A Bit of Playing and Sewing

I was not in the mood to finish my cleaning this afternoon, so I decided to play, for just a little while. I read Jen's post where her circle stitching episode wasn't very delightful, so I decided to try to do it. I really think a circle stitching attachment would be the answer, but I just HAD to try. Once I decide to try something, and it does not go as I think it should, it takes a lot for me to 'surrender'. I always hated it when someone would tell me 'I don't think that can be done'. I would immediately stand up straight, put back my shoulders, and declare, 'If there's a Will, there's a Way!' (Picture my arm extended straight forward, holding hammer, or other destructive device.) Sometimes when I was doing projects around the house, and didn't know exactly how I was going to do something, I would proclaim, 'If there's a Will, there's a Drill!' I remember having a conversation with a landlord years ago, as he was doing a project in the basement of our apartment. (He is a really nice guy, and the poor guy probably wished I would just 'Git' sometimes.) He told me, 'If a person is willing to spend the money, anything can be done', so another version was added to my list... 'If there's a Will, pay the Bill'. (Ok, so I got off track for a few seconds, sorry about that...back to the circle.) I got out my thumb tac, and before reading the directions, I tried to sew a circle using a single layer of fabric. Well, THAT didn't work! I tried to double the fabric, and that wasn't real successful either, so I decided that I better check my directions. (Read first, act second...that's no fun!) The only thing I saw that I could do different, was place the thumb tac 'PARALLEL' to the needle. I lessened the pressure on my pressure foot too. Hey! That's a little better! I decided I needed to make the fabric stiffer, (not written in the directions) so I folded the fabric in thirds, so I had three layers of fabric. NOW, I think this will work! I played, doing different stitches (on another scrap of fabric), but moved slowly. I guess that might be the trick with a tac. Maybe with the stitching attachment, one could sew faster. I think I just might have to order one.

So, now that I can do circles, what should I do with them? Hmmmmm. How about a little pillow? I got out some 'fresh' fabric and started another round of fun. When I was finished with my circles, I drew a stem and a couple leaves, ran two threads through the needle eye, in different shades of green, and did a very narrow, very short zig zag, and 'embroidered' my stem. I sewed a big button in the center of the 'flower', then I made some shorter stems, and sewed on some small buttons to form my pillow center. I dug out some scraps, and the end result is shown below. (I think I should have added some 'baby' leaves to my little flowers. Next time.)
Ok, maybe not so artistic, but it kept me out of trouble for awhile, and next time, I'll try using two very different colors together, or I'll change the colors between circles (and try to trim the threads a little better....and leave a little more fabric when I am trimming it square! BIG SIGH!)
Oh well, I like it, and since quilting is tomorrow, I will have 'something' to 'Show & Tell'! The flower reminds me of one of my 'Spirograph' designs from when I was a kid. I had a 'Spirograph' and I LOVED it! Gee, now I WANT one! I guess I'll hop on over to Ebay and start looking! (This comment added after the original post....'Good God, Gordy! Do I want to spend THAT much to get one?!!!')I also had a 'Bizzy Buzz Buzz'. It came with different pen colors. I think you could only use one color at a time, but when you turned on the BBB, it vibrated all over, and you wrote all wiggly and wabbly. I got the BBB for my 10th birthday. (I found it before my birthday under my mom's bedroom dresser.)