Jan. 3rd, 2020

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We've pulled the old Tetanus Express out of storage, blasted off the grime, and started to look into our repair options. My parents say I'm not allowed to call it the Tetanus Express. I have gotten a lecture on the actual ways in which tetanus is transmitted. It's a Singer 66K with Lotus decals and a two-drawer treadle, made in 1910. It's honestly not in too rough condition - there isn't much fluffcrud in it, and the machine runs almost smoothly when I crank it. The treadle works fine, and there are even a couple spare leather belts. It has a bit of rust, the thinner wood bits have taken a beating, and I have my suspicions about the upper tension dial, but it doesn't look like a lost cause. It's a bit wild to see a machine made of wood, leather, and metal, but I suspect it will outlast Otto if I can get it running again. The black and gold is really surprisingly beautiful. It's a pity modern machines don't look like that anymore.

I have been cleaning up my sewing room from the scrapstravaganza of paper piecing, and doing the final sort to get things into the box shelf and out of the cardboard boxes and big plastic tubs. Remember, I didn't have time to fully move in before Christmas happened. I'm almost there, and I'm loving the clean lines. The loot from the guild sale is occupying an entire tub on its own, and I'm in the middle of hemming it all so it can go through the wash. It's going to be more than a day of work. I've been slowed down by the fact that I am terribly allergic to dust.

The ugly fabric box has been a great success. It feels satisfying to separate the questionable stuff from my preferred palette, and I've actually been dipping into it regularly for scraps to use up. Ugliness is a strong spice.

All my quilting cotton storage bins are full to bursting, and my scrap tubs are too, so scrappy projects are on the menu. The dwarves don't really count - they use a scrap here or there, but they're mostly good at busting my blue yardage and my upholstery samples. The needlebooks are prime tiny scrap territory, but they are tiny and didn't actually use up all that much fabric, when all is said and done. I've dipped into my blue scrap tub and started an English paper piecing hexagon project for the evenings, since I got a taste for it while I was doing the needlebooks. I like handwork, and it's nice to have something to do in the evenings. It's blue and orange - I know I don't have that much orange, but I love it, and fabric is for using. There's twice as much blue as orange, so that should stretch it a bit further. Since this is for scrapbusting, the hexagons are quite small. I can put together a block of fourteen hexagons totaling about five by five inches per evening, so that's going to be steadily simmering on the back burner for a while. No idea what size the end goal is.

Overall, I've really been enjoying this quilting groove.

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