"No pleasure, no rapture, no exquisite sin greater... than central air." - Dogma

 

Current Mood : Happy...and cool ! 

 

Got a call from our landlord this morning - repair person should be here this afternoon to look at the A/C. What a relief. It was 88 degrees at noon today, so I knew we were in for another scorcher.

 

And you know how I am - it just won't do for some stranger to see that we're messy and I'm lazy about cleaning it. So I excavated and vacuumed the living room, straightened up the hallway and got it vacuumed, shoved around clean and dirty laundry, took out trash, gathered all the dishes sinkside in the kitchen, hauled in the box fan from the garage, and got it set up in the Office. The smaller fan that was in there went to Dearest Son's bedroom last night, since all the screens on his windows are in tatters. Didn't want him to be bug-bait, but his room was stifling without windows or a fan. All before noon. Which is more than I did all day yesterday. Back of my hair was soaked from the exertion.

 

Got the last of the alphabets downloaded from that site I'm subbed to until early next month. Gosh, what a job ! But I have over 100 letter styles in numerous sizes to use on my projects, so I'm happy. Reason I joined that site - besides the sale ! - was because nearly all of theirs are in several sizes. Alphabet XPress can bend, size, and shape letters, but only the ones it came with. Since I'm more or less using individual letters as images in it, it doesn't manipulate them at all. So I need lots of sizes to make some of my ideas work.

 

I've about given up on SophieSew, that free digitizing program I was learning. Primarily because there's no ‘undo' button, no way to redo or start again when a mistake is made. Just too frustrating, especially since my drawing skills are just slightly above ‘kindergartener'. Plus, between Alphabet XPress and the finally-working Explorations Resizer, I can about do what I want. And I had a major success today.

 

One of the designs I wanted to make is simple and silly, and is therefore totally ‘me'. Basically, it's a heart with a ring around it, like it's a planet. And I was blown away when I found a very similar design in the Chinese freebie site, and grabbed it. It wasn't until the next day that I found out that its cheesy text ("You Send Me / Right Out Of This World !") made it too big for Brody to download, much less stitch. I shrugged, then started with SophieSew, in hopes of making mine anyway, but from scratch. Which, so far, has gone nowhere.

 

Well, just for giggles today - and to take my mind off the heat - I pulled up Resizer and opened up the Chinese file, which I named ‘planet'. I'd already set Resizer up for my hoop, so it showed exactly where I'd have to trim it. Too bad I couldn't figure out how. It's nowhere near as easy and intuitive as Alphabet XPress. I was about to start looking for the elusive Help file, when I figured I'd better save first. It asked if I was sure, since the design was bigger than the input hoop size. I agreed - then it asked if I'd like to delete everything outside the hoop ! I made sure to center the design, and while a bit of the wording was left, that wasn't a problem, I could just skip that stitch step. Resizer saved it ... and took all the wording off ! Whoo-hoo ! I have the design I wanted now ! Can't wait to stitch it out.

 

And the repair person was here ! Chewed wires, possibly from rodents. Beloved says he'll get some foam insulation that's poison to anything that eats it, and spray around the wiring. I could feel it getting cooler in here. It's 92 degrees outside, and a comfy 87 within, and he just left about a half-hour ago. Even DC, sprawled under my chair, seems to be more comfortable in his fur. I celebrated with a late lunch of leftovers. There's only one second-go-round meal left in the fridge now.

 

So it's been an excellent day ! Dearest Son is all excited about tomorrow, when we'll go grocery shopping. He's already picked out the Lego Power Miners set he wants, and it's affordable. I hope it's there. I can't think of anything I want from Mal-Wart, ‘cause I already got it all !

 

Hope your day was good, and you have something special to look forward to !

Lightning bugs and lightboxes...

 

Current Mood : Hot !

Current Image Notes : Here's a simple design I made in Alphabet XPress, while I was learning how to use the skew, stretch, curve, and move buttons. I can stitch that up, anytime ! I love that program, and I can't wait to buy it !

