My new toy!

Yesterday I went to pick up my new toy! I saw an ad on craigslist for a sewing machine, and the person was nice enough to hold it for a week until the weather cleared up. It was a gorgeous day to take a drive  north of the border ~ to Wisconsin, that is. I am now the excited owner of a previously loved Husqvarna Viking Lily 550 sewing machine!

I had to sit and figure out how to use it last night. My old Bernette didn't have electronics, buttons, or anything fancy. It took some reading the manual, testing, and experimenting, but I figured out how to thread, wind the bobbin, and do some stitches. I still need to figure out the programming of multiple stitches. I am amazed at how smoothly it sews. I tried going from 2 to 8 layers of cotton fabrics ~ not a problem for this machine. My son even commented on how quietly it ran. Now to finish the log cabin quilt I started. I don't think I will be hand quilting it ~ I'll be using my new Viking!

On the way back home, had to stop at the Mars Cheese Castle. When I was younger, it was just a store front. It's now an actual castle. Inside is chesee ~ lots and lots of cheese. Bought some butterkase cheese and a loaf of cheese bread from their bakery. Yum!

I'm off to play with my new toy! If anyone has any links for ideas of combining decorative stitches for borders, please let me know. 

~*~ Laura ~*~

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! I didn't get cards out in the mail this year, but I still managed to get a snapshot of the kids. My older 3 are 18yrs old, and my youngest is 13.

I remember the years where there were tons of gifts under the tree. Now the gifts are few, and the packages are smaller. Their "toys" increase in price, and the toys get smaller.

I am anxiously waiting to pick up my new toy tomorrow. I used a small bonus and gift money to buy myself something. Stay tuned!

Valdani vs DMC floss

I have this newly finished punch needle Santa listed on Ebay. The listing ends on Friday ~ just in time to get it in the mail for Christmas. 

The one on the left is the item on Ebay. The Santa on the right is the same pattern that I did last year (for myself). It's a pattern  ~Winter Night ~ that my daughter and I created. (she drew, I revised it, and then selected colors, floss, and punched it)  The one on the right I did the background sky with Valdani hand dyed thread. It had shades of soft black and grey. I punched doing an outline around the trees, moon, and Santa.  The piece on the left the sky was punched using DMC floss. I don't like using just plain colors (too flat looking). I blended 2 strands of black, with 1 strand of a brownish grey. It give a different look ~ more of a tweed. But, it's a fun way to get an overdyed look without using overdyed floss. I did the trees the same way (but using lots of different combinations of green/tan), as well as the snow. 

So, if you're doing punch needle, I hope this inspires you to try experimenting!

~*~ Laura ~*~