Wednesday, July 18, 2007

The apron that didn't want to be made

It's quiet here. The rain is pouring down and dampening the usual summer sounds that I've grown accustomed to since starting to work from home. The evenings have been quiet too - I'm bacheloretting it and am happy to have some time at home to concentrate on projects that have fallen by the wayside.

So, on Monday evening I made myself this tasty meal:

It's been a long time since this Idaho girl has had such a yummy spud!

Then I began cutting some of this tasty fabric:

To make an apron for this lovely friend,
Whose getting married (to this dude) in September. (YES, THIS IS A GIFT UPDATE / Shannon received a lovely Lantern Moon clutch for her 30th.)

Although I was working from a simple pattern, there was a new technique that I haven't used - "stitch in the ditch". I guess this is a popular quilting term, but I couldn't find it in any of my sewing books. No sweat - I have internet! I love you internets!

So after some research, mental cheerleading and a beer, I carefully cut all the pieces. Yay - the hard part is over. Heh. I start sewing and my sewing machine will. not. work. The thread coming from the bobbin was consistently jamming up - every single pass. So I proceed to take apart the under carriage and clean out all the fuzzies, do some oiling and after some tense moments figuring out the reassembly I put it back together again. And no change. Damn!

Yesterday I took my machine into the quilt shop and it takes them about 30 seconds to diagnose the problem. I'm using the wrong bobbin. Holy hell - how did that happen? I don't even know where this random Singer bobbin came from, but it happened to be the one I grabbed for this project. Off to the sewing shop at the other end of town in rush hour traffic. Yay!

Last night after our neighborhood block watch meeting I sat down to finish this sucker up. There was some seam rippage. Ok, a lot of seam rippage. But when it was all said and done I was extremely proud of my first attempt of stitching in the ditch.


But then, on the home stretch, the very last seam, I run out of thread in the bobbin. Right in the focal part of the apron. Riiippp! On the next pass the machine starts skipping stitches. Riiipppp! Insert new needle. Then the unthinkable happens:

Um, yeah. That's a problem. Seriously, folks. I ripped the very last seam out THREE times. WHATEVER!

At last, I present the finished apron, modeled by my giant dye pot.

I hope she likes it!

Our block watch meeting was interesting. The community relations coordinator for SPD came to talk to us about concerns in the neighborhood. He was very personable and I really feel like he cares about south Seattle. Crime is down in our little corner of the hood. This is good news, as in the last two years we've had two car thefts, one big drug bust (with narcotics dogs and the whole works), two major police chases - one involving a car that crashed into two police cars (this happened during the drug bust) and one dude fleeing on foot that took police through our back yard. This was all in a four HOUSE radius. Bizarre, huh? The rest of the time it is completely quiet here and I've never, ever felt unsafe about walking around at night or any other time. Personally I think all of these incidents were linked to one house. The house is now somewhat quiet - thus the neighborhood is quiet.

Anyway, the officer at our meeting did a good job reminding us about stranger danger for adults, property protection (i.e. keeping your windows closed when you leave the house) and preventing crime. He also helped us organize our community block party. Did you know that on August 7th on Seattle you are allowed to block off a neighborhood street without permits to host a neighborhood party? Pretty cool, huh? Perhaps you'd like to organize your own Night Out. You can register (before July 27th) here: http://www.seattle.gov/Police/nightout/.

Also, just a reminder - if you haven't got your Stitch n Pitch tickets yet, you can still get them from Hilltop Yarn East. We are offering $30 kits that include the ticket and a skein of the Mariner's colored sock yarn by Hazel Knits. What a deal! If you already have your tickets and want some of the yarn, let me know - I'll hook you up!

4 Comments:

Blogger Martine said...

love the apron, love the fabric. And do you know how many times I've done that exact thing (sewing a piece into a seam that has no business being there)? Way way too many times. You'd think I'd take extra care to check by now, but no. Seam rippers are my friend. I have several.

5:06 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Fantastic job on your sewing project! What a great present.

6:22 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I love the sock/mitt photo! Classic! I'd even like it if I wasn't a Mariners/handknit sock fan!

6:04 AM  
Blogger Knittymuggins said...

You have no idea how many times I've done that same thing while sewing and had to rip stuff out over and over. I feel your pain! But at least it turned out super cute in the end and I'm sure she's going to *love* it! Lucky girl :) The sock is great too!

9:51 PM  

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