A slow start to 2009

After more than a month off from sewing (family trip to the States for Christmas, entertaining family back home for New Years, cleaning up after family, etc...) I finally got back into it last Saturday (it's just taken me four days to find time to write about it). I think I had sewer's block or something - I kept trying to get into one of the projects on my list, but would end up just cleaning my sewing area... only I can never quite get it clean... I did manage to sort out most of my fabrics, and cleared the huge pile of misc sized pieces on top of my cupboard.

On Saturday, A took the kids for a few hours (and even better, did all of the grocery shopping!!!) so that I could sew. I worked on the pile of squares I'd cut for the scrappy pinwheel quilt (which I started when Riley was born and doubt I will finish anytime soon). Or rather, I tried to start working on it, but encountered problem after problem...

First, I realised I'd marked the wrong side of my white squares - all 100+ of them. So I begrudgingly remarked them all on the other side. Finally got through that stack and started sewing my squares together. Only to realise that it had been way too long since I'd worked on this quilt - I was sewing on the cut line!! Whoops...

Felt like an idiot, but went back to square one... again... Only this time, my bobbin kept stuffing up. Can anyone help me fix this problem?? I have no idea what causes it, but out of the blue, I will suddenly have heaps of thread bunched up on the bottom of whatever I'm sewing. The only way I can fix it is to take out the bobbin, fiddle with it, and put it all back together and start over. Only it tends to take about 100 tries before finally, it seems to kick in and work! This happened two different times, and after I'd taken the machine apart upteen times, it finally seemed to fix itself. Can ANYONE help me with this? I'm sure it will happen again in the near future...

Finally got that problem fixed, and got into my squares.

After a full afternoon of sewing in my pyjamas, I was nearly cross-eyed (especially since the light went out on my machine late last year and I still haven't fixed it...) but happy to have made some progress.