productive sewing weekend

I've been busy! Little Madam C has been bugging me for some new outfits for her dollies. She has told me at least four times that EASTER IS COMING, and her dollies MUST dress for the occasion! So here is her "Patty Matty" wearing her new Easter Sunday dress ...Little Madam C doesn't know it yet, but I sewed an identical human Easter Sunday dress for her too.

"Patty Matty" lives at my house so "my stupid poophead brother can't wreck her!" "Chrissy Sue" lives at Little Madam C's house because "my stupid poophead brother has already pulled out her hair and coloured on her with felts". Despite "Chrissy Sue's" sad disfigurement, she STILL requires wardrobe updates, so I sewed each outfit TIMES TWO. "Patty Matty", "Chrissy Sue", Little Madam C and myself are all hoping for warm weather soon so dollies can wear this sportsy little number ...... or this summer sun outfit ...It is important to note that the hat is REVERSIBLE, thereby multiplying the total number of available outfits. It is also important to note that photos of "Patty Matty" in a summer sun outfit requires posing with summer sun toys. Since we do not have summer sun toys at my house, we had to resort to bathtub toys. I'll probably never hear the end of THAT! With dollies taken care of, I was able to spend a few hours completing yet another RAGGEDY ANN AND ANDY set ...I'm sure it won't take long to find a home for these two. I wasn't sure I'd like the orange, but it's quite cheery. (PLEASE NOTE -- another February Fever project complete!)

Then I embarked on an impromptu quilting project sparked by this magazine article ...I remembered that I had some green and yellow batik prints ...... and decided they would be PERFECT for this little quilted table topper. Here's the first stages of the project, applying WONDER UNDER and ironing celtic knots to squares ...This part of the project was fiddly and time consuming ...... but once I had all the squares cut out and the celtic knots ironed on, I really liked the way the project was coming together. I love yellow in my kitchen, and could already imagine this on my kitchen table ...I chose to zig zag around the ironed-on celtic knots, and that chore took an entire evening and lots of patience.I quickly learned that I should have been a little more particular about the SPACES between the individual parts of the celtic knots. (I'm not famous for careful attention to small details or anything to do with straight lines.) However, one sore butt and a stiff neck later, all the zig zagging was complete. Here's the table topper with all the blocks sewn together, and the layers of top/batting/backing all pinned together and ready for ... machine quilting. However, that's going to have to wait until next weekend. My sore butt and stiff neck just can't take any more!

So you might be wondering WHY this burst of sewing energy? It has a lot to do with ...... my new sewing machine. I had an elderly Mason sewing machine, but have been having problems with it this past year. Every time it went for a checkup I practically got a hernia CARRYING IT downtown on the bus (VERY heavy even though it was portable). For the price of the last two trips to the shop, I could have bought 2 or 3 NEW portable sewing machines. So I told myself that the next sign of trouble and I would replace it. Which I did recently. This new machine is so light, I can practically lift it with two fingers (which will make it a joy to take to quilting classes)! At the same time, it purrs through repairing denim jeans like a hot knife through butter. And it has a ...... clear bobbin cover so I can see how much thread is left on the bobbin (no more unwelcome surprises), as well as a ...

... built in thread cutter (great because my scissors are never where I want them) on its side. The only negative thing I've found about it so far is ...

... the foot release which is clearly designed and located for a right-handed person (which I'm not). However, I'm looking forward to getting to know my new sewing machine better. Who knows ... if I keep having productive sewing weekends like this, I might take ANOTHER non-academic semester. Or even say to heck with the Master's degree!