Lady Sheherazahde's Journal

The tech guy came by and checked my machines. He says I should get new tubes every six months and I should also have gotten a new mask. I have had this machine for around 2 years and a tech guy has come by every six months, none of them have mentioned this before. *face palm*

In Other News: My sewing machine mysteriously started working again this morning. So, I finished my necktie skirt. I'm not as happy with how it looks as I thought I would be. Hmmmm.

I decided to buckle down and finish my necktie skirt today.

I was making good progress when I ran out of black thread. OK, Jo Anne's is open on Sunday and I was able to scrape together enough change to buy a spool of thread.

I finished sewing all the panels, ironing the seams, hemming the waistband, and stitching a button hole for the drawstring. I had just started sewing the waistband fold for the drawstring when the machine jammed.

Normally jams involve thread but I took apart the whole bobbin assembly and looked inside the top part and I can't figure out what is wrong. It just won't move. So now all my sewing projects are on hold until I get this machine fixed.

Why does the universe hate me?

I am exhausted. My dad cam up and we took the plates off the old car, put them on the new car and filed all the paperwork at the DMV. I am no longer the owner of a broken down white 1996 Olds Cutlass. I am the owner of a working white 1996 Olds Cutlass.

Dad bought me lunch at Wegmans too so that was nice.

In other news I have started sewing the first of my Necktie skirts. I have sorted all the colors. If I use 12 ties for each skirt I will have enough for 5 skirts. My initial estimate of 20 ties per skirt was based on only using the big ends of the ties. I have decide to alternate big ends and small ends so that very little is wasted. (There is some waste because the ties are different lengths but I am sort enough to use both ends in the same skirt.) The first skirt I'm making out of the ties with unusual weighted fabrics, mostly yellows and browns. I have sorted the rest of the ties by color. One brown skirt. One blue and black skirt. One red and blue with stripes and spots. The last one is all odd the colors, I think I worked out a good order for them.

I've been reading Jeeves novels by P.G. Wodehouse, and watching the Masterpiece Theater production staring Fry and Laurie. In the books Bertie is always eating marmalade on his toast for breakfast. So I bought some marmalade. But I don't have much bread for toast so made some biscuits. I heard a pastry chef on NPR say that he always makes his pastry dough in the food processor so I tried that. It works very well, very fast way to make pastry dough. Although I still think pancakes are the fastest homemade bread product.

Started ironing the ties today. I had trouble getting the iron to work at first. But it turned out to be a problem with the power strip. When I got back from swimming I tried with a different outlet and got some work done. Spraying the ties with water really does help, they just won't flatten out without it. It's a good thing I happened to have a spray bottle of water handy. I think I will run out of Stitch Witchery before I finish all the ties I need for the skirt. I'll have to drop by Jo-Ann and buy some more.

I have finished the first prep step in the necktie skirt. All the ties are opened and have their linings removed. Next step is ironing, and fixing the edges.

Watched "Helvetica" with Bu last night. It is a documentary about the typeface. As an artist and someone who has done desktop publishing I think I have a more than average interest in typefaces. I found it incredibly boring, and not very informative.

Did I mention that we watched "The Dresden Files"? I quite liked them. Too bad they got canceled.

Also watching "Californication". Which I like. Bu asked me why I like that and Don't like "The L Word" since they are both soap operas. And I'm not really sure. The only thing I could think of was that "Californication" is funny, and "The L Word" is serious.

Speaking of funny, I was also watching "A Bit of Fry and Laurie" and "Jeeves and Wooster". It is very interesting getting to know Hugh Laurie as a comic actor after coming to love "House".

Now I have to check out Steven Fry.

Was watching "Brisco County, Jr." with K. It is better than I expected. The only reason I was willing to try it was because I have decided to watch Bruce Campbell.

Also watched "War of the Worlds" and "Jurassic Park II". They were OK.

I have started a new project.

I got a bag of old neckties (mostly silk) from a nice woman on Freecycle and I'm going to make a Necktie Skirt

I've already opened up a bunch of them. Tomorrow I start ironing.