Okay, so this may look dark and dreary, but this is my new work space at our new house. The guy who owns the house did a lot of wood working and actually built a lot of the house himself, so he has a ton of work benches and shelves down stairs in the unfinished basement. So I claimed some of them. I've decided that it doesn't look pretty, but on a hot day it is nice a cool down there and there is nothing else that goes on down there, so if I don't have time to finish my projects, I can just leave them right where I left off with out having to put them away and then pick up right where I left off when I have time for them again. And THAT is a beautiful thing.

I also got a new sewing machine with some birthday money. I agonized for a long time over what brand and type of machine to get. I wanted to get a machine that I could have forever (Bernina, Babylock, Phaff...) but they all were computerized machines and I was a little bit intimidated of that. My Mom had told me about this machine listed on Amazon and after looking into it ($167 and 700+ reviews giving it 4 1/2 stars) I decided that it would be perfect for me to try out these new fangled machines. Hopefully it will last me a while, but if it only lasts a few years like my other ones I now know that I can save up and buy a nice one with confidence.

And here is my first project on it. a Friend from Port Hueneme showed me a chenille blanket that she had made and it was beautiful, so I tried one too. I was really excited about it until my husband tried to find a nice way to tell me that it looked like a torture device to put a baby into vertigo. After taking a step back I realized he was right and decided I probably shouldn't add it to my pile of projects to hand out as gifts. But I'm glad I tried out the technique. My only complaint about the technique is probably the same of any blanket, it was so heavy that I was worried it was going to ruin the perfect tension on my sewing machine. (I HATE tension problems.) Anyway, here is a tutorial on how to chenille if you want to give it a try.

While I worked on the blanket my girls were constantly asking if they could have my extra fabric, so one night when it was just Me and Gwen in the house she found some long strips and asked if she could make a scarf out of them. I told her yes. It was easy and she was excited to help with the foot pedal.

We also put together this quiet time book. I had purchased the fabric at Jo-Ann's a few years ago, it had all the pages and the instructions on the fabric. We just had to cut it out, sew it together with some scraps of batting in between each page and it was done. It was so easy, I might do it again.