The Robe

 I've been doing small projects with my 'new' sewing machine, the one I got FREE from a yard down the block...mending towels, enlarging bandanas, making a quick slip cover for a chair back. I felt comfortable enough to jump feet first into a big undertaking, a garment using a pattern. I decided a robe would be a great thing, something comfy but not too fitted, so the sewing wouldn't need to be too exacting. I wanted a robe with a hood. In the colder months I like waking up and having my head covered. I found the exact thing I wanted in a Simplicity pattern that I found on Amazon. I needed five and half yards of fabric. There was a nice blue-green, very masculine. It took me a whole day to lay out the pattern on the fabric after it had been washed and then to cut out all the pieces. Then another day to do the pockets and belt loops. The third day I got most of the body of the robe done and the last day I finished the hood and the hemming. At first I thought that the fit was a little too big (I chose to go with LARGE as the size), but on reflection I think it's fine. If I were to make another one I might try the MEDIUM. I learned A LOT about patterns and garment construction thru this process. Thank God for YouTube also. I watched a ton of how-to videos and picked up a lot of tips and tricks that helped a lot. I can't wait to try my next project. 

A bicycle built for one

I was on Nextdoor.com this week and spotted what I thought was a great deal. A stationary bike for only $200 that looked practically brand new. As I zoomed in on the picture I saw that it was a Schwinn, a good brand name.

 I exchanged DM's with  the owner and at the end of the day we agreed that I could drive over to her place and take a look at it. It turned out to be a huge house in the Norhwest Woods, almost near my friend Dean's home. Very modern with an electrical gate all the way around. When I got there the husband (?) greeted me, I think he had Parkinson's. Very nice but shaky and a little hard to understand when he talked. She came to the door, "Hi Ron!". They weren't wearing masks which was a little odd to me, but I was for sure so I took the gamble. They showed me down to their basement which was half home movie theatre, half personal gym. It was VERY luxe. The minute I saw the bike I knew it was an expensive model. If it had been used more than four times I would have been surprised. My plan was to haggle a little but I knew that at $200 it was a bargain, so I let that go. I gave him he money and realized that I could take off the handle bars and seat and it would be easy to fit in the back of the Jeep. It must have weighed FIVE TONS. It was a struggle to get up the stairs, out the house and into the car...but I managed somehow. They were extremely nice and even threw in the mat that the bike sits on. When I got it home and into the basement, again with much effort and strain, I Googled the model. It's worth at least ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS. This was the deal of the century...SCORE!! I tried out my first workout on it yesterday and it's perfect. This has been the summer of great deals for sure. 

An old sew-and-sew

The other day Scott told me he saw a bunch of stuff on the curb for free down the block, in front of the big white house with the big screened porch. I walked down there and one of the things was a Sears Kenmore sewing machine. I had just been saying to him recently that I wished I had a sewing machine to do odd little sewing projects. Well, lo and behold, here was one that showed up. I got it home and plugged it in and it worked! I spent a good part of the afternoon yesterday cleaning it up. It was covered with age and grime. I got 98% of it off. It looks almost brand new. The case especially, gleams. Now I have to sit with it and study how to use it. There was no instruction manual. When I was watching some tutorial videos on how to use the machine, the teachers all stated how much they liked these machines from the late 1960s and early 70s. They're really well built, it weighs a TON, very solid. They also said you can buy old instruction manuals for these models on Ebay. I looked there and found ads for sites that sell pdf's of vintage manuals. Sure enough, there was one called SewingMachineManuals.com! AND they had my model # available...the 60 page pdf was only $4.99. I bought it in a heartbeat. The internet can be a wonderful thing for sure. I can't wait to start learning hot to use it!

(Not a) still racoon

We spotted this little fellow not once, but TWICE last week in the vacant lot next to the front yard. Was it a SIGN of some sort??

Let them eat cake

There was a large "social distancing" yard sale last weekend on Main Street. My sister sent me the notice about it that she saw online. It was the house next to the Cove Deli. It was pretty populated with people for being run in the middle of a pandemic. At least everyone was wearing masks! I spotted a nice big white cake plate in the garage out back. I liked it, you can never have enough cake plates. There was no price. I asked one of the guys running the event what the price was. He said "Ten dollars? Five dollars?" I said, "All I've got in my wallet is three dollars". He said fine and it was mine. The lesson? Never settle for the first price no matter what they say!

Living in stereo

I was on Nextdoor.com the other day and saw someone here in the village was giving away a nice stereo system, and Onkyo CD player, component, and tape deck. I immediately wanted it as I no longer have a way to play all my old mix tapes from the 90's. My tape players have all conked out, even both my old Walkmans. I exchanged DM's with the guy giving it away and it was a house just a few blocks away over on Division Street. The house was empty and being sold, it belonged to his mother-in-law. He told me the stereo was nice unit, she was a big jazz fan. I couldn't take the stereo wires that hooked into the speakers because they went behind the wall unit out of reach. I decided to take a gamble and take everything...if it didn't work after I got some new wires, well, I'd just throw it all away. I got on Amazon and found 50 feet of stereo speaker wire for only 10 bucks. I got it yesterday and hooked up the system today...and it works GREAT. The sound is amazing. I'm playing one of my old tapes as I write this. I'll say it again: FREE is the best price in the world!



Right now I have it sitting on top of the cabinet in the TV room. I may put it in the shelves down below, I'd have to drill some holes in the back. I have to measure to sit if it will fit. A good 'project of the future'.

What a crock

I spied a bunch of furniture and household items on the curb in front of a house down the block from me. I sauntered down there of course. The house has seen better days and is for sale. It was mostly junky stuff, ugly furniture, kids' toys, etc...but there was this clay crock jug. Scott said, "you could paint that dark gray and use it for something, maybe an umbrella stand." So I took it. Got it home, sanded it, primed it, and put two coats of gray paint on it. And just like that it modernized it. I'm using to hold all my wrapping papers in the craft room upstairs. Funny, I have been thinking I needed something like that for literally years, something heavy that wouldn't tip over when all the rolls were in it.

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