A grand day in.... Actually, three of them.

The combination of cold, grey Melbourne skies and my feeling quite poorly made for a perfect weekend of cosy, crafty indoor activity.

On Friday I made a wavy (knitting-machine-short-row-practise) scarf using two balls of the lovely Tencel yarn I bought at the quilt show. All manner of dodgey-ness (in technique and finish) prevent me from giving it as the gift it was intended to be, so it's MINE...and it's sooooo lovely and soft to wear... and drapes beautifully. But dodgey... yes, too dodgey to give away.

Saturday was a sewing day with the wee one. We cracked into the Saffron Craig cat panels that I brought back from the Sydney show. The wee girl is cat-obsessed and likes sewing so it was a no-brainer project choice. Little snippy embroidery scissors gave her the control she needed to snip confidently around the seam allowances, and were a huge hit. (I only wish she'd listen to my advice about holding onto the main fabric and snipping off the little scraps, instead of the other way around. I guess she's only going to learn when she cuts herself. She's that kind of kid....)

She changed the name from the "Tom-Puss" printed on the panel (and we therefore had to make a new name-tag). I believe she also gave it a sex-change... "Kitford is a girl, actually...."

The other panel-cat is "Catford". (Catford is a girl too, I think).

The fancy-schmantzy sewing machine was set to super-low-speed and she sewed curves and corners - first with lots of help but needing less as the day progressed.
I drew lines to show her where to clip the seam allowances, and she managed without accident or incident. We used pinking shears too.

After a bit of stuffing and slip-stitching, Kitford and Catford were ready for bed..... ..with all the other friends. (Note: "Starrie" from the girl's last sewing lesson and "Snailie", a gift from the gorgeous Annie).
Then she decided to design and make her own cat and bird.
On Sunday we ventured out to the backyard for a photoshoot of the newly finished knitted dress (started on the train to Sydney). It was too cold to go out without a few more layers...the Beebop cardi I made last year, a crochet hat...
...and a hideous acrylic Collingwood (football team) scarf that the wee girl and I knitted on the machine a few weeks ago.
The dress was a bit of a make-it-up-as-I-go-along thing, based on a few of the techniques I've picked up from making other simple patterns. It worked really well and I've no idea how to repeat it.
I spent the better part of Sunday with the knitting machine. The wee girl made another softie cat, pretty much on her own. By the time she finished it, I was too busy trying to undo a major bungle on the knitting machine to take a photo....
But you've probably seen enough photos of the weekend in this post, non?

Too many bells and whistles....

...are never enough.

I got myself a great deal on a heap of new trinkets and gadgets for the fancy-schmantzy machine.

So far, I'm loving the new thread stand. I use a lot of large cones of thread on the industrial machines and they're usually a pain when I use them the domestic machines - NOT ANYMORE!!!

I'm also very lazy when it comes to changing thread colours when there's only one spool holder. With the thread stand, there's no need to go to all that bother to take the thread off the machine.... just whack another one on!!! It's easy to cut-and-tie the new thread colour on and pull it through the machine.

And finally..... FINALLY..... I have a big, slicko table attachment. Since I spied Emma's at Sewjourn last year, I've thought I WAN'T ONE OF THOSE (and I didn't even have the machine then!).

It's very shiny and clear and swish-looking. Oh, and it also makes it easier to sew big awkward heavy things (like big awkward bags ....and I suppose quilts, since it's for a quilting machine).

There are also a few new presser feet that I never knew I absolutely needed - and a new invisible zipper foot (which I DID absolutely need). Doubtless, I'll be waxing lyrical about them all at various points over the next however-long.

We're also installing lots of new bells and whistles on the website (so if you hear clanking and banging in the background while you shop, its just us fixing up a few things at the back end). Hopefully the postage calculation and automatic payments thingamy will be sorted before the 22nd Century (maybe even before the next decade). There is a lot of product weighing and data-input yet to go.

Between website tinkering and showing our new gals - Adele and Vireya - the ropes in the office (and.... ummmm... looking intently at the editing work I have to do on the book.....) not much sewing has been done.

