Sew What!!!!!

I have a lot of sewing still to do for the girls for the Trek.

I bought a sewing machine back when I was in high school (a million years ago...). My mom went in half on it with me. It was the first Electronic touch button machine that singer put out. If my memory serves me right, it was about $1,000.00. That was a ton of $ for a teenager!!! It has been through a lot. Not that I sew a ton, but over the years it has seen me through a lot of different projects. Comforters for my bed in college, a baby quilt and crib set for my nephew T (he got married last year), Blessing dresses, and blankets for my babies. Sun dresses and t-shirt dresses as they grew, and many, many, many baby gifts: burp rags, blankets, bibs, onsies with skirts, etc.

My machine has had it's difficulties over the years, trying to get the screw that holds the needle in place drilled out in a foreign country (the packers didn't pad it and it was upside down in the bottom of a large box, and the screw broke off), tension difficulties, etc. Bill took it in the past two years and got it adjusted, and cleaned up. I have had to super-glue the thread holder post back on as that snapped off in some move. Well, as I began sewing recently, I noticed that the dial to adjust the tension was completely broken, so I was sewing along alright, and then after the late night sewing last week the tension got messed up. I have another small little machine my mother in law bought me for a gift one year when my singer was on the fritz. It has some problem and I haven't used it in years. I tried to sew yesterday while I was home from church with Sariah and Liam, and I couldn't get my singer working right, nor could I get the other machine to do anything! I suppose I whould take it to get adjusted some time. It's a nice basic machine, it jsut needs a little TLC right now. Last night I was thinking... who could I call to borrow a machine from??? I actually called a friend in our neighborhood, D, and she was more than glad to help me out, and even show me how to use her serger! We planned to get together Tuesday morning.

This morning I woke up and Bill said I should get up and get ready so we could go out and buy me a new sewing machine! WoW!!! what a huge surprise!

So, we ended up looking at Hancock fabric store. I couldn't remember if they had machines in there or not, I've never looked before. When we arrived I realized it's been a while since I went in there. Appearantly they had a re-model last fall, and they have a sewing machine center in there now. They have bernina's, and they were having a promotional sale for Memorial Day. You got a card, and scratched it off and got anywhere from 20% - 40% off, of certain machines... Our card got us 25% off, and after looking at the various machines, and talking it over, we had thought I could either get a lesser machine and in a few years need another one (perhaps, give the one to whichever girl may want a machine some day to take to college with them or when they get married...), and then I'd get a new one. I looked at different features on different machines, and even though I probably don't sew enough to make the fancier one a necessity, it has severa features that I will definitely get a lot of use out of...

So, I am the proud new owner of a Bernin bernette sewing machine! Woowhoo!!! now I have a lot of sewing to do to make it worth it! ;-) Of course I have to read the manual to 'learn' how to use it first!! I am sure (now that amanda figured out HOW to thread the bobbin) that I can at least do the basic straght stitch, and a zig zag or something pretty simple to get me through the Trek clothing!!!

This afternoon, we went to a friend's Retirement party, Liam fell asleep in the car on the way over there, so Amanda held him for a bit when we first got there, and then laid him down on a quilt,to sleep. Bill tented him to keep the sun from burning him.

Liam woke up and Sariah took him on the waterslide. it was cold and he didn't like the water spraying in his face. Here he is sitting on Amanda's lap, in a towel, with a water drip hanging off his ear.

We all had a very good time, even though, a storm blew up, and some plates of food and glass candle holders went flying! We had to clean off our friend M's back, since he happened to be the bullseye for the flying salsa plate hit. ;-{, and then we vacuumed up the remaining (we hope) glass out of the grass (so that none of the kids who were running around in bathing suits, and bare feet because of the waterslide, would cut up their feet). Then, after shutting down the water slide, and clearing everyone out from under the big tented area, they pulled the tent down in a hurry, so it wouldn't blow away (and tear it to shreds) and all the people crowded into the house. everyone was in good spirits, and having a good time and after a while - with a nice heavy downpour, the kids were back out in the waterslide and the retiree J even put on his swim trunks and took a couple of trips down the waterslide. The kids thought that was awesome!

Then tonight after we got home bill and I ran out to Lowe's and Home Depot to check out the Mem. day sales. We need to do something to our bathroom floor, it has carpeting, and the shower splashes and leaks out under the shower door which sits up a bit, and the carpet even with the floor rug I have down get wet. It has been so humid lately and we try to keep all doors in the house shut and child locked to try to keep Liam out, the room doesn't get a lot of air circulation, and is starting to smell musty. We want to tile, and since Bill tiled the small bathroom downstairs last year, somewhat as a learning experiecne to eventually move on to other area's of the house, such as our master bathroom.

Well, the sad news is the sale for Mem. Day, ended today instead of starting today like Bill thought, so we will not be able to tile for a while yet. We had too much deciding to do before we could buy anything like that. Perhaps they'll have another good sale around the 4th of July, if not for labor day, when they do the 10% off for military. It will give us time to really plan and decide what we want to do. I think we will re-do the shower, and make it bigger.

Sariah was a super big help today. Thank you. She kept Liam all the time we were shopping today. Thank you, we could have never had the presence of mind to deal with buying a sewing machine or looking at tile, with Liam along for the ride!