Yard sale Saturday - at last !

 

Current Mood : Wowed. But hot. 

Current Image Notes : This is my rating at the SiCK forums. It's already changed, but I thought it was funny. 

 

With Dearest Son at his grandparents, Beloved Hubby at work, and a beautiful bright sunny Saturday, what better way to spend it than at a few dozen yard sales ? I probably hit about eight before I got too hot and tired, and wanted to go home with the booty.

 

I'm still amazed at my first find. A couple years ago, back when Elphie had just settled in, I found an amazing grandfather clock, in miniature. It'd be perfect for her ! Too bad it was $60. ! Even with the 40% off coupons, it was rather expensive for a doll prop. Few months after that, I found several in the markdown section, but they were all badly damaged - and still $30. Oh, well.

 

So my jaw nearly broke their lawn when I saw The Clock on their table, with a 50c sticker on it. I didn't care if it worked or not, it was The $60. Clock ! Wow. I also snagged a tiny-print ruffled café curtain that'll make great doll clothes, and a plastic Eiffel tower, but I was still dazed from the clock.

 

Another sale gave me a short ton of fabric - probably about eight yards, of prints and solids - for $4., and they tossed in a bunch of craft and nostalgia magazines and catalogs. I don't know how I always manage to find fabric when I tour the yard sale circuit, but I do ! Several other sales were just not worth getting out of the car for, but it was still fun to be out and not have to be anywhere.

 

Got all the fabric sorted and bundled. Lots of good stuff, maybe enough of one to make a simple blouse. A battery replacement got the clock to work, and I'll have to pose Elphie with it soon. I'm not sure what's with my sudden Eiffel interest, but I've been looking at them in embroidery designs, too. Odd. Well, now I have a purple glitter-plastic one.

 

After that, I just sort of sat. Read up on Free Standing Lace (FSL) again, since it's my big failure so far in machine embroidery. I wanna try again, and loaded a pair of likely designs in Brody last time I hauled him out here. But not today. I'm all hot and tired. Trying to not run the air conditioning ‘til June. Thank Everything for fans !

I can SewRed for Women, any time !

 

Current Mood : Thrilled ! 

Current Image Notes : This is how Ambassador 'sees' the design - or at least, a representation of it. And now, I can finally see it, too ! 

 

Beloved Hubby played hooky from work today - his staples are out, and the arm is still a bit puffy and sore - so we sorta goofed around and didn't do much of anything. I took off for an hour's worth of errands and time away from home (at that time, he was still going to work, just as soon as I got back) and hit four yard sales. Whoo-hoo !

 

I am now the proud owner of a Disney Princess mini-Christmas tree skirt, a neat clock, a cute manicure set that looks like a designer knockoff, and a hand-held game that says ‘Pinball Master' but so far, only plays ‘Breakout' type games. Not bad for less than $4.

 

And, happily, I now have the funds for Alphabet Xpress, in Checking. It's waiting for whenever the program offers to keep my trial from running out. So far, it says I have 20-some days, and it'll tell me when we're closer to expiration how to keep the program. Nice. Most trials start begging the day you install them.

 

Speaking of resolutions, the company that handles the SewRed campaign - and offers Explorations Resizer 1.5 - called today. And they trouble-shot with me over the phone. It was excellent customer service, I think. Turns out, the reason Resizer didn't install was because I had too many processes going on. Once some were shut down, it installed fine. And once it was installed, I easily found and saved the SewRed design to my format - and Ambassador and Brody both saw it. Once I resized it. Believe it or not, once I finally got the design, it was too big ! But the Resizer works, and it's good to have, especially for free. I'll have to stitch it up sometime soon. Especially after OESD and I worked so hard to have it !

Begging your indulgence...

 

...but since there's not really anything going on, and I've got a ticked-off tummy, I'm gonna just let today go. Catch you tomorrow ! 

Last day of school !

 

Current Mood : Still miffed.

