I made a crab...

Current Mood : Busy ! Again ! 

Current Image Notes : This is the second bag I made for Dearest Son, the back of it. I just love the little ‘fireworks' design ! It's about the third thing I embroidered, after some test initials, the heart and shield I made for Beloved Hubby, and Bag 1.0.

 

Today, I made a crab ! Not just any crab, but an All-American crab ! My first trial with appliqué on Brody went pretty well. The appliqué-ed fabric isn't as flat and taut as it could be, but since I was working with next to no directions, I think I did pretty well. I like my crab !

 

Well, the situation over at that machine embroidery site is degenerating. It's not really that bad, but one repsonder's word choice was easily misunderstood, and the others darn near turned on her. She meant, ‘here, if it helps, you can have my points and my membership - I won't download anything else, so maybe that'll help you out.' Unfortunately, it's always hard to sense mood in written words, so it was misunderstood, as ‘Fine, be a jerk about the points. Here, you can have mine and my membership, I don't  care.' Luckily, I mostly stayed out of it, save for a ‘things get better, hope you don't go' note that got lost in the shuffle.

 

As have most of my messages. The second ‘Newbie Learning Series' got read about a dozen times with no comments. So I won't be posting them anymore. Oh, I'll still write them - it's pretty much what I wish I could have read while Brody was en route. I'll just post ‘em on my site.

 

I'm starting to wonder if all my bad relationships with forums and message boards have only one thing in common - me. I start out lurking, then post, get a great welcome...and usually within a week, I'd have to stand on my head and shoot fireworks out of sensitive areas for anyone to read my posts. So I give up trying, and don't go anymore. And I wonder what I did wrong... but by then, I've picked up another interest, or received a message asking why I don't post anymore, and the whole mess begins again. I had too much going on before Brody showed up in my life, I have even less time now ! So I think I'll spend my time sewing, not begging for points and attention scraps. Heck, I got my own blog and two sites, you'd think that'd be enough !

 

And frankly, after all the drama over points over there, I'd normally have walked away three days ago. But I want to use the points I've earned, and I'm still collecting them. It's more from spite than want, really. There's too many sites and too much to do - I don't have the life to waste on this junk.

 

Did you know there are some folks who bought an ME machine, found various free design sites, and haven't sewn a stitch ? Ever ! They're too busy downloading and organizing to actually do anything. At least I haven't gotten that bad.

All's well that re-stitches well...

 

Current Mood : Happy with Self

Current Image Notes : Here's the mystery snowflake. You can hardly tell I ran out of bobbin thread twice, top thread once, used two colors on the top and two on the bottom, removed the embroidery platform and replaced it, and restarted it from an erased-from-stitching-memory reboot !

 

Stitched up the free-standing lace book clip today - you get that photo soon. Eventually, the photos will catch up, and I'll be able to show you stuff the day I do it !

 

My first FSL did not go well. Last month, I purchased the ultimate in water soluble stabilizer (WSS), UltraSolvy. The strongest WSS out there, it said. What the heck, it was on sale. Huh. Too bad it wouldn't hold two stitches in a row ! I tried three times, and the thread skipped all over the place. Even doubled the UltraSolvy, and that was even worse. Adding a layer of tulle and adjusting the tension didn't work either.

 

So I dumped the USolvy and stitched the same design on two layers of cheap stabilizer (used dryer sheets), and it stitched out near perfectly. There was a thread tangle, somehow the thread looped around the needle, but I simply stopped the design, removed the hoop, cut and picked out the small thread nest, reinstalled the hoop, backed the needle to about where the snarl started, and started it up again. From the finished item, you can't tell there was a single problem.

