Playing thread chicken

I made excellent progress yesterday! The magazine project is almost finished, and it looks AMAZING. I'm thrilled to death with the end result, considering that I had no idea what I was getting into when I started. All that was required was trial and error, a leap of faith, and some base knowledge, and I'm golden. We do NOT spend enough time playing with our machines - the more you play, the better you'll get. PLAY EACH DAY with your sewing machine. You'll both be happier.

As I was looking at the project this morning, I know that it's not perfect. There are a few places that could be better. But you know what? I'm not beating myself up about it. NOTHING that is handcrafted is perfect. It just can't be. As I said, I'm thrilled with it, and that's all that counts. The editors haven't seen the final project, but they are happy so far, and that darn package is going in the mail today!!

It wasn't without a few issues. I'd love to share the experience with you, and I'll try to remember once the project gets published, but I can share a couple of things with you.

I was merrily stitching along and then realized that OH MY GOD - I'm going to run out of thread.

Running out of thread

I had to do an interview in the morning, so I couldn't even run out to Fabaricland as soon as it opened. After the interview, which will be posted on Facebook sometime in the future, I was off to Fabricland. There is something to be said for using thread that is readily available at the local shops, and Fabricland is about a 12-minute car ride away. At this point, I didn't care if that thread costs $10 a spool - I needed more.

No lineups, I was in and out in a few minutes. Of course, I couldn't just buy one spool of thread. I bought three spools of this color - just in case. I only needed one more, but I was panic buying!! Oh my god - I was hoarding. You won't find that color at my Fabricland.

I took a picture of the zipper rack. It doesn't look too bad, but there are a lot of holes. It appears that they don't have bright orange zippers at all, or if they did, someone has purchased them all. I wonder where I got a bright orange zipper in the past?

The zipper rack at Fabricland

This was my haul since I felt that I couldn't just buy three small spools of thread. I decided to restock some of the other colors for my colored thread drawer. And I couldn't help myself - I bought a neon green zipper. It was so pretty! No thread to match the zipper!

My haul at Fabricland

Back home, and I'm merrily stitching away. I needed to do some machine embroidery on the piece. OK - that should be easy, and it was so easy to embroider on the cork. At one point, I had two embroidery machines going - one for the blog posts and one for my magazine project. Thank god - I didn't need the same machine. I got to play with some new (to me) embroidery hoops, and well - you have to wait until next week to read about that. Let's just say that I want to try more embroidery on stuff after that experiment.

Studio B - in a total disarray

Then I glanced at the embroidery thread - I have three blocks left to embroider. OH NO!!!!!

No..........................

Who would have thought to check the embroidery thread before I went to Fabricland the first time? Obviously, I didn't. So back in the car and off to Fabricland -  again. What can I say - using thread that I could get at that store was a live saver. Imagine if we were still on curbside pickup? I'd still be waiting for the thread. I was very lucky.

Back home and back in business. But not before I had one small SNAFU with the bobbin thread. That required a wee bit of cutting out and fiddling, but after that, the issue was resolved. Make sure you snap those pre-wound bobbins SECURELY into the bobbin tension.

A wee SNAFU with the bobbin

What a mess - I didn't care. I was on a tight timeframe and no time to waste being tidy.

Thread mess

The second time I went to Fabricland, I again, felt guilty about buying just one spool of thread with my credit card, so I bought two of the same color - just in case. And I stocked up on more colors for the colored thread drawer. Then I remembered a pattern that one of the Monday sewing ladies made, and I decided to buy it. Thankfully, I knew the pattern number, and I bought it. It doesn't look all that special on the picture, but with striped fabric? The top is amazing. Maybe, I'll add making a garment to the mix of things to do in August. Hmmm - I think August is completely filled up now.

The haul from the second visit to FAbricland

When I came out of Fabricland the second time, there was a huge lineup. Thankfully, the line started AFTER I was in the store. But it does make you think about how much time you spend in a store. If you're just browsing and there's a line outside? Well - just get in and out ASAP.

Are you lazy like myself and use various social media platforms to log in to certain websites? I used that feature all the time and, as a result, did not necessarily have a proper login on some sites. I thought it was a glitch at first. Oh - the first place I noticed this was on Zoom. I could log in with Facebook, no issues. Then a couple of weeks ago - that didn't work. I now need to type in the password and user account.

I did some research and realized that several companies no longer share with Facebook for many reasons. OK - I can live with that. I do still like Facebook, but I don't seem to have a lot of time to go through everything. It can be a huge time waster. I like to browse for a few minutes each day, and then I'm out of there.

But another website that I NEED has done the same thing. I never had a login on this website, so now I'm in wait mode to figure out how to make that happen. Oh well - lesson learned - do NOT leave things until the last minute!!

I've got phone calls to deal with today about upcoming events and classes. And that magazine project has to be in the courier even if it kills me to get it there. I figure an hour or two, and it'll be done. Then back to the blog posts. All in a fun day's work.

Don't fret about my workload or stress level. I don't have a stress level. If I were truly stressed, I would NOT have had a nap in the afternoon or a lengthy break to read my book or walked almost 13 KM. Thankfully, I'm not the stressed type.

On that note, I'm off to get the day started.

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!