Sewing

For my birthday (coming in February), I told Jim that I wanted a new sewing machine. The sewing machine that I have is a Brother machine, and it was crap (quite frankly). Ok...I did buy it only for my scrapbooking and card making--you know, sewing on my pages...cute stitches for an embellishment. Well, I was actually hemming and sewing on patches for Girl Scouts, and the machine was only giving me heck. So, I decided, I want a machine that is going to be sturdy, offer a little variety, doesn't need a ton of bells and whistles, but needs to just do what I ask of it (which isn't a lot as I'm not big into sewing).
The place where I take my vacuum to be worked on, Parker Sewing & Vacuum, is a dealer for Janome sewing machines. I researched the machines and found that while not expensive like Berninna, Viking, etc. they are good machines--work well. They don't need a lot of maintenance and do what you need to (especially for someone such as myself).
I got this great machine that was sponsored by the Heart Society for the year--a special edition. It offers 50 stitches and a few other really nice features that make life easy (needle threader, speed control, easy bobbin insertion, needle up/down feature).
The machine works like a dream. I got a couple of simple patterns...an apron and a dress. I figured out how to follow a pattern, and I'm still learning, but my first 2 projects were a success. The apron turned out rather LARGE, but cute nonetheless. Isabel loves the dress I made her, and in my mind, that is a PASS for that project--(I was really proud of how it turned out too!) Last night, I bought a pajama pattern and some material for the boys. Wish me luck!

a fabulous day for a fabulous girl

It's great to be 8! Happy Birthday Isabel!

We've begun the day with some fun. We opened the gift from Grandma & Grandpa Mac that they sent. What a beautiful outfit!

For quite a while now, Isabel has been looking forward to getting her ears pierced. We had to wait until she was 8. I think it is an appropriate age--she's a little young lady now and it is very cute and pretty. She was so excited! She could hardly wait until Claire's opened up at 10:00am this morning. I found that I too was excited and had to make sure I didn't speed to get there. Isabel was really brave. It hurt a bit but she was all fine in just a minute or two, and now she's so happy and can't stop looking at her ears in the mirror. I'm so happy for her! We bought her a few pairs of dainty and elegant earring for future use. I'm all about "age appropriate" activities, clothing and now earrings. What we got are definitely appropriate.

(anticipation)

(earlobe before)

(here we go!)

(earlobe after)

(I LOVE it!)

Then, as a surprise to Isabel, I took her and got her a manicure. She is a little lady today. She feels pretty and it shows. That's a nice feeling...isn't it!

Tonight, she's going with the family and a couple of close friends to Chuck E Cheese's (it wouldn't be an Ellertson-kid-birthday without a trip there)! We look forward to that too. What a day. And she even still has her baptism to look forward to.

It really is great to be 8!!

(Remember, you can click on any of the pictures to get a closer look)