 

Today is Dearest Son's last day of school. Normally, I'd go volunteer, since it's Kids Fun Day, but the PTA kinda horked me off with their latest. Get this - they wanted me to buy some treats, drop them off at the school as a donation ... and they'd sell the stuff at the Kids Fun Day concession stands ! What ? I'm to buy it, donate it, then give my kid money to buy it again ? And on the last day of school ? Bull !

 

 I bought a nice set of treats yesterday and gave them directly to Dearest's teacher, telling her they were for the last day of school as a special surprise. Ridiculous. There's at least three fundraisers a month at that school, and to this day, I have no idea where one penny of all that money goes to. No new playground equipment has surfaced, and the books in the library that he comes home with are still rather battered. I just can't force m'self to ask Creepy Guy, who's the PTA prez, since just being in the same room with him causes every alarm I have to start shrieking. I'm still trying to figure out why he and his ‘genius' third-grader were at that miserable excuse for a second-grade field trip last week.

 

Which, by the way, we paid $20. for - $7. for Dearest, $3. for me, and $10. towards the fund for kids who couldn't pay. So I really don't wanna hear any more begs - especially on the blasted last day of school. I'm tapped.

 

I'm also befuddled as to the table and chairs at Mal-Wart last week, with the name of a school PTA on posterboard taped to it. They weren't selling anything that I could see, but from the huge jar on the table, they were taking money. Um, that particular school isn't even in this part of town. It's across the tracks, on the ‘high side' - so what're they doing here ? While it was a huge jar, most people were doing the old ‘don't look up' dodge, so the jar wasn't very full. I looked straight at them, and when asked, said where my son went to school, so why were they here ? No answer, and Mom disengaged quickly to hit up someone else. They weren't there when I came out. (sigh) At least I have a few precious weeks to not deal with school fundraisers.

 

But he had a nice time, and I'm glad. I just couldn't support this one with either my time or our money. I'm gonna go lie down for a while. 

 

I am Space Command !

Current Mood : Giggly

 

Here's what I did with one of those two mugs I got from Hobby Lobby - I taped the ‘Space Command' badge to the back of one of the coloring-page inserts it comes with, and instant personalized mug ! It's OK for now, but I wanna use starched fabric behind the badge, instead of paper. And probably use some Gorilla Glue to make it permanent. Still, it's a decent mug, and when I cleaned it up for some orange juice, it held up well, and no OJ got inside. Not bad at all.

 

It's hilarious when you give a gift to a bus driver. They really wanna know what's in the bag, but they gotta drive ! They both thanked me heartily for their gifts, especially the monitor. I think he gets forgotten a lot.

 

Oh, and I forgot, because it's was sooo much a washout, but there was a flea market this weekend - I went Friday. Yawn-fest. I mean, even the doll-car-set seller wasn't there. I was in and out in less than a half-hour, which has to be a record for me. I'd planned on going back Saturday, for the promised additional vendors and yard salers, but I'd discovered Alphabet Xpress, and it became an obsession instead. At a yard sale on the way home, though, I snagged a brand-new hardback copy of Stephen King's Desperation, and an also-new pair of green-and-white polka-dot ballerina flats. $2. for both - which isn't at all bad, since the book is $27. retail. Heck, library late fees would be more than the buck I paid for the book, and I have all the time I want with it !

 

Also the SweetEmbroidery.com site wrote - I'd paid $5. for a month's membership, and snagged all I wanted in three hours' time. They offered me a $7./year membership. Hmm. If they'd offered me that from the get-go, I'd have taken it, but there's nothing new there that I want. I'd actually come out ahead if I waited a year and rejoined for another $5./month. If they're still there.

 

Aaand the tutor we hired for Dearest Son's summer has bailed on us. She cancelled on dinner and lesson plan chatter Friday, due to flu, then again yesterday, since she and now her fiancée are still sick. Since she was originally due to start tomorrow - we put it off ‘til Monday - I'm starting to think we don't have a tutor after all. So I've cracked open a new notebook and started scratching down potential lesson plans. Wonder if I can get  Beloved Hubby to give me the money we were gonna pay her ?

