Mother's Ruin: What have we here?

OK.

SO.

Crisis? Not so much. That's not to say that I've fixed the problem of my poorly sized blocks, but after a nice weekend of crafting along to Whitney Houston's entire back catalogue, two bottles of Merlot and a metaphorical 'chill-pill', I've managed to assuage my hysteria and frustration. I'm feeling philosophical about the whole thing! It's a lesson learned!

You know how sometimes the universe seems to be telling you something? When events take on an element of the uncanny (like, you hear an old song for the first time in years and years and then all of a sudden every radio station in the country seems to be playing it and people are humming it in the queue at the post office and you pick up a magazine that you've had laying around for weeks and notice that the same song is mentioned in an interview on the back page)? Well, all week this has been happening to me and catching up on 'Green Apples' (have you read Jessica's blog - I love it! She is so talented!) blog on Friday was the final straw! Which leads me on to this:

So, what have we here? This is my 1950's Singer Model 201K, which a very dear friend of mine rescued for me before it was disposed of! Now, I know that, as crafters and artists (unfortunately, I cannot command the label 'artist' but for many of you it is a wholly appropriate title), we are supposed to strive to be unique, creators of fashion rather than followers, but on this occasion I really must follow the herd. Everywhere I look people are telling the stories of their acquiring/re-acquaintance/long companionship with a vintage sewing machine. So on Saturday - out came mine!

I love the pure weight of the older units. They just feel like such quality pieces of engineering! Indeed (is this geeky?) I quite enjoy taking the plate off of the back and taking a look at the inner workings. Normally I'm not in the least interested in this side of things - if it works, I don't need to know how (though I have discovered that this approach is less than favourable when it comes to cars. I've been driving for over 7 years and still don't know where the oil goes!). Things are looking a little rusty inside so I ought to clean her up a little, but there is certainly nothing wrong with the way she stitches!

I particularly appreciate the little drop-down table that is hinged to the side! Why this little piece of wood makes such a difference, I have no idea! But it does - it really does!

And look - how cute! The original (though damaged) instruction manual and little box of accessories, which included several feet (I'm at a loss to comprehend what some of these are - any ideas?) amongst other things.

Here's a shot of her in action - more about this tomorrow! In many ways, I regret spending so much money on my modern machine. I love how the vintage machine sews and keeping my seams straight is so much easier!

I got so much crafting done this weekend that I worked up quite an appetite! You can imagine how impressed I was, then, when Hubby produced this tasty little delight for lunch! Homemade vegetable quiche (all the vegetables were grown by Hubby on his allotment). Needless to say - it didn't last long!