They should know better..............

Another interesting day. I made excellent work on my stitch out samples and started to assemble them into the finished product. I didn't get any pictures but I'll try to get them for you tomorrow.

If you were a new sewist and needed fabric, where would you go? You'd probably Google it and in my neighborhood, you'd likely get the fabric chain which I won't mention. You'd walk in and ask someone for help. One would think they would ask questions like "are you a new sewist?" (especially if you're very young and with your mother) and "what are you making?" Right???  Well - I'm not sure what the heck happened, but here's a very shocking story.

I had another pillowcase class yesterday at Oh Look Fabric. I knew the students were two young girls with NO sewing experience. They were 9 and 12. I'm OK with teaching kids as that's how we're going to keep the world sewing. They were cousins and both were so sweet.

Imagine the look on my face when I saw the sewing machine they brought to class. OH.

Portable sewing machine

To give you an idea of the size of that machine, here's a rotary cutter for reference.

Rotary cutter for reference

It was the cutest little thing. It had all the "bells and whistles" needed to sew. It even had multiple stitches - straight and zig-zag. It was battery operated. We decided it was best to not use this machine and they would share the rented machine.

The young girl hadn't been able to sew on it at home and I have a feeling that she had not lowered the presser foot. It sewed a pretty decent seam when we tried it. Where would you buy this??? They got it at Mastermind for $40.00. Oh dear - the reviews were NOT good on the poor little thing. I wonder why????

I think it would be best to NOT buy this kind of a machine for someone wanting to sew. Spend $100 and buy one of the low-end units that you get at the department store. A much better deal. Andi got the machine working (it does sew a pretty decent stitch) and the young girl tried it after she had sewed on the electric machine. She said: "I like the sound of that one (the electric one) better!" The toy machine also had a needle guard and she wanted that taken off. She even knew that it was just a screw holding it in place. BUY her a better sewing machine!!!! The older girl asked for a recommendation - she wanted a machine for her birthday!!!

But these are parents who know nothing about sewing. Anyway - we got over the sewing machine thing, but it was just the cutest little thing.

Now onto the fabric. Oh boy - why or why did they end up with FLEECE and MINKY to sew their pillowcases????  Seriously? Someone at that fabric store wasn't listening. A PILLOWCASE for a bed????  How many people have Minky for their pillowcase???  Or even fleece? And the band was cotton. Will this even work??? Let's go for it.

So I cut the fabric - I wasn't even sure I would have let them cut the cotton, but they sure weren't cutting Minky and fleece. And if we had time, they wanted to make scrunchies. And NO that fabric wasn't cotton either!!!  Let's just say that I did sew part of the pillowcase for the younger girl - she was the one with the Minky.

Look what we made..........................

Pillowcase made with fleece and a scrunchie

And here's the pillowcase made with Minky.

Pillowcase made with Minky

OK -- we're going to make a new rule. ALL pillowcases MUST be from cotton. Even if the staff at the fabric store (and they bought from TWO different stores) thought they were making a cushion cover (rather than a pillowcase), they should have recommended cotton for the new sewists. This is why quilt stores with KNOWLEDGEABLE staff are the BEST place to buy fabric.

The girls were happy and the mom of one of the girls was happy (the other mom wasn't there). That's what counts and they had a pretty positive first experience with the sewing machine. But the mom was thinking that her kid (9-year-old) was going to make scrunchies on her own at home on that portable machine. Not going to happen!!!!

I was having a very lucky day yesterday. I took one cup of each of my four ingredients for the oatmeal topping and put it into the container I had purchased the day before. Doesn't it look pretty? Chia seeds on the bottom, then hemp hearts, flax seeds and lastly oat bran cereal. I know that Nancy used one other different ingredient, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember the name. Anyway - doesn't it look pretty. As I was putting in the last cup, I thought that the jar might be too full to mix up.

Ingredients for oatmeal topping

However, once I secured the lid, there was just enough room to give it a very good shake and now it's all mixed up. I tried it this morning and it's very yummy. I really can't believe that I didn't think to premix the ingredients before. Oh well - the kitchen just isn't my creative place!!!

Oatmeal topping  - ready to go

The luck didn't end there - I loaded and quilted another customer quilt. I love this penguin panel - it's cute and happy. She added several borders to make it larger.

Customer quilt - DONE

But where the luck came in, the backing was a width of fabric with two borders on either side. In an ideal world, the quilt would be centered on that backing. The two borders were so closely matched, you'd have to get out a ruler to see if there truly was a difference. Luck or skill?? Pure guesswork because it's very difficult to make this happen.

The side borders on the back are perfectly lined up

I've got three of nine blocks completed for the magazine quilt. I hope to get all the blocks made before I leave, but I'm thinking that's not going to happen.

If you know me, you know that I'm ALWAYS going through the toes of my running shoes. It's a pain in the butt because the shoe isn't worn out, but the toes are gone. I noticed on this fairly new pair that a hole was starting to form. Seriously?????  I keep my toenails short.

A hole is starting in the toe

I took some shiny duct tape and put a patch on the inside to help prevent it from getting worse. But here's an article on why that's happening. Hmm - OK - I think I'm going to have to look for shoes with reinforced toes or NOT running shoes with that thin mesh in the toes. And can you tell me why manufacturers don't fix this problem????  I'm not sure how to fix my walking so it doesn't happen.

Here's another question that I got in the comments. What's the difference between distilled water and filtered water for your iron?  Distilled water has all the minerals removed. Those minerals can cause built up in an iron. Filtered water has all the impurities removed but the minerals remain. Can you drink distilled water? Yes, but your body needs those minerals so filtered water is better to drink, distilled is better for the iron. Hope that helps.

Hey - if you've got questions, hopefully, I have the answers!!!

And if you think I'm working too hard? I did something BAD last night. I was flipping through Facebook and happened upon a link to The Amazing Race Canada. I love this show although I haven't watched it forever. I binge-watched three episodes on my computer last night. Now you know why I don't watch TV - I'm obsessed with most things and I so easily get sucked in and waste time, but I figured I earned a wee break. Besides, I know my family watches the show and I might as well be up to date when I get there. Only four more episodes to watch before I leave. See how obsessive I am?????  BTW -- that Dave and Irina couple???  Seriously??? They are SO ANNOYING. I wonder what happens.

Normally I would have been reading, but the book that I'm reading right now is SLOW and so hard to understand. It was written in 1970 and I searched high and low in the used book stores to find it. I hope the rest of the series isn't like the first one. It's called The Blessed Way by Tony Hillerman.

On that note, I'm out of here. Today is the last day I can work on those stitch out samples, then I have other stuff to work on. And the next customer quilt is loaded and ready to go later today.

Have a great day!!!

Ciao!!!