No matter how cool that digital sewing machine is, it is not an autonomous life form. Don't start a buttonhole and then leave it unattended.
Same thing for the embroidery machine. DH had been told not to interrupt me while I embroidered just over fifty polo shirts for his class (field trip - he wanted them easily identifiable and finds that kids do behave better when dressed well). He called me away to ask me something that could have waited (and I asked him to wait until the end of that color of thread).
He was handed the seam ripper and the shirt to clean up the error while I went on with the other 49 or so shirts.
The kids loved the shirts and I got to do another fifty or so - now ALL the students in his department have embroidered polo shirts for casual field trips to museums & similar events, t-shirts for events where they need to work/sweat (load & unload food pantry donations as an example), and uniforms for drill meets & to wear for inspections.
And DH continues to get handed any shirts that need stitches ripped out if he interrupted me at the machine.
He doesn't interrupt me much any more
- he has learned that the "red, white, & blue rule" (red fire or bloody injury, white bone showing in wound, or blue at lips or limb showing no circulation) is a much better rule of thumb than wandering over to ask me about dinner, where something is, or have I done laundry yet.
He now knows that I will be doing laundry every six or eight shirts to get the chalk marks off - he can just add whatever-it-is that he needs in that load to the pile. The new rule is HE is in charge of grilling or getting take out when I am embroidering for him (that was the original rule) - but having to rip out stitches on three shirts taught him that it was a GOOD rule to follow to the letter. Saves a world of frog stitchign (rip-it, rip-it - ribbet, ribbet)
