Sew, anything new with you?

I took up a new interest in the last 2 weeks. I borrowed my Grandma's 80's (70's?) sewing machine to see if I could figure out how to use it and if owning one of my own would be worthwhile.  I started by reading the the manual far more diligently than usual...checking the name of each part/knob/dial on the machine.

 Luckly for me, there was already a threaded bobbin (not that I realized what "bobbin" meant at the time), although the thread was black and my sewing thread was white...it did help me learn how the 2 threads work together.  Oh and also, having young 31 year old eyes, I poo-poo'd the light bulb that has a power switch while going along this process.

 However, the foot pedal didn't seem to work. No worries, I hand cranked it and saw some pretty straight stiching going on on the top of my scrap fabric. I JUST SEWED A STRAIGHT LINE!  Then I turned it over and saw this:

OOPS.  Ok so I guess the power switch controls not only the lightbulb but ALSO the foot pedal.  (Despite learning the name of the "light/power switch" it took me a while to learn this lesson.)  Flash forward about 30 straight seams later, and I was loving the machine.

Then I *gasp* ran out of bobbin thread. Rereading the manual I figured out what this meant, realized the value of a bobbin (whoops may have thrown some of those away previously..."who needs these microscopic spools of thread when I have these giant spools?"  Go ahead - laugh - this really happened!!!) Back the the machine manual...I almost had to resort to Google, but I finally figured it out.  So exciting!!!

Anyhow since then, I've practiced a few more nights. I just made 18 cloth napkins out of 2 large tea towels and actually managed to make most of the hems look pretty good! And it only took an hour of sewing. Pinning was done while watching TV. (Only a "good" example is shown below.)  Now I'm not trying to go super crafty in the sewing department...I really just want to start using cloth napkins and to save money on paper napkins and paper towels.  

Anyhow, it is nice to be more comfortable with a real live sewing machine and have something to do while Zach was gone with the reserves.  If only it did not make my back hurt so much! Any other sewing stories out there?