The machine justs sits there, seductively dressed in its new accessories. Waiting.

Learning

I'm bit of a late-bloomer, me.... Somehow, as an Aussie kid, I missed out on learning to do a basic Aussie crawl. I had no confidence in my ability in the water, and with good reason.

At 26 years of age, I booked myself into weekly swimming lessons and practised every day until I was a competent, confident, daily lap swimmer. People commented on my perfect swimming stroke.

Throughout 5 years of living in Ireland, I dreamed of Fitzroy Pool under a clear blue sky.

These days I swim when I can, and it feels like... home. I struggle to remember what it was like to NOT be able to swim.

Photo of Fitzroy Pool by Laura Naomi

Similarly, I learned to drive late (and despite having a natural inability to coordinate the whole driving thing...). I practised.

I was even a late-comer to computers.

And so.....

Lately, I've been playing around with the BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator) gizmo on the fancy-schmantzy sewing machine - trying to teach myself to freehand quilt with nice even stippling.

I have no probem with artsy-fartsy free-motion machine embroidery, but I've never learned to do that controlled squiggly stuff. It's a strange experience to feel out of my depth in front of a sewing machine. It's usually my comfort zone.

There has been much making-of-pot-holders and table-mats at my house lately ....to the point where comments were made about the possibility of a badly-quilted cover for every appliance in the kitchen.

So I made a bathmat (out of a home-deco panel from Spotlight and a towel backing .... which will probably shrink horribly out of shape at the first whiff of water). It felt more useful than practising larger-scale stippling on calico.

If you squint and turn off the lights, you won't see too many jagged or crossed-over lines in my stippling, and I can begin to see improvements on the early potholders. I hope to - one day - look back at this bathmat and scoff at its amateurish mistakes.

***
The BSR kept up its end of the deal - the stitches are nice and even!

Still finding reasons to be in love...

I discovered the overlock stitch on my beloved new Bernina has more uses than as a slow, non-trimming option for sewing stretch fabrics. (I'm used to an industrial overlocker, and I don't think you can beat that stitch on knit fabrics).

No need for more OFMK* mismatched overlocking thread on wovens!!! On pesky little seams, this stitch looks for all the world like I actually took the time to finish things properly ...and doesn't require re-threading any machines. I'm in love.


And can someone please tell me how I survived all these years without an automatic buttonhole stitch?



Of course, these stitches are not exclusive to whizzy new Berninas - they're just new to me. The overlock stitch on my old Singer was never as fast or as neat (and I've never had a computerised machine before so I'm a bit gadget-struck). I'm also prone to gushing about things I like.... especially this machine.

Pom-Pom Playdate

About six months ago, the wee girl begged me to show her how to make pom-poms..... and lost interest about a third of the way through the yarn-winding stage.

She picked the same pom-pom up last week and we finished it off. I whipped up a quick little beanie in polar fleece and sewed the pom-pom to its tip. She's been wearing it proudly ever since.

This inspired a playdate activity..... so today, we had two little girls winding wool around circles of cardboard.

There was a bit of Mummy-involvement in the construction, which we managed over tea and delicious home-made fig and walnut bread (thanks Veronika!) and we still had time to chat.

I made the first (red) beanie by freehand-cutting a shape that looked "near enough" to the right shape - and somehow it was SPOT ON! I traced off a pattern from the red hat (see below) because I don't expect to be so lucky every time.

The pattern was used to cut out two pieces of polar fleece for each hat. The overlocker (serger) was fired up to sew the hat pieces together (on the curved side seams) and then whizzed around the hemline to neaten the edges.

(The playdate girls got to choose their own colour fleece from a huge bag of offcuts in my fabric stash. I cut and sewed.)

The girls then each chose a fancy-schmantzy stitch on my fancy schmantzy machine. I turned a 3.5cm hem and stitched it up with the chosen fancy stitch.

Pom-poms were attached with a few stitches of yarn and the 'designers' were happy with the beanies 'they' made. I think they also liked the fact that they looked like little pink polar-fleece twins for the rest of the afternoon.

