WiP Wednesday (again?)

Posted on October 14, 2009 by Suzanne

The straight stitching is all done (well, except for some small stars that I discovered I had missed, but that’s quick and easy to fix…), and I’ve got the spines placed for many of the wreaths. I’m using the computer to stitch the wreaths, but the feathers are freehand. Lots of work left to go, but I’m really pleased with how it’s going.

My injury appears to be less horrible than I had originally feared it might be. Don’t get me wrong, it hurts like heck if I whack it, but…I guess I’m going to live. This time. The gauze is terrible conspicuous, but I’m not ready for a regular band-aid yet.

Two stupids don’t make a smart

Posted on August 13, 2009 by Suzanne

I have done something so stupid, that I am having trouble coming to terms with the depths of the stupidity of what I’ve done.

Actually, it’s TWO stupids, the first I discovered last night, but I’d actually done it Tuesday night. The 2nd is new, and it might not be as stupid as it seems, but at the moment it seems pretty danged stupid.

It’s the combination of the two stupids that is the real problem. The fact that I did BOTH of these things has got me so stunned that I feel a bit like this experience is unreal. I’m not crying, I’m not running around in a panic, I’m just…wow. I was really stupid. Maybe it’s shock.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not insurmountable, it’s not life-threatening, but it’s awfully huge in terms of the work that is lost and the work that will come to recreate what I’ve lost.

And what are these two stupids?

Well, I might tell you after I’ve recovered from my shock, but the short answer is DOCUMENTS and BACKING UP. Make sure you have adequate, secure backups of important documents. And if you are making really huge changes to a document, but you don’t want to save over top of the original, make sure you do a SAVE AS, and give it a new name before you start screwing around.

I think I might go curl up in the fetal position for a bit.

Thread yuck

Posted on April 1, 2009 by Suzanne

Bit by bit, inch by inch, I got it all out. There was probably an easier way to do it, but I couldn’t see how to take any more of the machine apart to get to the spot wehre it was wrapped, without totally dismantling things: something I wasn’t prepared to do.

I’d snag a bit with my seam ripper, grab what I could with the tweezers, work the handwheel back and forth and pull it out, bit by bit by bit. It was impossible to see and to light, though now that I think of it: I should have gotten one of the campnig headlights the boys have. Naturally, the thread was a very fine cotton (Masterpiece) so it was hard to see and to grab with the tweezers. It’s really a very light tan, but each successive bit I pulled out was more and more grease covered.

That’s pretty much and hour and a half of my life I’ll never get back.

Though, I’m glad to have just spent my time and it’s done. I’m afraid my camera is going to require an out of warranty trip to Sony before it’s all better.

Shoulda gone to bed

Posted on March 31, 2009 by Suzanne

Instead of going to bed, which is what I said I was going to do in my previous post, I decided to go work on my machine applique project.

I should have gone to bed.

I’m blanket-stitching away, starting work on a new section and…all of a sudden, the machine WON’T. No matter how hard I mash on the foot pedal, it goes nowhere and…a message comes up on the screen: MAIN MOTOR FAILURE.

I’m afraid some REALLY BAD WORDS might have escaped my mouth.

One of my first thoughts was “How fricking much is THIS going to cost me???”

The handwheel was sooooper hard to turn. Turning it off and back on didn’t fix anything, so I lifted the machine up out of its well and start looking around.

It didn’t take me long to see that some portion of a bobbin’s worth of thread got wrapped around the handwheel. I don’t remember how full the bobbin was, but it’s empty now.

@#$%@#$%@#$%@#$%@#$%

To bed. I’m pretty sure this one isn’t going to magically be better in the morning either, though.

Repeating myself

Posted on March 3, 2009 by Suzanne

I’ve been blogging long enough that I could probably just start posting links to old posts when I do something stupid.

The last time I lost my wedding ring it had slipped off when I was loading the washing machine.

Yesterday, when I went to put it on, it was nowhere to be found. Yes, my wedding ring went missing on my anniversary.

I looked in all of the obvious places, but I couldn’t do too much pounding around and tearing of hair and throwing of clutter, because of the sick man trying to sleep. You know, the man that BOUGHT the wedding ring…

He was actually pretty unconcerned when I told him it was missing, but then he was still hazy from whatever virus had knocked him out.

I had tried retracing my steps, but the only specific memory I had of my ring from Sunday was at church: I remember it clicking on the piano keys, so I knew I had it then, but the rest of the day was a complete blank as far as the ring goes.

Fast forward to this morning, I’m giving Katie her treat and closing the gate (she stays in the basement when we leave the house) and suddenly I knew exactly where my ring was.

See: it’s all the dog’s fault.

She needed a bath on Sunday, and Mark needed me to help as Katie does not particularly LIKE having a bath. Well, shower, anyway. We have a shower stall in the basement — and right before manning the showerhead, I took off my ring, set it on a shelf and thought “I’ll have to remember that I put that there.”

I’m pretty sure the moral of this story is that I should not be involved with giving the dog a shower anymore.

february 28 Repeating myself