Not Sew Good

Years ago when we first moved here I was in the habit of visiting auctions (very dangerous!) and whenever an old Singer came up for sale and no one bought i,t I felt morally obliged to put in a bit for these old, sturdy machines. In the case of this one the actual sewing machine was long gone and only the hull and table left. I think I paid about a fiver. Of course we didn't have room to put them all inside the house and in fact quite a few were passed on to other deserving owners but this one ended up outside in the courtyard and serves as a plant stand in the summer.

Wind and weather have taken their toll and it's anyone's guess how long this will remain upright but it seemed a good subject for the Derelict Thursday challenge on the Blipfoto site.

There is good news (at least that seems to be the general consensus) on the Blipfoto saga as the site has been bought out of liquidation by two American venture capitalists, also involved with Polaroid. It means that the site will continue although there will undoubtedly be changes of which so far we know nothing. I have said, and continue to say, that while the site is up and running I will continue to post my daily photograph there but have to admit that my blip mojo is in hiding. Whereas in the past I went out on regular photo expeditions with no other purpose than to find that daily picture I now simply carry a camera whenever I go out somewhere and try and capture something, which is not the same thing. But it might be the same situation as when my art mojo disappears. That always returns very quickly and for no apparent reason other than that I keep on arting regardless, so I will continue to photograph in the hope that too will bring back my enthousiasm for taking pictures.

Sewing Machines

On an impulse I bought a new sewing machine today. From Lidl of all places. This happened after having my Bernina Aurora 440 serviced. When collecting that from David Drummond in Edinburgh John handed over my Bernina Virtuoso 160+ to be serviced as well. It is great to get your machine back from a service as miraculously everything works again and the machine makes that really lovely contented sound that only comes from a machine in splendid working order! Thank you David Drummond!!

I knew in my heart of hearts why these machines needed to be serviced and it is because I use them for purposes they were never intended for. Such as 5 layers of furnishing fabric, or layers of paper and fabric with glue in between, or thick layers of canvas combined with watercolour paper. Had I stuck to just one or maybe two layers of all of the above the machines would probably not have minded but all together it is simply too much for them, specially as I then help these layers along (that's polite for push and shove!!) by hand.

My Bernina 440 at one stage shot what looked like a spring out of its inards, which meant that it had to be send to Switzerland to be repaired. By some miracle this happened a week before its 5-year warranty was up (thanks again to David Drummond !!) so that cost me nothing but the top pressure on my feet was out on both machines. Also my needle shafts were out of alignment. No doubt caused by that pushing and shoving! Having each of these machines serviced costs more than my new machine!

So my mind was made up. These machines are simply too expensive to be ruined by the tasks I sometimes give them. The new machine Silver Crest from Lidl (cost £60) will have to take care of these onerous tasks in future and when it breaks I'll simply get another one and that's that!! In fact, it sews great and even has a special foot for sewing on buttons (none of my Berninas offers this) which I will start putting to good use tomorrow. All thick mixed media projects will come its way and it will be interesting to see how well it will cope.

At the same time I will enjoy machine piecing and quilting on my newly serviced Berninas and enjoy the wonderful and satisfying sounds they make while doing what they were made to do!