Pickle me grandmother!

Does anybody except me remember Ted Bullpit?  Not that I ever watched Kingswood Country, you understand, Gentle Readers, as I believe it was on TV at a time when I didn't own one (and didn't miss it either, I might add) ... the most memorable thing about it was the way Ted treated his son-in-law, who, in real life, was Greek, but who played an Italian in the show.  Apparently the producers thought nobody would notice or care...


Anyhoo..., I have been somewhat unwell today, and yesterday, in fact, and spent most of the past 24 hours prone, in the dark, bucket close to hand.  Got up at 4.00pm to make some cushions (as you do), and to try out this little demon:

which snuck into the house after the craft show.  1100 stitches a minute makes it perfectly suitable to use for upholstery and the best part?  It's the same size as a normal machine, so I can make cushions & stuff without having to find a new house for something this size, 1.25 metres long, 60cm deep, 90cm high (read: needs a large space)... 

Anyway, I whipped out some Amy Butler home dec fabric I've had lying round for quite a while, which MGF Kaz waits patiently for me to make into cushions for her, and thought "oh, why not?"

So, here we are.

I had to fiddle a bit to get the tension right, but I think she'll like them.  Now, what's next?

Ciao!

Tempus is doing that thing again...

Flying, that is.  Tempus Fugit.  Time flies.  Ah, the paucity of public education.


So, Gentle Readers, I have survived my first week back at the August Institution, and although I know it was a bit cruisey because it was my first week, it was nice & cruisey.  I had one-to-one meetings with people, I carted in stuff to personalise my desk, I ordered a footrest, I pined for upholstery school (only 3 more days, including today), and I bought this:

And hopefully, when we go with the car today, we'll be able to fit at least some of it in!

And!  This:

Which isn't working, but may only need a service and some oil.  Hopefully.

Anyway, we're going off this morning (as soon as Mr Golightly raises his head from the warm and comfortable pit he's in, aka the bed) to try & disassemble  the machine from the table, so we can get it into the car.  Otherwise it's a ute, a portalift & copious amounts of swearing:

Anyway, I've found a website which has manuals for sale, and I've paid my money via PayPal, so we're just waiting now for the email to show up... hopefully it'll show us how to take the thing off the table... and then all we have to do is try to get it in the house.  I'll keep you posted!

Ciao!

Guilty as charged...

That's better, the font-y thing appears to have restored itself to "normal" so somewhere along the line I must have run into the "Drink Me" label...

Anyway, I bought a new sewing machine today. Now, note well that there's nothing actually wrong with the other one I had, but I wanted a better one. I guess I was a bit jealous of my mother who has one of those (actually, she has 2 sewing machines, a quilting machine and an overlocker/serger all on the go at the same time, so there's absolutely no contest there [and don't even get me started on the custom-built sewing room in her yard]) fabulous whiz-bang ones that just start stitching when you put the material up to the presser foot... no pedal or anything. Whew.

Anyway, my Brother Super Ace III has served me well for 4 years (how time flies when you're having fun!) but I saw this one & thought aha! Also, the health fund which has been happily taking our money for the last 10 years has been bought by a competitor, and thanks to the rules surrounding mutual funds, a large cheque came my way last week. So, the planets were obviously aligned, and it was meant to be. Not that I believe in fate, or anything, you understand, but it did seem a bit propitious that the two things happened in the same phase of the moon... so today I went out in the heat, 34.5ºC, thanks for asking, up to the shopping centre which houses not one but two of the three haberdashery, fabric and yarn suppliers round where I live, (the other one being the fabulous Fenners, at Mona Vale, Hello Mr Fenner) to check it out.

My mother did recommend the Brother Quilters edition, but I have to say, I wasn't that taken with the very busy look of the thing - all the stitches were shown on the front of the machine in pink, and it did have a lot of them, and it made it look quite cluttered (who needs all that distraction, honestly? We're just trying to get our seams straight here...) and where the thread spool sits was under this really tacky looking opaque plastic pink cover - why, oh why, do manufacturers think they need to make things PINK to attract women. Sorry for shouting. It makes me so mad - "let's make it pink & the girlies will love it". Well, actually, they won't.

Anyway, I bought the Singer Quantum 9940, instead. Reasons to be cheerful, part 3:

1. It was $100 cheaper than the Brother.

2. It has a reasonably good-sized LCD display which allows you to adjust choose stitches, and adjust stitch width & length without having to slide or turn or jog or do anything much except press 1 button (allowing for excellent accuracy), and you can save words or phrases you use a lot (like "Handmade by Isabella Golightly").

3. It had a really plain front, with nothing but 3 buttons (needle up/down, reverse & slow speed) on the front, & all the rest controlled by the 'compass rose' next to the LED screen.

Reasons not to be so cheerful:

1. New bobbins. Why, oh why, can't manufacturers of technology agree on standard 'anything'? I also note phone chargers, memory cards for cameras and phones, and camera batteries as things which could be standardised without too much trouble, except that it would make less money for manufacturers.

2. Feet are mostly plastic, with some metal ones. I like the solidity of the Brother's feet, which, although they are the 'drop off the bottom' kind, are all metal. Plus I have yet to see if the Brother's feet will feet on the Singer. Anybody want to have a small wager with me? Prize: 3 lavender pyramids for the first respondant who correctly predicts if they will or won't...

3. I now have to find a new home for the Brother

4. I bought something I didn't really need.

Which of course brings us right back to conspicuous consumption. To assuage my guilt somewhat, I'm going to find a charity program with absolutely no religious affiliation and donate my other sewing machine to them. My lovely defacto step-sister in law (got that?) is going to take the Brother off my hands, I believe. What other sewing machine, I hear you say? Ah. Yes, well, up in the roof is a Bernette something or other, which I bought in 1994, just after the urge to create bit me. So this is actually my 4th sewing machine, just not all being used at the same time (see note about Mother, above). The first one I bought at a garage sale in 1993 when the urge first really bit me, for $60. It was very old, and the needles had to go in sideways, a fact I only discovered after I broke an entire packet trying to get it to work. I think I donated that one to charity, so the pattern has been set.

Now, after that little conscience clearing effort, I'm off to the sewing room. It's cooled down a bit now & I got some lovely fabric from here in the week, and I can feel a box pouch coming on. Oh yes, and I finished the DUST Craft Swap thingies, check 'em out! The theme was 'lurve' (did I mention the Barry White moment? Oh yes, I'm sure I did), hence the hearts, hand appliqued. Hope she likes em!