Fritz, the Helper Cat

There are a few new additions to my household. In terms of sewing, I got a new machine! It's the Janome MC 6600, and already sewing is so much better than on my crappy PFAFF hobby machine. I'm having a few issues with the machine, which are probably due to it being used, but it sews like a dream. It is so much less stress, and the whole experience is so much more enjoyable.

The second addition you can see with new machine is Fritz. He likes to help out. In fact, he likes to be everywhere I am. Like in the sewing machine!

On my newly sewn blocks!

In my scrap bin! It's a little cute, and a little annoying. It's a big enough house you know? There are a lot of places to be, but he chooses to be in the most in the way ones! That's having a cat I guess.

In terms of Barrel of Monkeys, I've got the first set of blocks done. I've made some pretty major mistakes placement wise, which isn't really apparent here, but will be when the whole thing is together. I'll go into it later. There is also a huge problem with the scale of the two blocks, as the head block pictured above is 12 inches, and the body blocks are 10'' (I'll explain later, but it was a bonehead mistake on my part).

The good news is though, that I'm getting a lot better at matching seams. There is still improvement to be made, but it's getting there. This particular layout is good practice for that. I cut a lot of extra pieces, so I can whittle down the blocks that are really visually off, which is a good idea for now.