Vintage Buys

Hello

After booking up a pitch for the motorhome at the last minute, we set off on Friday for the Pickering WWII weekend.  It was a bit of a rush and the result was I forgot the camera. DOH!  We were half way there before I realised.  Soooo no photos of the fabulous event!

There were ooodles of vintage stalls so had a bit of spend.  Bought this really neat case to use to keep my patchwork bits when I am on the move.

Found a stall with some handy sewing items on it so had another little spend.

The scissor sharpener is brilliant.  The egg thingy is to hold my silver thimble, it fits inside perfectly.

Going to recover the inside of the case with some pretty fabric and hopefully add some storage pockets when I figure out how to do it.

My Partner Glock went to watch a battle scene at the showground which had loud bangs from the guns which was too much for sensitive Buzz so we had an hour or sew (I was sewing) in the motorhome.  Glock came back with a pressy for me, he thought that it would be useful for storing stuff in.

But when I saw the buckles on the side, had a light bulb moment.

Make a fabric strap for it so that I can use it as a shoulder bag.

Gave it a clean and a polish

A huge thank you to Glock, it was a brilliant find.

Cheers

Sharon

Perfect Buttonholes - Greist Buttonholer

Hello

My Sister is a Granny, she kept wishing for them and now she has three of various ages, all dinky little tots.  She has started to sew for them and I got an email.  She needed some buttonholes and could I do them with my Greist Buttonholer.

So set it all up and had a go. I used the Singer 201 and dropped the feed dogs but it comes with a feed dog cover so can use it on the Singer Featherweight as well.   Gosh it was nerve racking finishing someone else's sewing with a gadget that I have only used once (not many buttonholes in quilts!).

It's a bit weird to use, once you have marked where you want your buttonhole, you line up the needle on your chalk line with the buttonholer set away from you (it comes with instructions), then put the needle down and set the sewing machine away.  Hands free sewing, you don't need to guide anything, its best to go round twice, then just stop the machine.

Tad dah, complete with buttons from my box.  Sandi has made such a super job of this little waistcoat, its completely reversible with working pockets on both sides.

I was glad to hear that she has managed to get her own buttonholer from Ebay and has sent for an additional set of templates from the USA so that she has a good range of buttonhole sizes.  She has already used hers and loves it so I am off the hook.

Cheers
Sharon

Beach Combing

Hello

Had a little holiday in Northumberland, 2.5 miles from Seahouses on the coast.  It was a fantastic location, the Camping and Caravan Site was just a stones throw from the beach so Buzz got his early morning walk along the seashore.  He doesn't seem to get the concept that holidays are for for resting, not getting up at 7am for a walk!  One morning he work me up at 6.30 but I didn't really mind as it gave us the beach to ourselves.

He mooched about while I looked for treasure, well, sea glass and stones.

Found this neat heart shaped stone.  Also, lots of sea glass which included a glass marble which probably came out of an old pop bottle, like the way the sea has worn the surface.

The round stone ball was near the glass marble.  When I first picked it up I thought it was musket shot but it looked like stone, Googled it and no, they were made of lead.  So showed it to someone who is into archaeology, she thought it was a clay marble but my friend Julie went to a little museum at Eyemouth which is a lot further up the coast.  She said that there were a few of these stone balls on display along side cannon balls, they were called stone shot and were packed into cannons and fired at ships, they ripped through anything they hit, including people and sails.  Wonder what mine hit if anything!  Must have been in the sea for a few centuries.

Julie did some research for me, and this is what she found.

• Round shot was made in early times from dressed stone, referred to as gunstone (Middle English gunneston, from gonne, gunne gun + stoon, ston stone) but by the 17th century, from iron. It was used as the most accurate projectile that could be fired by a smooth bore cannon, used to batter the wooden hulls of opposing ships, fortifications, or fixed emplacements, and as a long-range anti-personnel weapon. However, masonry stone forts designed during the early modern period (known as star forts) were almost impervious to the effects of round shot.

So there you go, it is really old.

I put the sea glass into jars until I think of something to do with it, the colours are perfect for the summerhouse.

Buzz did his own beach combing, swapped his toy for a bit of old seaweed that looks like a leg off an Alien! It was his treasure and he didn't want to give it up, it must have tasted salty.

Did a little sewing while I was away.  Made a little pincushion jar for tiny pins.

I went riding along the beach from Seahouses to Bamburgh Castle, it was brilliant galloping along the sands. We even rode through some very big sand dunes which was something I had never done before, lean forward going up and well back on the way down! The castle looked magnificent.  The ride took 2 hours and was very energetic and I had to push bike 2.5 miles to the stables from the Camping site.  Gosh, I felt it afterwards!

Take care

Sharon

A Batty Tale

Hello

This is a bit of sad tale.

Buzz, my collie, likes to find creatures, he looks at them and then at me so that I can tell him he is good boy.  He never harms them if they are alive, just looks.  He has found baby ducks running around the garden, hedgehogs, his favourite are toads of various sizes, he hears them peeping away.  He once found a ferret with its head stuck in the fence and came to tell me so that I could save it.  He shows me bees that have dropped down on the ground so that I can pick them up and put  them on a flower head.

This is his most unusable find, it was on the path.  Poor thing was dead, a bit soggy so I think that a cat might have got it.  It was probably hunting the moths on my flowers outside the front door and a cat could have caught it in mid flight.   No self respecting owl would catch a bat and not eat it.

Didn't know that we had long eared bats, I can see the bats flying about but they are too fast to see the details.

If you are wondering how I got the photo, held it by the tips of its wings while my sister snapped away.  Never been this close to any bat, the wings are amazing so fine.  It was an incredible but very sad find.

Gave it a suitable burial in the garden.  RIP

Take care

Sharon

PS - he found a live hedgehog in my customers garden this morning, he smelt it as soon as he went into the garden, it was tucked up in a mound of leaves.  He is so gentle, spent ages looking at the leaves to see if it would move but didn't touch it once.