the sewing machine - YES!

FINALLY. I know how to thread the needle and the bobbin of the sewing machine. It only took over 4 months. I sat down with the instruction book at least 3 times, and was just not "seeing" it. I needed a real person and not a black and white instruction manual with pictures that I didn't quite get.

But, that's not all. I can do more than that!

On the second Saturday on April my very crafty friend has invited her less crafty friends over to teach them (us, ME) how to make a baby quilt. She promises it will be easy and fun and I'm excited. I assembled all the tools and fabrics that she said we'd need but I still had a perfectly good sewing machine that was perfectly useless in my hands.

So, finally my mom came up for a visit to play with us and teach me how to use the sewing machine. (Remember, it's actually hers that I'm borrowing)

Also, for my birthday last week she bought me a rotary cutter and a huge mat!!! Plus she brought along all my Nanny's old fabric. I can't even begin to tell you how much that fabric means to me. How much Nanny means to me. Very special.

Mom knows about the baby quilt project so she suggested I start a practice quilt to help me get the hang of the sewing machine.

great.

super.

let's get started.

It was fun. really.

Mom trimming some loose threads.

We're both left handed, but in a right handed world, we use our right hands a lot.

My finished product. Those 9 squares. All put together.

After I got them completed I was a little disappointed that we didn't use more forethought and switch one of the greens with one of the whites.

But I decided instead of redoing it, I'd make another block of 9 in a similar pattern, and before I knew it, I'd have an entire quilt front made!

And except for the red square in the middle, it's all Nanny's fabric. I can see this being a long term project I do with the end result being a Nanny quilt. I know she'd love that. She'd love to know I was doing it. (ok, stopping bc I'm crying)

This is a picture I sent to twitter on from my phone. Just to show Husband what I was up to all afternoon and that I got the mat and cutter that I REALLY wanted but didn't have the money for.

Now that I know how the sewing machine works, I'm that much more excited about getting together with my friends and learning how to make the quilt. Once I get my charms in the order I want them, I'll post about the fabric.