Anyone else doing their spring cleaning and organizing? I've tackled my husband's ties, which were all thrown into a plastic bin in his side of the closet. When I pulled the wad of strangled fabric out, in one huge lump, I wondered how he could find the one he needed in that tangle!
It reminded me of the insides of a golf ball. After scaling off the hard shell, the insides of a golf-ball have compressed, tightly wound rubber bands, all connected in one long strand. When we sliced the topmost band with a sharp knife, the whole ball vibrated, becoming zapped in an almost electric explosion. The innards would ricochet in spasms across the driveway, spewing fragments across the pavement until a tiny residue would shudder into the gutter, laying spent and innocuous.That's how I'll feel when this cleaning frenzy is finished.
I'm also doing some experimenting with my new sewing machine, a German PFAFF hobby 1016. Since my old Singer died, or, as the repair shop manager said, "It would be cheaper to buy a new machine than repair this old one", I've had to relearn some old skills just to thread a bobbin and learn a variety of new stitches.
This machine offers just a few options - the shell stitching that is so pretty as a border, the smocking stitch, elastic stitches, quilting stitches, zig-zag, and Richelieu, which is a very artistic form of bar and eyelet embroidery. It has a ruffler, and a button-hole maker. I noticed that the machine has a bias tape binder that give edges a very smooth and neat appearance. These little pot-holders, the first I've made, are gifts for Ayyam-i-Ha. They could look a lot better! I've 'lost my touch', being out of practice for so long. I'll have to settle for some imperfection. Also, as I've aged, my eyes just don't work as well - it is all I can do to thread a needle anymore. I'm constantly adjusting my focus, up close or far away, with my reading glasses or without, pulling them down over my nose to compare images.
There is an old Northwest Indian tradition for basket-makers, that says, "Give your first 9 baskets away before you keep one for yourself." The wisdom of that is that it encourages practice, I guess. But, I beg to disagree....the first ones were my worst ones. Thank goodness it's just pot-holders.