 

Sorry I bailed on ya'll Sunday and this weekend - I posted the photo, and then came back later, and the site wouldn't take my password ! Maybe it had something to do with the storm, I don't know, but it works now. And I got Molly-car inside in time.

 

If I thought I was lazy this weekend, today was just plain ridiculous. Beloved Hubby made me promise to turn on the A/C, and by 11am, it was over 82 degrees, inside and out. No breezes either. So I shut all the doors, sealed up all the windows, shut down the whole-house fan, and turned on the glory of Central Air Conditioning.

 

Two hours later, it was 86 degrees inside. I jiggled with the a/c fan, checked the thermostat, stood over the vents. When I felt anything, it was just room temperature air blowing around feebly, and nothing more. I could hear it running, though. Another hour, and it was 89 in here. I bagged it, opened everything back up. Landlord says she'll try to get someone here tomorrow. Last year, the daycare center had the same problem. Maybe we alternate years ?

 

Forgot to mention that yesterday, I signed up for a month's membership at an embroidery site that specializes in alphabets and fonts. Normally, it's $15. for a month to download anything and everything you like, but they had a sale, and with Alphabet XPress, I could use as many different letter styles as I liked, so it made sense. Ponied up my $10. and soon had my passcode. It was kinda late yesterday, so I only got about 30 alphabet sets, most in three different sizes. Today I got about 50. That was some solid work ! Not like the last time I joined a pay-site and had everything I wanted in three hours ! It'll probably take me another day or two to get the rest. There's about 20 more I want - and no, I'm not taking everything, just about half, really - and they come out with new ones on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Today's new Firecracker one is very cool. Things are gonna get a lot more creative around here soon...

 

Since Beloved Hubby had the lightbox he made me - scavenged doctor's office x-ray chart viewer from an office renovation a year or two ago - out for some sketch-work, I used it to plot out that big ‘three designs into one' embroidery I'm gonna do. I love that lightbox. Much easier to use than a window on a sunny day, or a lamp under a piece of glass. It comes in handy for my stuff, his stuff, and now that Dearest Son knows what it is, he likes to use it to trace images from his books. I now know about how it'll look if I align it right, and where the exact center of the whole piece is. Here's hoping.

 

Oh, and I saw lightning bugs tonight, in the backyard. Dearest Son has consumed nearly all of the gallon-and-a-half fridge container of Kool-Ade I made Friday morning. Yeah, I think Summer's here.

I made a fish ! Well, a picture of a fish, at least...

 

Current Mood : Excited ! 

 

Whoo-hoo ! One of the last ‘basic' tasks on my Brody list was ‘stitch on a towel', since everyone knows you can make nice, personalized gifts when you have an embroidery machine. It's not that hard - I can say that now that I've had a successful trial, but I kept putting it off and not doing it, until today. And even then, I kinda cheated, I used a washcloth and mostly recycled supplies. We had the whole-house fan on again today, and I can't hear Dearest Son when he bathes when it's running. Luckily, my Lab is directly across from the bathroom, so I can sew while he enjoys a nice tub soak.

 

And, given a half hour in there, minimum, I finally decided to ‘just do it'. Mostly because I wasn't in a mood to clean in there again. Hooping up the very thick beige washcloth was the hardest part. I reused some half-used stabilizer and the water-soluble stabilizer (WSS) I messed up during my very first foray into free-standing lace, back in February ! I figured, even if it didn't go well, at least I used up some stray supplies.

 

But, nope, even in my opinion, it did pretty well. The Ultra Solvy WSS washed out, and the recycled, torn-away bits of tearaway stabilizer in the back held up, so all's well that ends well. It needs to be machine washed again, since the fish area's still kinda starchy from the WSS, but I like the finished item, and it stitched up fast. The yellow insert shows what the designer had in mind - more of a rainbow fish. I made it a goldfish because 1)I'm lazy and didn't wanna change thread seven times on such a quick design, and 2) I'm very, very lazy in general.

 

Still on the table are ‘sewing with metallic thread' and ‘joining unrelated designs to make one big one', and I hope to get to those this week. I guess it goes without saying I never got to the doll clothes. (sigh) I've gotta get out of my lazy summer ways before I end up wasting another season !

