Sewing machine cover

I had a very productive and super crafty long weekend. I finally unpacked and got settled in the craft room, made Shel's birthday present, knitted one yoga (pilates) sock, and finished making my sewing machine cover. The birthday present will be a blog post of its own once it has been delivered. Before getting to the cozy for the sewing machine, I must post the obligatory cute pet picture. As soon as I took the sewing machine out of the box, cute kitty hopped in and went to sleep. How adorable.

I've been sewing for many years, okay decades, but sewing in a straight line has never been my strength (much like parking, my car is the one in the lot that's all crooked and over the line). One of the super quilters at work suggested I put some tape along the machine, equal to the seam allowance, to use as a guide as I'm sewing along. She also told me not use duct tape, which makes me wonder what kind of idiot she thinks I am. Another suggestion was to lay off the gas, apparently it's not a race. These tips produced great results! Seriously, one little piece of tape and suddenly I can sew straight. This was a quarter inch seam allowance...here's what the tape looked like on my machine:

See the purse in the book in this picture? That's my next sewing project. The pattern calls for denim, I have some gray corduroy I'm going to use.

So, remember way back in April, when I made a stamp and used it to stamp some fabric? I've finally gotten around to using it. I sewed some seams, et voila, c'est fini!

I'm particularly proud of the hem.