Sunday, October 21, 2007

Wish I had a magic wand ....

Another 6 hours of sewing machine lessons ... another boggled brain.







Plus, my back is wrecked from lifting that tub in and out just one time too many. We had to make sure we angled it just right so as not to hit the spout on the wall ... but at the same time not get it too low to the floor til we got over the opening so we didn't crack off the drainage pipe which, as you can see, extends below the tub feet by a few inches. We had to enlarge the opening in the floor as we could not reach far enough under the tub nor could we angle a hand into the too small opening to attach the pea trap with the tub in position. Somewhere along the line we made a mistake in measurements way back when we did tiles. Vin Diesel would never be able to install this tub. His arms would never fit under the thing... but, hey ..... just a second ... maybe he could hold it up all by himself while I attached the piping. ... ahhhh for an easier way to do something. Where is Vin when I need him?




We filled the tub once in position and leak tested it. Dry as a bone. Woohoooo !

Today will be a day of rest and recuperation and I better not have to lift any more tubs in my lifetime. I can hardly lift a finger today. Greg built a scaffold type of unit to put over the tub so we can work on the tiles behind the tub without damaging things. Today he is laying out tiles all over the place to measure and "imagine -eer" the final result before we put them into place. Hopefully tomorrow we will have a tiled wall behind the tub.

But, look. I did an invisible zipper !! .... so invisible you can hardly notice it. hahahha ... Yay me! Not that I will be doing any of those in my doll making ... unless somebody makes mini zips ?.. for tiny tops or something .. ? Never say never I guess.

This time I bought a "wing" needle ... and two more feet for my machine ... so, another $100 day. I just borrowed all the other ones we needed to try all the various stitches ... and ruffling ... and tucks, and pleats ... etc .. but figure I definitely want to try some FME so bought that foot ... as well as one that allows for the wing needle (it can also be used for many other applications). The stitches with the little openwork looked kind of interesting to me. There is even a foot through which you can feed a strand of yarn for couching ... who lies awake at night dreaming up all of these gadgets? I didn't think I would be using that too much ... The ruffler foot was reminiscent of some retro space movie contraption. Totally bizarre. Here is my sample of stitches using the wing foot... haahaha I mean needle. It looks a bit messy as I was trying many decorative stitches at the same time...

Next class is not for a couple of weeks and she will be doing a lot with quilting. I am definitely not interested in traditional quilts, but am thinking I may like to try a small applique type wall hanging.

4 comments:

Laura Lynn said...

Oh my gosh Vee!!! LIFTING a tub????? What were you thinking? I hope you heal quickly.

My gosh... those "free" classes are sure expensive, but you are definitely learning what you can do with your machine. Awesome invisible zipper!!

Hugz,
Laura

Felicia said...

Home improvement can be tough on the back! But it will be so worth it in the end.

All Bear by Paula said...

Vee, you make me feel so inadequate! The only stitch I've mastered on my machine is straight stitch ... I know, shame on me!! Good luck with the lessons.

BumbleVee said...

no worries Paula... let me assure you I have "mastered" nothing. The 9 of us were going along with the instructor, doing as we were told. Now the machine is sitting in its case... lol Although I do have all the info, of course, in the unlikely event I want to do some of it sometime. Maybe I will remember some of her tips from my extra notes.