Wednesday 9 July 2014

there's life in the old gal yet!

well I hope there is in me, although I do need to rest not necessarily the day after I have done something but usually the day after that! On Sunday I took the service at Chapel and was fine on Monday thoroughly enjoying book club (but I don't think anyone thought it was a good book!) but yesterday although I had planned on going to Cardiff for a day out, I decided to postpone my visit till later in the week and instead just take it easy. Taking it easy often means doing some sewing!
I had saved some full length and matching shorter curtains from a previous house, some of which were then used for a while by my eldest and some used here temporarily in a bedroom and are now being altered to fit our conservatory which came with the house. Unfortunately it neither has roof opening windows or enough fan lights and can get very hot especially in this glorious summer we are having!
And then as I was at full speed on the old sewing machine, all of a sudden with the actual machine still going, it stopped sewing! The drive belt had broken!
Fortunately, I know a 'man who does' and he was able to replace the drive belt with one I had spare when the last one snapped about 15 years ago, when the machine was already over 25 years old. I had bought the machine back in the early 1970s with the proceeds of making yet another wedding dress - up until then I had been using my Mum's Singer which she had had 2nd hand for her 21st birthday. I had the handle removed and a machine put in its place.
Just after the first drive belt broke, I again used the proceeds from a large wedding order to buy an up to date machine which did all the fancy embroidery stitches, as I needed to always have a spare machine if I was making an dress for a certain date!
But after a few years, I reverted to my old machine as it is made of metal so is sturdy and fast! and I'm sure that there are more years in her yet!

Monday 7 July 2014

I'm here again!

I realise that I have not done much blogging over recent months. It's not that I have not got anything to say, but when I do have, I seem to be very busy. And when I have time, nothing much has happened!
This morning I am off to our village book club. The book we have been reading caused much discussion at our summer barbeque a couple of weeks ago. The author writes about her experiences growing up in the valleys and then working as a nurse in our local hospital. At first I found the book fascinating but then became quiet worried because although she has disguised people she met by changing their names - it seems that it is obvious to those who have also worked in the hospital, as to whom she is referring!
I look forward to continuing our discussion!
Some of you will know that I am a diabetic - not through eating the wrong foods but through the stress of the break-up of my first marriage. Each morning, and also at meal times, I inject myself - this is usually pain-free but sometimes as I pull out the needle it is followed by some blood. And this morning it did just that and as I reached for a tissue up my sleeve wile holding the injection pen with the other hand and also trying to hold my clean pale lavender coloured shirt out of the way... wait! I don't have three hands! the shirt slipped and I had a large blob of blood on my shirt.
One very useful trick I was taught by an elderly dress maker - actually I think she must have been younger than I am now - when I first when out to work in design studios as a sample maker was that your own saliva is the best thing to remove blood. I have lost count of the number of wedding dresses that I have suck! And my shirt this morning now has no sign of blood or being sucked.