“What fresh new hell is this?” You might rightfully ask upon seeing the photo below. Okay, sure YOU might not ask this, however these were the exact words that came to mind when I set up my sewing machine yesterday afternoon, only to realize that when I traded in my Bernina 880, which was plagued with problems, for my 790, I didn’t realize I was getting a sewing machine that has a smaller throat and therefore my Koala Cabinet insert would no longer fit it. So I did what any sensible person would do, I gerry-rigged it and here we are. It’s in the “it will have to do for now” category.

I know, I know. But sometimes one has to make do. And of course the bigger question that all of you are asking is, “Why?” Not why did you trade in your Bernina 880, because it was an amazing machine and I loved it, when it was working, the problem was, about 60% of the time it wasn’t working properly. In the three years that I owned it, I had to take it in for repairs more than a dozen times. Once we even sent it back to Bernina and had them fix it, only to have another problem a few months later. So eventually I said, “enough!” and traded it in for this sleek, beautiful thing. Only I didn’t do my homework and just assumed the 790 had the same wide throat that I loved about the 880. And as I rarely sew on a machine these days, I haven’t spent much time using it until now, that is. Which leads me to the more pressing “why?” as in “Why is your sewing machine out and where are all of your threads and hand stitching?????”

Should I have led with that? Yeah, probably, but then my first question wouldn’t have worked and I wasn’t willing to let that go. 😳 So, here’s the thing… I signed up for one of my friend, Pat Pauly’s workshops that I’ve always wanted to take. Seriously for several years, I’ve been wanting to take her “Take Two” workshop and then I saw that she had added one to her schedule, so I signed up. And today is the first of the two-day workshop, which I’m really, really looking forward to. The thing about Pat is that she’s just so much fun. Seriously, the woman could make cleaning out a gutter seem like a blast and you’d feel as though you were lucky to be able to do such a thing with her guiding you. So this workshop is guaranteed to be a fun two days, even if it means that I had to clear my table of all evidence that I’m really a hand stitcher. Do you think the ill fitting machine is a give away? Never mind. I’m sure no one will notice.

And then, of course, there’s the whole mess that I’m not even going to photograph and show you, but suffice it to say that for the next two days, I’ll be knee deep in fabric and sewing on a sewing machine. I’m just hoping I don’t trip over the little piles of hand stitching stuff that I’ve wedged into various corners of this already small room.

On a separate note, if you haven’t watched my A Spring Stroll in New York City’s Meatpacking and West Village video, go take a walk with me. I included old photos of some of the places I visit to show what they looked like back when I first moved to NYC, as well as lots of stories about my ill spent youth in New York City. I can say that now that I’m over 60.

So that’s me, what are you up to?