Back up. Try again.

So, I had this goal to make a pair of shorts and three shirts before vacation. Vacation begins this Sunday.

Shorts? Check. After the wash, they look even better. I just need to move the button over and they'll be plenty good to wear in public.

Shirt one? Check. All it needs is the buttons. I put all the buttonholes in yesterday.

Shirt two? Check. All it needs is buttons. I put the buttonholes in yesterday.

In fact, I had such good luck at putting button holes in that I was pretty complacent about it. All the work is in the setup. Then, I don't even need to really pay attention. I had great fun illustrating this for Sydney while she stared at my old fashioned buttonholer working away while I looked elsewhere and did other things.

This morning, I hemmed the sleeves of Rob's shirt and then I hemmed the bottom hem. All is going really good. I'm on schedule. In a half hour, I should have three shirts ready for buttons and I'll sew all those on by machine.

I install the buttonholer and get everything set up and I put the shirt in the machine and I let her rip and something wierd happens that results in a broken needle. Okay. I'm flexible. Pull it out. Rip the stitches. Start again. Starts good. I can relax and stop really paying attention again. This time, the needle grinds a hole in the shirt.

A flurry of embarassing, R-rated movie quotes ensues.

I forgot to install the feed dog cover with the buttonholer so the buttonholer was pulling one way and the feed dogs were pulling the other and before I knew it, there was a tear. Horizontally.

Okay. I'm a grownup. This is just a set back. So, I take the left side of the front apart, cut a strip to act as a button hole facing or whatever you call that thing that runs down the front of a dress shirt and I get it all put back together. When I had to get up, I was right where I was when I got up this morning. Over and hour later. One line of top stitching and the buttonholes left to go.

Do you think I'll ever forget the feed dog cover again?

Not likely.

We had a good weekend. Despite the fact that I did make most of two shirts, I also got lots of other stuff done. We picked up the last things for vacation and started packing things up. I don't think anybody feels rushed, which is good. The week before vacation is usually a flurry of frantic activity for us, but not this time.

I even got to work in the yard, moving plants around...although when I was working on that, I didn't realize that we were expecting record breaking highs this week. Oh, well. Plants were dying where they were, so I figure I at least gave them a shot by moving them. And, there was a major aquarium cleaning. Always a lot of work, but I love that aquarium and can sit and watch the fish for hours...if I could sit still for hours.

Take care and have a great Monday. Lane