 

Cut it free from the dryer sheets, and touched up the edges with a Sharpie magic marker, and it looks fabulous. Can't even tell there's supposed to be an elephant there. I lucked out, one of the SiCK forum habitués recommended that I download Ambassador for those mystery designs - and it's wonderful. Shows the complete thread path of the whole design, where it stops, where to cut threads, how many stitches it is, where it stops and starts, the overall size - pretty much exactly what you wanna know before you stitch something out, especially if there's no stitch chart included. And it even showed me that the stitching was solid, there'd be no blank space for the elephant if I decided to omit him. Love it !

 

I guessed that maybe I should have used a smaller needle, and as it turned out, I was. The holes were too big from the 14 to hold the thread, which is why most FSL projects call for an 11. Just wish that'd been in the directions - I'm very literal the first time I attempt a craft project. Live and learn.

 

From there, I decided to cross ‘try something from a purchased design' and loaded a dress form I liked. It stitched out great. Unfortunately, I went to touch a bit of it up with the Sharpie... and it blotted onto the adjoining fabric. Shoot. So I cut it close to the design, treated the edges with FrayCheck, and super-glued a magnet to the back. Now I have a neat fridge magnet that looks great with the vintage-style ones Joanne sent me. And I wrote ‘fine point Sharpie or felt tip pens' on the grocery list.

 

Got a note from the library - the book on digitizing I requested is back in, and will be held for me until Wednesday. I'm hoping I can pick it up Monday, in Molly-car. Beloved Hubby says he's working on her this weekend, and think she should be back up Sunday - I'm sure hoping so. I'd be so nice to have a car again...

The economy...is there nothing we can't blame on it ?

 

Current Mood : Doubtful

Current Image Notes : Time to sew ! 

 

Today, I embroidered ! You'll get to see my special snowflake tomorrow - I just wanted to finish the 'Shinobu's Sewing Room' photos. And since the SiCK site has completely revamped its points system as of this afternoon, I'll have more time to do so. It's fine, it was a free incentive anyway, and I was waaay too obsessed with it, even I knew that, but it was kind of a whizzer. They cut the points, then got on the forum to explain, too late  -  the denizens had already discovered the changes and were heatedly discussing. Site owner said too many people had too many points, no kidding - the program was in place for ten days shy of three months, and one frequent flier had amassed over 33,000 ! So now, you can stay up 24-7, and unless you post a lot on the forum, have about 27 points a day to show for it. I was routinely harvesting 75 a day, which required some dedication, but allowed for sleep.

 

It just kind of bugged me that the owner said too many folks were getting free sets and not buying any. Um, well, I bought about 30 dollar sets, and earned one free one. If I'd have paid full price for the sets I bought, it would have been five sets, with one free, so I don't think it was me causing the problem. And really, it shouldn't have taken a few people earning enough for 80+ sets in less than 80 days to tell the guy his business model was a bit off.

 

Still, ya can't whine too much when the free gravy train stops. You know it won't go forever when you're lucky enough to get on one. I just find his reasoning a bit odd - he blames the economy when his ‘recent sales page' is constantly refilling, there's ads on every download page, he has a thriving eBay trade, and there's over 4000 paying members. If he wants to cut freebies, that's fine and it's his right to do so, but ya can't blame folks for taking what ya offer for free. And then blame the economy.

 

So. Now that I'm not constantly over there, I can break away and actually use some of what I've downloaded over the past few weeks. I've even made up a list of things I haven't attempted yet. I thought this week, I'd try to load a 5-inch by 7-inch design. Brody can only embroider a four-inch square. I also wanted to check on those two unidentifiable mystery designs. Yesterday, I got my desk all cleaned off, so I could bring in Brody for new designs. Today, I loaded the two mysteries - one was a duplicate, the other was still a question, so I downloaded that one and deleted the dupe.

 

I also decided I wanted to try to stop Brody before a design was complete, to see what would happen. The elephant book clip seemed perfect for that, so I loaded it up, too. And while I was at it, it occurred to me that I hadn't given feedback for a set I purchased, so I loaded one of those. Thank Everything I wrote down my directions, because I'd nearly forgotten how to get a design in memory !

