Hand sewing

I've been having a lot of fun with my new sewing machine. I'm probably halfway through my Christmas list. My routine has been to cut fabric a couple of evenings a week, then do a marathon sewing session on the weekend, usually Sunday.

This weekend I also made some pattern weights using this tutorial. They are little fabric pyramids filled with tiny polystyrene beads. I've never liked filling fabric things with beans or peas or rice, because what if they get wet? They're not intended to get web, but stuff happens. I have made eye pillows and stuffed them with rice and lavender, but I also put separate cases on them so if the cases get dirty, they can be washed and put back on the pillow. I think the weight of the rice is probably good for an eye pillow because you do want some weight there to ease tired eyes.

These little weights are used to weigh down tissue paper sewing patterns while you cut them out. I probably should have put something heavier in them, but they may be fine. I'll have to try them out. Right now I just have them piled in a little bowl on my cutting table, which is actually just my dining room table with a cutting mat on it. I think the fabric was a Debbie Mumm print called Alley Cat, but I've had it awhile.

These weights would also be cute beanbags for a toddler, although they might be too small, and too easily put in a kid's mouth. That's another reason why I wouldn't fill them with peas or rice!

I hand sewed the weights shut, and that got me thinking about hexagons again, so I rummaged in my precuts box and got out a mini charm pack of Sweetwater Fabric's Road 15 . I pretty much love everything that Sweetwater does.

I finished the Road 15 charm pack and moved on to Sweetwater's Boo Crew. It's a little early for Halloween, but I love this fabric, too. Little monsters, spiders, a screen door print, etc.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them, but I'm thinking something small scale, like mug rugs. For now, I just have zip lock bags full of them. I mostly just like to make them.

New Sewing Machine

I finally decided to go ahead and buy a new sewing machine. I bought the one I had been looking at at Amazon; I had a bunch of gift card money saved up, so it didn't cost me much. this is the one I got (lists price $349, I had $100 in gift cards, so it only cost me $40!) -- a computerized Brother machine with 70 stitches, most of which I probably won't use. The thing I really wanted in a new machine, besides being able to sew a tight, appropriately-tensioned seam -- was automatic buttonholes, which this one has. There were a lot of machines to choose from, but this one had good reviews. The one feature that made me choose this one was the oversized table. It came yesterday and I read through the manual, threaded it, and sewed a seam, and it worked like a charm.

I may not sit down and do much of anything with it until the weekend, but I wanted to be sure that it worked! It will be fun learning my way around it. I'm looking forward to it.