How I Go To Keep The Machine or "The Sewing Fairy"

I'm having a hard time at the computer b/c I not only carried the machine in the cabinet up the tall monster cement stairs, and (with 8 yr old my daughter's help, my 11 yr old son was afraid to do it) up the stairs in my house that I fell down and broke my toe on! B/c I didn't want Dave to freak at me I went on a cleaning/unpacking rampage so he'd be SO happy he wouldn't be mad. I carried so much stuff around, put away almost 100% of the clean laundry that has been taking over our room, moved furniture in there, and carried all the bunnies/organized their cages into the small space in the entryway, then sweep and swept and swept again to get all the hay and hair out of the kid's room! Then I carried the office chair from our room into theirs at their computer, so now they can use it...well, you get the picture! My shoulders ache and my arm muscles, in a way totally unrelated to my neck/spine. And my legs from walking around so much! I even made a real dinner to butter him up. Heh heh. :D

It worked! At the table I thought he hadn't even noticed the addition of the small sewing table next to the others till...

Dave: "Where did the sewing table come from?"
Me: "The sewing fairy brought it to me!"
Dave: "The sewing fairy huh?" *pause* "How much did it cost?"
Me: "Well, hardly anything! There are tons of the same kind on Craigslist even for free! Just like the one I had from Freecycle!" (True, it was free w/the machine!)
Dave: *skeptical suspicious look* "The wood is nicer than the one we had."
Me:*Gulp* "Well, technically it was free and included w/the machine inside it. *cringes* But I'm not sure of the cost b/c the sewing fairy brought it." (OK, total lie.)
Dave: *Looks at me* "So the sewing machine fairy bought you another sewing machine?"
Me: "Yup! And she even carried it upstairs too!"
Dave:"WHAT! YOU CARRIED IT UP THE STAIRS!!!"
Me: "No, the sewing fairy did."
Dave: "I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU CARRIED IT UPSTAIRS BY YOURSELF!!!"
Me: "But I TOLD YOU the sewing fairy did it!"
Dave: *rolls eyes* "What a NICE sewing fairy to buy you ANOTHER sewing machine."
Me: *sucking up like crazy* "YES! A SUPER DUPER NICE sewing fairy! She must have known I needed a good heavy-duty machine that would really sew a straight stitch so I can improve my work even more! She must really have wanted to help my business so we could earn so extra money to go on that vacation!"
Dave: *hears the word "vacation*
Dave: *ponders in silence*
Dave: *sighs* "What a nice sewing fairy."
Me: ****doing wild internal victory dance!!!!**** "No, an AWESOME sewing fairy!"


This morning at 5:45am while still in bed:

Dave: "I cannot BELIEVE the sewing fairy bought you ANOTHER machine! You collect them."
Me: "All the other corsetmakers have super pretty machines like that too. We talk about our machines."
Dave: "I'm going to create a virtual world like Webkins for all you sewing machine addicts. You can enter the numbers of your machines, name them, feed them, talk to them, play sewing machine games with them..."
Me: "AWESOME!!!" *giggles hysterically* "But we'd have to OIL them, not feed them. And dust them and rub them down."
Dave: "Don't start talking about rubbing things..."
Me: *gets out of bed quickly*

Vintage Bella's Designs and My New Purchase!

I'm so excited I'm squeeing! I was setting my friend Heather up with an Etsy account, and then searched custom designs for banners to get her a banner and saw Vintage Bella's work. I immediately went "Oooooooo! This would be awesome for me!" A lot of designers don't do "real" custom work however, but she's doing some awesome work for me! I'm going to get an etsy banner, business cards, hang tags, and (I'm crossing my fingers) banners for blogger and possibly a new website. I own the domain www.dollyandmecouture.com but haven't done anything with it yet. I could have it forward to my etsy shop, or I could have a site itself. Since I pay $29.95 w/Merchant Moms (they have wonderful customer service!) I can host 5 domains. I have 3 hosted, so that leaves me 2. Anyway, I showed her some images I was thinking of, though they were less than ideal. She sent me back a bunch of images from her private stash and they are incredible!!! Woo-hoo! She can be found at her etsy store Vintage Bella.

And I had a visit yesterday from the "Sewing Machine Fairy." (That's what I told DH anyway!) I was under questioning as to the cost and I swore she brought it to me, then when that didn't work I pleaded the 5th. :D I have been wanting one for SO LONG and have found it impossible to have a sewing machine that did a basic straight stitch QUICKLY, without being wobbly. It's either wobbly or my super-slow embroidery machine (whose touch screen is now broken anyway.) Since I'm going to be making some patterns and cutting out corsets today I really wanted a good straight stitch corset, did a quick Craigslist search, and found this beauty here! Honestly she wasn't that expensive. *Happy Dance* These are the photos the seller took:

She's a 301, which are great machines. I'm going to test her out today!

My Goals Here

This blog serves as an intersection of my work and home life. I may write about my experiences raising children with special needs, being disabled, or give tips and insights I've gained in the field of designing & sewing. I hope to create some simple tutorials that might help others, however slightly. I am a member of and love Foundations Revealed. It's creator Cathy Hay has a philosophy I share, that for all of us to get better at what we do knowledge needs to be shared, rather than horded. This is true not only for the field of corsetry, but the children's boutique world as well. I LOVE You Can Make This, and believe it has inspired and created many a designer out of just another sewin' mama. But there can be only so many peasant tops, twirl skirts, shirred back corset tops and tutus! I love to see people who think outside the box, who create truly unique garments. Hmmmm...I also intend to create a website that features the work of handmade artisans, but I have to put one foot in front of the other. Being disabled myself and in constant, relentless pain saps me of energy, and quite honestly, though I adore my children and move heaven and earth for them, they wear me out too! Let's not even go into the subject of my DH. LOL Put another layer of corsetiere, boutique designer, blogger, and I don't have time for my friends or even myself! So I intend to take everything one day at a time, taking very small orders and creating some tutorials that might help other sewin' mamas like me! :D