 

It was a real scorcher today, but we still kept up with the fans, since it wasn't affecting my breathing or anything. But I can see us having to use the A/C soon. If it weren't for the fast-approaching thunderstorm that's cooling things down, it'd probably be on right now !

Slow Saturday.

 

Current Mood : Tummyache - so I'm bellyachin'. 

Spent on sewing stuff : $6.46

Spent on doll stuff : $5.

Current Image Notes : Here's what the frame and five of the cards from the Barbie 'iDesign' series look like together. I really hate the 'pets in purses' thing, so I'm gonna say ole Raq won a stuffed toy cat on the Boardwalk that afternoon. 

 

A beautiful, bright day, and a yard sale on nearly every corner. You'd think I'd be going insane. Nope. I'm relaxing at home, thinking of my next machine embroidery exploits with Brody, watching an old Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode, eating some junky leftovers. A good day, just not what I expected.

 

I actually did go out for a bit, but my tummy started up again, so I wasn't out long. Hit two yard sales (nothin') and the Flea Market. Spent $5. there, on a small plastic Betty Boop baby doll for DFIL, the tutu ‘Ballerina Ariel' wore on a damaged no-name Barbie-sized doll, another Madame Alexander Happy Meal doll (Minnie Mouse this time), another no-identity six-inch doll wearing a Kelly Halloween dress I liked, a pair of pink Barbie flats, and a shirt and jeans to fit a Ken doll. $5. total.

 

The Kelly outfit gave me an idea. It's a bit big on the six-inch doll, but mostly fits. So, it looks like Kelly clothes fit the Musical Princess dolls, too. Cool !

 

From there, I made my way to Hancock Fabrics, having made up my mind to try sewing with some of this metallic thread I've had around for a few centuries. I've read over and over that metallic thread requires specialty needles, for even regular sewing, not just embroidery. Since I had none of these magic wand needles, I figured I'd pick up a pack.

 

Once there, I noticed there'd been a few changes. Most of the miscellaneous bits on the ‘gadget wall' were gone. And there was only one brand of sewing machine needles - well, there actually were two, but you had to stoop and hunt for anything that wasn't Schmetz. And those bad boys were $6. for four ‘metallic thread' needles ! Wow. A quick check of the new sales ad (mine is probably still in the mailbox) showed that needles go on a 50% off sale Thursday, so I'd just come back then. In the meanwhile, there was lots of fabric and stuff for me to pick through !

 

And, on the other side of the store, I found what remained of the gadget wall. 60% off. Guess they're getting rid of a lot of stuff. Found a pen-like chalk marker that was sure to come in handy with the next big embroidery project - unifying three four-inch designs into one big design. Since Brody simply won't upload anything bigger than four inches, I'd have to match them by measuring, marking, and eyeballing it. The chalk pen, with white ‘leads' and a box of various colored ones, would surely help. Plus, $4. was a pretty good deal, a lot better than the original $10. ! It even came with a sharpener.

 

And I found metallic thread needles ! These were from Metalfil, one of several brands Hancock's is ditching. With the markdown, they were only $2. for five. A quick comparison showed that the Schmetz eyes were just a millimeter or two bigger, but I figured I'd try the Metafil this upcoming week. If they were good, I'd buy the lot. If not, I'd come by Thursday and pick up sale Schmetz. No real loss either way.

 

No fabric this time, but I had plenty of time to look, touch, and price. Heck, I still have washed, dried material I haven't put away yet, so getting more was just beyond right now. Plus, I didn't see anything I wanted.

 

Beloved Hubby's taking a class this month and next every Saturday, so I took a nap. I really should have sewed, but I just wasn't in a mood for it. But sometime between now and next Thursday, I gotta try some shiny stitching !

 

Eric in Paris...

 

 Current Mood : Too lazy to be truly indolent.