 

The mystery design was bugging me - I knew it was a snowflake, but which one ? Well, no time like the present ! It was busily humming away at a twelve-point image when the bobbin ran out of thread. Whoops ! I loaded the last bobbin I had loaded, and it wasn't very much. Can't use the ones that I have for KJ, they're different sizes. Predictably, it ran out, too, with stitching still to go. Yikes. Now what ?

 

Well, about all I could do was cut threads, note where it stopped to reset it after, remove the embroidery platform, wind the bobbin, and reinstall and restart the embroidery. One small problem - evidently, your small, giveaway designs don't come with either thread charts or thread counts. So I had no idea where the stitching stopped. Not much I could do but keep going. Made two bobbins from other thread, and found that, by holding the ‘needle +' selector, the needle would retrace the design, and I could stop it where I thought we left off, and begin to sew there. Cool !

 

Since I had no idea when stitching would be over since I had no image of the design, it should come as no surprise when I ran out of top thread, too. At least that was easier to fix ! Found a similar color, and soon, it was done. Not a bad little snowflake ! And I've learned quite a bit from it. Not sure what I'm gonna do with it right now, but I took a photo, for my own reference. It's got some errors - I tried to hand-fix a spot where I forgot to back the needle up - but on the whole, it's not bad at all.

 

Oh, and as for trying to load a too-big design - Brody simply won't do it. It'll go down the USB pipeline, but won't be stored even in temp memory. If I want to use the big designs, I'll have to learn to split ‘em. And I'll need a bit more experience before tackling that task ! But, it's two items off the Schedule of Efforts !

 

Tomorrow - stopping a design before it's done - on purpose this time ! - and using wash-away stabilizer to baby-step into free-standing lace projects. All of that will come into play for the elephant book clip, and if there's time left, I'm gonna try to stitch out a dress form from a purchased set.

 

I have so much time now. I really should thank the site owner and the economy for the liberation !

The Odyssey of the Hoop !

 

Current Mood : Slightly miffed

Current Image Notes : All else fails, leaf through a magazine for ideas ! 

 

So, OK, there's a nice chunk of change left in Checking from last month, and Beloved Hubby tells me to have some fun with it. Well, I already have nearly every set I'm remotely interested in from Designs by SiCK and the online community of machine embroidery design sellers at large, and Brody - yes, that's the embroidery machine's name - is doing quite well with normal thread and the supplies I already have. Some of which I haven't even opened yet ! I've run out of places to put dolls, and my crafting boxes runneth over three months ago, with yard sale season shimmering with promise on the horizon.

 

Sure, I could have some fun when Molly-car's back on the road - Beloved's working on her this weekend !! - but there's not a lot I want anywhere. About all I need for Brody to have a full complement of accessories is that larger hoop... I wouldn't be making bigger patterns, but I could make continuous ones without having to ‘rehoop' the fabric.

 

Larger hoop. Hmmm.... I soon had the part number and quotes from BrotherMall.com, a site actually run by Brody's manufacturer, and AllBrands.com, a well-respected online dealer in just about any small-engine appliance. I didn't bother with eBay, because this is something I could order new and without issues attached. So I was gonna. With BrotherMall's first-time-customer coupon, the two companies were within a few bucks of each other. So I decided to go with BrotherMall. I'd abbreviate them as ‘BM', since that's how I feel about them now, but I'm trying to be nice, without a lot of success...

 

Hit the requisite buttons, learned it was a bit higher due to sales tax, but that was fine. I'd have it soon ! Waited for the e-mail confirmation... which said it was on back order, but should be in around March 17^th or so. And then, they'd ship it to me in three to five days. Whaaaa ? It didn't say that on the order page ! Or when I forked over the payment ! Retraced the whole transaction... nope, nowhere did it say they were out of stock.

