No Slack Time Here
Sunday doesn’t always mean a day of rest. But who is to say that Sunday can’t be a day of being busy and feeling good. What’s not to like about feeling really good!
First thing off the bat: I am totally using my old Dell laptop here in the sewing studio until I get the HP Notebook into the GEEK squad on Tuesday. Passwords are specific. When keys don’t respond, passwords typed in error can get you locked out of a site. Not to worry. The HP will still get a workout in the living room until Tuesday, as Dennis likes to play Candy Crush on it. It is the only computer in the house of the three of them that had it loaded automatically. Dennis doesn’t like to play it via Facebook.
I enjoy my sewing studio as you all know. For as much time as Dennis is down here I know he enjoys the ambiance of it. He may be playing solitaire on the Dell laptop down here or enjoying watching television while rocking away in the rocker. Hmm. Today I stretched Dennis’ options. I have the serger up and running like a top. I cleared it with Carrie and Jeremy about cloth dinner napkins to be made out of cotton. Jeremy said the poly napkins just smeared everything around on hands and face. I can see that happening easily as there is no absorption.
I causally asked Dennis if he would like to try his hand at it. Initially he thought he would just screw things up. I encouraged and he sat down at it. The cloth I had cut up was a Christmas checked with definite
lines to follow under the pressure foot. Two odd ball spare pieces of fabric to practice on . . . over and over. By George, “I think he’s got it.” It is very good eye-to-hand coordination as well as foot control to machine operation. It’s nothing that has a time frame. It is just another option when the day may go slow in winter weather. By the way . . . there are multiple coffee breaks down here.
Today was the day I cut into my piece of cork for Nicholas’ wallet. Why would I think I needed to try this? I think Kevin’s grandmother, Esther Schafer, was in the same boat when she cut up pop cans into rectangles featuring the brand and flavor of the drink to make Kevin a hat. I believe they were all Sprite cans as I recall the green. Esther would punch holes all around the aluminium rectangles and to allow crocheting around each one. Each one was joined via crocheting to make a circular hat. The final step was to crochet a brim. THIS is what grandmothers do!
Yesterday I contrived a pattern for the wallet. It wasn’t very easy on the eyes but it allowed me the comfort I needed before cutting into my cork fabric. Cork fabric isn’t like walking into JoAnn Fabrics and asking for a yard or two. It is by the inch. I voiced my concern to Dennis. He nonchalantly said it maybe would need a new piece to be bought if I screwed up. I love how the ole cowboy thinks. It does bring confidence and comfort. After taking steps one at a time, I do have a completed wallet. Is is perfect . . . no. Is sewing on the cork fabric a lot different than fabric . . . yes. What did I learn? Changing pressure feet on the sewing machine is important. When sewing flat seams, the quarter inch metal foot worked great as most seams are 1/8″. 
Sewing around the covering I put on the snap, I had to use the zipper foot as to stay off on the far edge. I should have made the covering for the snap a bit larger to be able to stay farther from the bulk of the snap. That would have allowed for better control, thus 
a better finished look. On the finishing stitch around the entire project, I should have started at the notched slot that allows for the wallet to fold and gone around from there rather than starting on the side. The stopping and starting more than once going around the wallet allowed for more threads to be clipped and that could have been avoided.
This may be my wallet to use as a sample on the real cork fabric. I think I learned enough to warrant cutting into another piece and ya . . . I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to sharing from what my needle produces.
So anywho . . . Dennis and I didn’t rest on this Sunday, but in visiting over a cup of afternoon coffee, we both learned a lot about what we can challenge ourselves to do and thus feel good about the learning experience. Yup . . . we should never say never and should never cease the learning process.
One last note today: Dennis commented on how much he enjoys the days when Kevin and Kersten come with their vehicle full of tools. Whether it was the removal of our house chimney, getting the I beam planted into our yard so Kevin could secure our vintage garage to it, or watching him paint hands on a clock. Dennis says he always comes out ahead as by watching the processes he does glean something he didn’t know before their visit. It’s a good thing!