Another loud Thursday at the Library...

Current Mood : Worn

 

Whoo-hoo ! The SiCK site is using a tip I sent, so I got a free set. Chose the remote controlled race cars one that came out in May, for Dearest Son. He loves it, and I'll have all summer to put it on his t-shirts. The cutest thing about the set is a blue-eyed purple and yellow sports car, who has five different ‘poses'. For some reason, I find the idea of stitching out all five, one on several different colors and styles of shirts, and having Dearest wear one every day for his first week of school absolutely hilarious. It's not like this little car is a licensed design or anything - but seeing it five days in a row may have his teacher wondering... probably wondering about his mother's sanity !

 

Not a lot else going on. The library was a complete bust. Today's art activity, gluing feathers and wiggle eyes to a paper lunch bag, was so packed, we couldn't get near the door. And day care centers were there in force. Mostly getting chewed out by librarians - she was really working over one caregiver about bringing 30 kids without a phonecall. About time they stood up for themselves, I just hate that it came to that.

 

Dearest is kinda sensitive to noise, and the kids' library today was literally a wall of sheer sound. He picked out two videos nearly at random, and was ready to go. We did get to tour the pigeon exhibit, though. I didn't know this, but there's a big and devoted group of pigeon racers and breeders in the area, and they had lots for us to see. Dearest even got a pigeon's leg band as a souvenir, and I got to pet one. He coooed at me.

 

Not a lot else going on, so I'm gone. I can still hear kid shrieks... oh, wait. That's the day care center next door. Whew !

 

Glitter falls !

 

Current Mood : Gleeful

Spent on embroidery today : $18.67

 

Have I ever told you that I keep a small screwdriver by my computer desk, so that, after I take an in-the-hoop photo, I can pop the stitching out without taking the hoop back to the Lab ? ‘S true.

 

Well, last night, after a delicious and nutritious Subway dinner - I favor the Subway Melt, m'self - we all relaxed in our nice, cool home. Dearest made up lists of Lego and imaginary parts for Herbie, Beloved started in on some of his hobby works, and I decided to go ahead and try embroidery with metallic thread. I had about six spools of various sizes and types, most of which, I have no idea where it came from. That happens when you buy lotsa thread second-hand.

 

So, first up was some thick, almost wire-like silver on a narrow cardboard tube. I have two of those, identical. I tried to use Brody's on-board monogram, and you can see it on the upper left. It seemed to go well, but it doesn't like to go over itself, or move very much. That was as far as I got with the ‘D'. Later efforts, like the bottom center flower, didn't go well at all. I tried another spool, this one of gold. Since you don't see any gold stitching at all in today's picture, that should tell you how it went.

 

I think I bought the gold thread new, to use on cross-stitch projects. It's that wound kind, that's three flyaway strands twisted together, and once it untwists ( like it does if you were stupid enough to touch it), it won't spin back, no matter how you twirl it. It'd take me five minutes to thread the needle - Brody's lever threader didn't work on either the gold or silver threads - and two seconds for the thread to screw up.

 

Clearly, things were not going well. So I decided to change the needle - and yes, it was bent. But I knew, bent, broken, or just plain twisted needle or not, I was not using those multi-strand threads again. Horrible to work with, and that's the truth. I pulled a DMC spool of silver that was also wrapped strands, but the spool itself is just like the ones in my Madeira chest. It too failed. It's the half-circle on the upper right.

 

I was about to give up, figuring Brody simply needed specialty thread I don't have, with my mix-and-match stash. But I noticed that I had three spools - silver, gold, and pink - with intact Coats and Clark labels, and they clearly said ‘embroidery' on ‘em. So I loaded up the silver. I love silver. And the threader lever worked ! Always a good sign when you're starting again.

 

The circle on the bottom left is from that spool. Encouraged by the not-disaster, I did the often-seen heart design. Success ! So now I know - I know what kind of thread I need to use, the tension settings, and the type of designs to use. Whew ! I can embroider with metallic thread ! And the markdown needles work just fine.

 

The wire-like threads and the twist ones got relegated to the regular sewing thread boxes, since they may yet work with KJ. That freed up some space, and I managed to get all the embroidery threads into the Madeira box and the vintage green sewing box, eliminating a smaller box I had with spools that didn't fit anywhere else.

 

Today was great, too. Got to see the Generation of Dreams Barbie today - our Mal-wart had just one. Nice display case, vivid dress. A lot ‘pinker' than I expected, and the photos don't show the silver sequin ‘frames' around some of the Barbie images. Or the half pound of glitter. As for the doll, it looks like the ‘Daria' Model of the Moment stick-figure sway-backed style, and I never liked those dolls. So, while $50. wasn't too dear for a presumably ultra-collectable celebration of Barbie for all of us, I pretty much hated her. She has a sharp, rather unkind face...one could say, just like a real model, or like a #1 Barbie. At one point, I considered ripping her gown for a *real* Barbie - namely Shinobu or a yard-sale sweetie - but $50. is a bit too rich for an overdone second-grade collage of old Barbie catalogs. With sequins, tulle, and glitter.

 

I confess, with 2009 half-gone already, I'm not very impressed with Mattel's celebration of their #1 product. It's all been stuff to buy, not memories or heritage or generations or dreams. Ooh, Barbie make-up for adults - who else could afford $45. for a compact ? It just seemed as though Mattel slapped the same images on any product that wanted a tie-in ( I guess Drain-O and Bounty paper towels were busy) , but forgot about what Barbie means to a lot of people. But then again, maybe it doesn't matter to them, just the register receipts do.

 

Dearest Son got his Lego Power Miners ‘Claw Digger' kit, and he's been happy all day. Beloved Hubby was home early, so I got to go to Hancock Fabrics and spend as much time as I wanted, all by m'self. Got five cards of metallic thread needles, and a refill pack of chalk. So I'm well-stocked on those ! Also a spool of Sulky ‘Holoshimmer' embroidery thread in "Multi-Color Light"- basically a pastel iridescent thread that's predominantly silver. That was at Beloved Hubby's insistence. Even though I can use thread I already own, he wanted me to get a spool of ‘the real stuff', so...

 

Yeah, I know. It's silly to say I don't like the Barbie for her abundance of glitter when I go out of my way to get the shiniest, most iridescent thread I can find ! But I am my inconsistancies ! 

 

Well, that was today. Hope yours was good, too !

"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 !