Sunday, July 18, 2010

Kathy's adventures in fabric land or why I hate sewing

I finally made the July atc's and will mail them tomorrow.  (I am participating in a birthday atc swap that Kate is running.  atc = artist trading card).  Here's a photo of a July one. (Sorry, it's sideways.  I should have turned it before I uploaded it.)   I try to do these with seasonal themes - valentines for February, flowers and birds for April and May, beach scene for July, etc.  Of course, the gals from Australia have seasons the reverse of mine, but I don't try to make theirs fit the season.  Anyway, it should be easy to make three little cards, shouldn't it?  Yeah, sure!  Nothing is easy for me when it involves a sewing machine.  Did I ever say that I really don't enjoy sewing?  Anyway, first I couldn't get the border stitching on the atc's to be even.  It weaved back and forth like a drunken sailor! LOL Then the bobbin thread ran out.  I wound a new bobbin, but of course, I had to dig the instruction book out to make sure I put the darn thing in properly.  (This relatively new machine is just a bit different and rather more complicated than the 40 year-old one I used to have).  I started sewing again and the machine made a dreadful CLANK and jammed.  Somehow a very small part of the atc backing was caught in the slit that the needle goes into.  I pulled and pulled and couldn't free the atc.  I even got out a screwdriver in case I had to remove the plate, but was unable to actually do that.  So I poked and pulled and cussed and finally got the atc loose.  There was a bit of dust or thread or something in the slit, but I got that out, replaced the bobbin, rethreaded the machine and prayed!  Everything worked ok.  I still don't know what happened, but I sure hope it doesn't happen again.  Perhaps you can understand why I really don't like sewing?  I really enjoy picking fabric and little thingies to go on it, but the sewing part is my downfall.  Only five more months of atc's to go!  The wonderful thing about this atc swap is that I received in March (my birthday month) atc's from each of the other participants.  I have a lovely collection of atc's now.  Don't know what I can do with them, but they are delightful to look at.

2 comments:

Pat said...

I love the new look of your blog. Sorry you had some problems that made you hate sewing again lately. LOL I think if you were sewing regular stuff and not through cards, maybe it would be easier?????

Deb D said...

lovely - very July and beachie. turned out well in spite of all.