Handstitched

That too. You've been very patient . I wish you well .

Is it me or has 'youtube' gone all ' transparent' ? Like looking through dirty glasses . It was looking & working fine before, even on my 'ye olde' compooter' . But now, its all over the place. The duration times on the vids are hardly visible, different size frames etc. What idiot thought it was a great idea to mess with it? If it ain't broke, don't fix it !!

Try two words... ' legal action' , and see what response you get . Any free legal advice you can access ? A sewing machine is not just a 'machine' , its quite a substantial investment . HS

Yey !! It arrived ...woo hoo !! nothing to do with sewing machines I know . I lodged a complaint in the ' lost or missing parcels page' of our ever "trusty postal service" ...I put the word " urgent" in the complaint...today it magically appears at my P/O . Amazing @Tequila any updates on your machine? HS

Thats a truly beautiful pic......of the machine The scenery is lovely too , cool, quiet and calming , and the horses bring you joy too no doubt. HS

Had home made burgers tonight, but I used the same ( mild) taco mix I used before ...damn tasty ....mmmmm Wednesday....is..... curry night , woo hoo !! Got some slow cook gravy beef today ( aka chuck steak here in Oz....true.....pardon the pun) . Not sure what you call it over there? It'll go in covered in the oven around midday, about 110 deg. c , , check taste & stir and thicken sauce, & increase temp to 150 about 4.30pm and come out about 5.30pm - ish served with rice & papadums....of course, and a nice red HS

I don't wish to hijack this thread too much, but thats just bloody clever. Do you mind if I try that? I just searched that name. Theres a lot of ideas & inspirational stuff . HS

Just about everything I've made thats needed shaping, knife cases ( leatherman types etc.) I've always wet molded . I guess another way is , although I haven't tried it myself...yet, is to wet mold two identical shapes, so you have two halves, leaving a ' lip' or an edge to stitch, so when dry , cut, shape, dye etc. and bring the two halves together, like making a home made Easter egg and joining them together, but you're sewing them instead of using chocolate. Just a thought. Never sewn chocolate before . Thats just silly . HS

I finally got to go into one of my other sheds this arvo. I have 3 sheds, all full of junk, crap. But what I was after is a ' Griswold No. 8 Waffle Iron' and a ' In-A-Minit ' vintage sandwich toaster, like the ones in the pics ( file pics) . They've been in my shed for years . I've been watching all these restore vids on youtube, and that piqued my interest. I also found out that those old No. 8's are worth a pretty penny, some I've seen around $300-$450. The sandwich toaster around the $50-60 mark. I was hoping to restore a ' Lister CS' engine once upon a time, and they were in amongst the engine parts. I only paid a few hundred bucks for two CS engines . I lost interest, and sold them got my money back , but kept the No.8 & toaster. I'll try to restore them both in the next few weeks ...or six. Simple to restore & season too. HS

I like that. I have seen them before, on this site no doubt. Might try a few, like that and some in different shapes, colours . I'm sure I could find some scraps and see what happens at the markets. I could also line them with a bit of 'velveteen' to make them look a bit 'fancy' . HS

@fredk Thats quite impressive. A good little package . Perhaps I should start making little leather ' business card' boxes eh? Someone wanted to buy my crappy old brief case that I paid 5 bucks for at a charity stall. It keeps all my business 'stuff' handy at markets. HS

No, you're definitely not alone friend . With such a large purchase and investment , theres always going to be a certain amount of stress & anxiety . I felt the very same when I paid for my machine. Then the cheeky b***ard courier asked me to pick it up from his depot. I reminded him in no uncertain terms that I paid for delivery.....to my house. A few expletives, later it arrives at my house. We would think that with all the technology in the 21st century , our hard earned purchases & investments would arrive on time and in tact . The logistics industry in Oz is a mess. Granted, we had COVID, but now things are returning to a , dare I say " normal" ? HS

Theres a section in Al Stohlmans ' The Art of Hand Stitching' book about stitching round items. Really good book. HS

@Spyros Wasn't sure where to put this, but as its to do with 'sales'.... ...the silly things people are interested in. A gentleman came to my stall last month, me thinking he was interested in a belt or a knife case perhaps, I'm usually quite good at ' reading' customers , theres heaps of freshly made stock....... but nup.....I have a tiny business card cane basket that I have my business cards in at my stall, its old, faded , was blue, but now grey and well used...he asked me if I wanted to sell it . " Nah mate...that holds my business cards in it " I politely replied. He asked me again at todays stall , " nah sorry mate... thats for my business cards" " but if you're ever interested ....." he said. Me & Mum just looked at each other ...."WTF ??" I paid $2.00 for it at 'red dot'. I should have sold it to him for 20 . Geez I dunno HS

