My new toy...and some new blog buttons

I don't have a card today, but I thought I'd share a recent purchase with you that has me just a little excited.  :)  My hubby and I agreed that this would be my anniversary gift from him this year (isn't he sweet to let me pick it out?).

Brother CS6000i from Amazon.com

My starter model Singer sewing machine has been pretty much worthless for almost a year.  The last tune-up to reset the tension cost as much as the machine did when I bought it 10 years ago, so when it continued to have problems I decided it wasn't worth trying to fix it again.

After some research and reading of reviews on Amazon, I decided on this Brother machine that has 60 built-in stitches and lots of other features I've always wanted in a machine, like a needle that always stops in the down position, a switch to control maximum sewing speed, and an add-on table for larger projects.  And all for only slightly more than I paid for my old, basic Singer.

I'm in love.

Right now I'm finishing up some cloth napkins for my kids with fabric that they chose and I cut last summer, right before my old machine started having problems again.

Next up I want to make some Roman shades for my kitchen.  I've made one before and already have all of the materials, I just need to carve out some time to get them done.

Also new...I decided to clean up my sidebar and add some of those nifty blog buttons (over there under "connect")------->

You can follow me on Bloglovin', Facebook, and Pinterest, or send me an email, and it's all just a click away.  :)

I'm off to get a few chores done before my son's buddy comes over, after which I don't anticipate getting much of anything done.  Hope you have a fun day planned, too!