Saturday 1 March 2014

 
 
New Toy!
 
 
 
I spied this beauty in Vintage Mischief over the summer, my Mum was staying with us and she saw how much I had fallen in love with it. She was in her original case with bits and bobs in the drawer as if someone had just stopped sewing a moment earlier.  I have wanted an old singer for ages and especially a hand crank model, so I can sew through a power cut is the practical excuse, but really I just love these old machines and now have several pre-loved machines of various eras.  She was very reasonably priced so I succumbed to my Mum's kind offer and we took her home.  We couldn't get her going, so I have finally got around to taking her to see the excellent machine repair shop in my local town and he has made her all well again.  The chap who repairs them is very knowlegeable  when It comes to machine history, and he was able to tell me it is a 1951 model and that it had hardly been used-but I am going to change all that.  Starting with my son, he is always interested in what I am making, and frequently asking to do some knitting or crochet, I have many balls of wool now in a pickle due to his "knitting" technique.  As all he has to do  nowis turn the wheel he can sew like mummy,  he knows that he doesn't put his fingers anywhere near the sharp pointy thing, and I only let him use it under my strict supervision for any H&S worriers out there. 
 

 
We made a St Valentine's card  for his Daddy on it a couple of weeks ago, he selected the cloth and trim and I did all the directing of cloth, the first of many creations maybe...

 
Whilst my little boy has been machining I have gone back to a bit of therapeutic hand stitching.  I purchased a partly made paper pieced quilt a couple of years ago, and I am slowly completing the final section.  Whoever started this lovely thing had kindly done all the donkey work for me, it came with a bag full of hexagons ready to sew together.  So not only do you get the joy of looking at all the lovely pieces of vintage cottons, but the lovely little card templates are old cut up greeting cards from way back when.  My son loves getting all the brightly coloured hexagons out and making pictures out of them,  he sat beside me for  a while and selected the next hexagon for me to sew onto my growing section of quilt.


I am hoping to hand quilt the finished patchwork, so it is going to be an on going long term project, one for the long winter evenings and hot summer days stitching in the garden.

 
The day I took these shots my little one was recovering from a tummy bug doing the rounds of our area, and I had a stinking cold.  It felt very cosy and calm as I sat and stitched and he snoozed himself well.  Another memory that will be stitched into the quilt forever.

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