 

Not much else going on today, so I  hope ya don't mind all the catch-up stuff !

I love my Evil Genius...

 

Current Mood : Still thrilled !

Spent on mugs and material :  $3.39

 

As briefly mentioned yesterday, I made Beloved Hubby something, finally ! Long ago, we found an ‘Evil Genius' shirt made from a black t-shirt with white iron-on letters at a yard sale. Beloved was instantly taken with it, so it came home with us. Over the last couple of years, the cheap iron-ons have been deteriorating, so now it's a cryptic, shredded-plastic shirt more than a declaration/warning. He'd really liked the shirt, so I set out to make him a newer one, that wouldn't shred in the wash.

 

Thanks to Alphabet Xpress, it was easy. He liked the architect-like font, so we used it. And in less than a half hour, we had a shirt... with sooo many errors ! I'd forgotten to change the needle from a sharp to a ballpoint. I didn't have the design low enough, and my hooping puckered a bit. I also forgot to change the stitches back to ‘satin' which would have been much easier to read. I was showing off all the fill designs to him, and it was on ‘snakeskin' when I saved it, and, of course, ported it into Brody's memory.

 

But there's always more shirts to make. I already have his next one ready. It's the Man's Prayer from Red Green : ‘I'm a man/But I can change/If I have to/I guess.' He wanted me to put it on any ole shirt of his, but I don't know what'll happen if the needle hits a paint chip - and most of his shirts are loaded with paint spatters. So I'm gonna snag another new one when I do groceries, and surprise him later this week.

 

Dearest Son's busdriver and bus monitor get surprised tomorrow. Their jars are all done and are waiting by the door. I hate to give them out before school's over, but every year, someone's called in on the last day, and I'm not takin' the chance this year. Hope they like them.

 

I've earned enough points on the SiCK site for another free set, but heck. Not sure what I want there. Or anywhere, really. I was all set to join another site for a month of downloads, but I really wanna concentrate my efforts on getting that Alphabet Xpress program instead. Maybe later.

 

It kinda hit me today, when I dropped one of the bags of trash I was hauling to the Dumpster. One of the horses was in there, too, so I had to get it cleaned up before she got curious. So as I dug packing peanuts out of wet earth and meadow muffins, I thought to myself, ‘Darn it, I am gonna do something nice for myself for all this butt-bustin' housework !'. But then, I couldn't think of a thing I wanted that I didn't already have in my greedy sights. It's a weird sort of feeling to have everything you want - and know it.

 

Still, when we all went to Hobby Lobby today, I bought a remnant of blue fabric with silver-glittery stars on it, and two VBS mugs. Turns out, they're pretty well made to be 87c at full retail !

 

And on Memorial Day, we each took a bit of time to think and reflect, and be thankful, for all we had and all we were was due to much sacrifice by people we'd never know. 

Radios, mugs, and Alphabet XPress !

 

Current Mood : Happy and excited !

 

Another day of lingering ‘round the house. Big sales at Hancock Fabrics and Hobby Lobby tomorrow, with 88c McCalls patterns and 50% off notions at Hancock's and a 40% off coupon and half-off VBS stuff at HLobby. Ordinarily, Vacation Bible School stuff wouldn't interest me at all, but they have plastic mugs with inserts for less than a buck - and I've been wanting to try one with my embroidery. So I may snag a few. They're probably too cheaply made to be watertight, but all else fails, I'd own a super-cool pencil mug !

 

Brought Brody in for new designs. I swear, I make such a big production over it still. Desk has to be clean, not just cleared off, and he even has an outlet that is only ever used for his downloads. His USB cable has its own drawstring bag. If sewing machines could ever develop princess complexes, Brody would have one. And people think Dearest Son is spoiled...

