Ch Ch Ch Ch Ch Chaaaanges...

It's time for a new hobby! I may work full time and not have a lot of extra time on my hands, but there's always a part of me that still wants to be crafty. At least I like to think about gardening, scrapbooking, baking and other fun and light-hearted tasks I don't get to do enough of.

There's also the drumming lessons I'll be starting on Friday as well, but that will just have to be another post!!

Nothing beats depressing times and circumstances like diving into a new hobby. Actually, I'm diving into a very old hobby. Pictured here is my mom's sewing machine she gave me years ago that I spent many hours and days as a small child stitching together little pillows and doll clothes. I even made a duffle bag and skirt in Home Economics class in middle school (I don't want any comments left from anyone younger than 30 asking what Home Economics is either…)

So this weekend I dragged out the old (old old old) sewing machine that has been gathering dust in my linen closet. Couldn't be that hard could it? How do you thread this thing again? Lets see.. it goes through the little notch on the top, around the cirlcle thing, down to the hook thing, back up through the two holes, through the two other hook things, through the needle and under the foot! Got it!

Wait!

There's the bobbin that has to be threaded and come up from underneath. How did that go again? WHERE'S THE MANUAL ANYWAY???

After four hours of messing with the blasted machine (that frankly was invented to save women time), I just couldn't do it. I couldn't get the 1967 era Singer machine to come to life. Either my stitches were so loose they fell apart, or so tight the thread broke right on the machine.

Internet here I come! I searched the Singer site and every sewing site I could find, but all I could find were sites willing to sell the manual for upwards of $30. Until I ran across a single posting by a nice woman named Laura who keeps a nifty sewing blog here. She said she would give her manual away to anyone who could provide a picture of said 1967 Singer 690u sewing machine. What a bargain! Thus the picture taken, and nice Laura said she will send me her manual! I will definitely have to pay that one forward some day.

So what am I working on? A little re-decorating for the "toy area". We live in a small house and have 2 little kids, so some of their larger things have encroached out into our living area. I'm sick of looking at them, so we've build some shelves and spent the day at Ikea coming up with some solutions. I picked out the psychedelic looking fabric and am trying to simply sew a hem around it and attach it to the table Paul built for Aidan's trains. It's in progress now, but I'll let you know how it finally turns out.

Many changes in our home are occurring this month, along with the new decorating. Brigid will be starting 1st grade at her new school next week, and Aidan will be starting his new preschool. Many changes in the household, but we're hoping for the best. No time for us to be all nostalgic and looking at the past anymore. For all my sadness of losses, I just need to focus on a bright and happy future with those we love.