@Tequila Sorry to hear the frustrations you're going through atm. We too here in Oz aren't immune from courier & postal delivery delays. This is a truly horrible sickening thought, and pray its not the case, but just wondering if the machine has been damaged and someone somewhere isn't telling you ? The vendor has been quite helpful by the sound of it. Do you have a ' consumer affairs/ protection dept' or someone you can complain to? . I'm still waiting for some sealer & hardware from Queensland ( in the east of Oz ) . It arrived at a depot in my state (only 3 hrs away) ...and thats where its stayed since March 29 . Postal tracking keeps saying ' its delayed ' and ask them to "investigate if it doesn't arrive" It would be quicker for me to pick it up . I'm starting to think that some numb nuts has dropped it . Hope your machine arrives soon. HS

Theres so many types of curry powder & pastes of different spice levels etc. . I like a nice vindaloo , a Rogan Josh or a madras which can quite spicy, but Mum & Dad can't handle the spicy stuff, so I do mild curries. Winter in Oz will be here in few months , so no doubt I'll be doing nice slow cook beef & lamb & chook curries. @chuck123wapati Curries are very aromatic and go well with nann bread and papadums , break them up, and use each broken piece as a little crunchy spoon .And just as Fredk said, if you like chilli dishes, you'll like curries. Make them as mild or as hot you wish. HS

Thank you . Maybe one day , when I get to his age, I may need a little help myself. He hasn't got much around his waist line , but he does have a quite a good appetite . Thats a good thing. Loves a good casserole, stews , home made soups etc. curries (mild) and a BBQ roast dinner . Yeh,we have *brand name* ' cuppa soups' . My fave is ' Dutch curry with rice' . I put a little extra curry powder in mine to give it an extra kick. Just ideal in Winter and at markets. I also love pot/cup noodles in Winter. I lived on those in my camping days . Once again, .... add a little curry powder 'nom nom ', that and damper ( bush bread ) . HS

I wish I could charge by the hour, if I did , I would be quite wealthy by now. So instead, I charge what I think is a fair price . @Spyros I have seen business ' seminars' , get rich schemes etc. ( aka scams) as well as ' pyramid selling' come and go , I've used my wisdom...and my gut instinct to steer clear of them . Remember those brand name ' magnetic wrist bands' that were constantly advertised on TV ? Not seen them in yonks. Can't be that good . I compare those with the oldest marketing trick in the book. 'Invent a problem and create a product to solve it ' . I wonder how many people got stung by those?.....at a 'seminar' perhaps? HS

The one thing they don't always tell you @Spyros is where their capital came from. Do they have wealthy families? What did they sell to get the capital ? What money did they borrow and how much and who/ where from? Or , did they lie, deceive, cheat & steal their way to a fortune? Its unkind I know, but I do wonder. I just used whatever little savings I had to buy a few tools, leather etc. But I was also doing odd jobs around town and at the local pub to earn a few bucks, including being a rousy . HS

Sticking to food... My ol' 91 year old Father with dementia can't quite get his hands to work with hard tacos, God bless him . So instead, I got those soft taco cups (?) He's quite good with those. But the cup thingy's don't have anything to stand them up in as you fill them , so I use our coffee cups . Full of mince, vegies etc. , I fill the taco cups with taco mix , cheese and so on , but there was a little left over taco mix, , not quite enough to fill more taco cups, so I just put the remaining taco mix directly in the coffee cups and we ate it with tea spoons. Have I just invented a new trend here ? Eating out of a cup? It seemed silly eating taco mix from a coffee cup, but we all bloody enjoyed it, so tasty. We eat/drink soups out of cups ? Who needs plates ??? HS

I did that very thing at one of my (former) regular markets . I just sat and observed what people were doing, what they were saying, wearing , their behavior and son on. You can learn a lot from just observing . I could easily get myself a degree in sociology . One of the 'highlights' from my observations, was an Asian looking woman pushing a shiny vintage looking pram with big wheels, while pressing buttons on her device and without even looking at the screen and without looking where she was going. I thought it was a baby in the pram...it was a fat furry Pekingese dog , dressed up in a frilly dress. Nuff said. Meanwhile, back to selling leather goods.......... HS

I have ' those' that I call the ' 3 P Brigade' , 'Pick it up, Put it down and P *ss off . And then theres the ' TFB's' the ' Touchy Feely Brigade . They like to touch & open everything, and say..."O'h I love the smell of leather" and not closing and putting it back where they found it . I'm sure they're the same people that dip bits of bread in olive oil and tapenades at markets . And the ' Be Backs' . " O'h that looks nice...." Until they see the price,... they then say " I'll be back" So yeh , we can tell who will buy and who won't. HS

I have the exact same feeling when these arm chair experts come into my stall and say, "Aaaw maaaate, ....you should make this this and this....you'll make a fortune !!!!! " Me thinking: Yeh.. ..whatever.....nod & smile......now f***k off !!!! . I'll make what I want to make not what you tell me to make " . One of these days my "filter" may well be turned off . Hang in there Spyros HS

What a beauty !! I can only wish you and your team the very best of luck on an ambitious project. Hope you get it all up and running in the future . HS

WOW !! You learn something new everyday on this site Reminds me of M.A.N. trucks. ' Many Alterations Needed' HS