End of Month Reconciliation

Goals
1. finish nephew's ornament
2. finish bil's ornament
3. complete all ornament finishing--I'm working on it, I am! It's just not as easy as it looks
4. ship inlaw's gifts by 10/21--well, we're getting warmer
5. keep up with the marquoir--pathetically, I haven't even taken a stitch.
6. finish Sissy's laptop bag (hangs head in shame at mere mention)--Poor Sissy. You'd think I didn't love her as much as I do!

Finishing HELP!
I'm desperately trying to find some finishing help. I love how the directions you get say "attach trim." As if how to attach trim were completely self evident. It reminds me of a friend of my mom's. We were talking about learning to sew from your mother. She said, "I can remember asking my mother how you ease a sleeve" [I interrupt this paragraph to say, "ease a sleeve?" I didn't even know what the hell she was talking about.] "And she just screamed at me: 'You ease it. You just EASE it!'" My mother may not have been that bad, but I didn't end up with the mad sewing skillz she has. Not even close.

Last night I got out the sewing machine and not only did the bobbin wind like I was a frickin' pro, I managed to sew straight lines. (Don't laugh; this is not a given.) Of course, I sewed them too close and the finishing form didn't fit in the pocket I had made. Fortunately, I own a seam ripper. (Of course, if I had been a logistician, I would have cut the form. D'oh!) I sewed it again, but this time it was too large. Fucked if I was going to rip it again, I just stuffed some batting in it and proceeded to close the opening.

For some reason, my blind stitch looks like it was done by a blind person. My eyesight's not 20/10 like in the old days, but it's not that bad. I just don't know what the fuck I am doing. And then I got to the directions, "attach the trim." Oh, thanks. What they should have written was 'You attach it. You just ATTACH it!'

I got out a couple of sewing books that my mother gave me when she bought me the sewing machine. (She knows I like books.) No clue on attaching trim. Apparently you just ATTACH it. Then I thought about my collection of Fine Lines Magazines with Marcia Brown's finishing instructions. The first few places I looked, you just ATTACH the trim. But then I found the issue where we make the trim (Fall 98). And in tiny print buried in the half of the article that continues on page 18, directions on how to attach the trim. Oh dear lord, thank you, and I apologize for making fun of the baby Jebus.