My New Friend

So. . . since I don't have to spend so much time reading post-graduate educational material or writing forum responses and assignments about curriculum and instruction issues this term, I've been trying to sharpen my crafty side once again (since, in about 15 or so weeks, that might be a very foreign concept to me!). Once a week, I decided to try to do some crafting. My two favourite things to do in the craft world is sewing and scrapbooking--neither of which I can even try to claim to be anywhere near expert-quality. Rather, they are hobbies I like to do.

Two weeks ago, I set out to my plan. I wanted to finally make a few more of those baby burp blankets. And so I set up my beloved Phaff 213, a precious sewing machine that dates back to my grandmother's era. It was noisy, clunky, heavy and full of problems. And that is when I had to lay her to rest. After an initial freak-out, a frantic call to my mom to make sure I wasn't doing something insanely stupid (I'm humble enough to admit that it does happen from time to time. . .and at this point in life I can blame it on pregnant-head!), and sheer disappointment for a wasted night of fighting with an old machine, I decided that she was done.

So, after finding a list of reasons to justify a new purchase to my hubby (which I didn't really need for him. His response is always, "Okay, sure, buy whatever you want." It is more me trying to make myself feel better over the dents I make in our dwindling bank account), I went out and bought my new best friend (for the time-being anyway--no offense to my other BFs out there!) Here it is:
I know, for all you avid sewers, this might not look like much, but in comparison to what I had before, this is a dream come true! My hubby can listen to the TV while I sew. I don't have to work on my biceps lugging this one around. It has a few more stitches than I need and it can do a buttonhole in one step! The tension doesn't spin out of control at random times and the power cord doesn't have to be titled just so at a certain position in order for it to work. It's smooth, it's quick and. . .it's pink! It's my new friend, the Janome!

So, here are a few of my creations, since my new arrival:

And then my mom gave me all of her flannel scraps. . . and boy do I have more sewing to do!