On a happier note.....

My blog has been a bit of a downer relaying my loom woes so I thought I'd post a few fun pix for a change....will be getting back to the AVL in a bit, am thinking positive that all will go well. My intention is not to badmouth the company, just to pass on my experiences which I'm now hearing from others, reading on forums about others who have had the same issues but in the end all but one I know of are happy with their looms.....it just shouldn't take 3-4 months of replacement parts/fine tuning/quality & documention issues to get there. I have high hopes that all goes well today and I'm on my way to loving my loom!

Here is one of the gift items I made this year - machine embroidered water bottle cozies. I learned a lot working on the neoprene, like simple designs without heavy embroidering are best, and I learned alot about using sticky back stabilizer, like the needle gums up within seconds which causes thread to break. What I ended up doing was putting the stablizer in the hoop, tearing off the protective paper to expose the sticky part and then cutting out the actual design area and sticking a piece of regular stablizer in that hole....worked perfectly. If you have an embroidery machine I'm sure you understand what I'm talking about.

I made a few of these purses as gifts, a couple not given yet as they're birthday presents in the future. This bag, the Flip Flap Bag, has 2 hidden pockets, it's a great carry across my front bag to keep it secure and hands free. These buttons were from the day of searching through my button stash and my Aunt Fran's stash. The bag pattern is by Whistlepig Creek Productions, I found it over at Forget-Me-Knots Quilt shop on the coast. Have I said in the past I love gingko leaves???

And here's one to leave at the beach cottage - it's hard to see in this picture but the main bag fabric has seahorses on it.

And here is what damage I did yesterday at Fabric of Vision in Ashland., owner Sandi is a delight. Theresa and I had fun at the shop and then a yummy lunch afterwards....good for my mental health to have a day out. Theresa was wearing one of her great outfits sewn with fabric from the shop. The mostly white fabrics are Japanese fabrics, they're beautiful, destined to become tops and maybe a jacket, still undecided. Of course, there's gingko fabric - who knows what I need that for other than to enhance my stash until I decide. Hedgehog fabric to dole out to bobbinlacers I know....they use fabrics to protect their work and the hedgehog is the symbol for bobbinlace - I just couldn't resist. It's hard to see but that tan fabric has trees on it, it will become Christmas napkins. Unfortunately the black sheer/burn out fabric in the front doesn't show well in a phot - it will end up being a shawl with ruffled edges. Then there are the natural and black roses on netting to add as embellishment to scarves. And the 2 celtic knot ribbons which I couldn't resist - who knows where they will end up.