 

So I called their toll-free. Yup. Outta stock, too bad. No, the only way you'll know when we're out of stock is when we tell you. Only way for you to know when they're back in stock is to call and ask. (sigh) The one time I try to be extravagant when it's not tip-related... I cancelled the order, but I was more upset about the cancel than the operator.

 

From there, I hit AllBrands again. Now this is more like it ! It'll be here March 9^th ! I even found a $5. off code that'd make shipping free. Except... when I put the code in, the ‘Delivering March 9' became ‘We're sorry, but we are unable to estimate delivery date'. Huh ? I backed out of the site, and reworked the order. Same thing again. Did I go to the back of some queue for using a coupon ? So I called. Aaand, guess what ? They're out of stock, too ! And they have no idea when they'll get more in. Now I'm frustrated, so I ask why they have three listed on eBay, and why their site lists the hoop as shipping from their warehouse that day. Operator doesn't know. But she's showing they've been out of stock for two weeks, minimum. 

 

I honestly have no idea why these companies seem to think it's no big deal to not tell customers when something's not in stock. Especially when the order form indicates it is ! Now I get to hope she did cancel the order and that the payment doesn't go through. And I nearly did the same thing again ! Yet both operators seemed to think it's just the way things should be - the customers don't know squat, they sit on all the info, and decide when and even if to share it.

 

Well, long as I was on eBay... I found another dealer and bought it from them. A bit cheaper, and they verified they had it in their hands, and could get it in the mail tomorrow. I could have done the whole transaction in 30 minutes if BrotherMall and AllBrands had just been honest or at least not so scheming with their information. Now I'll avoid both companies like the plague, and woe betide either that asks me to fill out a be-darned survey. And it took most of the morning, listening to bad hold music so I can talk to operators who really don't care. I don't really expect them to take things personally, but shrugging at me and mentally filing their nails didn't give me a rosy impression of either of ‘em.

Fun with a 'Quick Curl Boutique' case and some hand-made props...

 

Current Mood : Feeling like me.

Current Image Notes : Sifting through patterns... Shinobu needs to change her calendar.

 

Yaay ! My ‘cheap' ways are even coming through during my machine embroidery crazy days ! The design site I frequent has free hourly designs and ‘hunts' - you track down where this free design came from, and you get points and the single design. I've earned enough points for a free design set of my choice, too.

 

Anyway, one of the freebies today was a bookmark clip - kind of like a paper clip made of thread ! - with an elephant on it. I like the clip idea, just not much on the elephant. I discovered thread charts, most of yer good designs have ‘em. It's a page showing the path the embroidery machine will take to stitch the design, how much of how many threads it'll take, how many stops (machines stop so you can change thread colors), how big the final design is, etc. Most freebies don't have thread charts, but some do. And the ones from that SiCK site do, since each freebie is also for sale.

 

So, I took a closer look at the thread chart, and found that the design sews the clip part first, elephant last. I'm thinking I can sew the clip, and just stop it before it sews the pachyderm. Then I'll have a blank clip to hand-embroider or whatever. And it was free ! It does, however, occur to me that there may be a blank spot left for the elephant. If that's the case, I'll switch off the embroidery function and use the ‘darning' stitching pattern. Or attach a patch or flat-back fake gemstone to it. Worth a shot, right ?

 

Sad thing is, if I wait another week or so, the whole set will probably go on sale for $1. sooner or later. But I'm happy to get a freebie I can really use ! Now I just gotta go through all the designs I've either downloaded as freebies or paid for, and get those thread charts.

 

I'm cleaning house all week so I can experiment a bit on Thursday. I've downloaded some very tiny designs to use on doll clothes - and if I figure out Sophie Sew, I may yet do my own Barbie logo before she's 51 ! Oh, I'd love that...

Earning a migraine in between-the-lines ad copy decoding...

 

Current Mood : slightly head-achy

Current Image Notes : Hi, Shinobu ! What's up ? 

