Dearest's home !

 

Current Mood : Loopy

 

With Dearest Son home from his grandparents', it's like Spring Break is starting up in earnest. I'm having trouble remembering that I don't have to be up at 5am for a shower, nor do I need to coordinate a grocery run and mailbox drop (Nielsen books) with Beloved Hubby. Lot has changed in a few days !

 

I'm a bit late getting my Nielsen books in the mail. Shoulda mailed ‘em Friday. With us turning off the TV back in '05 or so, it didn't take much to fill them out. And now I can spend the $5. they gave me in earnest... like I haven't been spending more than that lately !

 

Looked up the directions for the Jr. Monopoly DPrincess game - it's only supposed to have 24 castles and four stands, so I probably got two or more sets combined. I should wash ‘em up, and use ‘em to top cupcakes at Dearest's next school party.

 

Got tired of the '08 yard sale space-fabric duvet cover falling off my computer chair and tangling in the wheels, so I pinned it together and figured out where to cut and sew it so that one piece will cozy around the chair's back, and won't fall to the sides, and the rest will hold the cushions in the chair's seat, and also won't fall. I'll probably sew it tomorrow - I'm kind of loopy today, and don't trust my sewing capabilities.

Beloved made me a thread stand !

Current Mood : Thrilled

 

Today, Beloved Hubby discovered the magic of instant video rental online. He's been wanting to see a film he enjoyed back in the 80s, and no video stores around here have it. Surprisingly, Amazon.com did, and it could be downloaded for a week's ‘rental' for $2.99, or ‘purchased' as a download for $9.99. We rented it, and we actually have access for a month, for some reason. Either way, we enjoyed it quite a bit !

 

As we watched, I kept remembering this ad where a traveler is checking into a middle-of-nowhere hotel. He asks what's on TV, and the bored desk clerk says, ‘Every movie, ever made, in every language'. Stunned, he asks is that possible, and it cuts to the company's logo. Wow, but are we ever close to that !

 

Oh, hey ! I found it ! Qwest, from 1999.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZ9qcp6Lcno .

 

It's funny that half the comments on that say we're getting closer to that ideal, the other half say the promise is still decades away.

 

Anyway. Molly-chan now has sparkling new tires, and she handles like a Formula-1 racecar, or at least, how I imagine one does. Did you know there's such a thing as Hot Wheels brand rims ? It's true ! Mattel's licensed ‘em. And the ones the tire place had on display look just like the ones on real HWheels toys. Goss knows, I've picked up enough of Dearest Son's to know. I rather liked the idea of tooling around on HW rims, like I'm driving a tiny toy car. Just not enough to fork over for ‘em. Molly came with star-shaped Mazda ones I really like, so she still has those. According to the salesman I spoke with - he gave me a shiny new tire gauge for my glove box - they're quite popular, and have been out for a while. There's a new model every year or so. Imagine that !

 

Once home, we just kinda relaxed for the balance of the day. I cleaned up from yesterday's patch/sewing job on Dearest's pants, and Beloved asked to see the directions for the thread stand. Y'see, Hancock Fabrics puts these huge thread cones on sale for $2. every so often, and a year or two ago, I bought one, figuring that I'd be set for white thread - the color I run out of most often - for a while. Unfortunately, the cone was too big for KJ, my old mechanical machine, and I never got ‘round to buying a stand. It also seemed kinda silly to shell out $8. for a plastic stand to use up a $2. purchase.

 

And Brody is even pickier about the thread sizes he can use, so I studied the thread stands out there for sale, and found them ridiculously simple. Found illustrated directions to make yer own on Instructables.com - http://www.instructables.com/id/Thread-Stand-for-Sewing-Machines/  and asked if I could borrow a few tools. Well, Beloved got a bit bored and ended up making it for me while I retrieved my prescriptions - and it works perfectly ! Empty, it looks like a minimalist sculpture, and the thread part can tuck under KJ's cover between uses, so it won't get dusty. Used it to wind a bobbin for Brody, and I hope to test that out Monday. I've heard cone thread is thinner, so we'll have to see if it can work. And if using KJ as a big SideWinder (a $30. bobbin winder device) for Brody will work, too.

Spring Break '09 !

Current Mood : Thrilled !

