Monday, September 9, 2013

MY CONTINUING SEWING DILEMMAS...


Well, don't really have a lot to share today, but I will give it a whirl.  Our week-end was relaxing, (partly anyway!) and that was great.  I needed that.  However, even though we relaxed and spent time with family, went to church, and ran some easy errands, my mind is still whirling, haha.  Not sure if I can stop it even if I want to.

One of the selling points of my machine (yes, sorry, I am STILL jabbering about my new sewing machine) was that you could download embroidery designs from the computer, whisk them onto a jump drive and load them easily onto your machine, therefore giving yourself access to literally thousands of design possibilities.  WELL...let me just say this...there was NOTHING quick nor easy about it! My ever patient and wonderous hubby got involved in this little project (this was just one of the things we did that was SUPPOSED to be relaxing, haha) with me and it is was a slow, ponderous, and once again somewhat frustrating project.  I spent around an hour or so looking for Mickey Mouse designs, as Sam's birthday party is going to be a Mickey Mouse theme.  Seemed like the perfect excuse to me to whip up a coordinating, fun party t-shirt.  Right?  Well, finding the design WAS easy and fun.  But to download it to a jump drive was beyond my computer skills, and this is where hubby entered the process.  Oh, and just as a side note, you have to PAY for these designs. Now anybody with half a brain would have realized this of course, but I don't claim to be the sharpest gal sometimes.  OBVIOUSLY they cost something.  Well, figuring out that most of the designs I was interested in only cost from 2 to maybe 4 dollars, I decided that wasn't too bad because after all I would store them permanently in my machine..right?  Well I can't tell the part of downloading the design that became somewhat of a nightmare for hubby, as I would only bungle the details.  But it was.  You name it, and it happened.  But somehow we he finally figured out which format MY machine needed and got the design onto a jump drive. Now we just had to whisk it onto the machine....Pretty much everything we did ended up with the design on the machine for perhaps 5 min. or so and then it would just be gone.  We realized of course we were not saving them correctly, but even with both of us reading the directions step by step in the guide book, it just wasn't happening.  We ended up driving over to the store (yes, again!) where we purchased said machine and getting the gal there to guide us through this process.  Truthfully, she was not REAL sure herself, but eventually she figured it out and we left the store confident we had solved the problem.  Now I am ashamed to admit that we did NOT write this information down.  We were both SURE we had it.  That was the first mistake.  The second one was not trying this whole process again until LATE the NEXT night, (allowing WAY too much time to forget!) as we had decided to just relax and enjoy the rest of the day.  The following day was of course Sun so we were gone ALL day.  We didn't get home until almost 6 and started right in on dinner.  By the time that was done and the dishes cleaned, truthfully we were both beat.  But with a little bit of nagging sweet talking, we sat down together to attempt the download to the machine once again.  I wanted to work on the shirt today and of course that meant the design HAD to be on the machine.  Well, let me just say this.... it took almost 2 hours, with lots of accusations back and forth as to WHY the other was responsible for this NOT working,  but IT WAS FINALLY on!!  I was giddy, so hubby was pleased, and yet I don't think I will be mentioning for at least a few days that I have a few more designs I want to download.    Today I missed with the design, added on some lettering and practiced it a couple of times on some old t-shirt backs (remember my first shirt took 4 shirts before it was right so I had the backs of the shirts to work with!) Everything went well, and pretty fast too.  I only changed colors and the size of Mickey in my attempts.  I also searched the internet for some more tips on how to successfully do this to toddler sized shirts.  I picked up a couple, so tomorrow I will attempt to get this on a shirt.  Oh and I found a place on the internet that sold solid colored t-shirts for less than 3 dollars and ordered some.  They are suppose to arrive today, but I haven't seen them yet.  I can't make them myself for much less than that so it sounded pretty good. Here is my design.  Now I am going to put it on a light grey t-shirt, use red for all the lettering, and make the word TIME a tiny bit smaller.  I should probably just wait until it is finished to show you, but HOURS have gone into this ladies, and I am pleased with the results, haha.

PRETTY CUTE HUH?  I JUST NOTICED I DIDN'T CUT ONE OF THE JUMP STITCHES BETWEEN T AND I, BUT YOU GET THE IDEA.
I only ordered one grey t-shirt (whatever was I thinking?) so there is no room for error tomorrow. I also have my appointment with the orthopedic doc so I have a busy day tomorrow too I guess. But I need to get these in the mail as there is only a week or so till Sam's birthday celebration.  I wish we were going to be there.  : (  But at least he will be wearing Grandma's shirts.  For those of you who stuck around for this draining story, I thank you haha, and hope that eventually I figure all of these sewing machine functions out and will again just mindlessly go about my projects...I bet you do too.  Hope you all enjoyed your day!

This was one of the verses that I read today during my devotional time...how I love it, so I decided to share it with you...

Psalm 8:3-4 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained.  What is man that You are mindful of him?



6 comments:

  1. It's a darling logo. Perfect! Sorry it was such a hassle to get it on the machine. But now you know how to do it!!
    Thank you so much for your kind words regarding the loss of my Grandmother. It meant a lot to me!
    Hugs,
    Kris

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  2. Debbie, I love that Mickey shirt! If Grandma can't be there, then at least he needs to be wearing a shirt made by Grandma, right? I know that you'll get the hang of that machine ... and I for one am enjoying reading all about it.

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  3. I was thinking as I read this about what a royal mess of things I would make if I had a fancy schmancy machine like that. I have trouble with my own clunker.

    The final result for yours is adorable, though, and now that you're getting the hang of it, oh the places you'll go!!

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  4. I've never had these particular frustrations, but I so recognized them. Ha! We all get in these pickles from time to time. It looks great to me! Maybe you'll be opening an Etsy store at the rate you're going!

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  5. Well I am so totally impressed with your skills. That is so nice even though you see the flaws I don't. You know that is why I don't buy those things that cut decals because I know it would be having to pay for every single design I wanted.
    I just thought you could grab them from a coloring book and do it yourself. Can you? I love all of the bright colors that you have for thread.
    Well I do enjoy reading about your learning curve. It is nice you are writing this down because someday you can go back and look. I bet you become so good at it. I have a friend that runs a little t shirt business from her home doing names on shirts and hats and stuff like that so I know you will be really good before long. Have a nice day.

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  6. I think the shirt is just darling! You amaze me with all you can do!

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I am so glad that you would take the time to comment on my thoughts and feelings, it is such a blessing to me!