 

This weekend, it was all planned that I'd research and possibly download a digitizer. A utility designed to edit current designs for machine embroidery, or create original ones. The journey to finding one - and we had some cash put aside for it - was long and twisted.

 

The industry leader seems to be Embird, since even I'd heard of it years before ‘Brody' made the scene. Yup, that's his name. It just fits. Anyway. I started there first. And got a good start on a nice headache. I have trouble reading between lines, especially when the one above says, ‘Look at all the cool things you can do', but the line below reads ‘this is what this program actually does - next to nothing, but you need it (at $150.) to run the others ($90., $150., $145., $20., and $15. for each set of proprietary lettering) and even the trial is completely integrated. So you won't be able to tell what you are using until you haven't paid for it, and notice the loss.

 

I know that doesn't make a lot of sense. So let me rework it. Embird Basic, if you really read what the ad copy actually says, is a stripped PaintShopPro, or Windows Paint. It imports .jpg images, organizes them, converts design formats, displays design images (huh ? Don't I already have a way to see the images - called PSP and a monitor ?), lists thread charts (available free in any thread store), copies to new folders (um, doesn't Windows do that ?), and reads/writes data on memory cards, again, something PSP and Paint do. Most of these functions come with your computer, or in the case of the file converter, are widely available as free utilities. Our PaintShopPro 5.1 does all of that, and Beloved Hubby had that before we got married - back in 1997 ! None of this, except maybe for the thread and conversion utilities, have one darn thing to do specifically with machine embroidery. But it's $144., and if you want the parts that do the actual work, you still gotta buy Basic.

 

The additional Studio, with Digitizing Tools ($150.) and Sfumato Stitch ($90.) are where you get into digitizing. The site says you don't need both, but skirts around what each actually does. But, by now, you're kind of getting used to that. It appears Sfumato helps digitize photos for stitching, and Digitizing Tools uses vector graphics to trace and draw images. It also helps create stitches and allows freehand drawing. But, if you'd like to add words to your creations, you'll need Font Engine ($145.) which works with Windows True Type fonts (hooray) or Embird's own fonts, available at $15. each. Seems the fancy editing - curving, rotating, shading, grading - only works with those. Oh, and if you'd like to catalog your designs, that's another $20. for Iconizer, and if you'd like to incorporate cross-stitch, that's an additional $75. for Embird Cross Stitch.

 

So, for the whole thing and three fonts, expect to shell $669. Or you can go a bit cheaper and drop cross stitch for just under $600. The cheapest we could get out of it would be $459., nearly what we paid for the sewing machine ! And, as mentioned, even the trial is fully integrated, so you can't just try this part and that. Nope. Ya get the whole suite.

 

What's worse is, this is nearly the cheapest product on the market. Others start at $3000. and scale up from there. Two Beloved and I reviewed were evidently so expensive, you have to call them for quotes, just to find out how much they are.

 

It was then that he found Sophie Sew, a free work-in-progress digitizer. It didn't bother to mess with Paint functions you already own, and since it's a labor of love, it's free to use and help develop. It's missing some functions, like word files, but they're scheduled for addition, so here's hoping. He worked the tutorials while I had a bit of a lie-down. He then installed it on both our systems, and it seems to be working fine. If I just knew what to do with it.

 

So hopefully, I'll be able to work those soon, and start making a few simple designs of my own. I have lots of ideas, but nearly zero drawing skills, so here's hoping Sophie can help us out !

 

Sorry about all this ME stuff. I know it's got little to do with dolls. But you know me, I always come back to my loves !

Y'know, when I started machine embroidery, I never thought I'd have this many 'skull' designs...

