I had a very special visitor today - Ian "the sewing machine guy"*. He had been recommended to me by Anne and several of her customers. I got in touch with him, saying that I had two machines which both in need of a service, and that perhaps some of my friends might want their machines done too. Would he be prepared to travel up to Hawick? The answer was yes - and even better, if there were four or machines to be done, he would charge less per machine. I let the other members of Abbey Quilters know, and Anne S, Caroline and Lorraine Y all brought their machines. My friend Lorraine D (the one I am sharing a table with at the Christmas Fair on Saturday) also came for the day, although she didn't have a machine to get done, she just came for the company! It was a bit disconcerting to see the innards of my Husqvarna
and even more disconcerting for Caroline when her machine was stripped down to this
this is just some of the dirt and fluff from one of the machines - it shows how important it is to clean your machine regularly
Ian joined us when we went into the house to have lunch at the kitchen table ...... although we didn't pay a lot of attention to what we were eating, as Anne had brought her new Kindle Fire, and we were all agog at its fabulous features (please can I have one Santa, I've been a good girl!!). Back in the studio, the machines were finished and tested. What a difference it makes to have them serviced, they run smoothly and quietly - I am looking forward to using them!
I thought I ought to provide a little tasty something for us to have with our cuppas, so yesterday I made florentines, using the recipe that I shared with you last week. This is the chocolate set in the bottom of the baking tray, and the cornflake mixture ready to put on top
ready to go in the oven
I love my cooker, which we bought not long after we moved here. The cooker which came with the house was old and inefficient - and it was also all-electric, which would mean a problem if we had power cuts. So we bought this one, which has a gas hob (bottled gas) and electric ovens. I much prefer to have a gas hob, and I really like the small oven on the right - ideal for cooking small things, without having to heat a big oven
but there was one little annoying thing - I found it very hard to set the oven temperatre, as the markings on the dials are a bit vague. However, that was easily solved with an oven thermometer
this morning I got out a rather big knife .....
and cut the big square into bite-size squares. It is delicious, very sweet and gooey - the girls all went home with a copy of the recipe
and that's not all they went home with - Anne and Carolinne both went home with one of Malcolm's driftwood trees! Anne bought the small one, and Carroline the medium-sized one. Malcolm has also finished his latest creations - wooden plant pegs
while all the machine servicing was going on, I actually got some sewing done! I cut out the embroidery for the Needle Nookie and pinned it in place
then stitched it on with tiny applique stitches
*if you live within a reasonable distance of Morpeth and are interested in having Ian service or repair your machine, either leave a comment or email me (there is an email link at the top right) and I'll email his details to you.