Spent on sewing misc. : $3.28

Spent on misc. stuff : $ 1.82

 

Well, today's the start of Dearest's Spring Break. He's home for a week, until Monday March 23^rd. Hope we both survive !

 

I got to have some fun with Molly this morning ! Hit a yard sale/estate sale, and snagged this neat 'Sewing Susan' needle card, a package of never-used hand towels (great for embroidery practice !) for a quarter, a hardback copy of Memoirs of a Geisha for 50c, a softbound vintage photo book of Paris for 25c, and a magnetic trash bag holder for a buck. Looks like it was made from quilted placemats. I'm thinking of using it as a thread catcher near Brody. Right now, I'm using an empty tissue box.

 

The sale was over by GoodWill, and even though we were just there, I went again. Went ahead and picked up the Disney Princess Junior Monopoly game for a buck, and got a car-shaped new t-shirt for Dearest for 50c. Mostly, I just enjoyed digging and prowling, and taking my time doing so !

 

From there, I hit Hancock Fabrics, and again, just enjoyed. Got the pirate-map fat quarter, and it was still on sale ! I tell ya, while I love the pre-packaged FQs, I hate paying $2. each for ‘em. So paying $1.19 for this one on sale was nice ! I'm thinking of trying embroidering on ribbons for Dearest's end of school party, and I liked the wide black one for his Bat-cape, so while those 30-yard misc. grab bags of ribbon were half-off, I snagged one. That deep green length I saw in that bag along with the wide black one kinda cinched the deal. Can't go wrong with more green ribbon - and a bunch more to experiment on ! - for a buck.

 

This'll surprise you - on the half-off shelves were some DPrincess pencil boxes. On markdown, they'd be only $1.50. But I left them there. Couldn't think of a way to use one, much less the two designs they had, so I didn't buy one. Amazing, or an indication of how crowded the lab's getting ? (lol)

 

Started to feel a sinus headache building, so I brought us in early. Beloved, when he came home for lunch, insisted that I lie down - and the next thing I knew, it was almost 2pm ! Aaargh. But I felt much better. He called at 2:30, to make sure I was awake for the bus. He thinks of everything.

 

Got tired of moving the pile of wrecked and outgrown pants around, so I started measuring and cutting and picking out inseams. While it would have been nice to repair all four, it ended up taking four pair of ‘em to salvage two. But the two I ended up with - one black and red, the other grey and navy - look good, and Dearest already wants to wear them. And it felt good to get some use out of fabric I couldn't even use for rags, since it's not very absorbent. There wasn't even much left for embroidery practice, but I'll get it stored tomorrow, have it ready.

 

Beloved said I didn't have to do this ‘extreme mending', that we can clearly afford new clothes for Dearest when he needed ‘em, but I wanted to see if I could do it. And really, I know exactly why I insisted on it. I was reading an article that had a lot of clickable links, all about conserving, reusing, and such. One of the links was about stretching the use on kids' clothes. I read it... and it was all about adding a ruffle to the hems of jeans, adding lace to the bottom of skirts... nothing at all about how to lengthen boys' clothes. Every last tip was about altering girls' clothes.

 

But the article wasn't about girls wear, specifically - it had a general ‘how to alter kids' clothes' headline. So I have no idea why it neglected boys' wear. Did the author not want to make the effort if the result wasn't gonna be pretty ? Does no one ever need to lengthen boy clothes ? Or are they so tough on clothes it's assumed the clothes will be destroyed and outgrown at the same time ? Well, the four I altered, three were, but I still can get some more use out of ‘em. Does it devalue boys, or girls ? It just ticked me off, no matter if it was an oversight or an on-purpose slur.

 

It's just like the Midge case. Let me read an article in a doll book about how ‘mere sidekick' Midge doesn't have a special doll case, and I'll own two within a week. Link an article that ignores an entire gender, and I'll bust my bobbins to do it myself, just to prove... something to someone, I don't know...

 

Beloved's home this weekend, but with all the car shuffling - and Molly's new tires tomorrow morning ! - we won't be on any more wild spending sprees. The DP Jr. Monopoly game turned out to be mostly intact, but I have no idea why the game requires 60 plastic castles in four colors. The board's only half the size of a normal Monopoly game. And while the box says ‘for two to four players', there's eight ‘stands' for the character figures. There was tons of pastel princess money and Chance cards, and eight cardboard Princesses to play with. All I have to do now is go to Hasbro and download the directions. Dearest wants to play while he's home this week.

