It’s Not Care Bears
About this time of year Mom would be busy in her sewing room. Homemade gifts from her were cherished. Her “New Home” brand sewing machine was in a south bedroom of their farm home. Quietly without any interruptions from the chores that needed to be done inside or out she would make inroads into her list that she had built since the holiday season that had gone before. Mom had gotten that machine brand new and totally loved it. If we happened to pop in on Mom and Dad unexpectedly there could be heard a door close and Mom was in the kitchen quicker than we could get out “Hello.” A particular Christmas in the early 70s brought about Care Bears. They were all the rage. I wonder how many trips Mom and Dad had made into Hutchinson to get just the right amount of plush fabrics in enough colors for the grandchildren. Hand stitched names on the tummies of the Care Bears completed the process. Oh, there was no way Dad was going to get left out. When we popped in there might be bits of the poly fill caught on his flannel shirts. Nonchalantly he would brush them off as the coffee pot was put on. I can only imagine how diligently his large hands worked to fill the limbs of the Care Bears for just the right amount that would be needed for the kids to cuddle with. Hmm . . . it seems like yesterday.
Here I am, almost fifty hears hence, and I can keep busy with my sewing. Well . . . some of what I have gotten into is not 100% sewing. In today’s world the electric sewing machines have expanded into being marvelous computerized sewing machines. For years I pooh hood that I didn’t want anything that had a lot of bells and whistles as I most likely wouldn’t use all that it was loaded with. I wanted to sew forwards, backwards and also do the zig-zag. The fall of 2015 the fever hit and I was almost pronounced DOA. I decided to read the huge instruction book from cover to cover many, many times. The sewing machine dealer meant 120 miles round trip and popping in for a class was out of the question. Slowly, new things were tried. Two years later I am so enjoying the doing and the learning on an ongoing basis. I listen to family’s conversations and following in Mom’s footsteps by making a tick list of their interests.
I found a site on the Internet with the computer that for the whooping amount of $9.57 I could download a Zip file with over 60 embroidery designs. There was someone who I knew would enjoy something done up in one of their interests. It sure in the heck is not sewing Care Bears. I am in the world of Pokémon! Grant it, all the images were about 3″ x 4″. The designs instructed color combinations that were not true to their characters. I have jumped the hoop and have learned to work with a downloaded program of manipulating designs and adding lettering. We are going from 3″ x 4″ designs to 5″ x 8″. Who knew!! Thanks to having a laptop and a printer that is of the 21st century, I am on board. The enlarged image can be loaded onto a flash drive and plugged into my sewing machine. The character via the internet can be found to be printed so I can see the image with the correct colors. I did have to realize that a font that is not quite so dense will work better. I will slowly continue getting my designs stitched out and then do the “quilt as you go” technique for a quilt. No time frame, no rush . . . just this content person in her sewing studio. Ya . . . it’s way past a sewing room.
Maybe tomorrow I will be mending Dennis’ PJs or working on piecing fabrics for a quilt. The best part is . . . I am learning that the only limit that there is to growing my love of fabric, fuzz and thread . . . OH, there is no limit!