 

Current Mood : Feelin' wealthy

Spent on dolls : $8.99

Spent on Machine Embroidery Designs : $8.00

 

 

 

(giggle) Isn't that image great ? I just love it ! Ariel as Sailor Moon, her daughter Melody as Sailor Chibi Moon, Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) as Sailor Venus, Pocahontas as Sailor Pluto, Mulan as Sailor Mercury, Belle as Sailor Jupiter, Esmerelda as Sailor Neptune, Madellaine (Hunchback of Notre Dame 2) as Sailor Uranus, and Jasmine as Sailor Mars. Awesome. I first thought that Uranus was a cut-hair Cinderella, but the artist says otherwise. I love it - it's two things I love brought together ! And it's singularly awesome !!

 

If you like, visit the artist's website - this'll take you right to the DP stuff, but just take the address down to ‘manonyapari.com' for the rest ! It's all just as innocent as the original source material, so you can share with the younger set... this is a fantastic artist !

 

http://disneyfanart.manonyapari.com/gallery.php

 

Today was super-nice. We went to a military surplus shop that Beloved's been meaning to visit, and got the last uniform pieces he needed. It smelled like my old poncho - or my Basic Training protective (gas) mask - in there. We also found the most adorable blue NASA jumpsuit on sale for Dearest Son - it has a mission patch, a flag patch, and a NASA logo one on it, and I can make him some more. Hope he likes it. Personally, I'd have loved it as a kid. We can always show him Space Camp again - yes, we own that on DVD. It was a two-pack with War Games.

 

Afterwards, we skipped by Hastings, where they had no machine embroidery books at all. Just like Barnes & Noble. (sigh) I may have to order ‘em off Amazon.com. I probably would have anyway, they're always cheaper there, but I kinda wanted to leaf through ‘em first. Got to flip through a used copy of The Art of Barbie, which was nice but not something I really wanted.

 

I did snag the latest Haute Doll, for the Barbie and Gene/Tyler patterns inside. Also a very neat article about dyeing Barbie clothes for new looks. I may have to try that. I was all set to dye a duplicate larger-size Cinderella doll's dress last year, ‘til I heard that nylon doesn't take dye. Now I may try anyway. Most of Barbie's wardrobe is nylon...

 

We also got to hit Sam's Club, and stocked up on some goodies. I also had a slice of orange, part of a Lime Tequila chicken wing, a cream puff mini, a mini-muffin, a prune, some sort of peanut bar, and a shrimp. Free sample day. By the time we left - and I didn't even go to all the sample stations - I was stuffed !

 

Then we came home, and there was a mega-sale at ‘Designs by SiCK', a machine embroidery site I hang out in. Whew! I bagged my limit, and I think I've finally had enough to last for a while. Wow.

 

Such a nice day. Hope yours was !

Uncased memories...

 

Current Mood : Relaxed

Spent on Machine Embroidery Design Sets this week : $12. for twelve sets.

 

Our parent/teacher meeting went well, and we may end up getting Dearest Son a tutor instead of sending him to Summer School. The environment last year was pretty rowdy, which stressed him out frequently and left him hating school for weeks. And I can't tell that he was enriched by the experience. A tutor could do about the same for him, along with weekly library and PlayPlace McD visits, he should be fairly social for the summer. We'll have to see what a tutor runs, though...

 

Afterwards, Beloved headed off to work, and Dearest had the day to himself. He happily enjoyed his new Lego ‘Mobile Police Command Center' set, which, to my surprise, is in the Lego Batman game. Exact same set ! I don't know whether to be proud of Dearest for noticing, or upset at Lego for product placement. I guess I can't whine much, because, for some reason, about the time Lego Batman appeared on game shelves, the actual Batman Lego sets had come to the end of their run.

 

Well, there's not many ways to say ‘I sat on my butt and looked at more machine embroidery designs, downloaded a bunch, played games for free points to ‘buy' more, and ate popcorn with Dearest', especially when that's about all I've done all week. Got five loads of laundry done and in the sun, but they're in big clean piles instead of big dirty ones. Fixed the broken handle on the case I won - really, I'm not much on the case, I wanted one doll dress and a doll from the lot. But since it's here...