I feel like dancing... with my car !

 

Current Mood : Joyous !

Current Image Notes : Here's a paper-doll version of the Aurora costume. I don't own the paper doll, but I found it online and played with it ! Wheeee !

 

Molly is home ! Oh, it's a major adjustment to drive her - I now have to push the clutch all the way to the floor to change gears, and sometimes first and fourth are a bit hard to find, but I'm sure I'll adjust ! I can't wait to take her out tomorrow morning !

 

Not sure if there's a flea market to go to, though. This weekend's on the business card they hand out, but it's not on the Fairgrounds website schedule until next weekend. But that's OK - there's GoodWill, Hancock Fabrics, groceries, prescriptions, the library... lots of errands to run.

 

While we were out this morning, I finally found the tiny screw-eyes I've been looking for. Amazing that Hobby Lobby, with its wall of jewelry findings didn't have any at all, but Ace Hardware did. Snagged a pack of 14 at 7/16ths of an inch for less than $2. Once we (including Molly !!) were home, I applied two to the backs of some Happy Meal Barbie toys - perfect ! Now I just have to write it up for the websites - mine and the crafty one that likes to pay $15. per !

 

I also made my peace with Target's Archer Farms rice crackers. They'd been priced back ‘down' to $6.99, and there was a 15% off sale. Beloved Hubby insisted on getting two, and one is half (alright, all right, 3/4ths) empty already. The ones from the Asian market in the town-next-door just weren't as good, and frankly, were kind of a waste of money. I didn't like ‘em at all.

All my new (to me) stuff !

 

Current Mood : Still a bit dazed, actually...

Current Image Notes : Here's the Barbie Country Living Home, a Ballerina Barbie wearing 'Princess Aurora', and she's on a MAD stand. Happy ! 

 

I seriously got bored enough yesterday to do up all the dishes. I rather dazedly spun around the house all day today, waiting for the repair shop to call. I say ‘dazedly' because I've been tired and light-headed since I woke up, and even sipping soda all day hasn't alleviated it. I actually took a nap this afternoon because if I sat still for ten minutes, I fell asleep anyway, so I may as well lay down and not screw my neck up nodding off in my office chair. I knew better than to even try sewing anything. Beloved Hubby reported feeling much the same, and the weather wasn't cooperating much, so he was home early, as worn and tired as I was, only moreso. So I put him to bed under several blankets, hoping he hasn't caught a cold or worse.

 

Dearest Son came home, and darned if he didn't crash right on the living room floor, playing with his Lego town sets. He and Beloved napped for several hours. Could explain why Dearest's been in a mood for the last couple days. I blame Daylight Savings Time. I blame DST for everything. Foot fungus ? DST. Higher prescription costs ? DST. General lack of faith in the current infrastructure and ongoing socioeconomic political systems ?  Oh, yes. 

 

So I did silly, repetitive things, like sort through the small mountain of Dearest's school papers, and replacing the front-door poinsettia artwork he did at school in January with this month's construction paper US flag. Got the trash ready, and cleaned off the dining room table. Had a bit of a great idea yesterday, so I started implementing it today. Needed the table first, though.

 

While sorting through the drifts and piles of clean laundry, I started putting aside damaged and outgrown clothes of Dearest's. Most of the sweat pants still fit him at the waist, but they're too short. And a couple have torn where I patched ‘em. Two of the new pairs that fit him well are already damaged. I soon had a ‘good enough to donate to his school' pile and a ‘wreckage' pile. Seeing all those pants made me think. One of his favorite pair of sweatpants ever had two colors on one leg, three on the other. What if I cut off the damaged areas of all the outgrowns, and patched them together, making them longer and almost new again ? I could do it. Could even do so on ‘KJ', my non-embroidery machine, right at the kitchen table. Just need to measure either a pair that fits him, or his inseam before I start. And hey, even if it takes four pair to repair two, that's two he gets to wear a bit longer. And I can use the damaged pieces and leftover scraps to test embroidery on. Win all around !

