Whew, a sigh of relief as the first day of the year comes to a close. Oldest son, Brad, was home for a visit and I was busy doing things with him today. All the usual things that need doing before one of your children heads back to their home city.

We started the day with a family breakfast. Nothing fancy, just fried potatoes (chopped leftover cooked potatoes and carrots, fried onions and bacon diced and browned, lightly seasoned and all mixed together), sunny side up eggs and toast. Such a treat now that both boys eat eggs. Seems only yesterday that one of them wouldn’t eat eggs and the other one only liked them cooked like rubber… The only downside to breakfast was the realization that the dishwasher decided to give up the ghost. That just meant more family fun time as we washed the dishes in no time flat. (Must start researching new dishwashers in the morning.)

I sewed some burlap bags out of coffee sacks. Didn’t think to take pictures – oh no – that would be too easy. Trust me, they were cute. Brad brought the sacks home from work, and it was his idea to have bags in different sizes for as yet undetermined use. Great – I’ll be cleaning burlap fibers out of my sewing machine and the studio for the next few weeks. Thanks, Brad.

Recently I bought a couple of sewing machines at Ikea. They are simple little machines that would be useful for anyone to own. They sew basic straight stitch and zig zag, plus do several decorative stitches and make buttonholes. For most people this little machine is all that is necessary for repairs and occasional projects. And for a mere $80 – what a steal of a deal! Due to some obvious interest, I gifted a machine to each of my boys. That meant that on today’s agenda I needed to teach Brad to use his sewing machine. I demonstrated and Brad practiced the basics of threading, filling bobbins and sewing. I rounded up a few basic tools and some extra thread, pins and sewing machine needles to round out his gift. We boxed the machine and packed it into a suitcase, with plenty of clothing for padding. Can’t wait to see what he creates. Did I think to take photos of Brad at the machine? Well, no, in fact I didn’t.

I practiced the ancient art of sock darning (at least it seems like a very long time since I’ve done any) on Brad’s favorite hand-made socks. I just happened to have the perfect color of wool yarn in with my crewel embroidery supplies. Doesn’t everybody?

We went out for a dinner of Indian food at a restaurant called “Green Chile” since I was far too busy doing other domestic chores to whip up a nutritious dinner. The food was quite good, but the restaurant was busy so the service was not as good as usual. At least we didn’t have any dishes to wash! Brad was quite impressed with how gentle Kush has become since spending so much time with me. Well, pretty gentle, and more so when her nails are trimmed. Before he left for the airport, he spent a little time chilling with Kush while she was enjoying a gift box. Before we knew it, it was time to head to the airport. I opted to say my good-byes at the door and stay home to blog. What a good mother I am.

Brad and Kush I did manage to put away a few of the sparse Christmas decorations that we had out this year. I’m anxious to get all the holiday decor put away and the “let’s just stash it here for now” piles sorted and put away properly so that I can get to work in the studio. Marc’s quilt is calling to me. Actually there are so many projects calling to me that I might need to start wearing earplugs if I don’t get busy! So to start the year off with a bang, here is a photo of the Ikea sewing machine. This is Marc’s machine – not fully unpacked but with all the hype on the machine I thought I should include a picture. I’ll take photos when I give Marc his sewing lesson so that you can see the machine in action. With a promise like that I’ll bet you can hardly wait for my next post…

Ikea sewing machine

14 thoughts

  1. I had no idea that Ikea sold sewing machines, either, and another blogger I read published a post today about the churkey, a crossbred chicken and turkey, something else completely new to me. Gee, with all this news spewing out of the blogosphere, I no longer need to read the New York Times.

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    1. Churkey? I thought cross breeding dogs was weird enough. One of my sons suggested that I phase out all my real friends during 2013 and just stick with my on-line friends. He’s so creative. I’m sure he’d go along with you giving up the Times! Thanks for sharing, V.

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  2. That looks really neat Terri as you say it does all one could bneed for starters ! Will be interested in how you use the burlap bags in the future….
    aw Kush 😉

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    1. Oh sorry – I was comparing it to the meals we had over Christmas at my sister-in-law’s house. (I only mention it as her house because she looks after the menus and cooking.) My normal is hot cereal and maybe a piece of fruit if I feel like going all out!

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  3. What a delightful, cheerful, New Year post! Makes me want to get projecting too. I can’t quite put C’mas decos away yet, the house always seems so empty without the tree.
    But you make it sound so positive to get ready for the 2013.
    Thanks!
    Hillary

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    1. I know what you mean about taking down Christmas. Because we were away I didn’t go overboard so it isn’t too bad now. I am leaving the 3 large red and pink ornament stars up – they’re sort of just winter festive and should be good till Valentine’s day at least! Hope you had a good Christmas and we’ll talk soon.

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  4. The Ikea machine is quite interesting.I wasn’t aware they sell sewing machines too.I would love to see photographs of you and your son teaching and learning to sew. Thanks for your post.

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