A Symphony of Singers and Some Fanciful Fungi

Whoever made up the silly notion that we condition our children
 to be girls and boys?
This little darling is so sweet, so girlie...just all by herself.
At 2 she is fondly acquainted with the notion of "pretty" and "beautiful".

She loves to nurture & cosset & fold & fuss & she has eyes to "see" loveliness...already.

I wonder if one day she'll pop around to Auntie Catherine's for a sewing lesson or two?

via Pinterest

When I was 17 & I left home, one of the first things I bought from a secondhand shop in Wellington was a treadle Singer sewing machine. It was quite like the one below & did the best stitching ever, so it was forgiven for only rattling on forwards & being outrageously heavy.

via Pinterest

I haven't bought any British Country Living mags for a while & we are generally pretty tardy in getting them here, but I was delighted to find an article in the March issue about these two lovely friends Rene Fullerton & Jenny Hamblin (oh look there's a Singer)...

"who share a love of distinctive retro designs & a passion for pattern & colour that also infuses their creative collaboration".

In the way of these things, there's always the new improved version just around the corner, so much so that the Singer company decided to produce a 

stream-lined retro style collectable edition that has just become a available to commemorate 160 years of Singer production. I saw an advert a few weeks ago in a mailer from a local wool shop. The day of it's arrival (the pamphlet) it was a drizzly dismal inside day & so there was a little more time to ponder than usual. After about an hour we both said "ooh let's go & have a look!" So off we went to town. We made the poor shop assistant set it all up & answer all kinds of silly questions & then we both had a turn....mmm tension not quite right, quite bulbous & bulky, not sure about all electronic buttons & way too loud! Well at least we went to see..then came home & hauled out the little old Singer that I bought last year. 

Oh it's so beautiful & metal & shiny & durable..

& does amazing stitching & you get to turn knobs & direct the fabric yourself & it's got a knee pedal!

So while I added a little extra to the sides of some delicious old cotton sheets...'cos for winter it's way better to have lots of tuck-in to keep out the breezles.

 Mr decided to create some slings for his first aid kit by using my scraps & a few flat-felled seems...copycat! Have you ever owned a Singer? And did you really love it? May be you still use one too.

With in a few days we finally had some fine weather & blue, blue skies!

We went walking, foraging down at the Showgrounds...

it's quite lovely & almost wondlandy at this time of year.

With warmth & so much moisture & being Autumn all manner of fungi suddenly began to appear..

What is it about the old colour pictures that makes even mushrooms seem romantic?!

I was a wee bit busy last week on pick-up-milk day so I asked Rob if he would mind going for me, when he arrived home I discovered he had taken the prettiest bag to collect it...because it's what I would have used he said...so sweet.

I don't think I'll take him to The Mart with me again though..he found himself some welding goggles as he says he's like to do some metal work someday.

 We had actually been out that way to pick up this sweet little fireside chair that I had bought on Trade me.

 Doesn't sunshine just do your soul so much good.

I'm rather liking Mary Oliver's words.

She is an writer & poet.

I hope there is sunshine for your soul this week lovely ones. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.

MUCH

 ♥♥♥♥♥