 

So I got the table cleaned off, and retrieved KJ from my closet. I hope to do some sewing tomorrow. I also owe Dearest a Bat-cape, and I found a great free ‘pattern' for one on this site -> http://blog.creativekismet.com/2009/02/26/super-easy-super-fast-super-hero-capes/  <- We bought a yard of black fabric with great flow back when we went on the pattern binge last month, it's been waiting on me ever since. I like the Velcro ^TM ribbon tabs - they'll tear off if he gets caught on something. Goss knows I got plenty of ribbon. I'm thinking of making two, since I have a yard, and that way, either Beloved or I can play with him. Wheee !

 

Molly's shop didn't call until nearly 5pm. Machine shop's backed up, so she won't be finished today. Should be ready around lunchtime tomorrow. I kinda expected that, but I was still a bit disappointed. Even though I wasn't planning on really going anywhere ‘til Friday anyway. I still miss my Molly ! At least Beloved got to rest, instead of hopping up to take care of it.

 

And I didn't even have to cook dinner. DFIL says Bonnie-truck is performing wonderfully, and it felt great to get back to work. Everyone missed him, and was glad to have him back on the job. He even brought dinner for us, subs from the restaurant where he works. He and Beloved chatted for a while about the Blazer's repairs while I sniffed the heavenly essence of roast beef and provolone cheese. He remembered my favorite !

 

After he left, I remembered to check mail. The needles I'd ordered from AllStitch.com were already here ! That was fast. Everything was attractively packaged and packed well - and I loved the sample book of stabilizers they sent for free ! Dearest may have loved it more, he liked to touch the textures and listen to the explanations of what each one - tear-away, wash away, leave-in - did, and how they'd be used. I may not ever use the samples (heck, I like to touch and leaf through them too !), but I know where to order more !

 

I find myself repeatedly amazed at how crafty, clever, and sometimes downright sneakily ME sellers market their stuff...

 

Stitching daydreams...

Current Mood : Aaaaugh, how did I get so far behind so quickly ??! 

Current Image Notes : When I figure it out, one day, I'll make my own designs, and a heart with a Saturn-like ‘orbiter' will be high up on the list ! Here's a quick and dirty representation of what I want...

 

Well, we solved DFIL's vehicle problems - we bought a small truck as a spare car today and he'll borrow it until we get his Blazer fixed. Which should happen in about a month's time. He'll go back to work tomorrow, and we'll have weekends to repair the Blazer. He's paying for insurance and the parts, we're providing labor. And now the onus is on us to get his truck fixed so we can get our new-to-us ‘Bonnie' back.

 

You may wonder why we're busting butt to solve the DIL's problems. Well, first off, no one else is. Secondly, they're panicking, and if we don't start them off, nothing will get done but more panicking, which isn't good for anyone's health. Third, if DFIL loses his job, that means the mortgage doesn't get paid. And guess who they'll have to move in with ? I think now you see why butt that isn't theirs is getting busted.

 

Still, it's pretty frustrating, to spend your whole weekend either out looking or out repairing vehicles for someone else. And there's more to come. But I'm trying to help any way I can so that we don't have boarders again. Especially since they've picked up a boarder of their own, and I can't stand the guy. No way is he ever moving in here !

 

Ordinarily, I'd be ticked that we bought a whole new truck for him to use when I've been marooned at home since we turned in the black truck. But since I hope to get Molly-chan back from the repair shop tomorrow, I can deal. But Beloved already knows I have a full agenda for Friday - flea markets, thrift stores, Hancock Fabrics...I may be out from Dearest Son's bus pick-up to his bus drop-off, and he's fine with it.

 

Otherwise, all's well, but we are seriously broke. All this car-trading and repair work has left us at ground level in our wallets and checkbooks. Even the business one is tapped out. But Beloved returned to work this afternoon, and he's had several calls for bids, so we should be OK. All else fails, I just tighten the belts and use what we got. It's not like I spent buckets of cash when I had Molly before !

 

And it's not like I don't have enough to keep me busy. Why, housework alone would keep an interested person engaged for at least a week ! But I don't see me getting that bored...

See you soon, Molly-car...