 

Well, I found out that the sewing tool I want is called an expanding sewing guide. Saw one when I attended that Lutterloh pattern seminar (i.e., sales presentation) but haven't seen one since. It's basically an accordion-like metal folding grid that allows even spacing, for buttons or gathering, etc. Knitters use them, too. Only about $15., but it looks like I'll have to mail-order one.

 

Anyway, while I was looking for that, I found The Embroiderer's Buddy, an L-shaped ruler that helps determine where a left-breast design would go, gauging on the shirt size. $25. Problem with that is, the seller had a clear, unobstructed image of it on the sales page. All too easy to left click/save that image, and scale it in, say PaintShopPro, then print out a life-size freebie version, for free. Of course, you'd have to be sneaky and kinda cheap for that, but isn't it just as ridiculous to expect someone to shell out $25. plus shipping for 30c worth of plastic and ink ? I'll let you know, if I ever have reason to use the paper version of it...

 

And, after all that, I was just plain bored. I remembered a thread on the SiCK forum that mentioned a good, fairly inexpensive lettering program that allowed users to combine included (and sold-separately !) fonts with designs, and it had a 30-day free trial. Since that's what Embroidery Fonts Plus was supposed to do, I'd just let it go. But EFP has been steadily getting worse, and I was bored, so... I downloaded Alphabet Xpress.

 

At first, with all my troubles - still unresolved - with Explorations Sizer 1.5 and the SewRed design, I wasn't sure if it would install. But it did, and oh, I WANT !

 

I wanted it when I first downloaded it and had fun with the five included fonts. I wanted it when I went from idea to Matt's ‘Evil Genius' shirt in less than a half hour, and getting the words took maybe a minute of that. You get to see that tomorrow. It even gave me a ‘hoop' so I could make sure I had the size correct. I really wanted it when I could merge any design and AX's texts in a blink, and could edit the text on the fly. I wanted it when I shaped and skewed words just by dragging the mouse around. This is what Embroidery Fonts Plus says it is, but isn't. I loved positioning the words on a circle, and easily changed fonts in the circle, but could put one text reading up, the other down. Nice !

 

But it became a necessity to my value of life when I figured out how to bring in the fonts and alphabets I already had as single images, and merge them together to form what I wanted. That's nowhere in the manuals or tutorials, and a simple ‘can you merge more than one image' query on a message board from another user never really got answered, but I played with it until I figured out how to do what I wanted. It takes a lot of saving and bringing the ongoing work back up to tweak it more, but I can finally use the stuff I bought - including those Disney fonts ! It won't resize the images I import, but that's fine. That's rather beyond a font editor's job. More of an image editing one. And those are $200. for the stripped ones.

 

Anyway, the program's $50. for Ann The Gran club members, $60. for non-members, and for me, it's not worth $30. for a three month subscription to save $10. on it. Thanks to me not doing yard sales this week, I already have $24. saved up. I hope to have it if I'm careful with groceries and such. Each additional font is $30., and I hate to say it, but they don't have anything I want in fonts. What I want, I pretty much already have, and now that I can use them all, I'm pretty excited. I'd dump EFP, but it has a font I like that AX doesn't.

 

Squee ! I have what I want, finally - and soon, it'll be mine, all mine !

More efforts I should keep covered...

Current Mood : OK, but not too happy with the final result...

 

Busy day, although I spent most of it sitting around the house !

 

Wanted to put some new designs on Brody, and to do that, I had to clear off some current ones.  Best way to clear ‘em is to use ‘em, so I finally got busy on those candy jars for Dearest Son's bus driver and bus monitor. I also ‘got' how to change the thread setting from ‘embroidery' to ‘country' (i.e., spool thread) for the first time ever. As good as Brody's manual is, it does tend to leave off the ‘and this makes it so it remembers and doesn't erase what you just did when you go back to the ‘let's embroider something' step. It actually does make a difference, the thread settings, so I wanna make it happen from now on. Besides, he actually has a setting for Madeira Rayon, by name, and since that's what populates the Treasure Chest, I wanna use it while I got it !