 

What a relief ! Ever since we got Molly-car back from her clutch replacement, she's left small green puddles on the driveway. I've been worried about her brake fluid, even though it doesn't show low, and neither does her oil or anything else. Figured it out today - someone shoved a bottle of brake fluid in the engine compartment, along the side. Not sure who, it drives Beloved Hubby crazy when someone does that, so I know it's not him. And I don't. But anyway. The bottle developed a small hole, and the drip-puddles have been coming from that. Whew ! I was afraid she needed another pricey repair !

 

Her window's still stuck down on the driver's side, but if it didn't rain so much, it wouldn't be a problem at all. I'm just glad I have a garage to park her in, so I don't have ‘wet butt syndrome' all the time.

 

And it was kinda late by the time DFIL picked up Dearest Son, so I just spent the evening playing online. I really should have sewn or embroidered, but I've been so lazy lately. It got up to 88 degrees today, but it wasn't so hot in the house, thanks to the whole-house fan and open doors and windows. We'll probably kick on the A/C this weekend, though.

 

And that's about as exciting as it gets today. Maybe this weekend will be more exciting - but it'll have to somehow conquer my lazy !

 

More mermaids, no sewin'.

 

Current Mood : Relaxin'

Spent on doll misc. today : 50c

 

Took Dearest Son to the Library for ‘Crafts on the Go', a weekly drop-in make-it-and-take-it for kids around his age. Librarians were hoppin' mad because, for about the fifth year in a row, local day care centers have been taking advantage of that, dropping off a busload of kids and then taking off. It's rather stupid of the day care centers, because 1) the librarians are more than happy to arrange things just for day care, if they'd only call ahead, and 2) all the kids are wearing ‘Happy Trails Day Care' shirts, but no single adult in the kids' library has a matching one, or even answers to queries. This happens every summer, when the Library has kids' activities.

 

The care providers will come back for their kids in a half hour or so, and the librarians will be there, ready to wail on ‘em, but it'll happen again in a week or two. I guess it's worth it to the workers to be free of responsibility for 30 kids for a half-hour, but it's just ridiculous for no reason to me. If I was payin' for day care and found out they were dumping my kids off without supervision, I'd be on somebody's butt so hard, they'd think they grew a tail.

 

Dearest selected a thin-paper seahorse, and dropped yellow and green watercolors on it. Very pretty ! We also snagged him a couple of books and some videos - and I finally saw Little Mermaid 2. It's funny that I have the Melody doll, but I'd never seen the movie. Then again, given the previews on other Diz tapes, if you've seen one Mermaid, you've pretty much seen ‘em all, they just shuffle new characters into the old characters' slots.

 

Hit a yard sale on the way home, and snagged another Madame Alexander Happy Meal doll, since some minor alterations enables their clothes fit the six-inch Musical Princesses line. It's getting harder to find useful ones - the last few MA HM dolls had a molded top and a fabric skirt, instead of a full dress. Probably cheaper to produce, but also harder to reuse for other dolls. Ah, well, that's why there's yard sales !

 

Also found a Barbie t-shirt with two hearts in an orbiter, a blue Ken shirt with ‘68' silk-screened on it, and the long split skirt to Yo Yo Skipper. The Skipper skirt will probably go on a Harry Potter Hermione doll I got at last week's yard sale - she was wearing a Cinderella Musical Princess dress I wanted. With a ribbon belt, it may work for her as a dress, since she's getting donated, too. It's not that I don't like the character, but it looks too much like a freckled ‘Olsen twin' head on a Stacie body, and I really don't like the Olsens. Never have. And, in a fun connection to the movie I got, I found a Prince Eric figurine in the pile. Now I have a set ! 

 

Never got near KJ or sewing doll clothes - we had DM & FIL over tonight. It was nice to see them, but nicer to relax afterwards. Oh, well. Maybe tomorrow ! I really wanna get these done, dressed, and donated !

 

Summer shakedown

 

Current Mood : Sleepy

 

Like I do with anything new, I needed a few ‘shakedown' days before I found the rhythm to Summer Vacation. Since the ‘three hours' rule (an hour or so of housework in the morning, more after lunch, a bit more after Dearest Son gets home from school) definitely wasn't gonna work, I amended it a bit. In the morning, it's ‘get ready, get set' time, and his summer school work comes in at about 10am. After lunch, it's housework time, for dishes and laundry and cleaning, and after dinner, it's ‘me' time. So far, so good - it worked most of yesterday and all day today. Although, by the time ‘me' time rolled around today, I was too tired to do much beyond sit and stare at the computer.

