Needles and Pens

I have a darling little 2-year-old grandson who loves tractors, especially green tractors. In fact, to him the color green is synonymous with tractors, and if you ask him what color this is... ... he'll tell you, "tractor." (Don't worry, we're working on that. lol) So, even though I really didn't need another project to do, when I saw this adorable John Deere panel at work the other day, I had to buy it for Aaron. And when I saw the equally adorable coordinating print, of course I had to have that for the back. Unfortunately, such an impulse purchase often comes without much thought, and I failed to notice that the direction of the print required extra fabric to lay the right way on the quilt back. So today I was considering buying a larger piece, when my awesome mother-in-law took one look at it and suggested I just add a border to my backing. (Duh... why didn't I think of that??) After she left, I immediately went to my sewing room to look ...

Yeah, I'm excited. Spent today at my mom and dad's house, vacuuming and rearranging the living room furniture... and I came home with a new toy! After months -- maybe years -- of debating about it, my mom decided to give me her sewing machine and cabinet today. It was a tough decision, as she used to do a lot of sewing, but she hasn't done any for several years now. Since I sew pretty-much-constantly, it'll get a lot more use here. And she says if she needs to do some mending or whatever, she can always come and do it at my house. ;o) Mom bought the cabinet about 35 years ago, when we lived in New Hampshire. I was about seven or eight years old. It still looks brand new. Here it is closed: And opened with the machine up: She bought the machine about twenty years ago, Singer's top-of-the-line model at the time, and one of their first electronic machines. Even at 20+ years old, it has loads more bells and whistles than my newer machine. My favorite feature, a wind-...