What Are You Doing During Quarantine?

This quarantine has been hard. It's not like I don't have projects to work on, but a simple task almost brought me to my knees. Threading the needle on my sewing machine. I am sure it is because I wear readers and just can't get myself to that sweet spot where I can see the thread and the needle at the same time. It really reminded me why I quit sewing in the first place. Every so often, I would think of a sewing project and then think to myself, not on that sewing machine. Then I learned that new sewing machines have needle threaders on them.

Hubby and I had the conversation and he encouraged me to buy a new machine. I started looking, researching and then shopping. Do you know how hard it is to find a sewing machine during a pandemic when EVERYONE is sewing masks? I put two on my wish list at JoAnn.com and waited. Either one would be fine. One was a Singer and the other a Brother. I checked back every morning to see if I got an email about one of the machines on my wish list. Then I checked their website anyway. AHA! One of the machines, a Brother, was available, so I snapped it up. It has 150 stitches, which is 140 more than my last machine (incidentally the old one is 33 years old.)

Since it came I have tried the different stitches, tried making a hot pad (I'll do two layers of batting in the next one) and made adjustments to younger daughter's face mask. I bought a quilting book and downloaded a bunch of free e-Books from favequilts.com Then allergies set in and with it allergic migraines.  No sewing for me.

I discovered not only was there a run on sewing machines, but quilting supplies too. I'm talking rulers, squares (plastic) and fat squares. When we feel comfortable going away from home again, I'll try the quilt store in Crossville for fabric. I really miss Hancock Fabrics, which was a staple here for so long until they closed. We have Hobby Lobby, but their fabric selection is rather sparse. We were supposed to get a Michael's when the new shopping center opened up, but apparently that fell through. I mean, it would be so nice to have a craft store that was open on Sunday.

One of the things I really like about this machine is the ability to sew from almost any position. I have not yet used the foot pedal. It's still in the plastic it was packed in. And OMG, this machine weighs 10 lbs. The old one was 25 lbs. I can pick up the new one in one hand. The automatic needle threader is great, although I'm never sure I'm doing it right until I see that little loop of thread on the backside of the needle! I'm starting a project list and when the allergies ease I'll be found in my craft room!

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