And now for something completely different...

Because I don't have enough to occupy my time (haha), I've recently taken up a new hobby. My sweet, long-suffering mother has agreed to give me lessons on the sewing machine. I've done hems and buttons and repairs by hand, so I'm not totally incapable of these things. But getting used to a machine is a different experience, and I hope doesn't take years to perfect since I can be a little impatient. It's something I'm trying to work on. :)

Anyway, here's my very first seam...marginally straighter than I expected it to be.

After a couple more days of sewing seams, I practiced sewing a small piece onto a larger piece. I ran out of thread on the triangle, but they don't look too shabby for early attempts.

This weekend, I let impatience win. Rather than practice more seams without actually making anything, I decided to create cloth napkins. I have to say...sewing a straight seam must take far more practice than I anticipated or else I just stink. On the other hand, unless you're actually looking for straight seams, you'd probably never notice, so I guess it evens out. Mom and I went shopping for materials earlier in the week, and I picked out a fun striped pattern that matches my dishes. Unfortunately, they only had one yard left, but I found the exact same colors in a different pattern. Pushing aside my natural tendency toward symmetry and order, I decided to be wild and have napkins in two different patterns. Chaos!! :)

I cut the striped cloth into 20 x 20" squares, which gave me four napkins with plenty of room for hems. I started with this pattern mistakenly believing the stripes would help me maintain straight lines. That is not how it worked out. It did make cutting near-perfect squares easier, but the stripes reveal exactly how uneven my seams are. Live and learn, right? Then I ironed the hems...1/2" which is wider than I wanted, but I found it impossible to iron anything less than that...another something to practice. Then I sewed the edges, which of course aren't perfect, but I made my own napkins! 

The moral of the story is that I need much more practice, but I feel better when I'm creating something, even if it doesn't look perfect. One of these days when I'm able to produce straight seams, I'll bore you guys with more photos! :)