I have been agonizing for the last 3 years over getting a serger.  Numerous attempts were made whether it was online, at dealers, at my sewing schools.  I was deathly afraid of shelling out mucho bucks for something I’d hate. Also, I wasn’t as committed to my sewing at the time, which  contributed to my reluctance.  My online research mostly resulted in tales of woe, disappointment, frustration from various machine owners whenever I picked a particular model I thought would be decent.  I also thought it was cost-prohibitive given that most of the people who raved about their machines typically owned top of the line models that had that jet-air threading.  Supposedly threading base model sergers sans jet-air threading was the most difficult thing on earth.

Well, I bit the bullet, and got Mr. Claus to log on to Amazon and purchase my new babies.  The reason I purchased the Brother serger was due to the high number of rave reviews on Amazon as well as other sewing blogs I’ve read.  The coverstitch machine doesn’t seem to rate as well, but meh, whatever.

The prices on Amazon were a steal. I couldn’t find these two models in Canada (including Amazon.ca).  Despite the exchange rate, shipping fees, customs/duties/taxes, the price of both cost the same as 1 basic serger of other popular brands purchased in Canada.

In case you’re in Canada, the shipping was done via DHL. Turnaround time from order to doorstep was about 1 week.  No damage to products. No additional fees were paid upon receipt.

There are a number of useful resources online to help you with threading your new Brother 1034D serger.  The video below from Youtube is extremely helpful. I only watched this video to understand how to thread the serger.  Threading the serger took me less than 5 minutes. It was that easy.

How to thread Brother 1034D Serger

The manual suggests that you test the machine once it’s been threaded. I noticed that the lower looper thread kept getting undone during my testing. If you find this is happening to you, refer to page 19 and 20 of the manual. The video above doesn’t describe it the way the manual recommends. What I would do is follow the video first. If you encounter the same problem as me, then go to page 19 and 20 of the manual to troubleshoot.

Finishing raw edges *love*

The additions to my pattern stash:

Vogue

V8766

V8776

V1237

V8626

V8697

V1150

V1267

Butterick

B5673

B5559

I can’t wait to start working on these. I’m currently working on a pattern I purchased awhile back New Look Workroom 6070.

I haven’t found any reviews on this pattern to date. I’m still in the muslin stage, so far so good. Detailed review and photos to come.

www.tastespotting.com

www.foodgawker.com

www.motherthyme.com

hotpolkadot.com

So this coming Saturday, I’ll be preparing an intimate Thanksgiving dinner for two at my home.

I’ve been scouring the internet as usual for interesting items so here goes:

Roasted Fennel, Carrots and Shallots

Porcini Mushroom Turkey with Mushroom Gravy

Buttery Mashed Potatoes

Brown Butter, Sage and Mushroom Stuffing (3rd appearance on my holiday menus. I love this stuffing!)

It turned out so well. I could still taste the ginger but it didn’t have a horribly strong flavour.  I would definitely cook this one again.

Ingredients

6 tablespoons Thai fish sauce
5 tablespoons scallions, spring or green onions thinly sliced
3 tablespoons lime juice or lemon juice, fresh
3 tablespoons cilantro finely chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons serrano chiles minced or dried roasted red pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic minced

Combine ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

Courtesy of Grouprecipes.com.

Courtesy of Saveur.com:

Silly me, I forgot to wear gloves while preparing the marinade.  The habaneros are really spicy so it got underneath my nails. Ugh!

Here are two pieces of chicken fresh out of the oven:

I haven’t had roasted potatoes in a long time, so I thought I’d whip up a batch.  I didn’t follow an exact recipe, so I used what I had on hand:

Wash the potatoes and pat dry.  In  a bowl, mix the potatoes and the pearl onions with the olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder. Place on an oven safe dish in one layer.

My oven was at 300 degrees at this point.  I kept the potatoes and onions in for about 30 minutes.  I tossed them around at the 20 minute mark.  At 30 minutes, I took the dish out.  I mixed a bit of the drippings, rosemary, thyme and a bit of lemon juice together.  Then I brushed the potatoes with this mix and placed the dish back in the oven for another 5 minutes.

The reason I did that last part of the herbs was so that the herbs wouldn’t burn, which I had found before when I roasted potatoes with herbs at the very beginning.

As I’ve been researching various websites online, the recommendation is that you measure yourself and pick the pattern size based on the predetermined sizes listed on the pattern. I, along with many others, don’t fit the perfect mold for these predetermined sizes.

My quest for answers brought me to a website which has great instructions on how to resize a pattern.

Jennie Chancey also has tips of resizing for petites (yay!).  Review her other tips as she has additional useful information.

Cheers!

The interiors are edgy, fun, modern, interesting.  It’s not, blech, trendy, at least I don’t think so.  The bed and pillows were extremely comfortable.  I judge most hotels by the comfort of the bed and pillows.  Much to my husband’s dismay, I instantly melted under the covers disappearing into dreamland. Heehee.

My room was cleaned well. No spot left unturned. I’m kinda nutty when it comes to that.  The beddings and towels were fresh.

The food from the restaurant (which also does room service) was superb. I had fish tacos and an Asian chicken salad. OMG. TDF. Definitely must try.  Their breakfasts are pretty good as well.

The hotel also has a day spa with the usual day spa services. I enjoyed a lovely massage from Bobby.  My husband hung out at the pool for a bit, which was apparently quite nice.

Before I forget, the valet service staff and the room service staff were wonderful. Prompt, amiable and polite.  I’ve had some bad experiences before at other hotels, but ZaZa’s staff didn’t add to my list of disappointing experiences.

I needed to take a break from my marathon weekend studying, so I went to my cave in the basement earlier this evening to revisit a project I had started.  I was also thumbing through my sewing books, which got me even more excited to see potential projects.

During interviews, you may get asked a question like, “What is your greatest weakness?” Mine would be wanting to do too much. The follow up question from your interviewer would then be, “What have you done to improve this shortcoming?”  What I’ve done is I make lists.

With work, I am queen of lists. When I first met my husband, he often complained to me about all the things he had to do but had a hard time tracking them.  My suggestion was to make a list. The man has been making lists since then because it helped him put things into perspective, delegate, and most importantly, not forget them. (I should provide him with a list of my ever-growing ‘Things I Covet‘).

Having said that I haven’t created any lists for my sewing and craft projects.  This post is to serve as the start of my project lists. I feel overwhelmed with all the exciting and interesting projects I’m finding, so a list will definitely help keep me on track.

You may notice a lot of the projects are baby/child oriented. No, I’m not having a child. I have a lot of friends who are becoming or are new parents. I enjoy seeing their reactions when they realize I made the gifts.

1. Baby bibs

2. Baby flannel blankets

3. Diaper bag

4. Baby booties

5. One quilt from the book City Quilts (the one on the cover)

6. Another bib

7. Baby tights

8. Diaper keeper

I’m going to add this list as a “tab” to my blog. Hopefully some items will be marked as in-progress after my exam in August.