Your embroidered pieces sound really pretty. Have you seen stump work. It is an interesting type of needlework.

I wish I knew something about sergers, but I don't. I can't seem to find enough use for one to justify buying it. E

I own a serger that dh bought for me years ago but even with a class, its stumps me!  Its all about the tension and with 4 sets of threads...drove me nuts so it is packed away for a future date.

I am working on curtains for my office.  The venetian blinds have to go.  The cat keeps snapping the blinds off so she can climb through them.

I have heard of stump work, but I don't think I have tried it yet (unless raised embrodiery is a form--I'd have to check). 

My serger has 4 threads.  It came with a video showing me how to thread it (also, the parts are color coded so you know which part goes with which thread).  A pair of tweezers is your friend!  Also, natural light; I can't really see to rethread mine if it's dark outside, even if I have every light in the kitchen on.  As to the tension, I have to admit, my machine marks standard tension and I set it to that and I leave it alone!  I never could get the threads to look exactly howI wanted them to, so I gave up and left it alone.

Also, I don't try and serge and sew in one motion.  I was once one stitch away from putting the bunched-up middle of my dress through the cutter, so I quit doing that.  Now I just serge raw edges and then sew my garment up on a machine.  This allows you to undo your mistakes!  It also makes the tension issue more or less irrelevant since it's not holding two pieces of cloth together. 

I once bought a skirt from Ann Taylor that had a serged-and-sewn seam and the seam pulled apart some because either the tension had been too loose on the stitches, or they had been too far apart.  A mistake I am much less likely to make on my sewing machine which I can customize easier. 

Keriamon:

unless raised embrodiery is a form

Raised embroidery probably led to stumpwork. One form that I'm thinking of is worked over a piece of wire on a scrap of fabric background, then the wire holds the piece up above the work, 3-D style. It is fascinating that someone figured that out. E

 I made a Harley Davidson doo rag quilt for my fiance this Christmas. I just took 12 doo rags/handkerchiefs that we picked up at a rummage sale a few months ago, sewn together three across and four down, backed with a black sheet and batting, tufted the top and applied a black leather look border to the edge. He absolutely loved it. Said it was the best present he has ever received.

Great idea! That makes the handkerchiefs useful again, and not going to waste. Good for you. E

 I had some fun plans for sewing but my machine went  on the fritz right before Christmas.  I took it in but their repair guy was playing Santa and didn't get it fixed until after the holidays.  My DD tried to finish up her rag baby quilt- but the tension was still bad.   After spending last Sat night- from 8-11:30 sewing by hand I finally called the guy and asked if I needed to bring it back in.  He said to unscrew the face plate and check the bobbin  area.  I removed the bobbin, checked everything out, turned the tension to 9 then back to those suggested numbers in the middle as he suggested. IT WORKED!  He said someone must've messed with the tension.  Wonder which of the 8 kids decided to play with it this time :)  

I might make up a denium quilt for my teenage hard to shop for son's birthday, I wanted to get him some fun cooking stuff but hubby thought that was "weird",  I still have zippers to try and replace, and plenty more mending.  I might make myself some socks but not the kids at this point, too much work since they lose things....I would still love to find some Irish knit patterns that are really crocheted :)  

I love fabric and need to cut my supplies down to a minimum.  How much do you all suggest keeping?  Family of ten - kids ages 20-2?  I"m tempted to get the fancy bags that suck out the air so you can store more, but it's not really cost effective when I get my fabrics in the remnant bins, thrift store, Walmart $1 bin, etc.   Suggestions welcome :)  I know plenty of quilters, etc who'll take the surplus.  I just like being prepared so hate to pare down too much. 

I'd get the bags before I'd get rid of the supplies. With the size of your family those supplies could be a real resource in the future. And it is already paid for. You may need it at a time when you don't have the income to purchase more.

I recently had a problem with my machine being noisey and sluggish; I had been doing a lot of sewing on flannel and lint was everywhere. I cleaned out every nook and cranny I could think of and oiled it good, but still there was a problem with it not running smoothly. Finally inspected every part of the bobbin mechanism again, as that seemed to be the problem, and I found that on the walls of the round case that holds the moving parts, the part that the hook swivels around thru, lint had gotten plastered onto the walls, and being as there is very little clearance for the mechanism to swivel back and forth, that lint was causing friction and noise. When I scraped it off the walls it ran smooth and quiet again. I was going to take it in to a shop, but the man who did the machines was only there once a week, so decided to try again myself. I saved money by doing it myself. E

chamomile:

saw some of the wool diaper covers online

Before my daughter and her family went to Europe for six months on business, we made several soakers from felted sweaters. We both thought they turned out great, but my GS refused to wear them!