I only went in for a service ...

But I came out with this.

It all started yesterday when my machine started not wanting to sew. She's needed a service for a while and I did promise her that if she made could wait until I finished SWAP, I'd treat her to whatever she wanted at the day spa. She held up her end of the bargain, I did not. I have continued sewing for weeks and yesterday she said no more. Here is the skirt we wer working on. I got half way round the hem, as you can see by the pins. This is BWOF 06-2009-124. Although the pattern called for taffeta I think, I used doubleknit as I was after a comfort skirt. One of those things you can drag out and wear with no fuss. Not sure if I got it, but I will this will get worn. It's a little big, so I may take off the waistband and take it in a little.


Anyway, whilst I was on my way to the repair man in Tweed Heads, I began to talk myself into buying another machine. Yesterday I started up the Husqvarna I bought a while ago and started a top. It sews well and is very useful for many things, but she has no stretch stitch, doesn't really enjoy twin needling and has a broken knob, which means I have to turn the wheel with a pair of pliers. Plus, the bobbins are different and my foot collection doesn't fit. Miss Husky has her own, very extensive foot collection, but it's not the same and I always spend ages figuring out how they work. Faced with the possibility of NO SEWING for the rest of my four week holiday, I knew I needed another machine. My first thought was for a basic machine, to be my second. Then I decided this was silly. My new machine would be better. In fact, I already had researched the machine I really wanted because I wanted more buttonholes. To cut a long story short, I researched this machine last year and it had a RRP of $999. I didn't want to spend that much, hence the purchase of Miss Husky at that time. You can imagine my sheer joy when I saw that Janome had recently run a Mothers' Day special and were offering this machine at $499! Given the mood I was in, I reckon I would have bought a coverstitch machine, too, had there been one in stock!

So I brought her home and unpacked her. So we could get to know each other, we made this top.

It's BWOF 10-2007-114 - dolman sleeve with neck ties, which I took off at the last minute because I like it better without. I thought I would be ambivalent about this top but I really like it. This fabric was another $1.95 a yard stuff that I agonised over. This is a really quick and easy top to make. I make it more complicated by lining the whole thing (sheer fabric). Miss Janome hasn't told me her name yet, she's still a little shy.