Buyers Remorse

I'm waiting for the oh so familiar feeling. You know the one. You go out and spend a lot of money on something that is definitely NOT essential and no sooner have you gotten your purchase home but you break out in a cold sweat and wonder what the heck you were thinking. It hasn't happened yet, and it has been almost a week.

Last Saturday, after the requisite attendance at my son's baseball game, my husband and I went out and purchased a Janome Memory Craft 350E embroidery machine. It isn't the biggest machine you can buy. There is only one needle, and you have to rethread the machine every time you change colors. There are machines have ten needles and change their own thread. They may require an addition to the house as well.
We purchased Janome Digitizer Jr software to go with it. I thought would be fun to try customizing - thinking logos for the boys teams or my brother's businesses; maybe quilt labels. (The type that you make with you printer seem to fade after a few washings.) I wasn't sure what to expect. I am neither a graphic artist, nor a computer programer. In fact, my background is in the classics. I don't think Aristotle can help me with this. BUT it was easy!

I've been trying to think of a gift that I can afford to give to the out going board members of my local quilt guild. After consulting with my Mom, I decided on snap bags. ("Consulting" makes it sound important.) I wanted the gifts to be special. I wanted my team to remember that their service was important to someone...namely me...the president that they served with. AND I wanted to be able to afford it and still have money to put gas in my tank. (Can you believe the prices!?)

Our membership directory lists important things about each person: name, address, phone number, and their favorite colors, fabrics, techniques etc. I used that information to pick fabric for the bags. Then I hand embroidered their name and board position on it.

I am very pleased with the results. Two down, three more to go.
I never thought that I would be so excited about machine embroidery. If I wanted something embroidered, I would do it by hand. Really, machine embroidery seemed kind of tacky. Who knew?
It's good to know that God is still growing me. Turns out I'm not too old to learn something new.