Don't Panic!

That's what I was telling myself a lot this past weekend when 1. I realized that there are only seven weeks left until Christmas, and 2. my primary sewing machine let me know that I had been horribly neglectful and that it is in dire need of being serviced. Grr.

Now that Halloween has come and gone it feels like the holiday season is really gearing up to be in full swing - Kevin and I already saw a huge jump in the number of toy commercials on TV while we were watching cartoons on Saturday morning, and several stores around town already have Christmas decorations up.

Deciding that it was time I seriously got my butt moving and started on my long list of gift quilts for Christmas I finally broke into the Joys of Christmas kit I'm planning on giving to my Grandma. I spent most of Friday evening pressing and cutting all the fabric, and then a good portion of Saturday piecing the top and basting it all together (I think basting spray is one of the best inventions EVER, though the kitties aren't too impressed with the smell).

Here's the top before I sandwiched it with the batting and backing.

So yesterday morning when my brain was still on daylight savings time and just would not let me sleep in, I figured I was all set to go with quilting.

My sewing machine apparently had other ideas.

Just as I was finishing stitching around the inner border my trusty machine started giving off a really unpleasant oily, electrical smell. At first I wasn't sure if it was the machine or something funky going on outside seeing as I sew at the dinning table right in front of the open patio door and I can always tell when my neighbors go outside for a cigarette. So I kept sewing, wrinkling my nose when I'd get a strong whiff of nastiness. It wasn't until Kevin came down a little while later and commented on the bad smell that I finally admitted that it was my machine and it was probably wisest to leave it alone and unplug it until I could figure out what was going on.

After breakfast I did a bit of internet sleuthing and determined that it likely just needs a good oiling, which I'm not sure has ever been done since it left the factory, so for now it's been set aside waiting to go in to be serviced once I've tracked down a good local sewing machine repair place. Luckily I do have a back-up machine that I can use in the interim, though I'm not as fond of it for whatever reason.

I didn't get any more work done yesterday seeing as I felt a bit under the weather for the rest of the day, so I ended up just spending the rest of the day curled up on the couch with the cats and Kevin, catching up on TV shows we missed last week. I finally watched the first few episodes of Reign. Being a Brit and a fan of historical dramas I find the story line interesting but I'm still undecided about whether its something I want to keep watching. I understand that its targeted at young adults so it needs to have a somewhat modern flair but I'm still disappointed in the costume choices. I've always loved fashion and costuming and love to see historical costumes on TV and in film so seeing the very modern, almost prom-dress-like costumes, on the show is a bit disappointing. I thought The White Queen did a much better job with the costumes. So beautiful! Maybe next year I'll tackle something like that for my Halloween costume. I have been covetously eyeing this pattern for years.