Last spring, we got our first big tax return, and I bought a fantastic sewing machine. My machine is actually nice enough to be embarrassing to a pinko like me. It is one of my most extravagent purchases thus far, and it can do some amazing stuff. I know it’s smarter than my cat and may be smarter than my dog, and I can make shoes on it, or quilts, or clothes, and it might actually be a particle accelerator–that part of the manual is tough to understand. Sometimes I feel like I am neglecting it because I spend so much time knitting and working and sleeping. And because it was so expensive and is something I know I am fortunate to have, that makes me want to give myself a good shake. Today, I paid enough attention to it to make this for my friend Faithfalia:

It’s a sling for the baby she is expecting. It’s one of those things that is easy to make if you have a sewing machine with a huge motor and a source for the rings, and leads to a great deal of cursing and shouting and occasional bleeding if you have to make it with a weaker machine or by hand. So I make them for friends of mine, whom I love to see holding their babes in such items. I bought this fabric hoping she liked colors like these, and knowing I loved its swirly goodness. It will be winging its way south Monday morning if all the little things go as planned. It will be holding a new Crafty Celt in July if all the important things go as planned.

I also pieced a huge number of squares for what will one day be the bluey greeny quilt or garment or whatever it wants to be. I’ve pieced around 60 four-square blocks, and I think I have another 30 or so waiting in the wings. I am less and less likely to make a skirt out of this, as I originally planned, because a linen patchwork skirt will be

a) really wrinkly and/or requiring ironing all of the time
b) full of horizontal lines, which aren’t so flattering, and
c) short-lived
So something non-wearable is more likely.

And, wonder of wonders, we bought a new washing machine this morning. The one that came with the house is at least 20 years old, relatively small, terribly inefficient, and on the verge of collapse. So, I feel like I should make a metric ton of felt in the 10 days until the new machine is delivered. But, I have meetings and family stuff most of the day on Sunday, and then I have to go to my stupid job all next week. If only I could grow another pair of hands.

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