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Sewing slugs in the sunshine

It’s a beautiful day here today, and I’m making my first large fleece “Hug Me! Slugs”. I’ve been sitting outside, when possible, sewing and stuffing, taking advantage of the weather. A nice mom put in a custom order for two “mommy and baby” slug sets, and she’s going to be knitting clothes for them once they arrive at her house. I really like that idea, and I started wondering if I should try offering slug skirts, or something similar, myself.

It looks like my Platinum sewing machine is going to be in the shop longer than anticipated. It needs a couple of electrical parts, which need to be ordered from the company. Hopefully, they’ll have them in stock. In the meantime, I had forgotten how persnickety my older Viking machine, Sarah, is about thread. She was eating up thread for hours. I asked the repair place for advice, and, oh yeah, “Change the thread and the needle.” I’d forgotten. We had to make a run into town to get some more expensive thread. I’d only recently gotten a few of the newer spools of Coats and Clark cotton machine quilting thread to match some fabric I had, completely forgetting I’d ever had trouble with Sarah’s thread tastes. Their other, older cotton machine quilting threads never seem to bother Sarah, but she wouldn’t tolerate any of these new spools. Makes no sense to me. Ah well. It’s okay now. I was relieved it was a simple solution, and no repairs were needed. Whew.

My usually helpful kitty assistant wasn’t too interested in helping me out on the porch today. I woke him up too many times while he was sunbathing. He scolded me. I’ll have to learn to sew and stuff in a less disruptive manner. Or maybe he just thought I was going to ask him to come back in the house.

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Slugging away

I’ve been having a little rush on “Hug Me! Slugs” this week. These are just some of the ones I am working on. There are others, in boxes, on the ironing board, on the extra table. They’re taking over my workroom right now. Poor little Sarah, my older sewing machine, is having to stand in for my Platinum, which is in the shop for repair. The man who does the repairs thought the feed dogs might have gotten accidentally tugged out of place, a minor repair, hopefully. I think Sarah will have to go in to be serviced next, with all the fuzzy stuff collecting inside of her.

Fall finally feels like it has arrived. The leaves are turning color, and it’s slightly chilly…sometimes. It seems warm compared to NY state. It feels just right to me.

Even though Mr. Duck’s leg has healed, the ducks still come asking for cracked corn treats. We give them a little bit, just to encourage them to forage on this side of the pond and not wander toward the roads in the other direction. It’s not as nutritious for them as what they can find on their own, and you have to make sure none is left on the ground, because mold is dangerous for ducks. But they get very excited about it. I can’t believe the duckling is so big now. That’s him (or her) in front, on the left. Mama duck is watching me. She’s got her baby quacking at me now too. They are a funny bunch.

We cleaned out our flower bed out front, and this little anole has been enjoying the warmth of our solar lamps, which are now exposed more to the sun. He was sitting there sunning himself for a long time. I think I will follow his example, and sit out on the porch with some hand sewing.