Sewing Machine and other crafty things

Sam and I have been going back and forth about what kind of sewing machine to get lately.  The problem was that the one that I have is in storage in East Texas.  Since we don't know when we will get to get back there to get it, I was thinking that I would just get one of the little mini cheapy ones.  Well, for some of the things we are wanting to try out, that kind won't cut it by any means.  For instance, I'm wanting to try and make my own version of the Robeez baby/toddler shoes and Sam is wanting to try out some things with leather, too.  Yeah, that would be too much for one of those tiny sewing machines and as we got to looking, it would be a lot for a regular machine to handle well, too.  So, we ended up at a sewing machine/vacuum store and got to looking at all the different models and had actually thought of getting one of those old school semi-industrial ones.  The lady had one and though we really liked it, it was a lot heavier duty than we need at this time, not to mention heavy and super bulky.  Then I got to looking at some singers that she had that were heavy duty.  They cost less and had more options on it.  The other one only did a straight and zigzag stitch.  We both really thought that the heavy duty singer was more what we were looking for, but we have decided that any decision we make for a larger purchase should and would be slept on and prayed about and then talked to death.  We went ahead and did that, plus I looked up heavy duty sewing machines online to see if her price was comparable and it was actually less than what they normally go for.  We gave it a couple of days and then decided it was a good purchase to make.  The lady at the store was very generous with us and gave us an even better deal than we thought we were getting going in.  She had a floor model of the next model up and said she would sell it for the same price as the one we were going to get.  The floor models are set up along the wall on tables to give a demonstration of what the machine can do.  Yeah, we were all over that deal!  First of all, it has more options on it and of course that applies to my love of gadgetry and it was a better model for less which totally appealed to Sam.  So, we got that one instead and also got a case for it.  I never did have a case for my other one.  She also gave us extra needles and the feet that go with it and some other things for it.  The case cost about five dollars more than we could have gotten at Walmart, but with all the other stuff she just flat out gave us, it more than evened out.  Oh, by the way, my other one is a hand me down from my mom.  It is also a singer, so I'm familiar with their sewing machines.  If I'm not mistaken, my old one is over 20 years old and I've had it for over 7 years.  Also, I'm not planning on getting rid of it.  I think it will work just fine for our kids to learn on.  Braden has already been trying to get us to let him use our "new" one.  Not to mention it would be great to be able to use two machines at the same time if we needed to.  Fun times!:)  I do intend to get a case for it, too though.  Its important that little hands not be able to get a hold of it.  I went ahead and took a picture of it for your viewing enjoyment:

I also made a crochet wash rag.  This is my first "masterpiece" :p and I thought I'd share.  I'm actually thinking about embellishing the edges with a different color yarn, so when that happens, I'll take another picture.  Right now, I'm making a kitchen towel and I'm gonna make the kind that has a flap with a button so that you can hang it on a handle.  As soon as I'm done with that, I'll take a pic of that, too.  I'm thinking of trying a scarf or blanket next.  I'm still working on reading the patterns, so I'm probably going to have a headache after that project.  Michael's and Hobby Lobby were having a sale on yarn, so we now have a stash and I also got some more crochet needles and an instruction kit for knitting, though I'm not quite ready for that yet.  I also found a bag for keeping our yarn in and a little bag for keeping my current yarn and project in and a case for all our needles.  Yep, they were all on clearance!!!!  I love clearance stuff, especially when its something I've been looking at and comparing prices on.

The other thing of note in my crafty world is I got my tea towels from my swap partner.  They were sent from England.  I really like them.  The pattern and colors are perfect.  Here is a pic of what she sent: