I consider myself very lucky. My new sewing machine arrived today - and yes I had to go out and give my talk! I'll begin at the beginning.
Mr T, love him, said he would buy me a new sewing machine for my birthday, and after humming and hawing over which model he said I was to go for it, so I did and ordered a wonderful new Brother machine from my local shop last Thursday. Mr Theobald from the oldest shop in Luton said it should be in on Monday, it could even be in the next day. I was like a kid a Christmas, waiting for the phone to ring - only it didn't. Late Tuesday I was beginning to feel a bit sulky - childish I know, but I had dusted, vacuumed, laundered and ironed so I would have a clear day or two to play, but at this rate everything would need doing again (I know, it was only two days). A phone call to Mr Theobald reassured me that is was on its way - having to order by computer had caused the delay, and he had arranged it to be delivered straight to my house on Thursday.
Now Thursday - that is the day I am giving my talk, so I wake early with a few butterflies, and lay listening to the Today programme dozing - when .... silence ... no electricity. I get up and check the fuse box - no problem there, so batteries in the radio and I find out from the local radio station that half of Luton has been effected by a power cut. NO ELECTRICITY! I am giving a talk with a PowerPoint presentation AND I am getting my new sewing machine - I need power. No tea and toast for breakfast so what, tuna sandwiches for lunch, fine - all this going through my head in the first five minutes of no power. Of course, by 8.30 all was restored, I though, needed a calming bath and a bacon sandwich to before I felt restored. The rest of the morning I thought I'd start my April page for my journal to give me something to do. Then I checked and double checked my notes for my talk at 2pm. At 1.30 I was nearly ready to go, dusting of my old laptop bag and making Mr T promise he wouldn't go out in case there was a delivery - I was sure it wasn't going to come - and then there it was - a large lorry with a cheery driver with a box under his arm! How could that be my new machine, but it was - it is about half the weight of my old one. But I had to leave it unopened in the hall and dash off for my talk.
My talk - thank you for all your good wishes - went fine. The projector 'talked' to my laptop and I had time to settle myself in before I began. I had 50 slides and up to an hour and a half to fill. The first half went very quickly and I rather raced through, but after a cup of tea and a hot cross bun and lots of encouragement I relaxed and slowed down a bit. My subject was a local beauty spot which is familiar to most of my audience, but I hope I was able to give them a different viewpoint and a bit of new information.
So it was home to my new toy.
My picture is of a piece I have been working on with painted on dye and hand stitching. It was waiting for some machine embroidery.
10 comments:
Glad your talk went without any hitch. Lucky you having a wonderful new toy, I doubt you'll be going out for a while ...
So glad your talk went well! Also glad your electricity was restored so you could give your new toy a test run! And a very nice test run it is too. Happy sewing!
A calming bath and a bacon sandwich should restore a lot of peace. I'm glad your new toy finally arrived! What fun!
I work at a shop that does custom embroidery. It is an amazing process. I've worked with Brother sewing machines that can sew the same design on six items at once. I had the job of programing how the design sewed. It was a challenge to make it work and a joy when it did.
So pleased your talk went well, I was sure it would but when I used to have to give these sort of Power Point seminars I was always so nervous and everyone else thought I was so calm and full of confidence, little did they know! Love the sewing piece, and good luck with your new Brother.
Ooh a new machine how lovely I rarely get my machine out but when I do it's lovely because it's relatively new and is so different to my old one which used to chug an aweful lot at me LOL.
I'm glad your talk went well and that you grew in confidence as you went!
So glad the talk went well - didn't I say it would?! That sewing machine is going to give you loads of fun I can see and can't wait to see what you manage to produce once you get going. I am green with envy as mine only does the basics!
Jane
Glad it all came right in the end Jill, your sewing machine is going to bring you hours of joy! Great birthday present!
Linda x
Oh Jill, you soooooooo summed up the "inner child" thing about waiting for something you want soooo badly. It was excruciating just reading about the powercut etc, and so I just KNOW how badly that morning started.
Wonderful news that the presentation went brilliantly and I hope you get many hours of fun and creativity out of that machine. :O)
Jill,
We all knew the talk would be a breeze. How could it not? If you talk as you write you'd have had them eating out of your hand. As I have inherited my Mum's sewing machine I now have three! I love making things and messing about with machine embroidery is great. I'm waiting to see you translate your drawing skills into 'drawing' with the sewing machine. I think a whole new obsession has just begun.... Lesley PS You might like 'Nature Inspired' by Tracie Lyn Huskamp. It's all about journaling and mixed media techniques using fabric, stitch, painting and drawing. Have a look!
so glad the talk went well
Post a Comment