size, but I know my yarn is considered a light worsted.

Other news of sorts. We are trying to buy a house. We have to move soon from our current spot. And my husband has to move his small business. So we are trying to get a house to combine it all. We have one in mind but are not sure if we will get it. If we do It needs a ton of work, like redoing all the flooring and removing wallpaper etc. lots of painting, of course. I am excited and nervous at the same time!

Sewing machine cover

I made a sewing machine cover! It is from a tutoril online I promise I will link to it soon! (Currently posting via my phone).
Anyway, i had seen the tutorial a long time ago, finally a few months ago i printed it and today i got the chance to sew it! I spent the afternoon today looking through all my sewing stuff and trying to sort it a little. (Mainly dreaming about projects).

I also finished a project from a long time ago... it was a dress i think or shirt that i cut the top off years ago. I made a sash and made it into an apron. Not that i need any more aprons, but they fun.

Also i cut a few triangle squares for a future quilt(?). Basically most of my fabric is in small amounts, a lot just scraps. Quilts are one way to use it up, also rag rugs and the like. I have some pieces maybe 2 yards or so of nicer stuff but i need to find the right patterns for them.

Sewing machines.

Just thought I'd share my sewing machine I got this spring from a friend. I'm so grateful to have a machine that works well!!
I grew up sewing on a simple white machine (I don't know the brand). It had tension problems and seemed to just give up one day even though my dad is usually good at fixing things and I'm sure he looked at it several times.
Then we adopted my grandmother's brown Singer Slant-o-Matic. My mother still has that one. It is true that they don't make things like they used to. It is a great machine, I have sewn several quilts and dresses with it. Probably most of my projects for about the last 10 years.
I also have a very heavy black/dark gray machine (I also can't remember the brand, sorry, it may be a White) that my uncle gave me as a Christmas present. It has never had the correct cords, though I assume I could find them online. For how heavy it is, I'm not sure how practical it is unless it was put in a table.
I also have a white New Home machine my dad found for me at a yard sale a few years back. I'm sure it just needs someone professional to get it running better. I used it a little, but the tension and other issues just made it a hassle.
And just in the summer, I got a gray vintage machine (I believe it is a Kenmore) from my father in law. I have yet to clean it and try it out. It did come with a box of presser feet and extra goodies.

It's amazing how many machines one can collect and hopefully I will get more of them up and running, even if I pass them along. It would be nice to keep one of the vintage ones perhaps if they work well.

Growing up the sewing machine was always something we had to set up and clean up once done (or once my mom was tired of it taking up the dining room table). I'm so grateful to have the space to leave my machine up.

Now I just need to make a cover for it!