How ya like my new fridge magnet ?

I did it ! It’s not perfect, but the two designs I wanted to combine for my birthday hat were stitched out last night and took shape today. Used all three of my sewing machines on it, too – never did that before ! Got things started last night after Beloved Hubby called to tell me he was working late. I figured ‘now or never !’ and made it happen. The hard part of this whole business was aligning the two parts – which were not the same size, as I’d assumed. That’d be a cinch if I had a bigger embroidery field, but I like to use what I have, so it really got down to skill more than execution. 

My skills are a bit lacking – you’ll see that, and the hat, tomorrow – but it really gets down to fear of failure, and you saw how I tried to dawdle my way out of facing it yesterday. So, even if the design alignment is far from perfect, at least I did it, and I’m actually rather proud of m’self. Today I had to take a gulp and actually cut the fabric, which I’m sure you know how, if the fabric’s special or dear in any way, that can also be a fear trigger. 

One thing that’s improved – I used a lot of that cassette tape-like iridescent ‘thread’ on the design, and it didn’t break once ! Last time I used it, it snapped once, time before that, six or seven times. And that was using it as other stitchers advised. Didn’t do anything special this time – I actually just put it on the pin like any other thread, and watched it hyper-carefully. Perfect ! Now, of course, I not only want more colors, I want to use it more. So I decided, at nearly the last minute, I wanted to add a bit more of it, to the bottom edge. 

That’s where the other sewing machine came into play. Remember, that one I got for a mere couple bucks at the thrift store ? Odyssey / Ody ? She has the same stitches built in  that Brody has, but isn’t an embroidery machine. I tried to do the glitter-thread edging on Brody, but the super-soft fleece went deep into the feed dogs and that was a serious challenge to dig out. Regrouped, and when I got a long enough string done to see – thanks to some tear-away stabilizer scraps – it wasn’t at all what I wanted. So, Ody took care of it. Not a single break in the iridescent thread this time, either. Then KJ finished of the back seam. Yaaay ! 

Celebrated by mixing up the no-bake cheesecake box mix – it’s chillin’, waiting to be demolished shortly. If it lasts two days, I’ll be amazed. Meanwhile, there’s the roller skate fridge magnet I made yesterday – same design, just bigger than the one on Merri and Aurora’s shirt. Same fabric as the hat. So it’s sort of a preview.