Don’t touch that dial!  There is nothing wrong with your computer.  I just haven’t written for a looooong time.

First I had company for a week during which time I hardly had a spare second to think. Then, a day after the company left, I attended the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo for three days of classes.  I had spare seconds to think here, but no brain cells left to think with! All brain cells were used to process all the info I learned in the classes!!

That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

Seriously though, I did miss writing to you. I carried my little book with me to jot down ideas, but it wasn’t the same.

Oh, if you could only have seen me, bright, hot pink pocket on a lanyard with my class and admission tickets inside and my name on the outside. Couldn’t miss me! Especially since everyone else was wearing this year’s name tag lanyard which was clear plastic. (I was wearing last year’s—or was it from the year before?!) I know I have a pattern to make my own name tag lanyard. Somewhere.

Ahhh, but I’ll find it because the first class I took this year was on how to organize your sewing area. Should you think that I am the only  one with a messy sewing area, I walked into the class with another woman who commented that the class should be called, “How to Get the Door of Your Sewing Area Open.”   And, seeing as how I had never seen her before, she had to be talking about HER area, not mine!

And yes, I learned a lot in that class.  It’ll take some time, especially since I need to finish the projects from my other classes.

Hey!! I did finish one of them in class!

And, in all honesty, one project called the “Blue Heron” has at least an alphabet sized number of pieces to trace, fuse and then cut out.  I did get the pieces traced and learned how to cut and then sew the wavy pieces of the background that represent the water. And I did sew those wavy pieces together, with nary a pucker.

It was when I got to the straight pieces that made the sky that I blew it and sewed them on backwards.  Hence the title of today’s blog.  What I sewed on Friday, I ripped on Sunday. But they are all back together now, sky and water.

Did you know that you can buy a seam ripper that has a rubber knob on the end to gather up the small cut threads at the end?  Yes!  You just roll the knob across the little pieces of thread that you usually spend just as much time picking out of your project as you did sewing it.  One, two, three and those pesky little pieces of thread are out of your way.

I didn’t purchase it.  I wonder if I can wind some rubber bands around the bottom of another seam ripper that I already own   and achieve the same effect?  Or maybe use a new pencil with a fresh eraser on the end?  It’s worth a try.

And did you also know that there is a lighted seam ripper for working on dark fabric? I love that. It reminds me of the light my husband affixed to the lawnmower so he could mow after dark.

I just need to press the sky and the water of the “Blue Heron,” and then I’m ready to start rough cutting the many pieces of sticky paper that make up the wading bird. Then those sticky pieces get pressed onto the already chosen pieces of fabric.(thank you, Helene!) Then I finely cut out those pieces, put them all together as the bird.

Somewhere in there I use parchment paper so I don’t fuse the bird to the ironing board. Then I lift the bird carefully so the poor thing’s head doesn’t flop backward onto its long neck and STICK, and place it even more carefully onto the sky and water. And then press again.

So, now you see why I didn’t finish the “Blue Heron” during the three hours of class time which also included instruction from the artist who created the piece, the educator from Pfaff Sewing Machines who needed to show us how to use these cadillacs we were about to sew with, and the local dealer who needed to tell us about the savings  Pfaff was offering on these very machines  to the tune of about $900.

The machines are all given names and then we are encouraged to adopt them and take them home.  Mine was named Beth. Between the class I took on Friday afternoon and the class I took on Saturday afternoon, someone adopted her. But then, because I was still sewing on her when they needed to pack her up,  they switched and gave him another machine.  I think Beth was sad, but she still sewed a great straight line for me.( and an even better Greek key design!)

But back to finishing the project. The woman across from me finished hers, the first in the class.  But she was so nice, I didn’t hold it against her.

This week I’ll be back to a regular schedule with the addition of finishing Expo projects and planning my sewing room redo. I am looking forward to it.

Tomorrow I’ll tell you more about the cadillac I was sewing on and why I kept trying to lift the presser foot lever.

So good to talk with you again.  Have a marvelous Monday!

Hugs,

Janet