I'm sitting here typing on my brand new laptop, with no access to any of my photos at the moment, so I'll just 'talk'.

Our son (IT guy) came over yesterday to do some simple reformatting on Jan's computer, and came across something weirdly suspicious. Upon doing further research, he discovered whatever was going on had transferred to my computer a few days ago as well. So he immediately turned everything off, and we decided it was a good  time to finally upgrade to a new computer.

It was decided that I should get a laptop, so that we could take it along on future trips, instead of our super old, first generation iPad.  So, off they rushed to the Apple store before it closed and purchased a MacBook Air.  It's a nice, shiny new device, but the only things I am currently connected to are my emails and Facebook, and Safari. So I managed to find my way into Weebly. Nothing else has been transferred to this new computer yet, so I'm unable to download photos, process them, or even post any.......since I don't have access to my hard drive yet.

I hate change, and my brain is a fuzzy mess, as I have to deal with all the new technology, with zero access to anything at the moment.  I'm feeling so 'isolated', not being able to go check out all my usual online forums several times per day. And I can't even download any photos I take.....

However, the good news is, that I'm getting an awful  lot done sewing-wise. It's amazing what can all get done when there's no computer distraction!  The next two Holiday dresses are finished, and I'm starting the next two.  I finished the 'fur' trim and beading on 52 small Christmas stockings, which all face to the left, and have started working on the last 32, which face the opposite direction. Hopefully everything will be finished by the end of the week.  Then if Canada Post would get its act together and put an end to their strike, I'll be able to offer the dresses and stockings up for sale.

​Well, I better get back to my sewing.....

In exchange for teaching her how to spin, Narae gave Willie several balls of the spun yarn.  It was such nice yarn, that Willie wanted to make something out of it right away....

"This is really nice yarn..."

"It will be a joy to make something out of it..."

I'm working on 'holiday' dresses for Kaye Wiggs girls, and am already fed up with all the sequins on the fabrics. Last week I made a dress for my granddaughter's doll, and another for a KW doll....

...and now I'm working on turning four sequinned scarves into party dresses....

I started by making two dresses out of the pink scarf...

...and now I'm working on the black lace with silver sequins. My goal is to have all the dresses up for sale by the end of the month, but working with sequinned fabric is a royal pain.  It's important to remove any and all sequins that will be within the seam allowance or stitch line, or the sewing machine needle will get dull - or break - and the sequins stuck in the seam allowance will stick out in directions you don't want. So, they all have to come off, and that's way easier said than done....

After removing the sequins, I dab a bit of Gemtack glue onto the thread ends to keep them from unravelling any further. It's a LOT of work, but I'm determined, so it's worth the effort. 

And that effort includes constantly having to vacuum, since there's sequins EVERYWHERE!!!

After all the wool had been spun, they had to wind it into balls...

Willie hadn't realized Narae couldn't see clearly what she was doing... 

So she turned around...

Nami was in charge of turning the crank on Narae's spinning wheel....

Things started to go much better.......

Nami had to pay constant attention so that she didn't spin the wheel too fast....

Narae was a quick learner, and caught on pretty quickly....

Soon they were all ready to start....

"You need to pull the wool into a long thin strip. Just do what I do..."

Narae's spinning wheel had a hand-crank, so the job of turning it fell to Nami.
"Keep it going round in an even speed..."

Narae tried to follow along....

While Rags made a mess out of the wool...

Willie was busy spinning along....

 "You know, with your back to me, it's kind of hard for me to see exactly what you are doing...."

"Sure I can teach you how to spin.  I already arranged for my friends to bring my spinning wheel over. I find it works better if I have my own, so you can see exactly what I'm doing....and you can follow along.  Here are Smuzhka and Rhett now....."

"Thanks for bringing it..."

"Where do you want it??"

"Right over here would be great..."

"Thanks!  That's perfect!"

Nami knew Willie was very wise, and an expert at almost everything, so she asked her to come...

"We have all this wool, and a spinning wheel, but have no idea how to use it.."""

"Do you think you could teach us how to use it??"

I spent most of the past week working on some fancy dresses for my granddaughter's doll, for her birthday.  I have an Our Generation doll to act as dress model for just such occasions....

​First, a fancy turquoise satin ruffled affair, with black lace and sequins....

...and then a 'Belle' gown, because she dressed up as Belle for Halloween....

Nami went out to the storage room......."Look what I found..."

"But, I don't know how to use that thing..!!"

"Well, it has a hand crank on the side here, where I think someone has to turn the wheel..."

"Yes, but then what..??"

'I think I know someone who can give us some lessons.  I'll go see if she can come over...."