Tool Kit for Singer Featherweight

Hello

My Featherweight is sooo pretty and I am keen to keep it that way so I regularly oil and keep it clean.

These are the tools I use, they normally stay in the box of attachments in a muddle so I decided that I would make something to keep them in while I was away on holiday.  I like to take a project away with me.

This is what I came up with, more a tool book than a kit.

All tucked away in pockets so they don't get lost.

Made a matching needle case based on a vintage one that I was given by my aunt, its intended to keep any stray machine needles in.

So no excuse for loosing screwdrivers now! (Bet I still manage to misplace something, probably the whole kit)

Cheers
Sharon

Dog with Rubber Chicken

Hello

We have been on a jolly jaunt for a couple of weeks and ventured "down South" in our motorhome.  Buzz of course, came too along with an assortment of toys including his favourite rubber chicken which he carried all over the place, much to everyone amusement making people laugh as they walked by.  Had loads of photos taken of him, it was strange being stopped in the street for a photoshoot.

We went to Sussex, what a beautiful part of the Country, I have never seen so many trees.  Found a super campsite near the Bluebell Railway surrounded by woods, just behind our van was a small paddock full of wallabies and 5 tiny deer.  Buzz thought it was very exciting, he spent hours watching (not chasing) them.  He liked his hoppety friends.

Here's the Monk Jack deer, she was very partial to a leaf snack

 One disadvantage of taking Buzz with us that he still expects to get up at normal 7 am and being on a campsite I had to get up and walk him off site, so we had some lovely morning walks at sunrise, look a glowing dog

Our walk at Heaven Farm.

A walk in the woods.

Early morning work of art.

Buzz found an alternative to the chicken but wasn't willing to share!

 I did take some sewing projects with me which I will share with your when I get the photos sorted out.  I went shopping and found some super sewing related treasures.

Cheers
Sharon

Sewing basket treasures

Hello

Look what arrived, my elderly Aunt had a bit of a clear out and sent me these two sewing baskets, stuffed full of goodies.

Cotton reels, mainly Sylko to go in my vintage Sylko cotton reel box.  My Singer featherweight sews much better with 100% cotton.

Two pairs of super sharp scissors in their original boxs.  There is a letter from the magazine/newspaper that they were purchased from but unfortunately, no visable date on the postage stamp but old money stamps with a very young looking Queen Elizabeth on they must be around 50ish years old.  There is a nifty dial gauge for converting weights and measures from My Weekly which I presume is early 70's when decimalisation came in.

A lovely treen needle holder packed full of needles.  Don't you just love things made of wood, it's been given a bit of polish.  Along with a couple of needle cases stuffed full of needles, some darning thread and a couple of brass thimbles.

A cigar case full of large needles, haven't a clue what half of them are for, some have flat curved ends and some with 2 holes for thread, something to do with carpets perhaps?  There is a tool which I think is for pulling ribbon/elastic, if you know any different, please let me know.

 A Singer needle threader along with 3 dinky screwdrivers for fixing sewing machines.  A singer shuttle with bobbins off a Singer Treadle machine. A small key which I assume is for a sewing machine case lock.

All this along with elastic, ribbons, boxes of pins, buttons, press studs and loops.

My vintage sewing collection is growing!

Cheers
Sharon

Croft Circuit Nostalgia Weekend

Hello

We went to the Croft Nostalgia weekend and had a great day drooling over vintage cars that we can't afford

The French Resistance were camped next to the Germans.

Found the cutest camping hut.

Well done Croft Circuit for brill day out, can't wait until next year's event

Cheers

Sharon

Arbour Seat Makeover

Hello

I have been busy giving the arbour seat a much needed makeover.  Here is a before photo, I appear to have been using it as a plant stand!

I originally painted a horrid cacky brown, what possessed me? And to make matters worse, I even painted the 5 bar garden gate the same colour.  The gate got a makeover quite quickly but the arbour seat is such a pain to paint with all that trellis, I never got round to it until now.

Ta daaa

Inside there is a surprise - a little wren house which gets used in the spring for nesting every year, the nest material is left in for a winter roost, you can see that they are using it for a roost as the hole in the nesting material gets bigger as the winter progresses.  Apparently lots of wrens cuddle up together on cold nights to keep warm.  Then at the beginning of March I pull the old nest out and they build a new one within the week.

While I was painting Buzz was relaxing on the lawn with his favourite toy.

Cheers

Sharon

Lavender Favours

Hello

Hope that everyone has been enjoying the hot weather.  One side effect of the high temperatures is that the lavender is particularly fragrant as the heat draws out the lavender oil, its lovely gardening around lavender, its one of my favourite scents.  The bumble bees are enjoying it as well, my lavender is covered with them.  Bumble bees are such gentle creatures they are totally focused on the flowers and don't seem to bother when I garden around them.  It great to see them back, I was beginning to get worried that they hadn't recovered from the bad start to the year.

I had a go at making lavender favours today, I haven't made them for such a long time.  They are quick and easy to make.

They just need drying out before I add them to my drawers (chest of) but they will keep the moths out of my underwear!

Regards
Sharon

Blooming cottage

Hello

No, I am not swearing about my house, just commenting on the flowers growing down the side of it.

They are taking over.  I just started with one shade of pink, then the darker pink appeared and last year, the white ones appeared.  The moths love these plants on a warm evening they are covered in them which is good news for the bats that fly around my front garden.  They also normally attract the butterflies as well but alas not this year, they have all disappeared.  I have had a lonely cabbage white in the garden but that's all.  In past hot summers, I have had hummingbird moths, which hover over the plants and feed off the plants with a great long tongue, they are amazing to watch.  They are furry little things with a tail like a lobster, they come over from France.  Perhaps with this hot spell, they are on their way!

I got carried away at the Trade Nursery when I was collecting bedding plants for my customers and bought a load for myself.  I normally don't bother with hanging baskets but thought that they might brighten the garden.  This cone basket dries out quickly so to water it, the bottom half of the basket is dipped in an old dustbin full of water and the basket is secured to the water butt with the handing chain, I leave it over night and by next morning fully watered, which is why the bottom of the basket is a different colour.

I used an old galvanised vintage bucket for this display, the frost had burst the bottom which makes it ideal for a flowers as the water drains away.

Finally a flower manger stuff with flowers

Sewing is on the back burner while I try to keep my garden tidy!

Working as a gardener in this hot weather is very draining but I have found a solution to overheating, resorted to  putting my head under the garden tap, I look like a drowned rat afterwards but it does cool me down quickly.

Cheers
Sharon