 

Current Mood : Near-frantic

Current Image Notes : Finally plowed through my Pile O' Stuff in the Lab, and found this, which I think is my third effort, after the initials and the heart & shield I made for Beloved Hubby, and just before the first ‘initials' and second ‘fireworks' bags I made Dearest Son. Both the crown and the initial came programmed into Brody. Pretty cool, even if I didn't quite center it well !

 

Spent on Dolls today : $1.08

Spent on Machine Embroidery / Sewing Stuff : $10.22

 

Busy, busy day. First item on the agenda was the long-delayed grocery shopping. I scored a few goodies - a bit of Mary Engelbreit fabric for 50c, the cord clips I need so that Brody's doesn't vanish on me (I'm ‘sposed to unplug him when I'm not actually sewing), a package of fine-point Sharpies, and a nice pair of cuticle scissors. A lot of folks use those instead of $20.+ embroidery scissors for appliqué and thread tail snipping. Cuticle ones do the same job for about $5. The curved blades push the fabric down while the cutting surfaces get closer than regular scissors.

 

We then had breakfast and dropped off Molly-car at the repair shop. They've called us already - she needs a new clutch. But it's gonna be a performance clutch to match her high-powered turbo engine, and it costs about what we expected it to. Beloved Hubby talked to them on the phone, and acted all sad when I asked how long it'd be before she's repaired, so I figured it'd be a while... but that turkey was just playin' ! She may be finished as early as Wednesday, but probably Thursday. (insert choirs of your choice belting it out joyfully here) As you can imagine, I can't wait ! I'll have her back in time for Dearest Son's week-long Spring break. Thank Everything !

 

Renewing the license plate was also a pleasant surprise - I got a new one ! Surprisingly, the numbers and letters aren't embossed anymore, it's absolutely flat and all paint now. It has a DNA double helix-like ‘watermark' down the middle. I like the newest design, brand-new this year, so I was happy to have it. We got it installed on Molly, and we were off again.

 

From there, we had to return the parts we'd bought to fix her ourselves, and that was next to GoodWill, so... $3.15 later, I had two sets of brand-new ViewMaster reels and a sheet of kitty stickers for Dearest, a ‘Tiny Totes' keychain purse (Checkered Past) for Elphie, four yards of tear-away machine embroidery stabilizer (yaaay !) , and a plastic ‘wicker' Barbie chair - the kind with the slide-out portion. I have a weakness for those, and probably have three of the chairs now, and one loveseat. It needs cleaning and possibly painting. Good finds, since the stabilizer alone is about $6. ! 

 

And the SiCK website continues to do me unwitting favors. Without telling anyone ahead of time, the owner ended the $2. a set sale and upped the 400 points needed to ‘buy' a set to 695. So the set and 3/4ths I was working on became one and a bit of change. It's his prerogative, but it's also mine to collect the one set I've ‘earned' and not be so dedicated to the place anymore. Shoot, I've spent over $30. there, you'd think... oh, forget it. There's other sites to visit, and lots to sew without even going near another place like it for life. I may visit now and again when I think about it, but this hourly dedication thing has about reached its end. I'm not that desperate for ‘free' things I have to spend even more hours accumulating than I did a scant week and a half ago.

 

I hate DST !

Current Mood : Crabby

Spent on Machine Embroidery today : $2.00

 

Allow me to state right here and right now that I despise, loathe, and eagerly seek to destroy the stupid ‘custom' of Daylight Savings Time. It just means Dearest Son gets on the bus in the dark, and more people leave lights on when they leave the house. I have no idea how that's supposed to conserve energy.

 

Unless I sew tomorrow - and I hope to ! - I'm caught up. This is the All American Crab I stitched up Friday.  Bought the last two designs I've had my eye on from the SiCK site while they were on sale. The way the site owner's changing stuff around, I figured I'd best get the last of it while the getting was still cheap.

 

Beloved Hubby had to work today, catch up on everything that got put off during the Big Car Shuffle of '09. While he was out, he found a sad-looking Blazer that was within our budget for DFIL, so... after we take Molly-car to the shop, he'll be working on it tomorrow. He's off  from when he's home tonight ‘til Wednesday morning.