 

Anyway, the jars came out very nicely, and I made reversible designs this time - when I tried to do that last time, for Dearest's teacher's jar, I had to cut the fabric a certain way so it'd ‘seat' in the lid correctly, ensuring each design had to be separate. This time, it was easy. I've learned the hard way to not wait ‘til the last day of school to give these things out, so they get ‘em Tues. morning. Normally I would wait ‘til the last day, so they don't feel obligated, but last two years I've tried that, either the monitor or the driver took the last day off, so some stranger got the gift.

 

Beloved Hubby was up weird hours Friday night, and so was I. So I slept late today, and decided against going on a flea market / yard sale trawl. I'm still digging out from last year's finds and deals, I don't really need much of anything right now. Stayed in and sewed instead !

 

Ironically, I took about 35 photos detailing how to make a paper machine cover pattern, so anyone could make their own cover, to fit their specific machine. Ironic, because I used mine to make Brody's cover just today, and it looks like h#ll. It's saggy and baggy, the angles where the embroidery platform starts don't match on each side, so that really looks bad, and the fit is somewhere between ‘tent' and ‘throw material over it, and take in a few darts or something'. (sigh) Well, live and learn. At least I tried. I'll have to try again later. Meanwhile, it looks like crap, but mostly fits, and it looks better (slightly) than the coarse red knit fabric I'd been throwing over him. So it'll do until I get tired of looking at it and rework the pattern.

 

This disappointment needled me, so I decided to sew again. The single biggest, thickest design I had on Brody - and the one I most wanted. Bought it back in April, when it was $2. instead of $6., and immediately started trying to find enough different shades of brown to stitch it out. I figured, with all the new thread, I probably had enough to sew an eight-color, thirteen step/stop antique Cathedral radio. I love using the thread rack I salvaged out of our Donations pile. It made the ‘use #1156 for steps 2, 4, and 8' easy.

 

The resulting design - it went together well, but took nearly an hour and a half ! - seemed thick enough to repel bullets. Seriously. I tried to tuck some odd snipped bits to the underside, and had trouble pushing a pin through it. Only problem I have with the design is that, for some reason, the designer put ‘stay stitches' in the middle of the jump threads. Makes it very hard to cut threads that are anchored down with three or four microscopic stitches. Otherwise, it came out well. You'll get to see it tomorrow.

 

Between that, the stuff I did earlier this week, and the candy jars, I soon had half of Brody's design memory cleared. About all that was left was the four Wall-E designs, one Barbie, and the Grammar Police one. I have to sew a GP for me - we gave away all that I made. So I daydreamed a bit and decided what to stitch next week. I still haven't tried Free Standing Lace and Water Soluble Stabilizer (they go together) since my one failed attempt, so I picked two of those out, and figured I'd get the other Barbie design I knew I wanted on. I also haven't tried embroidering towels yet, so I put a simple fish design on the list, and two more I wanted to put on t-shirts of mine. I figure I'll try the towels and at least one of the FSL ones Monday, and get the GPolice one done tomorrow - I can't wait to get that off Brody's memory. That'll clear space for what Beloved wants, in two sizes. His project is gonna require me to really work on my placement and alignment skills, which are nascent at best.

 

That decided, I took naps and read for a while, and then, today was over. Hope yours was productive and happy. Even my semi-failed cover wasn't that bad, so it was a good day.

 

Covers in progress and washers that work !

 

Current Mood : Elated !

 

I did it ! Whoo-hoo ! That paper blocky thing you see over there ? That's a work-in-progress pattern for a Brody cover ! I did it last night - Beloved had a friend over I don't particularly like, so I opted for quality time with the Lab. He's also my DFIL's friend, so he was here, too - and Dearest got some quality bonus grand-dad time. Leaving me free to start something I'd been meaning to for a while. 

