Hello blogging friends!

I’ve been away for a while and haven’t done a great deal of machine sewing recently. Life just gets in the way sometimes. The cross stitch and knitting are progressing on my other blog but the sewing machine has been gathering dust waiting for me to get time to do a repair. Actually, I did give it a good old service last week and I managed to get a new belt from The Man Who Can.

The rubber belt at the right hand side was the original from the 1950’s and it was shedding rubber dust and kept jumping off, especially when I was refilling the bobbin. So I went to see if my trusted sewing machine fixer man had a replacement that would fit. Well, it was a very tight fit and it was hard to believe the original had stretched so much. In fact, it was also a real pain getting the original one off because the screw holding everything together was so tight. I was about to give up when I noticed the housing for the motor was adjustable so it was out with the screwdriver and on with my mechanical head. So now the motor has been repositioned in two directions and everything is working perfectly again. The machine is now humming rather than doing impressions of a tractor and I no longer have unsightly black dust spraying about every time I sew. I was itching to test it on a new project .

My daughter has been getting a new mobile phone that has a large screen. She asked me a couple of weeks ago whether I could make her a slip case for when it is in her bag. She chose the fabric from my scraps and it stayed on the cutting table until this morning. It’s taken so long to get time to make it. Anyway, the brief was to make a simple lined case with wadding for protection. She didn’t want any fasteners at all so it had to be a perfect fit otherwise the phone would fall out. I didn’t want any of the seams to show so this is what I came up with. I knew it was going to be fiddly and it certainly tried my patience. Anyway, it fits perfectly and the phone doesn’t drop out on its own.

I like the metallic leaves on the fabric design and the wadding works well.

The case hugs the phone and my daughter is very happy with it. It might be a small finish but it’s still a finish . However, I’m pleased I don’t have to make phone cases for a living as I wouldn’t get many made in a day!

So that’s all I’ve managed to achieve recently in the sewing department. Now for the cute bit!

The weather here has really improved during recent days. I’m already complaining about the temperature at 21 degrees. Two days of sunshine and I’m looking for the shade. I was busy working the other day, with the doors to the garden wide open and who should I spot on the grass? Spring is definitely here. This little chap spent about an hour foraging out in the open before disappearing off under some shrubbery. I got very little done.

How cute is he/she? I love hedgehogs because they let us get up close to take photos. Do you have hedgehogs where you live?

That’s it for now. I’m off to catch up with your blogs .

Avis x