So for my fortieth birthday I treated myself to subscriptions to Skillshare and Bluprint, and I've already spent several hours watching people create and share tips and techniques. All very inspiring, even if I'm not currently working in the same medium as whatever class I'm watching.
    I watched a short class on making machine wrapped cords, and started making them on my machine.  I was having all sorts of fun going through my stash and combining yarns and threads and getting inspired--and then disaster struck.  I wanted to give some glitz and glamour to my cord, so I stuck a spool of machine embroidery thread on and happily started stitching, ignoring the really tight tension  the machine was warning me with.  Sure enough, the plastic-y thread broke off somewhere in my machine (I think it was in the tension discs), and now I'm afraid to use it until someone (hopefully an expert) surgically opens it up to remove the detritus of my ignorance about machine threads.
  So for now I am back to working with my own two hands, having gained a little more respect for the rules of machine sewing.  I'm hoping the Genius can perform surgery when he gets home next week.
    Meantime I finished up my freehand embroidery project.  I learned a lot and am fairly pleased with the result.  But of course it only fueled the fire to do more of them.