 

Anyway. I've been tossing a length of red knit over Brody when he's not being used. He actually came with a nice cover, but it doesn't fit when the embroidery platform is docked. Since I still have KJ, our sewing-only machine, up and running still, his embroidery platform is always docked. I wanted to make him a nice cover, but wasn't sure how.

 

I made KJ one, years ago. Basically, I draped fabric over him (how do I always get male sewing machines ?) until it hung right, then sewed curved pieces on the ends, and miraculously, it fit. But this was gonna be a challenge. He's bigger on the platform end than on the handwheel end, and much longer than yer average machine.

 

Found a pattern that would probably work, although it was designed for a bigger platform. Unfortunately, it was $20. for just the pattern ! Sorry, but for twenty bucks, I'd expect to have a cover made and done, not just a pattern and a few embroidery designs. Besides, the red knit drape was doing what it's supposed to, keeping dust off Brody's ultra-sensitive inner workings. And we'd already paid for that !

 

But last night I got bored - all the Barbie dolls are ready for their new destiny, and the larger ones will be ready to go tomorrow -  although I may need some of that red knit to make a few simple tube dresses. While they're not really mine anymore, they once were, so I still feel some responsibility towards them. Last thing I want is for them to leave nude and unwanted. So I always dress my donated dolls, it's the least I can do for them. Anyway, I grabbed some of that old continuous feed computer paper I got from a Free box in a yard sale some time ago, and started cutting and folding.

 

First, I got a rough shape of one side, and cut an identical second one for the other side. Then I cut more paper and taped it together as a bridge between the front and back sides. It was too narrow, so I added another strip of paper to it. That worked. It needs to be an inch and a half taller, and the drop on the left needs to go down an inch once that's done, and I want to curve those sharp angles. But that's the rough basic version. Whoo-hoo ! I trusted me, and did it !

 

I hope that, sometime this weekend, I can take the paper prototype apart, reshape it a bit, then cut it out from some fabric I bought for this project. Make a few final adjustments, and I'll have a pattern I can give away and a cover I can embroider and re-stitch ! I think that, after I take it apart, I'll get a few photos of how I got that far, before I do anything else to it.

 

Now, what designs can I embroider on it...? Maybe a nice, big "Brody" on the front, and a few dress forms scattered around, goss knows I got a dozen dress form /mannequin designs to choose from ! And stars ! Don't forget the stars !

 

Today was also busy. I had a sick washing machine to drain before the repair person got here, a flea market to attend, and at least one yard sale between me and said flea. I also wanted to vacuum and tidy up a bit, so I could have the whole weekend free to sew and have fun. So I got busy early, and got it all pretty much done. Scored a brand-new pair of Kelly-green with white polka dots ballerina flats and a copy of Stephen King's Desperation for a buck each. Flea was a washout.

 

Turns out I diagnosed the washer correctly - the switch that indicates it's safe to continue the spin had sprung. It's a common enough occurrence that they carry spares on the truck. So I now have a working washer. The oven, however, is a dead loss. Control board is fried, and it's too old to easily get replacement parts. I'm sure our landlord will love that, since when I told her it wasn't heating several months ago, she told me she just had it fixed, so there. Discussion over, translation = we're not spending a dime to fix it. Ordinarily, I wouldn't even say anything at all, but I don't want her to think we broke it. How does one break an oven anyway ? In any case, the service call and repair fees were quite reasonable, and it's all taken care of already.

 

Beetles everywhere !

Current Mood : Sleepy

 

Well, things always look better after a decent night's sleep. Too bad DC didn't want us to have one ! Darn cat slammed the screen door to be let in at 10:30, just as I was heading for bed. Dearest Son and Beloved Hubby had been snoozing for a while by then. At 12:30, once even I'd been asleep for an hour, the hairball decides he has to go outside RIGHT NOW ! Luckily for him, I went right back to sleep, or I'd be considering embroidery on cat leather.

