A stitch in time

I have a new Brother. Not the human kind. It's a machine. An electronic sewing machine to be exact.

Forrest Gump was right when he said: "Life is a box of chocolate. You'll never know what you'll get." Last Christmas, the last gift box I opened contained a portable Brother XL-5500. Totally unexpected, but totally appreciated. I haven't tried using it but the box said it has a four-step auto buttonholer, a fast needle threader, and an auto bobbin winder. It also claims to be capable of doing 36 kinds of stitches for four different categories: garment construction, decorative stitches, heirloom stitches, and quilting stitches. It's so great it intimidates me! :)

As a kid, I was amazed by my grandmother's antique Singer sewing machine. I used to play with its iron wheel and foot pedal when no adult was looking. I was always mesmerized whenever the needle neatly buries itself onto the cloth up and down and, with the pedal and the wheel also in motion, they created a homey rythmic sound to my ears. My eldest sister would later buy our own sewing machine which provided good service for years until typhoon Ondoy came and flooded and broke everything in its path, including our sewing machine.

Now, as an adult, I get from time to time a "Martha Stewart attack" which I describe as an obsessive compulsion to create something that already exists in department stores. I can draw and paint in my own freestyle way, and I can do needlework, too, if the mood strikes me. I can also create little decorative things with my own hands if I want to. The only thing that dampens my DIY spirit is lack of time, which others interpret as lack of patience, ha ha ha. I want to create things but I want them done fast. But craft is about perfection, and I know you can't hurry perfection.

This is why early this year I got myself a little red sewing machine to see if I can do things with it faster. It's the cutest sewing machine and I was so ambitious with it that I created seat covers right away! The result is acceptable if your vision is poor. Alas, my little red sewing machine is too tiny for the volume of fabric I passed through it.

Now, I kept glancing at my new Brother while typing this and wondering what first projects I'll have with it. Maybe I'll make my dog something...perhaps a cape. Or, maybe, I'll first attend the free training session that go with the purchase of a new Brother sewing machine so I'll know how to operate it well. After all, moving up to 36 stitches from the one and only stitch I know -- the backstitch -- is a big step.