Getting ready to sew

   Back from Cornwall and a LOVELY Wedding. The ceremony was so much fun that even the registrar got the giggles.. nay she was laughing out loud, as was her assistant ! It's second time round for both the bride and the groom, who both have large families, who obviously spend plenty of time together, with the young cousins playing comfortably together. They reminded me of my girls and their cousins who spent much of their childhood together. They still hang out together now ( and as they say, cousins were your first friends and understand your crazy family!)
  Now I'm not a great fan of eating out. I always think it is a waste of money. I sit there computing how many meals I could have made for the cost of a bought meal. I often feel I could have cooked it better too! That isn't arrogance, just a sign of how disappointing some meals can be. HOWEVER, the meal was lovely, well cooked and plenty of it. So well done the Hannaford Point Hotel at Looe in Cornwall. ( and what glorious views too)

  By the end of this week I should be breaking the back of the preserving for winter, though the garden still has plenty of veg and fruit. I am planning to get the sewing out as these jobs reduce and the nights draw in. I have some large pieces of quilting and also some work with heavy material to sew and decided that I should use my treadle for smaller jobs and set up an electric machine with a walking foot for the larger jobs. I'm actually struggling with pains in my legs if I use the treadle for any length of time.- My family and friends will be thinking "Ah ha, is Gill finally admitting to feeling her age?!"
  My dear mum, who died 10 years ago, bought herself a new electric sewing machine a few years before she died. She was a seamstress and used to do alterations for a "posh" dress shop and as any sewer will tell you alterations are far more difficult than making from the start. She always struggled with this machine and I assumed that it was because she was becoming more frail and forgetful. I have had this machine in my bedroom as a table for the last ten years and last month decided to get it out to set up in the spare room with a large table for my quilting and I can't get it to behave either!. So I have decided to invest a little money in taking it to an expert. Today I took it to the sewing machine shop in Ilkeston. he will look at it and hopefully get it going for £35 plus vat. If he needs to spend any more he will ring me to see what I think. YD emailed to say that Groupon have Brother machines at half price (£69)so I suppose it would be almost as cheap to buy a new one, but I will try to recycle first - and it IS my mum's machine after all, bless her.
  I am still having problems loading the photos from my phone, so I shall go out and about with D's camera this week and transfer from that. I do like to put a picture or two on this blog to cheer things up and reduce my word count!
I have just managed to look into my (I think) Bloglovin thingy and see that some people are following me there - Haloooo each !
 I have been working with D. on a "Getting ready for Winter" post which I shall start tomorrow. I hope that those who are newly independent, because they are starting college, left home to get married/live together, etc will find some of it useful.
Till tomorrow then
Gillxx