Monday, August 23, 2010

POSTSPLOSION!

This is a giant load of post, kiddies. Changes have been afoot, and trips have been taken, and general mayhem has been achieved. Without the mayhem. Whatever. There has been STUFF! GOING! ON! Like massive amounts of tote-bag-makery. And a small bit of quilt-beginning. And a decent amount of fabric-shoppery, but I am getting ahead of myself. First things first: The internet kindof likes me. A little. Not like we're dating, or anything, but every once ahd a while the webs are dropping hints that they thing I am not so bad. You know google alerts? The little things you can set to see if people talk about you on the internet? If you are vain and silly, as I am? Well, 99.9% of "aunt june" google alerts are obituaries. There are a lot of beloved and dead aunt Junes out there, and I get emails every day telling me about them. But this past week, there have been a smattering of non-dead-aunt references, references to little old me, and it is always surprising.

Like most creative people, I think, I swing between the two extremes of, "I am AWESOME! Bow down to my awesomeness! Or at least, my general okay-ness!" and "ohmylord i am a hack and why would anyone be interested in me and am i even doing good work and is it original and where is it going and should i get a real job because i am only qualified for retail and i will miss not working saturdays ohcrapohcrapohcrap." Which, I am not saying this to garner pity, or have anyone reassure me, but I just think it is a phenomenon a lot of us go through, and it evens itself out generally, but it is why it is SUPER helpful to occasionally get the ol' interweb pat on the back from someone who is NOT your mother. This paragraph was supposed to have been, like, one sentence. Ahwell. The point, I think, was if you want to read about how generally ok a few other people think what I make is, you should go check out the awesome, really nice write-up Gwyneth, The Daring Librarian, did on the new Overdue Book Calendar. Which is out, and which I will eventually post about, but she did a better job than me anyways. Caitlin has been making some clutches from my bike fabric, and she and I are also going to be in a booth together at an upcoming local craft show, so yay for quilt guild friends! Also, Karla of ZAPOLDesigns wrote a little post on one of my bags. And then, there was a nice little mention of the calendar again on ohdeedoh! Thanks, guys, for putting a smile on my face!Ok. So. Early last week this was the way my sewing table looked, and I had no reason to think that it would ever change.This is the view now. What happens is, you start hanging out with the wrong kind of people (Bernina dealers) and then all of a sudden, BAM. My friend and fellow KCMQG officer, Jaime, told me about some pre-owned mechanical Bernina's they were going to be getting, and would I like to take one for a spin? Initially I was all, pshh, naw, but then THE BEST HUSBAND EVER made me an offer I couldn't refuse--- a combined anniversary/birthday/Christmas gift. But I was still not sure, because, folks, I hate change. And learning new things. And so when I went to the Bernina store Jaime works at last Tuesday, I was seriously hoping that I wouldn't like this machine any more than the beloved Viking, and that would be that, but people. Berninas, they are THE STUFF, and I had heard others say it, but a few minutes into the demo, I knew it to be the truth. This machine is a workhorse, not fancy, but it can do so many things so easily, and it is all so PRECISE and POWERFUL and SWISS and whatnot. I love it, I really do. I cannot yet bring myself to give up the Viking, though, for a lot of sentimental reasons... I still feel like a bit of a traitor, especially since I absolutely love that machine and was super happy with it.I meant to put a lot more stuff in this post, but I am getting the 7:00 lazies, and I want to go watch the fourth season of Dexter on dvd, so I will save the rest of it for the near future. Teaser? I go to someone's house, and I SEW! And then I go to a fabric store, and I BUY! When I write it down like that, it honestly doesn't sound too interesting, but it is? Mildly? To me anyway?
Baxter says hi, by the way, from the ugliest chair in the world.

17 comments:

Vicki said...

sweet new machine!
I have a viking, too. It's my old machine, circa 1983 or 6. I will always keep it. I have a fancier new machine, not a bernina though, but the viking comes out to do straight line quilting and also occasionally when I have a friend over to sew.

Kim Franklin said...

Enjoy watching Dexter, you deserve a break after non-stop craft making, and might I say that Dexter is a fabulous choice, what a great show, the story as well as people in the show are soooo interesting, enjoy ;-)

Caitlin said...