 

 

I'm hoping that tomorrow, I can get some doll clothes sewn, so I can find those in the basket new homes. I have a trunkload of stuff to drop off ! And I want to do that Saturday. Now that I just have one day to m'self, I wanna make the most of it !

 

 

Unfortunately, the closest I got to Brody today was to put his cover back on. Oh, well. Hopefully I'll make some time this weekend - I wanna try to make the bookmark I have in Brody's memory before I finish Desperation !

 

 

Oh, and apologies for being gone for most of May. I still write, I just don't post when I don't have images. I've about ditched that compulsion - if the entry's written and I don't have a photo, oh, well. I'm gonna post it anyway. Hope all three of ya'll reading this don't mind an absent image every so often ! 

 

Fun with thin plastic - wheeee !

 

Current Mood : Exhilarated ! 

Spent on embroidery stuff : $3.73

 

Whoo-hoo ! I'm embroidering on plastic now ! Check it ! 

 

Sorry the update's late - it's been a busy evening !

 

Few days ago, on the SiCK forum, someone mentioned embroidering FSL on thin vinyl, instead of pricey water soluble stabilizer (WSS). She thought it sounded interesting, and bought some vinyl for an eventual trial, and wondered if someone else had already thought of it. I'd wondered what thickness of vinyl could be sewn on a regular machine like KJ, or used as part of a design, like the applique crystal ball / water globe I wanted to stitch up, but I hadn't really thought of embroidering FSL on it. I mean, heck, I was having a tough time embroidering on the stuff that's darn well *made* to be embroidered on ! 

 

Intriguing idea, though. So when Dearest Son and I went out for groceries today, I got a half-yard of medium-weight clear vinyl. No gauge or denier is given, it's only given a listing of 'mid-weight' on the rack. Still, ya get a lot for 50c - it's 54 inches wide ! Digging around the remnants got me a bit of 'double polished hi-gloss' vinyl that's much thicker. I'm not quite sure if Brody can embroider on that stuff, it may be up to 'will it hoop' when the time comes. If he can't, I can always use it in frames and other experiments. 

 

So anyway. I decide to give it a go, and hoop it up. It seemed so thin, like hooping silk or a flexible sheet of paper. Since I only have two FSL designs on Brody's memory (right now !), it was either the small sewing machine or the bigger, more stitch-intensive bookmark. So I went with the sewing machine - and this way, I'd have a good comparison, which you'll see tomorrow. 

 

It had just begun the final 'satin stitch' row when the plastic began to tear. I really coudn't blame it - the design goes over the same row about fifteen times before the final one, I was amazed it'd gone this long. The sewist who posted the original idea had no tearing, but she used a lighter, smaller design that didn't have a satin-stitch row. Anyway, we both reported our varying degrees of success...

 

And someone else posted that she would never risk her machine like we did, just to save a few pennies. Why, it might even dull the needles faster, so it just wasn't worth it, in her opinion. Um...Dear, you kinda missed the point here. We weren't experimenting on vinyl just to save a bit of change. We were both trying to see if it even could be done, because it'd open up a whole new medium on which we could sew ! Yeah, WSS is pricey, but I found it pretty cheaply at Mal-Wart just today, and frankly, the vinyl is a bit harder to work with. 

 

 But if it worked... we'd be able to create flexible FSL without making it stiff and hard to the touch, it'd be softer, and easier to store, since the starch in the usual WSS is probably plant-based, and there's no way vinyl would attract bugs. The designs are lighter in weight, and have a nice glittery effect from the plastic remaining within. And the stitches would have support, making the design last longer. All these are good things, and to me, they were worth a nickel's worth of vinyl, the fifth use of a 10c needle, and a half-hour of my time. 