I wouldn't expect the pom-poms to survive a machine wash, but it's not too much effort to remove the few stitches attaching them to the hats, should the need for laundering arise. Failing that, a gentle hand-wash should be fine.

All in all, I highly recommend it as an activity for a FREEZING cold Sunday.

...

...

PS. If you missed my last post, take a peek. It's a giveaway!

You were warned...

I told you I"d be waxing-lyrical, didn't I? (Think yourself lucky you're not one of those poor ear-bashed folks in my studio...). The way I'm banging on about all it can do, anyone would think that I'd never had a new sewing machine before.

The truth is, this is the first EVER brand-new machine I've owned, and my first electronic sewing machine. I'm a bit gadget-struck and excited.

But mostly, I'm glad I went the extra expense to get the Aurora 440 for a number of reasons, and mostly it's not for the 180-odd pre-programmed stitches.

#1 reason was the motor.... Ah, the motor. Of course, there's a fancy name for the type of motor (that I've forgotten) but I just listened to it and felt it pull any thickness of fabric through with ease. Anyone could tell you that I'm not usually a huge fan of domestic machines, but this one handles like an industrial (if slower, as domestic machines are by nature). It has serious oomph - and the difference between the Aurora 440 and smaller machines means a lot when you're sewing lots of bulky, awkward shapes.

#2 The machine bed has LOTS more room. Managing bulky bags around a smaller machine can be difficult but this one is nice and roomy.

#3 Automatic needle-up and needle-down... but wait... with a foot-controlled option to change its position when you need to. If it's set for needle-up and you need to pivot on a seam, you just kick back on the foot pedal and the needle goes down. Or vise-versa. LOVING that one. Combined with the knee-lift on the presser-foot, it means you don't have to take your hands off your work.

#4 The knee lift, the walking foot, the BSR (stitch regulator) unit and lots of dinky gadgets in a cute little wardrobe box came standard with the machine (they're extra with other models).

#5 Automatic buttonhole, automatic buttonhole, automatic buttonhole..... I'm in love.

#6 Three types of automatic back-tack or lockstitch. Again - loving that I don't have to take my hands off my work and I can vary the backtack according to the work I'm doing.

#7 Automatic blind hemming with a special blind-hemming foot. With all my other mechanical machines, I've never been able to do the perfect blind hem. This one takes all the guesswork out of it. No more hand-sewn hems for me. (I can spend telly-evenings making more hair ties).

#8 A sliding seam guide that travels the width of the machine bed. Topstitching heaven, and not a Post-it note in sight.

#9 Ok - I admit it - I love pressing those buttons.

#10 Loving that the wee girl is loving it, too. I spent most of the Saturday before last with her on my lap at the machine. She had the style-card with all the stitches, chose the design she wanted to see and then pressed the appropriate buttons (it's educational too!). After several hours of calico embellishment, she brought out every t-shirt she owned and we embellished the hems. It's another step in the right direction for my plans to completely indoctrinate the poor unsuspecting child....

Edited to add:
#11 ELEVEN needle positions at the touch of a button. Being able to shift the needle position is one of my favourite features on my old Berninas, and here it is with more positions and a whizzy button control. It means you can use the presser foot as a seam, edgestitch or topstitching guide and sew exactly where you want to - adjusting by degrees if necessary.


The wee girl proudly took her calico to Show & Tell at kinder and told the class that she "sewed it on Mummy's fancy-schmantzy sewing machine". Amused the teachers no end.

My Creative Space

There's a new kid on the block.

And it has fun gadgets!

My dream machine is finally mine. There will no doubt be much waxing lyrical about this baby over the next wee while, but right now I'm too tired to type. Too much excitement for one day.

I had a lovely evening at the Emergency Northern Craft Bonanza but now I'm all talked out.

For more creative spaces, pop over to Kirsty's.

PS. The gadget that was the last new kid in town is just for looks, it seems. It won't fit any of my machines - it's for a slant machine, which are really rare here. I overlooked that bit when I was bedazzled by the cute case.