The Nifty Foodie's Life

You might remember my vent a little while ago about how the timing on my sewing machine made a turn for the worse. $99 repair..more than half of the cost of another machine. I thought my machine would be all better, but I was terribly wrong.

Last week, I started noticing that it would hesitate when I tried to turn the hand wheel. Then, when making holiday Nifty Woofs, the machine stopped reverse stitching altogether. I need reverse stitching for the bandannas to keep the seams secure, but now I have to do that manually. Pain in the you know what.

I can’t believe my machine broke so quickly again. Let’s just say that this crafter will never buy a Singer again. EVER. This is my machine.

Image source

I’ve been sewing on it for about a year now, and it’s already having major problems. Boo on you Singer. Never again.

Maybe in a couple of months, I’ll splurge on a new machine. I’m totally NOT paying another $99 to get this machine fixed, only to have it break on me again. No way.

Once upon a time, I helped to host a quilt block swap.

Soon after…way too soon after, since time flies and all, I had a bunch of ::awesome:: squares in my hands. I knew/hoped all of the participants would be happy, because I sure was!

Then, a little idea popped into my head.

I printed grid paper, used most of my mechanical pencil’s eraser, but my little idea ended up on paper.

I started sewing up part of a charm pack that I bought months ago to start making my little idea a reality.

My little idea is starting to look good.

My little idea isn’t a quilt, though.

As you can see in the bottom left corner, I did the math wrong, but I fixed it in Picnik.

Surprised?

I hope you don’t mind.

I have a problem. My personal craft to-do list. Can I admit to you that I have a cross-stitch sampler that I owe to a good friend for her baby. I’ve been working on it since she got pregnant….and uh, the baby is now 1. (Worst crafter EVER, right? I’m working on finishing this one though, I swear.) I also sort of wanted to make a college scrapbook for myself. Well, I graduated college over 3 years ago…fantastic.

At random times, though, I’ll finish a project I’ve had my sights set on.

Well, now I have ANOTHER project I want to do, because I’m so competitive. This contest. Chances are solid that I won’t win, unless no one enters or anything. The prizes are drool-worthy though, and maybe no one will enter? Heh.. Also, I think I’m going to attempt free motion quilting with this one. Eep!

I bought my fabrics at Jo-Ann Fabrics yesterday, which are LSU colors. I tend to lean towards the blues/greens with my quilts, so I wanted to do something different color-wise.

I chose to do this pattern from Oh, Fransson!. It’s a wonky quilt…another first for me, but the tutorial looks simple enough. I just hope I don’t end up with a heap of fabric on the cutting board, and me drowning my sorrows in a pint of ice cream. Ha!

I can do this in a month, right? LOL…not like I have other quilts to do. (sarcasm)

So…here goes. I might be attached to my sewing machine by the time this is over…Christmas Quilt Block Swap Quilt, this quilt, my Etsy projects and my handmade Christmas gifts to family/friends. Oy..I’m a little cah-ray-zee.

I found myself at Target today to get a couple of things for lunch. I was absolutely stunned to see that the store was completely decorated for Christmas! It’s that time of the year again, for sure!

The decor reminded me SO much of the quilt block swap. I’ve been so excited to assemble these block packages for the swap. It was sort of like a little bit of Christmas to me, opening those packages of blocks.

Sadly, a few participants decided against sending blocks, which sort of stinks. . Good news though…there are some seriously adorable blocks that were mailed, great quilts to be made and I cannot wait to see them all! Can you?!?

I got this super cute card in one of the packages. Just adorable.

I really loved the fabrics that were mailed in. Everyone’s were different…some traditional, some modern, some whimsical. Just awesome.

I’m just posting slight previews, because I don’t want to giveaway how the quilts will come out!

And I’m not going to give it away, but….

…take a wild guess at which of these pictures include the fabrics I submitted!

I simply cannot wait to sew up these little blocks of Christmas cheer! I hope everyone loves their fabrics too. I tried to sort by giving everyone a variety of block colors.

I really do enjoy sewing. I usually go in our guest room, where my craft room is as well, plug in the iron, sit down and just sort of ease into crafting.

I’m still pretty new to sewing, however, and occassionally, a project will make me more stressed than happy. This project was seriously the devil. I am probably never making this again, unless I have my own kid to make this for (not anytime soon).

Here’s the project: McCalls M5721. Do not ever buy this pattern…ever.

What was the big issue? Well, McCalls instructions made little to no sense for a good portion of the project, especially when it came to sewing the pockets on. Also, the pattern asks you to make your own bias tape. Uh, no. I hate that…ended up buying my own. Saved me an ironing headache.

Also, this project ended up really messing up the timing on my machine, due to sewing the nylon webbing. My machine was not a fan. A $99 repair. Not happy.

In the end, though, I finished this cover. The friend I made this for took pictures of her little girl in the cover. I think she likes it.

I am usually not a watermarker for my photos, but my friend requested that I mark these pictures to avoid this picture of her daughter getting stolen and posted without permission.

A nifty thing about this ? The cover is reversible and folds into its own tote bag. That’s the only saving grace that this pattern has.

Rating out of 10: 2. If a pattern causes me to break my machine and sort of make up instructions for a good part of it, I’m bitter and it won’t get a high rating. 2 points for the reversible coolness and the fact that it goes into it’s own tote bag. I do NOT recommend this pattern for a beginner if they want to refrain from cussing and pulling their hair out.