A Little Yarn On The Side

Feeling pretty brave, I decided to be a bit more daring with the new ornament design yesterday, and have now decided that either I don't care as much for white thread on these designs, or I am just not good enough with the applique scissors to do light-colored thread yet.  Considering I managed to draw blood with the blasted things yesterday, gross incompetence with the new scissors is certainly an issue.  I am sort of relieved to know that I actually prefer that these AREN'T in white, as running out of white embroidery thread has been one of my biggest concerns for the no-buying year. So, after dumping my scrap bin out and finding myself short on scrap pieces of satin in any color EXCEPT gold, I was inspired to experiment with color options with gold (see how nicely that works?)  And since dark thread covers my mistakes better than light, what could be better than black?  I know it's unusual for a Christmas decoration, but don't you just love how this looks?...

Well, mostly. I've never done applique with the embroidery machine (actually, I've only done one applique in my life), and while I love the cleverness of the designs in the set Andy gave me for Christmas, the instructions do presume a level of basic knowledge which I don't have.  I was hoping for some suggestions on what type of material to use, as a few minutes with Google only turned up a suggestion not to use fabric that is "too" prone to ravel.  Satin is prone to raveling, but I wasn't sure if it ravels "too" much or just enough, but as I couldn't think of anything else to use--nor find anything sort of shiny that ravels less.  In the example, they did color changes with the thread AND used two colors of fabric.  I decided to stick with just one for now, as the design wasn't too specific about how it was going to work.  I pulled the design up with my embroidery software and walked through the design, so I knew that it used thread c...

It's Finishing Friday, and aside from a trip to the gym for an hour of pool walking, I am crafting!  It's supposed to hit 100 degrees here today (THEN work its way up to 105 by Wednesday before this insanity is over), so I can guarantee that I won't be gardening.  Wednesday night I thought I would get a head-start on today, so I loaded up my embroidery card for some new ornaments: (well, the lace snowflakes aren't exactly "new," but at least I haven't done them in a while).  What I really wanted to try--and what I haven't yet found the courage for--is this: It's one of the designs Andy gave me for Christmas.  It's a flat free-standing lace ornament, but those big open spaces are for appliqué, which I have never done.  The picture shows the lace in white with red fabric for the top and green for the bottom, which looked very cool.  The problem is, the directions assume one isn't a complete novice and doesn't mention what fabric ...

Not surprisingly, my first approach to dealing with Google Reader's impending doom on July 1--just ignoring it and hope something will change--has failed.  It's one of my favorite methods, though to be honest, I can't think of a single time when it's actually worked.  So, it's time for plan B:  choosing a new reader. Thanks to everyone who shared their thoughts earlier.  I have narrowed it down to two choices ( The Old Reader and Comma Feed ), and last night I set up both of them.  So far, I don't like either of them simply because I don't want to change.  I had already changed once TO Google Reader, so I'm still grumpy about having to switch to something new.  So I'm giving them both a test run to see which seems least likely to make me switch yet again. It might seem odd that someone who keeps a blog is so hostile to technology, but it really isn't odd at all.  I'm 42, so depending on what one defines as the "computer age beginnin...

What the heck have I been doing with myself?  Oh yes: *  sucking up to a cat who has spent a great part of the last two weeks drugged and/or caged *  following a cat around to make sure he's drinking and peeing (and is now avoiding the obsessed crazy lady) *  weeding *  cursing myself for the half-hearted mulching job two weeks ago *  getting back into my pt routine and gym schedule *  learning about stomach ulcers and how they can be caused by extended use of the pain medication I've been on for the better part of a year and a half *  researching stomach ulcer-friendly diets in case my stomach doesn't start healing immediately now that I have stopped taking all pain medication *  inventing crazy new ways to "enjoy" hot cereal for breakfast every single morning *  being thankful that the healing process is only slightly slower than my speed at reaching satiation on the Bland Food diet *  doing extra exercises (...

..but making him drink is going to result in bloodshed. The good news is, Theo has been in absolutely no pain all weekend.  The bad news is, in addition to being insanely groggy, he refused to eat or drink anything.  Now I can understand this, as I've had more than my fair share of pain medication, and it all makes me sick in one way or another, but when one is trying to make sure one's male cat HASN'T developed a urinary tract infection, one really needs that cat to take in liquid.  All forms of bribery failed--beef broth, canned kitty food, begging--so we resorted to the syringe method.  I thought I had gotten pretty good at giving Theo liquid medications during his leg saga, but I've gotten rusty or he's gotten smarter.  I am sure some of the water ended up in the cat, but not half as much as ended up on the OUTSIDE of the cat.  It seems to have worked--this morning the medication has finally worn off, he's regained his appetite, and though we haven't...

So, you know that buy-nothing goal of mine?  Um, yeah...... Out of morbid curiosity, I often browse Ebay looking to see how many embroidery machines like mine are up for sale.  If I can get parts for mine, I think mine could  last another 10 years or more--but the problem is that there's no telling how long they'll be available.  So, I keep an eye out for the embroidery cards and/or the reader/writer I use to transfer designs to my machine.  The last writable card I bought was in a clearance basket (though still insanely expensive considering how little support the old machines get), so you can see why I worry.  So, before we left for Indiana, there were several cards on Ebay.  Usually I don't bother with the ones with designs already on them, because they're still REALLY expensive and I'm not interested enough in the designs.  But there was an unused writable card which wasn't going for much, and a lace card with maybe a $10 bid.  I thou...