You may have spotted a visiting tabby cat “helping” me with my sewing on previous posts. “Not-our-cat” has been visiting regularly for nearly two years and we assumed he had a home, but choose to visit us (and the neighbours) for a change of scene. However, he disappeared for a week between Christmas and the New Year and turned up at the neighbours in a very sorry state with an injured eye and mouth. It turns out that he was not chipped and not neutered and long story short, seeing as the neighbours already have two cats, a name change followed so he is “Now-our-cat”. Unfortunately for my sewing, he quite likes sitting on my knee, so all I have managed to sew this month is a soft collar for him to wear when he had his eye removed.
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He’s had a tough couple of months with many trips to vets, each of which seemed to involve him losing a part (or two!) of his anatomy but hopefully he is now out of the woods. He just needs to have one more tooth out so he can close his mouth properly and stop sticking out his tongue.
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On the goings side of things, one of my machines has now found a new home. I got my current machine about 9 years ago and the 1990's Husqvarna Orchidea that I got "third hand" about 12 years ago has not be used since. Since inheriting my Mum’s Bernina and getting it repaired last year, I’d been thinking that a machine should go to make room for it. When a colleague at work was considering getting a Singer from Lidl, I mentioned I had spare machines if she was interested in one instead. She has used a machine previously (her Granny’s Bernina) and so I warned her that she might be disappointed by a basic model Singer.
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Despite not being used for years, the Orchidea powered up without any problem and I was able to find all the accessories. I cleaned and checked the machine and reminded myself how it worked before dropping off the machine and spending a couple of hours going through the different functions with her. I explained that it was an old computerised machine and the electronic parts are not available any more, but hopefully it will last a while. A few days later I got an update that it had already been put to good use – sewing a Batman patch over a hole in her son’s jeans!
It is much better for it to be used rather than it being sat in the spare room. Now I just need to find homes for some of my other machines.
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