Sewing Machines are the Devil!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In all of my years of crafting, there has been one tool who's antics and inevitable breakdowns make me want to punch a baby. Yes, you know of whom I speak. The work of Beelzebub's hand-
                                                     the sewing machine.

Seriously, I know I'm not the only one who's had to deal with these shenanigans. Every stinkin' time I sit down to do a sewing project, I have to deal with some sewing machine malfunction. The one I seem to struggle the most is what I lovingly refer to as "thread salad."

Just google "my sewing machine is knotting thread!" and here's what you'll find:

Just look at that mess! 

Now imagine me: It's 12:00 am. I'm sitting at my machine and I have two more panels of an eight row patchwork quilt to piece together. In other words, I'm at the tail-end of a massive undertaking. I mean, this is a queen sized bed quilt! The biggest I've ever attempted and I want to be done with the sewing and onto the  quilting...Like yesterday! When all of a sudden, BANG! CLANK! CLUNK!......Thread salad.

"Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!" I cry!

I could have this finished that night! But that's not what the sewing gods had in store for me. I sit for the next 30 minutes, trying my best to clean, re-thread and sew a salad-free line. Finally, I give up. I'm too tired and frustrated to keep this up. Defeated, I go to bed.

That next morning I awaken with renewed zeal to make this machine bend to my will. What happens next is   how I know the devil is in my machine- It worked perfectly fine!

The only conclusion I can come to is that it was possessed  by a demon. Logical right? Whatever is is, I know it will be back. It always comes back. But, tomorrow is another day and thank the Lord, as of now, we're back in business!

Covering drawer pull holes the impatient way.

I wouldn't say I'm a lazy person. I enjoy a challenge. But one things for sure, if that challenge involves waiting for anything for any length of time- I'm out. That's why I took up watercolor painting instead oil painting- shorter dry time. Patience is not one of my best qualities and I'm okay with that. I've come to a point now where I can wait for what's really important. Waiting for wood putty to dry is not one of them. This is the segue into my point for today's post.

You know when you try to re-do a dresser and the holes for the drawer pulls are way too far apart? I hate that! That means I have to get out the old wood putty and squish it into the freakin' holes. Allow that to dry, sand and then paint over. Too much waiting!! Hate it!!!

So from the mind of one so impatient, I came up with a ten minute solution. And it goes a little like this:

I painted this dresser a few months ago, but didn't find time to replace the pulls.

Solution: Decorative cover to hide the holes

Supply List:
Perforated Aluminum Sheet (The style I used was Union Jack)
Decorative paper
A new Drawer Pull

tools required:
Tin snips
Drill
screw driver

The original pulls were much smaller than the new ones, so some drilling was required.

My solution to putty, sanding and painting is to cover it with perforated aluminum. Say what? You heard right. This stuff is the shiz. I happened to have this laying around from when we used it to create a cover to hide our old ugly radiator. It's just a thin sheet of aluminum with a nice pattern cut out into it.

I used tin snips to very easily to cut the aluminum to size.  Then to keep all the drawers uniform, I measure 1.5 inches from the top of the drawer.

 Remembering where the holes to my pull lined up with the aluminum sheet, I marked where the holes should be drilled.

Drilled the holes.

Then I placed my piece of decorative paper, cut to the same size as the aluminum sheet, over top of the holes and poked through them with a pencil.

 Pushing the screws through the back, I then put the paper, aluminum and then the drawer pull in place. Secured from the back with the screw driver.

No waiting, just doing.