singer sewing machine

last year for nikki's birthday i managed to track down an old fashioned (foot powered - thanks, but no thanks, EDF!) singer sewing machine (no gender stereotyping intended - honest!).

(mucho props to matt for his part in picking it up in Morrie - matt and rachel's vw camper for those unfortunate few who don't already know - cheers buddy!)

up until now it's been sat gathering dust waiting for us to get an opportunity to bring it out here where it can experience another 50+ years (once again, they don't make 'em like they used to - built in obsolescence etc... bah!) of life.

we just looked up the model/serial number of our machine on the singer website and it turns out that our machine was born in 1917 - how cool is that!

so, today we unloaded it from Shabooboo (you really should try to keep up to speed with names) and it now has a place in our little home - ahhh!

take a look.....

closed in it's case:



and open, in all it's glory:



it's very cool - no?

we're looking forward to making/fixing clothes for decades to come.

cheers, gairy.

5ft two-man cross cut saw - oh yeah!

i knew i'd remember loads of stuff that i wanted to mention as soon as i'd posted the last entry and so i did.....

whilst in england i went to a handmade tool makers in sheffield and bought a 5ft long two man saw for felling trees and cutting wood for the fire.

it's an absolute beauty and is available from the fine people at:

www.flinn-garlick-saws.co.uk

they make really great tools which are made to last - a rarity these days!

then, yesterday, we made a jig to securely hold the trees/wood in place whilst we cut it and today we've been cutting loads of wood for the cold winter ahead of us.

it works like a dream and means that there is no excuse for nikki to get out of wood cutting - ha ha!

here's a few shots of the saw, jig and them both in action.....

the saw in all it's glory:



the saw/jig combo:



and finally, nikki and monkey-boy in an action shot:



enjoy, gairy.

back from blighty

morning all,

we (me and nikki) returned (from our two week whirlwind tour of various fools and family members in the uk) to find that winter had made an impressive appearance with a fair bit of snow and sub-zero temperatures - nice!

here's a few photographs to give you an idea:

icicles hanging from the roof of our little stone house:



the hills of the valley opposite:



some plants struggling to keep their heads above snow:



the pattern of the frost in the greenhouse:



also, after some terrible customer service treatment from the british knife collectors guild.....

(i seriously suggest people don't buy from them as they don't care one bit about you or your custom once they've got your money - really really unhelpful)

.....i have inherited a new knife which is pretty cool. it's 37 layered folded damascus steel (as are nikki's and monkey boy's new knives) but that's not really the point of all this.

the point is that i made a sheath for the knife from an old sheepskin coat (super 70's styling!) that my mum gave to us to utilise for making things for around the place - thanks mum, thought you appreciate knowing that it's already being used to make useful things out here!

here's a couple of photographs of the knife and sheath:





ok, there's probably loads more i should catch-up on that's happened since we went away but i can't remember any of it now and so it'll have to wait.

later, gairy.

fairytale mushrooms

evening all,

whilst out and about today we found these amazing looking mushrooms - they're so vividly coloured they look like they're straight out of a fairy tale!

we've absolutely no idea what they are yet but i'm going to look into it and see if they're edible as there's loads of them.





cheers, gairy.