 

I'm remembering making whole ‘apartments' out of our cases back when we were kids. Sure, I'd drag all my dolls' clothes over to wherever we were playing, but once there, the clothes went into a pile - not that they ever stayed hung up on that near-useless bar bracket anyway - and the case became home, with an Aqua Net can cap for seating and a forgotten doily or two from the stash Gramma always made or sent over for rugs. The rugs often doubled as fancy evening wear or capes. Occasional trading-card stickers would sometimes appear as wall art, but explaining why your doll considered CB lingo drawn in crude detail as art was more difficult than finding a TV Guide reprint of the Mona Lisa. For some reason, tape was strictly rationed back in the day -  finding a roll of it was rare. So we were as tight with it as our parents. Cigarette stubs, however, were plentiful. We played with those too, but not as part of doll time. 

 

In any case, all our cases were the single ones. Well, Angie had the one that folded down into twin doll beds, but the time her Mom saw my Ken perched on one with Angie's Barbie, seems to be the last memory I have of it. She had a Pepto-pink bedless one just like mine soon after, and that's the only one in my memory past that. Angie's parents were church Deacons, after all... I think her father really wanted to be a minister, but he worked for the State for big cash, and he wasn't giving that up. We never really played much ‘adult' with our dolls - except for Dawn, whose Mom only gave her Skipper and The Sunshine Family, so Skipper was a stripper, and I'm not gonna tell you what Steffie was up to on those long country nights. My Ken was especially freaked out, and didn't like to come out of the case when Dawn was over.

 

Anyway... so now, I have this big double-doll case. It's really like two singles hinged side-by-side, without a front flap, since they face each other to close. It's too wide to hang on the wall, so I think I'll make a mini-apartment out of it. Maybe finally get that window seat I've always wanted for my dolls - OK, I admit it, I've always wanted one of those big bay-window seats m'self. Hmpft.

 

PS - Tomorrow is the last DP-theme image, so I have a very special one I've been saving ! Then, I got a lot to take pictures of for here ! Can you believe it's nearly March already ? 

'I heard the Command Center'd been hit...' - name that movie challenge !

 

Current Mood : Joy in my guys' joy...

 

While cleaning the living room yesterday, I found a coupon glued to a Toys R Us ad, good for 20% off any one item. Hmm... Talked to Beloved Hubby this afternoon, told him about it, and we decided to do something special for Dearest Son this evening. Whatever he wants, he gets.

 

Dearest just knew we were going somewhere, but didn't know where until we pulled into the TRU lot. And he was so excited. They had many, many new Lego sets to choose from, and he studied them all. Finally he chose the City Police Mobile Command Center, and we saved a quick $10. with the coupon. He had so much fun putting it all together. Did nearly the whole 524 piece assembly by himself, only the hinges on the truck gave him pause, so Beloved helped with that. We're both glad to see him move away from the licensed stuff - which, by definition, is pretty limited - and into the City line, which is more conducive to wide-open play.

 

I didn't see anything I wanted in dolls, but they had lots of the ‘My Favorite Barbie' repros, with about six Bubblecuts and four Malibus. The March release ones weren't out yet. The Speed Racer set had been cut to $20., which wasn't bad at all. Barbie-sized porcelain Disney Princess dolls, that spin on a musical stand, were down to $20, too - they'd been $49.99 before Christmas. I'd read about Wizard of Oz Peek A Boo Cuties (those Little Kiddle-tiny dolls), but since the set didn't include my fave green girl, I only gave them a glance. They were also well-stocked on the ‘Then and Now' playline Barbie, which, rumor has it, will sell for $3. on March 09, the exact anniversary of Barbie's unveiling at Toy Fair in 1959. For now, she's $12.99. I checked.