 

If all I saw were dollars and cents, then yeah, I'd have never gone near even trying. But I had to see for myself how this would work. Will I use it every day ? Probably not. That 50c worth of vinyl will probably last me for years. But I'm proud of me for taking the deep breath and plunging in. Brody seems none the worse for wear, and I tried something new. And pretty much succeeded ! You can't say that's worth a dollar or a dime - it's priceless. 

 

 And when you have an ole tighwad like me saying such, well, she may wanna rethink how she approaches her embroidery. It can't be fun if all she sees is wasted thread and cost-per analysis. I'm having fun, with stuff new and old. I'd rather break Brody trying new stuff and enjoying the experiment than I do everything by the book, and he breaks anyway. That'd be even more frustrating ! 

 

 So tonight, I'm proud of me. Oh, yes, and all the 'wasted' thread that we get when we change thread colors, thread the machines, and unwind the last few feet off the bobbin the machine says is too low to use ? I've been saving it all in an empty Kleenex box. This Christmas, it'll all go into a clear ornament, comemmorating my first year as a machine embroiderer. All those colors mixed together in a huge ball... I hope it's pretty !

Tutors tutoring...

 

Current Mood : Tired !

 

Ever since Brody's arrived, my saved Blogs and Musings aren't on the ‘recent items' part of my Windows Vista Experience very often. I usually downloaded and edited so many designs and images of designs each day, the stuff I wrote and saved got pushed off minutes after I last saved it - there were designs coming in, fast and furious ! Now, finally, that seems to be slowing down. In fact, if it weren't for the one-letter-a-day alphabet freebies over at CuteEmbroidery.com, I probably wouldn't be saving off more than three a day. I don't tour the freebie sites like I used to, don't click on every site I come across, and don't hunt as much. Whenever I have occasion to look around, I'm invariably reminded that I have much the same already, and there's not much use in buying more. It'd be like buying more thread !

 

Hm. Who'd have thought I'd reach Full Saturation this early in the game ? I think having to fight so hard for so long for the SewRed design kinda took the fun out of it a bit. I still don't understand the folks with over ten thousand designs - not files, actual designs ! - who still prowl for more. I probably have about three thousand, and I feel stuffed, almost bloated.

 

Made the mistake of totaling up all the ancillary costs of my latest hobby. Between thread, stabilizers, designs, needles, and spare hoops, and who knows what else, we've already spent more on the extras than we did for Brody (the embroidery sewing machine) ! And I do things on the extreme cheap, according to SiCK forum members. I'm just hoping the stash of everything lasts a while, and was a good investment. I'm still all excited about the FSL victory yesterday, since that means I'll soon be able to try those FSL Barbie shoes designs I bought months ago.

 

But one success does not a complete understanding make. I wanna get some more experience under my burgeoning belt before I go after the complicated stuff. I also have tons of unfinished business, including eight large-size semi-nude dolls that need to find new clothes before they can move on to new homes. So I think I'll work on that this week.

 

Began tutoring Dearest Son today, and we did pretty well. He read for 20 minutes aloud, we worked on time-telling with analog clocks for another 20 minutes, and I pulled up a third-grade spelling list from a website, and we worked on it for a half-hour. For Art, he got to cut up a falling-apart Disney book and make a story collage. Not bad, I think. Beloved still wants to hire a tutor, but I think that ship has sailed, so I'm gonna do what I can. And Dearest's working with me - heck, he'd do darn near anything to keep from going to Summer School this year. So I got that going for me.

 

Since it doesn't leave me much housework or ‘me' time, I have to get a bit better organized to make the most of the time I get. I confess, I wasn't terribly well-prepared today. But I can take what I learned and improve tomorrow.

 

Got the last Barbie case hung up. If I find another, I'll have to take a hanging one down. They're packed in tight - and the new one isn't quite where I'd like it, but it'll do. When it's not so hot and I'm not so sweaty, I may redo it. For now, it's off the floor, so I'm happy. Once I get the last of the donations dolls dressed and moved out, I'll be even happier. I'll be back to near-optimum floor space !

 

Otherwise, the first Monday of Summer Vacation '09 went well. Beloved's friend is over again, so I'm Lab-bound as soon as I've posted. Hope your Monday was as educational as mine !