New machines are awesome! Hey- thanks for the little shout out :) Now I got my own little interweb pat-on-the-back! Totally looking forward to the show. We will rock that b!+ch!!

Krista said...

Bernina's are awesome. I sewed on my mom's 20+ year old 1030 for a very, very long time until my husband bought me a new Janome for my birthday. Yours will never let you down!

Congrats too on all of the great recognition lately-- you make cool things and really deserve to shine a bit :)

rachel said...

Happy for you. Sort of. I loathe sewing, and am beginning to feel quite phobic about sewing machines. But my friend has a Bernina, and therefore I know what an object of desire it is to some folk. Very strange.

Oh, that lovely cat, though!

Holly said...

I love that you confess that you feel like you are "cheating" on your old machine! I had the same experience this summer...but mine was a trade-in! I have been passing it in the store window 5 days a week and I think that it knows that it has been abandoned. Oh - the manufactured guilt!

Congrats on all of the internet exposure! It's well earned.

M.M.E. said...

My mother just bought a new Bernina (her first machine in 20 years) and is in heaven. Me, well unfortunately I moved with my boyfriend halfway across the country, and now I have a 40 year old Viking that likes to eat fabric with its industrial 30 lbs of steel. Congratulations on all of the mentions! I completely understand about the self-esteem swings. I'm a bit in the down part myself presently and am waiting for the up part to begin. :)

elle said...

If you have room, set them both up. Kinda handy sometimes if you even just need a lighter or darker colour thread. I've even hear, gasp, some people have a whole row. One for straight stitch, one for satin stitch, one for zippers, one for buttonholes. Who knew?

Clare said...

Wow, lucky duck you are! What a lovely machine and a super husband ;) I have those "ohmylord I'm a hack why would anyone be interested in me" moments a lot so know where you are coming from. Congrats on all your recent exposure (the internet loves ya baby!). I'm off to my first market on Saturday week so my head is spinning. Wish me luck! :)

SmitoniusAndSonata said...

Well , I'm not your mother and I think you deserve all the praise .
P.S. Your new machine looks very impressive and mildly terrifying , so is obviously the business .Congratulations !

Unknown said...

So tonight I went to Bernina to sew...

And tomorrow night I have an appointment to pick up my (used) new machine.

Such a good deal. Could not pass it up!

I still need to mention this small purchase to my hubby...

In an attempt to fund said purchase, I've decided to open an etsy shop and sell my vintage fabric and feed sacks, along with vintage sheet fq's and charm packs. At least I'm telling myself I'll do all of this... Sounds like a great plan, right?

I'll need some tips from you on how to get people to know about my etsy shop...

But anyways, thanks for the inspiration on branching out and getting a new machine. I have a newish singer and a necchi that's way older than me, but I need something I can seriously quilt with and do snazzy stuff! I think we are headed in the right direction!

Anonymous said...

I am so happy about your growing success, and I am THRILLED that you drank the Bernina Kool-aid! Doesn't it taste great?

Malka Dubrawsky said...

Lauren,
I have a Bernina 1008. It looks identical to yours. Actually, I have two because I can't be without mine for even a nano second. Anyway, you are so going to love this machine!

jacquie said...

you are the definition of awesomeness...i'm in hack mode.

woolywoman said...

You are right about the awesome/hack cycle.

Don't ditch the old machine. It is very nice to have two, in case a friend comes over, or you are working on something in one color and then have some awesome/hack issue and don't want to wind a new bobbin so you can abandon that machine and sew on the other for a while. I have five or maybe six machines, mostly vintage, and it is fun fun fun!

Cynthia said...

I am so happy for you and your new arrival! I have been a Bernina user since my newlywed days and have never looked back. I currently own two Bernina sewing machines. They are work horses and will NEVER let you down.

Found your blog when you were the featured seller. Love your writing style, your photos, and your craftiness. :) cynthia

Melissa said...

Thought I would give you another bright spot in case you didn't know already: Not Martha featured a link to your article on Decor8! Congrats!!!

http://www.notmartha.org/archives/2010/08/27/links-the-home-44/