 

Oh, and the MAD stands came in yesterday - I forgot to check my mail, or I'd have had them then. Not bad, considering I ordered them Sunday. They came in such a tiny package, but they were in perfect shape. They fit together well, and work just ‘as seen on the Internet'. I love them, and I'm glad I ordered three. If I ever quit wasting all my days downloading and organizing machine embroidery designs and sew again (heavy irony zone), you'll see them on the site soon. I give these stands a big ole five-star rating, they're fantastic !

 

So we came home from TRU - and everyone went for his/her own thing. Dearest began assembling, Beloved had a new AirSoft weapon to sight, and I... wasn't quite sure what to do with m'self. Noodled around on line for a while, wrote a thank-you note to MAD stands, and re-found those stars and planets wall stickers Beloved got me from Dollar Tree last month. Hmm. I've already written in the manual to my new machine, directions for uploads that I understand... why not do a bit more customization to my new machine ? It's assuredly mine now ! The plastic-sided case that came with soon had a big, colorful planet sticker attached to it, and the machine itself - I have got to find out his/her name already ! - soon had a few smaller stars sprinkled around. Much better. If you're gonna have a sewing machine to make custom stuff, why not make the machine itself one-of-a-kind, I always say.

 

Oh, and this is silly but noteable. Back when I didn't quite understand how to get more than one design stored on the machine via the USB connection, I was pretty darn ticked that I'd paid $100. more for a function that did not work the way I thought it would. I was wrong, it works perfectly, but whoever wrote those directions... anyway. New Hancock Fabrics ad was in this week, and there's sales on machine feet. Turns out, the enhanced accessory package on my upgraded machine included about $120. in extra feet. Wheee !

 

Tempting as the ad is - 99c patterns will always lure me out of my hermit-hole ! - I'm trying to stay away from Hancock's for a while. I mean, we spent about $70. there this month already ! So I doubt I'll be going there any time soon, but I love to look at the ad.

 

And the title challenge is from The Empire Strikes Back , from Han to Leia as the Hoth base falls apart, but you already knew that. 

The Living Room Disaster Movie - tonight at 9pm (8 central)

 

Current Mood : Restless

 

Quiet sort of catch-up day. All week, I've had a sneaking fear that our landlord would drop by, see the disaster area the living room has degenerated into through the front windows, and leave us an eviction notice ! Yes, it was that bad. So I dug in and got it cleaned up. If I had a buck for every bit of Lego I picked up, I'd make back all we spent on machine embroidery supplies and designs. If I had a buck for every AirSoft pellet, I'd pay back the machine.

 

Speaking of the new machine, this'll make you laugh. After hearing for years that ya gotta be careful with computerized sewing machines and magnets - mechanical ones were fine - I removed the magnetic sheet covering the rusted-wide-open vent under my sewing table, the day we ordered it. That vent either freezes or roasts my feet, and the magnet covering it was the only thing that made it tolerable. So I hated to lose it, but...

 

After some time with the bewitching Brother, I figured there was enough space and desk between him/her and the vent, so I put it back on. Whew ! Today's project went much better ! Most things, I find, are better when your feet are comfy. It was then that I realized... I still had a magnetic pin catcher, only about a foot away ! D'oh !

 

Well, anyway. Today I used the letters I downloaded Sunday to finish Dearest Son's game controller bag, version 2.0. This time I got off my lazy butt and actually changed thread colors when the machine stopped for it, like I'm supposed to. Ya don't have to, of course, but different colors make for more visually appealing items ! He now has a bigger drawstring bag with fireworks on one side, and his name in two colors on the other. It looks great ! And every success I have makes me want to sew more !!

 

Too bad I won't have much time until the weekend. Tomorrow's laundry day, there's enough around here to get lost under. And Dearest is off Friday - parent/teacher conference time - and while he's got his own fun, the frequent interruptions kind of key me up, so I tend to sew when no one's around. I'm not even sure what I want to make next. I just know that I'm really, really prepared for it !