Must. Have. Yarn.

While my Bernina is [hopefully] safely on it's way to the UK, along with all my fabric, I'm more limited in my crafting choices.  I have all my knitting needles with me, as I had planned to make a home for them using my mother's sewing machine.  But, I forgot to pull some yarn out of my bins before they were shipped away.  So I have a hundred million (it seems) needles, but no yarn.  No yarn?!  I had to remedy that immediately.  The one yarn shop I knew of around here closed (so so sad about that, by the way), so it was Michael's to the rescue!  I got some organic cotton to make socks for the new little R2, some nice cozy alpaca for a baby cocoon or two, and some stretchy sock yarn to make manicure socks for Mom and I (however, it's been so hot since I got here, I simply can't imagine putting anything resembling socks on my feet, even if they do have vented toes!)  You can check out what I'm making over at my Ravelry page.  I'll be posting more info and photos (finally!) as things get completed.

Bernina Love

I'm in love with my Bernina.  I was having huge tension troubles when I first got it, but thankfully I've had enough sewing machine trouble in my time to know how to fix it.  I was soo hoping to be able to complete a project on it before having to pack it up to send to the UK, but my Scooch was sick at the beginning of the week, and now I'm sick, and I still have half a house to pack by Sunday morning.  UGH.  So instead I went to a sewing center, about an hour away from here (I don't think I ever mentioned that I currently live in the middle of nowhere and it takes 20 minutes just to go to the grocery store).  It was heaven.  I stocked up on needles, bobbins, and eye candy.  Oh my the machines.  I had to force myself not to sit down at any number of them and begin playing.  Mr. R and Scooch are in the car.  I kept repeating that to myself and got out of there as quickly, and cheaply, as possible.  It was sooo nice though. *huge grin*

Side note: I apologize for the ugly blog without photos lately.  With everything packed, I have no idea where the cable is to plug my camera in to download photos.  Hopefully soon!

Bernina Joy!

The Bernina has arrived!  I'm so excited I could do a dance, if I didn't have a big belly.   Gonna go play!

Halfway

Oh! I nearly forgot in all the sewing machine excitement, that I'm 20 weeks today!  Woohoo!  Halfway there!  My little snail on the sidebar over there is a little behind, but today is officially the halfway mark!  It's been quite a journey so far, but the little guy is tumbling around in there and doing quite well.  The second half is going to be no less action-packed, for sure!

Bernina : Acquired!!

I never thought I would have one so quickly, but I just might after all.  Mr. R is going to pick up a Bernina tonight!  I found someone selling one on Craigslist, and he's bringing it home!  I'm as excited as the day we found out we're having another boy!  Okay, maybe not THAT excited, but I sure can't wait to get my hands on that Bernina!  AND, it's coming with one accessory that I was going to have to buy anyway.  Now I am just hoping that it comes in the box as well, so that it can get to England that much easier.

I debated buying used, but with moving and needing to buy a whole bunch of different voltage appliances, we really need to be saving everything we can.  Unfortunately, I spent most of our saved cash to get this machine.  BUT, it was either that, or wait and pay more AND buy a UK wired machine.  So while it hurts the wallet now, I do believe it was the best decision, given the available choices.

Now this doesn't mean that any Baby Travel Bags are going to come flying out of it any time soon (although that would be my wish!).  I still have no table to sew on.  I'm still planning to finish the two I've got going, while in NY, on my mother's machine, which is no Bernina.   But I'm so glad to finally have a great machine to work on!  If you don't sew, it's kinda like buying your first nice car.  I drove a car for about 5 years, in the south, with no air conditioning, or any other modern features.  Then I bought a newer car with loads of room and cold air blowing!  It was great.  That's sort of what it's like to buy a really nice sewing machine.

Baby Travel Bags officially on hold...

This weekend I sold my sewing machine AND dining room table.  So I literally have no place to sew and nothing to sew with.  Sure, I could serge the bags, but when it comes to certain tasks, I dooon't think that would look so nice.  I'm hoping to finish the two bags I've got going while I'm at my folks in a few weeks.  That way I can get those up in the shop to prove that I really am serious about this whole thing. 

In the meantime, I'm working on the purchase of a used Bernina.  Oh, I'm salivating at the very thought...

Hooray for brothers!

It's a boy!!

Stalled sewing, again...

I was doing really well for a while, trying to get those Baby Travel Bags out there. I got one finished.  One.  I don't even have the changing pad made for it yet.  I have another bag in progress, but now everything is just sitting there.  Packing has taken precedence over everything.  Including cooking.  Including dishes.  Including laundry.  I'm hoping to be done with the majority of packing this week.  If I keep up like I was this weekend, that is a fair target.  Then I'll be able to work on bags again.  I also designed two needle bags.  One for my Denise set, and one for all my dpn's.  I really wanted to get those made before we leave so I can put my needles in them to travel.  I know I've bit off way more than I can possibly chew.  But, I've been waking up super early lately, and been unable to sleep again, so I may just start getting up to sew.  That'd give me a good 3 hours extra sewing time a day.  With 3 extra hours of uninterrupted sewing time, I should be able to finish all the bags I have waiting, as well as the two needles bags!  Yuh, right.

The Big News

We finally made the announcement that we are moving to England.  It felt good to get the secret out there, after having to hold it in for so long.  Now, Scooch and I leave our home in less than 3 weeks, so the huge packing event is on!  We got a start this weekend.  Not as big a start as I would have liked, but a start is a start.  Plus, this time I started with all the small junky stuff for some reason, so it's tedious.  Do I throw this out, or do I really pack a box of 'junk' to put in storage for three years?  I've been doing great throwing things away.  Mr. R likes to pack in a different room from where I am at the time, so I have a feeling he's keeping a lot more than I would like.  He is definitely not on board with me as far as living simpler.  He seems to think we're going to have endless storage space in England.  I think we'll be lucky for our clothes to fit in our closets, forget all the extras.  I'm already nervous about having a place to store my yarn, fabric and sewing machines.  Plus I just learned that the town we'll be living in is expensive, so I'm expecting our home to be even smaller than most.  Will definitely be an adventure!  I'm really looking forward to getting there and getting settled.