diy marathon: in which i make friends with bernina

First, a snippet from the other day when I was picking up the boys from school:

Teacher #1: How was your day?
Me (rolling neck): I spent the whole day sewing and now I'm a little stiff.
Teacher #2 (suddenly very interested): Wow! You sew?
Me: No. But I needed curtains.

And that's about the way it went. I think I've got cabin fever, or spring fever, or a nesting complex, or something. Possbily it's just boredom. In any case, I've been back at work on the house. Wednesday I braved the basement and made some pantry shelves with some wood that we've had for a while. But the big action started bright and early Thursday morning, when I arrived at my mom's house ready to make curtains.

You may know that my mom is serious about her sewing, and that's reflected in her basement sewing lair. There's a custom cabinet with a counter to hold the surger and laptop (for designing; also used by Bernina) and other accessories. Off to one side is a sewing table for Bernina herself. There's a cutting table with mats, various measuring devices, and rotary cutters. The ironing board is always set up, and boasts a cover with a measuring tape built into the design so you can just plop your fabric down and measure as you press. There are shelves and shelves and shelves of fabric. In short, over the years she's set it up to be the most convenient place for any kind of crafting.

So, the curtains. First I cut the fabric to the right size, then surged the ends to avoid all kinds of pesky hemming. Then it was back to the ironing board to use the guage to fold over and sew the top pocket and bottom hem, and voila, curtains! In practice it was a little more work than that, seeing as I spent two full days in subterranean sewing mode. But along the way, I made a new friend: Bernina. To be perfectly frank, Bernina didn't so much embrace me as put up with my slow sewing (my mom called me "Put Put" a couple of times) and clumsy attempts at changing her bobbin. I had to call my mom at work a couple of times for guidance, and each time she answered not with a cheery hello, but a more serious "Is Bernina okay?" And she was. Better than okay, I would say.

New curtains are now complete for the playroom, master bedroom, and master bath. And plans are even underway for more sewing projects that will really coordinate the playroom. I wouldn't say I've been bitten by the sewing bug or anything, but I'm having fun imagining the results.