Creating my way to Success: ANOTHER present!!

I'M SO EXCITED!!! Today, Mum and Dad bought me an overlocker!! I haven't got it out of the box yet, I'm hoping to have some time tomorrow to set it up and have a play around. Then I go back to the shop next week for a free lesson on how to use it!

Mum and Dad are very good to me. I started sewing about 6 years ago after my first daughter was born. (I learnt the basics with Mum when I was young, then have done nothing since!).

The first thing I made was a parachute, to use with all the little kids in our mums group when we did music and songs together with them. I've always been of the mind of "why buy something when you can make it?". So I went to the charity shop and bought several old colourful pillowcases and fabric remnants (back then, having recently emigrated we didn't have anything old - I even bought a bag of rags for cleaning!!). Anyway, I then cut the pillow cases and fabric into large triangles, and HAND-STITCHED them all securely together to make the parachute, which is approx 3m in diameter. A friend found out I was doing this, when I was almost done, and lent me her sewing machine to finish off the edge! The parachute was very well used and loved by the kids, and has also doubled as a shade sail in the garden on many occasions, tied to trees and washing lines! I've always been very proud of that parachute and how well my hand-stitching has held up to the endless pulling and tugging over the years!

Anyway, shortly after making that parachute, I had one of our annual visits from my parents (who live in England), and they took pity on me and bought me my trusty Janome!!