I-Design and FSL = one fun Sunday !

Current Mood : Elation ! 

Spent on Barbie stuff : $8.64

 

Fun, busy day. For starters, our tutor officially quit on us, saying she just didn't think she had the energy to do a good job. Too bad she waited until past the last minute to tell us this. So, I guess I'm the summer tutor. Starting tomorrow. This oughta be good...

 

Took Dearest Son to Dollar Tree, mostly to get out of the house. He likes to have stress balls now, so I wanted to make sure he had several. I wasn't expecting to find much, but ...hmm. Cards that go to that Barbie ‘I-Design' toy. Looked over one package, since the ‘I-Design' setup had been listed as the 21^st century's "Fashion Plates", and it did sound cute. So I went through the pegs and got one of each of the eight different sets they had.

 

It's actually quite fun. You can play with just the cards, the shuffler thingie and the scanner device aren't necessary. Basically, you get 15 cards in each themed set. There's three models - Barbie, Teresa, and Raquelle - three backdrops, and nine transparent ‘fashion' cards. You can mix and match the clothes and the characters, and store your favorite in the included pink plastic frame. Some of the clothes are familiar, if you've been anywhere near the Fashion Fever or playline aisles in the last year or two. Of course, the more cards you have, the more versatile or just plain wild the choices get, so, like Pokemon, the idea is that you gotta get ‘em all.

 

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have caught on as well as Mattel would have liked, since I found the whole series at Dollar Tree. Heck, the little stand-up frames - transparent pink plastic with the current ‘Barbie' silhouette in the upper left corner - are worth the buck. I'll probably spray-paint a few, since they're all pink. On those days when I just don't have a photo ready, don't be surprised if you see an ‘I-design' image instead !

 

And in the evening, everyone was busy with their own stuff, so I decided not to let ‘Sew FSL' carry over to June on the ‘Schedule of Machine Embroidery Efforts' list. Read a few more pages, and discovered that as many pages say to use the same thread, top and bobbin as say keep bobbin thread in the bobbin, unless you want your design to be the same on both sides', so I decided to load up some Madeira, leave the bobbin thread where it was, and hoop up some water soluble stabilizer (WSS). And try Free Standing Lace, one more time.

 

First time I tried FSL, Brody'd barely been out of the box for a week. I'd bought Ultimate Solvy and Regular Solvy, both well-known WSS brands. The Ultimate touted itself as being four times as thick as the regular lightweight stuff. But to be honest, it was like hooping thin vinyl. And my not-yet-changed needle just punched right through it, but the regular ole Dual Duty thread wouldn't stay in the stabilizer - it popped right back out. Nothing I did - adding tulle or doubling the UltraSolvy - worked. So I put it all aside, thinking I'd figure it out later.

 

And today was later. This time, I used embroidery thread up top, bobbin in the, well, bobbin, and broke out the lightweight Solvy. Two sheets. Away we go. We'd gotten nearly to the end when...drat it all. The Solvy began to tear, and stitches were starting to pull out and tangle. Stopped Brody, and pulled out the mess. The Solvy washed away easily, like magic, but the design was a mess. I figured I could salvage it, so I let it dry and rolled up my sleeves. Round #2 - Fight !

 

Folded over a sheet of the just-used Solvy, so it was doubled, then added another new sheet. Triple thick ! And while Brody was resting, I went ahead and loaded up that bobbin I made from that three-ended spool of Madeira. Since both threads were matched in weight, and were fairly close in color, I thought the second might go better. It did. It did start to tear just as the final round of satin stitching got halfway through, but it held together long enough to complete the design. Yes ! I have successfully finished an FSL design - and I learned a lot !

 

Washed and dried the second version next to the first. I can really tell the difference. The WSS left both starched stiff, but the first one is much more fragile, mostly due to the thin, fine bobbin threads. Second is not only stronger, but bigger, and it can support itself much better. And I can now use any of the many, many FSL designs I've hoarded over the last few months !

 

I'm thinking of challenging myself to towels next week...