green_martha

I just wanted to check when some books ended on eBay before I bid... And guess what jumped to my face ? Two other books, in buy-it-now, at a really good price. One is from a less frequent magazine, it probably has less pictures, but it's a year I don't have in La Mode Illustrée and it was cheap. The other is a Mode Illustrée, complete year, from 1912. You rarely find those as bound editions around here. The price was more than okay as well. I'll keep an eye and possibly bid on the others I have bookmarked for today, as they're still really cheap and from earlier years. We'll see, but I'm not gonna bid a lot on those.
Wow, it's been an expensive week so far... Fabric, books,... and yesterday I caved and bought a new machine. I've been looking out for a used one for months now (ever since TheTank broke), and nada, nothing. Well, I could find an antique treadle one. But I've already got one, what I need is something able to handle mucho thickness of fabric, buttonholes and zigzag. Yesterday I went on an expedition to an antique dealer that has a whole stock of old machines but nada, only treadles again, or a Singer where I couldn't move the wheel. The visit was a bit of an adventure in itself as the guy is around 80 and clearly his brain is as old as himself... He had a hard time understanding what I wanted (I'm not even sure he did, as he ended the trip by showing me yet another straight-stitch-only machine), kept showing me his own, not for sale, industrial zig-zag machine while I was telling him I wanted something portable (and that I could BUY, btw)... and on the exit I almost bumped into a nightmare client from work. Yay !
Anyway, I now have a pretty, brand new, mechanical Husqvarna/Viking Emerald 116. I loved it at the shop, it seems to meet all my requirements, and it was around my budget - a little more than planned, but not by much.
And I swear, after today, I'm only going to buy groceries for a while.