 

It's another super-nice day, so I decided to spray-paint ! It's still a bit too high humidity to try doll shoes -  maybe next week, when the ground isn't as spongy - but I had a tarnished basket I'd Dumpster dived a few centuries ago (or so it seemed) and the duo of frames I'd snagged for 25c last weekend getting underfoot. So I cleaned the basket and let it dry while I sand-paper scraped the frames.

 

The only paint I could find was the Fusion grey I'd bought for doll shoes, but heck, it says it works on wood and metal, so time's wasting ! I soon had all three drying in the sun, waiting for the next coat. Hopefully, two is all it'll take !

 

Once I accomplished that frequently-put-off job, it was time to tackle a few more. Got the iron cleaned - I'd thrifted a tube of hot iron cleaner years ago, but never used it. No time like today ! It smelled nice, and got a lot of the old carbon scorch marks off the soleplate. It's not ‘like new', but it's much better ! Amazing that I can even tell the difference, it was only a $10. iron when it was new, and I scavenged it from a junk pile back when we lived at The Pit ‘o H#ll Apartments. Back in 2002 !

 

It was a good day for the iron. It was nice and clean and needed. For I was gonna embroider... a wearable t-shirt ! One of Dearest's, and with a simple, small design, but I was gonna do it today ! If you knew how often I'd put it off, you'd blush for me. But I was out of excuses. I had stitch cover. I had knit fabric experience. The design had been in Brody's memory for weeks. I needed experience in centering and hoop placement. Time to get busy ! I did a test-stitch on more of that beigey skin tone fabric, and it went well - so I stitched the tire part of it twice. Much better. It was too sparse with just one pass. And I wanted to make sure using iron-on interfacing as a stabilizer worked, it wasn't just a fluke when I tried it with the Eve Wall-E design. And every time ya work a new design, ya gotta do a stitch out ! So I did. And it wasn't a fluke. Used dryer sheets again, under the interfacing, too. I don't know if they work that well, or they're just my lucky charm ! So, in the hoop, there was (in order ) shirt, interfacing, dryer sheets.

 

Getting the interfacing in the right place and centering the hoop right at the shirt's center front was a challenge. I bet I rehooped his shirt about six times. Learned to draw a crosshair on the interfacing, line it up with the center marks on the hoop. Luckily, I realized that I'd be embroidering on the wrong side of the shirt that way ! Plus, adding the dryer sheet stabilizers made it hard to see the pencil marks. So I pushed straight pins along the crosshairs, and centered the hoop on the pins... which was centered on the crosshairs.

 

This time, I repeated the stitching on both the car body and the tires, since the white didn't show up as well on the black as I'd hoped, and I already knew I was doubling the tires. Went pretty well ! I'd never done that before. Of course, I'd forgotten that our washer was fritzed when I started. How was I gonna get that interfacing off ? I couldn't put the stitch cover over it, it's permanent, and the stiff interfacing sort of makes a textured shield that's visible on a t-shirt. And what if it washes off in the laundry under the stitch cover ? Well, a bit of picking and a spritz of water took care of that. It peeled right up. Whoo-hoo !

 

The stitch cover went on just perfectly, on a ‘Wool' setting for 15 seconds. It took me longer to open the packaging it was shipped in than it did to use it. I kinda wish I'd gotten it a bit higher, but it's centered well, and looks good on Dearest. He's looking forward to wearing it tomorrow ! And I'm glad to have learned all that I did. While I was looking for a good shirt to potentially sacrifice, I found another with a small hole...Hmmmm....

 

Maybe later. Tomorrow, I have to work out the bus driver and bus monitor's candy jar gifts, since I'll forget about it over the weekend, and I don't stand a chance at getting it done Monday, and I'll give them out Tuesday. Once those are done, I'll have space on Brody for a buncha new designs !