Jasmin's New Baby

It's a girl!  Juuuust kidding. :)  My new sewing machine came on Tuesday!  I had received a UPS alert saying that it would be arriving, and I checked often online to see when it would be arriving.  It was out for delivery at 7am and I could not contain myself!  I did get a lot of studying done (yay!), but I kept thinking "it's going to come while I'm at clinic tonight, just my luck".  So when it came time for me to leave for clinic, I was a little bummed that I didn't have my brand new sewing machine in hand.  Until I walked out the door.

The first time I've ever been disappointed in UPS.
Why not place the package right side up?!

There was my baby.  Sitting on its side.  Under a bush in front of our apartment.  I proceeded to immediately turn around, put my stethoscope, wristlet, keys, etc. on the stairs, and I picked up my baby and carried her inside.  Thank goodness she's light!  I restrained myself from opening the box up and left her sitting right side up at the top of the stairs.  Off to clinic I went!  I couldn't wait to get back home, but luckily clinic always makes me feel happy and is a great distraction - what better distraction from my own selfish desires than serving the underserved?

When I got home, I started putting things away and changed from my business casual to PJs.  I don't even remember what I was doing, but Kyle came over and said "open it!"  I thought he was just as excited about the new sewing machine as I was, but when I asked "why?" he said "because I know you're dying to".  He knows me well.  I told him to get the camera and we were on a roll!

Bad lighting in this shot - thank you iPhoto for the glory of sepia.

Opening with precision.

So excited!!!

There was another photo of me hugging the machine, but I don't think you want to see that much intimacy.

One of the "quick" reference guides.  A full page on how to flip
the chart from utility stitches to character stitches.  Seriously?

I spent the rest of my Tuesday night reading through most of the 76-page manual.  Wednesday morning I woke up and finished the manual.  Yes.  I read it.  I even skimmed the index.  [Typical med student.]  After reading the manual, I watched the instructional DVD.

Let me tell you, that music was phenomenal.

After I completed my "preparation" tasks, I decided what I wanted to create first.  Since I'm leaving for my big road trip this weekend, I knew I needed to finish the stationary kits for Milo & Sonia.  I don't think I've mentioned them before, but before I leave I will hopefully take pictures of everything and actually post about it.  Basically: Milo & Sonia have close family all over the place - California, Ohio, Canada, New Hampshire, Switzerland, Belgium...you get the idea.  And they both are now able to write.  By giving them each a stationary set (pencils, sharpener, envelopes, cool scrapbooking paper, address book, personal address labels, stamps) they will be able to write letters to their relatives living in far-off places all on their own.  The only problem I had was that I couldn't find the perfect container to keep their supplies in.  I had looked a boxes and bags, but either it didn't work perfect or it was too expensive.  But now that I had a sewing machine, I could just make what I wanted!  Using this tutorial, I modified it for the size I wanted and picked out the right fabrics for each of the kiddos and got to work.

My baby.  Brother XR9500PRW

Fabrics, all purchased at Joann's.

Robots for Milo & Sweet Treats for Sonia

This was my first time ever sewing on a zipper, and it worked out alright.  One of the things I love about sewing is that I get to problem-solve.  I think about other ways it could be done, do some research, make a decision, and go with it.  If it doesn't work out, that's ok, I'll do better next time.  For these two bags, I sewed the fabric together where you can see a seam on the inside.  I figured out a better way to do it so that you don't see a seam there, and used that process to make some makeup bags.

One of the makeup bags I made.

When I was at the fabric store, I knew I was going to make some of these for my sisters-in-law, so I got them in on the fabric selection.  This coral was my favorite, and it ended up being theirs as well!  My time spent sewing was so relaxing and enjoyable.  A big thank you to my sis, Emily, for purchasing this for me!!!  There was a lot of trial and some errors, but I ended up perfecting this style of bag on the second try - woot woot!  Some things I'm interested in adding in the future: a little loop handle where the zipper closes on the side so it's easy to carry the bag (think: with a finger instead of grabbing the whole bag), personalizing by stitching the recipients' name on the inside lining, adding my own trademark tags.  That would be cool, right?  I didn't get any pictures of it, but the lining of the coral bags is grey - it is so pretty!

Enough about the bags.  The most challenging part of my day was the hour I spent in Joann Fabrics.  Everyone there was really helpful and kind, I was just overwhelmed by the options!  Finding the right fabrics within my price range was not that challenging (yay for 50% off sales!), and I already had researched how much the zippers would cost.  Then there was the thread.  So many different labels: double duty, all-purpose, upholstery, heavy duty...whaaa?  I knew the coral fabric was "outdoor canvas" but it was soft so I wasn't sure how "heavy duty" I needed my thread to be.  I had even brought my sewing machine's manual with me to find the right thread type.  Unfortunately, none of the spools within my price range listed the thread number!  So how was I supposed to know if the heavy duty was 30-50?  I asked for some assistance and the lady told me she would use the upholstery thread on the outdoor canvas - even though I had told her I was making makeup bags, not upholstering outdoor furniture.  I decided that was nonsensical and bought the heavy duty in white, an all-purpose in white, and then I needed a brown for Milo's robot bag.  And therein was another challenge.  Do you know how many shades of brown there are in the all-purpose thread section?  Dark brown vs. chocolate vs. cherry mahogany vs. chona brown (what on earth is chona?!)...I held up the spools to the fabric and was choosing between dark brown and chocolate.  But they were so similar.  In the end, I determined that Sonia would appreciate chocolate (for those of you who don't know her, my niece is very fond of chocolate).

All in all, it was a good day.  A great day.  When Kyle got home from work I told him that now when he plays video games at night with the guys, I won't be bored!  He said he had actually thought about that the night before. :)  Of course, when school starts back up, I won't have time to be bored because I'll be studying so much.  I've determined that I'll have to set a timer and only allow one hour of sewing per week.  Or something like that.

After I finished making my little projects (3 makeup bags + 2 stationary bags), I decided I needed to figure out where my baby was going to rest.  I decided to utilize one of our boxes from Ethiopia (made of recycled paper/cardboard) that had been sitting in the closet, unused.  I folded the leftover fabric, gathered the spools of thread, and placed them in this beautiful, colorful box along with the manual, DVD, power cord, and pedal.  [I later added the table because I had forgotten about it.]

I love that I will always think of Ethiopia when I go to sew.

I cleared out the corner of the shelf in our closet that had been storing my athletic clothes; it was a great opportunity to reorganize that stuff: winter gear got put in another Ethiopian box at the top of the closet while summer gear was stored in a box that already had a random assortment of shorts & sweats.  [Note: the sweatshirt I refused to get rid of this past winter is now in the donation pile.  For those unfamiliar with the holey sweatshirt, it was my sweatshirt in Ethiopia & my dad had sewn a pocket on the inside to keep my passport safe.  Kyle really wanted me to get rid of it last winter but I wasn't ready.  Another item that I had that was holey was Kyle's old sweater, which has been referenced here, here, and here.  That one should probably make it to the donation pile, which I'll be working on today.]

Now you see it.

Now you don't.

And there you have it, folks!  My first few days with my new sewing machine!  Thanks again, Em!