{"id":1353,"date":"2014-06-24T16:40:18","date_gmt":"2014-06-24T20:40:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/?p=1353"},"modified":"2015-05-04T11:23:20","modified_gmt":"2015-05-04T15:23:20","slug":"mechanical-monstrosity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/mechanical-monstrosity\/","title":{"rendered":"Mechanical Monstrosity"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

A couple months ago my husband did some computer work for some acquaintances of ours.\u00a0 Knowing that I was somewhat crafty, she offered him her old embroidery machine in exchange for his work.\u00a0 My husband doesn’t know much about these sorts of things, (nor in fact, did I) but she seemed eager to get it off her hands.\u00a0 (I don’t think she’d used it in quite some time.)\u00a0 It is an older model Brother machine, introduced around 2001.\u00a0 At the time it was a top of the line home machine.\u00a0 Now… well, it’s main method of receiving\u00a0 files is a 3.5 in floppy drive…\u00a0 In addition, the only manual that came with it was in Italian.\u00a0 To say that I was daunted was an understatement. So the machine sat and waited, and my husband began to feel that he had gotten a bad deal.<\/p>\n

Then two things happened.\u00a0 A good friend gifted me with a large quantity of embroidery thread that doesn’t work well in her machine, and the end of the school year rolled around.\u00a0 I am not usually the sort of parent that gets or makes extravagant gifts for my children’s teachers.\u00a0 At this age in particular I usually figure that the gift of mid year school supplies is more practical.\u00a0 As a teacher I was always surprised if I receive gifts from my students.\u00a0 This year however, my daughter’s teacher really went above and beyond, and hey, I had this new machine just sitting there.\u00a0 This winter I made a tote bag for a friend, and it was pretty easy, and not too fabric intensive, so off to the fabric store I went.<\/p>\n

Here is the result: a reversible tote bag with a bright summer print for summer, and an embroidered quote about teaching (picked out by my daughter) for the school year.<\/p>\n

\"bag1\"<\/a>\"bag3\"<\/a>All I can do for the moment is text.\u00a0 The machine came with a few per-programmed designs, but nothing in my style.\u00a0 I need to get either a Brother card writer or a USB floppy drive in order to purchase additional patterns.\u00a0 I’m still researching how to create my own designs without spending a small fortune on software.\u00a0 I’m sure I’ll be posting more on the subject at a later time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  A couple months ago my husband did some computer work for some acquaintances of ours.\u00a0 Knowing that I was somewhat crafty, she offered him her old embroidery machine in exchange for his work.\u00a0 My husband doesn’t know much about these sorts of things, (nor in fact, did I) but she seemed eager to get […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":1359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[24,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-embroidery","category-sewing"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/bag3.jpg?fit=840%2C1240&ssl=1","author_info":{"display_name":"Julie Stubbs","author_link":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/author\/exhalia\/"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/bag3.jpg?fit=840%2C1240&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2gp05-lP","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1051,"url":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/plushie-pout-pout\/","url_meta":{"origin":1353,"position":0},"title":"Plushie Pout-Pout","author":"admin","date":"January 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"One of my children's (and my) favorite picture books is The Pout-pout Fish by Deborah Diesen.\u00a0 The book has a wonderful rhyme scheme, and the illustrations are fabulous.\u00a0 Having studied marine science, I love all the little worms and other invertebrates that populate the book.\u00a0 For Christmas this year I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sewing"","block_context":{"text":"Sewing","link":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/category\/sewing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/poutpout1.jpg?fit=700%2C697&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/poutpout1.jpg?fit=700%2C697&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/poutpout1.jpg?fit=700%2C697&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/poutpout1.jpg?fit=700%2C697&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1220,"url":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/painted-monsters\/","url_meta":{"origin":1353,"position":1},"title":"Painted Monsters","author":"Julie Stubbs","date":"August 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"So this is something a little different from my usual fare.\u00a0 My husband is planning a new Warhammer army.\u00a0 This one has a Lovecraft theme.\u00a0 This is the new Cthulu model from Reaper's new Bones line of miniatures.\u00a0 I wish that I had taken pictures of the model before I'd\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/20130825-100302.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/20130825-100302.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/20130825-100302.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/20130825-100302.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 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my very first attempt at growing tomatoes, caused me to have to search out new and creative uses for grape tomatoes.\u00a0Fresh off of pickling the few measly cucumbers that I got off of the vines before they withered prematurely,\u00a0(Still haven\u2019t\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cooking"","block_context":{"text":"Cooking","link":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/category\/cooking\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/tomatoes.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/tomatoes.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/tomatoes.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":58,"url":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/warhammer-madness\/","url_meta":{"origin":1353,"position":4},"title":"Warhammer Madness","author":"admin","date":"October 2, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"09.22.11 My husband is prepping for another tournament, so of course it\u2019s modeling crunch time. It\u2019s kinda nice to have his craft project all over the dining room for a change. This will be a base for one of his sorcerers. Now to see if I can match the paint\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21,"url":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/dyeing-for-color-part-ii\/","url_meta":{"origin":1353,"position":5},"title":"Dyeing for Color Part II","author":"admin","date":"April 10, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I had a bit of time sans kids and husband, so I knocked out quite a few colors.\u00a0 Same procedure as before, one small spoonful of dye powder to 4 cups of water and 1\/4 cup of vinegar, 6 yard skeins, pulled every 5 minutes.\u00a0 The russet, emerald, and turquoise\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "dyeing"","block_context":{"text":"dyeing","link":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/category\/fibers\/dyeing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1353"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1361,"href":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1353\/revisions\/1361"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}