What Have I Been Up To...

LOTS!

Sorry there aren't any pictures with this post but that is the one thing I haven't been doing. It has been a very busy couple of months. Unfortunately, blogging has been at the bottom of the list. So what have I been up to?

Sewing--I have made a few garments but I think that only a couple were completely finished. I still have the hem to finish on my first pair of pants I have ever made. I think they fit fairly well. I am not sure why I don't have the motivation to finish them.

Traveling--At the beginning of February I went to Portland. I was there for a Bible Study Fellowship leaders retreat and to FABRIC SHOP! Both were fantastic! One highlight was spending 2 1/2 hours at Rose City Textiles and leaving with about 100 (not a typo) yards of fabric. I brought home so much fantastic high tech knits. I can't wait to sew them up. The other highlight was going to the Pendleton store in Washougal, WA. We took the tour of the factory and it was so interesting. I loved seeing how quality fabric is made. They also sell some fabric in their store there. A lot of it is flawed in some small way so there are fantastic prices. I bought quite a bit of luscious wool fabric. It is gorgeous and now I just have to figure out what to make.

My husband came with me and our 7 year old son (yes, they did go to all the fabric stores with me). It was a great time to spend focusing on our son. We also went to the zoo and OMSI (a science museum). We all had a great time.

Setting up a sewing studio--I decided in January that it was time to teach sewing lessons. I have been thinking about this for a few years but until now it just hadn't been the right timing. So January and February have been full steam ahead getting things in order. The most time consuming part (it took almost a month during which there was no sewing) was cleaning and organizing my sewing space. It was a cluttered mess that needed almost a total reorganization. I LOVE it now. Everything is labeled and has a spot. It is neat and clean and I can walk around the room easily. I joked to my husband that it is now the most organized and clean room in the house. It really helps that every Monday night it has to be cleaned for lessons the next day. I am thoroughly enjoying teaching my students. It is such a joy to do something I really love and make some money too.

Getting a couple new machines--I already had two sewing machines but in order to have at least 4 students in a class I needed buy one more sewing machine. I pondered and researched. I didn't want to pay a lot but I wanted a quality machine that would have a nice stitch and be durable. I was thinking about a Viking Emerald but ended up with a Janome Magnolia instead. It had some really neat features. It is a great machine for a beginner and I have really liked having it for my classes. I think it might become my go to machine for buttonholes. They are super simple on this machine and turn out quite nicely.

I also wanted another serger for the students. Again I didn't want to spend a whole lot but I wanted a quality machine that wouldn't break down a lot and be frustrating to the students. I originally wanted a Huskylock 910. I have a 936 and love it. I thought the 910 would be great because had the great stitch quality but not all the expensive features so I might be able to find one for $700 or so. I ended up finding a person on Craigslist selling an almost brand new Elna 925 for $400. It is an older machine (originally purchased in 1998) but since it hadn't been used much it is in perfect condition. It was high end in it's day. It can even do cover stitch (although I don't need this since I have a cover hem machine and the 936 does it also). I have used it quite a bit and I love it! So, I have been learning two new machines which has been a lot of fun!

Spring Break--My kids had Spring break last week. I am not sure what we did but the time certainly flew by. We got dumped with a few feet of snow so we did spend quite a bit of time outside playing.

Life is starting to settle down a bit and hopefully, soon I can get some pictures of completed garments. I am so behind. I don't think that I even finished up all of my before Christmas sewing. Someday. Today I am focusing on laundry and hopefully getting to some sewing. I should start on my daughters Easter dress. Since the fabric needs to be washed I might cut out a shirt for me instead. I better get started!

Thanks for hanging in there with me! Have a great day!

Until next time...