 

As for me, I'm not sure where the day went. After weeks of downloading, I finally organized all those patterns, and that took a bit of time. I also looked at a bunch in Ambassador. It's amazing how many I can subvert for my own nefarious purposes, even  though I can't change them. I can leave off colors, or alter the use - the flame jobs on the line art trucks can be left off, the bottom of the kinda-ugly floral basket makes a nice ornament, I can omit the stitching around the shape and use the inside for my own designs, and the wine-glass coaster could easily make a small change-purse.

 

One thing I'm noticing in my ME design hunts - folks who create ‘em seem determined to force regular sewing projects into embroidery hoop patterns. One that I've reverse-engineered in my mind is a small pouch that holds a smaller mirror. The machine embroidery for the pouch is simply a long oval. The mirror frame is a circle with words in it - and half of them are unusable since the dates on ‘em are "2007". Yet the ‘design package' is $50. Um, I can make that on a regular sewing machine on satin stitch, freehand, and I don't need to download anything, just draw a good oval. There's several pouches, pockets, and even doll clothes and accessories like that. There's no good reason for it to be ME, except that instead of selling it for $20. to Workbasket, you can flog it for $50. per person. It doesn't require a $500. sewing machine to make an apron and matching pot-holder for Barbie. But yeah, there's a ME ‘design set' for that, too - $15. Another $18. if you want the American Girl size set, and another $20. for the kid version. (sigh)

 

I really need to start learning to create my own stuff.

(sigh). Just (sigh)....

 

Current Mood : Unsettled

Spent on Machine Embroidery today : $29.09

 

I'm in a mood. DFIL's van is down for good, for want of an $18. part. They're gonna hafta haul it away, it isn't moving under its own power ever again. Beloved Hubby took four days off last year, in winter when money's pretty tight for us, to get it running less than a year ago for them. Now it's a paperweight. And guess who's running around trying to get a new vehicle ? If you said DFIL, I'm sorry, please try again.

 

Last night, we (Beloved, Dearest Son, and m'self) dragged all the way to the butt end of the capital city to look at a cheap truck. I tripped over a jack-stand and skinned my right knee up pretty good. Still don't know how I damaged my knee this much, but didn't tear my pants.

 

Turned out to be a lousy deal, so there went Friday night. He had to put off work to do some other DFIL running, so he's working this weekend. At this point, between BS over a lousy website points system for intangible items and more of it over a situation we did all we could to avoid, but it's now our problem anyway, I've about had it.

 

As far as Molly-car goes, Beloved's so tired of car chasing and being up to his elbows in dead motor, we're taking her to a shop and letting someone else fix her. It'll be more expensive, and I'll probably be without a car for a week or two further. But at least something's being done. We're gonna drop her off Monday, and I'll be glad. We're renewing her plate, Monday too - we forgot, since she's been sitting so long ! 

 

We got over to the library, and come to find out that the author of the digitizing book is someone I'm familiar with - he's the owner of a site that specializes in very cute, very expensive sets. Like $60. a set expensive, and that's with a $50./month membership in his club ! And he says, right there in the book's first chapter that he can create and digitize between 15 to 30 designs a day. So why are they $20. and up for one design ? Maybe the SiCK site has spoiled me. But I don't see my budget springing for any of that. And, heck, John Deer's book comes with 25 free designs. It may be cheaper to buy his book ($30., but I borrowed this copy !)  than buy his patterns !

 

Oh, and surprisingly, the hoop I ordered Tuesday came in today ! It's exactly what I wanted, fits, and isn't a copy or anything, it's the real deal. And about $7. cheaper that my first order with BrotherMall.com would have been. So that was nice. I also have a bulk order of needles in processing. Even with shipping, I got 200 embroidery needles (half sharp, half ballpoint) delivered for $29. And I get a free sample book of stabilizers ! It works out to about 14c a needle, a marked savings over the 99c per cost of ‘em over at Hancock's. Even on a half-off sale, I got the industry standard for pennies. Some folk advocate tossing a needle out with each new project's end, and the packaging on the new needles say it'll last for about eight stitcheries. I'll probably toss ‘em at five, since I'm using spool thread. Fewer, of course, if they break ! But (knock wood) that hasn't happened yet. And I've plenty of empty prescription bottles to use as needle safes when it's time to ditch ‘em !

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.