Yearly Archives: 2016
summer sun …
Today was the first day this year where the glorious, really bright late-afternoon summer sunshine hit my apartment. Well at least it was the first time I was actually at home and noticing it :P
I found a dinosaur trying to bite a naked person in their behind. And lots of dust.
I also found a pair of pants I had cut out last summer. This is probably the one real downside of drafting one’s own sewing patterns … It’s getting kind of hard to figure out what I wanted to do with all the random pieces of fabric after a while. Of course I didn’t put any markings on the fabric because I thought I would do the construction right away. Aaand then life happened, as always. Oh well
I have almost figured out how the pieces should go together now. But I think I messed up the pocket facings – The lining is inside out:
In the end, there were more important things than pocket facings. Cocktails, friends, and watching the sun go down:
red
Antwerp, earlier this year
I spent last week in Barcelona, at OFFF. I also stomped around the city a lot, and got to be on top of a significant amount of Barcelona’s hills.
And I didn’t bring a digital camera, just my analog Canon. But this picture I took in Antwerp earlier this year sums up the mood quite well :)
Lazy sunday (plus Kuchen)
Rhubarb-Apple-Pie!
The weather was not at all appropriate for may (wet, cold, and generally disgusting), so today was spent cooking and baking. And fixing silly computer stuff.
Und das Rezept!
Nachdem ein paar Leute danach gefragt haben, hier das Rezept. Es ist nach einigem Herumexperimentieren und ein paar missglückten Versuchen irgendwann einfach so passiert.
Nachdem das Wetter leider absolut fürchterlich war gibt es dementsprechend auch nur fürchterliche Fotos. Jedes Mal wenn ich die Kamera rausholen wollte um bessere zu produzieren hat es geregnet, und irgendwann war dann kein Kuchen mehr da den irgendwer hätte fotografieren können …
Naja gut war er jedenfalls trotzdem, also macht euch mal schnell auch einen solange der Rhabarber noch Saison hat.
Das größte Problem für die Pieproduktion hier in Österreich ist ja leider eine dafür passende Kuchenform zu bekommen. Das Kuchenrezept ist auf eine traditionelle 9-inch-Pieform (23 cm) ausgelegt, die gibts hier aber nicht. Die roten Aluformen aus meinen Fotos hier funktionieren ganz gut eigentlich, wenn auch nicht ganz so wie ich das gerne hätte. Wenn ihr allerdings wisst wo ich hier in Österreich eine vernünftige Pieform herkriegen kann, dann nur her mit den Tipps.
Achtet jedenfalls darauf, dass die Form in der Größe mindestens fünf Zentimeter hoch ist. Und macht vor dem Backen Löcher in den Teigdeckel. Wirklich. Sonst geht das alles nämlich über. Und die klebrige Soße blubbert und spritzt und dreckt das ganze Backrohr voll. Also sagt nicht ich hätte euch nicht gewarnt :D
Ich hatte für den Kuchen außerdem knackige, rote Äpfel vom Markt und das war vermutlich die bestmögliche Ausgangssituation für eine leckere Füllung. Feste Äpfel machen die schönste Textur im Kuchen und Ich denke alle roten Sorten die nicht mehlig sind wären wahrscheinlich gut geeignet … Aber nun zum Rezept:
Hier gibts das PDF zum download.
Elna Supermatic
I have a new sewing machine.
Actually, I have an very old, but new-to-me sewing machine!
Maybe a bit of background information: I have always wanted to get an old sewing machine with those fun little stitch cams. And I always wanted to have/try a sewing machine that uses a knee lever instead of a foot pedal. And I love mint green (not that this would come as much of a surprise to anyone …)
After a few months of randomly looking at vintage sewing machines, I happend to find this old, mint green Elna supermatic on the Internet. It was quite cheap, it was in good condition and came with a lot of accessoires. So I had to find a way to get it.
The old thing was not a city dweller – it had spent it’s first life in a cozy village at the end of the world. I had to send some people I know (and their parents that live very close to the end of the world) on a quest to test-drive and eventually purchase it for me. But my plan worked out just like I had imagined*. It’s here now.
And apparently, it’s name – her name – is Eleonore now:
Here she is. And she even matches my decorating. Or rather … She exactly fits into my overall colour scheme. And she feels lovely. All metal, and really heavy.
She came with the original box and a few instruction booklets that I did not take any pictures of. I did, however, take pictures of everything else. Lots of pictures:
I love how the toolbox just slides underneath the bed here. It’s such an elegant solution.
The lid of the toolbox was the only part that was a bit unhappy when it got here. But I was able to find all the parts (erm) and glue it back together with two-part epoxy. While it’s still visible – and I am not completely sure epoxy is the right kind of glue for the material – it works for now.
Totally legitimate attempt at keeping everything from falling apart while the glue was drying.
But now for the stitching! Yay, stitching! This is what it did when I first got it, even before I took it apart to clean and oil it:
Of course it was in the middle of the night, so the light is horrible. But it was working right from the beginning :)
Using the knee lever for the first time was interesting, but not as hard as I had feared. I need to work on keeping a more consistent speed and generally getting more control over what I’m doing would not hurt … But for a first try it was alright.
And now to the accessories:
It came with two extra stitch plates, a bunch of feet and feed dog covers, and all the original tools such as the brush, seam ripper and screw drivers. And loads of bobbins.
Eleonore also came with 26 different stitch cams.
The Elna Supermatic uses what they call Elna Disks for everything that is not a straight stitch: Single-layer cams for stitches that only need to move the needle left and right (Up to #36 on my sample), and double-layer cams for the more complex stitch patterns that additionally use both forward and backwards movements.
After inspecting everything that came with the machine and reading the manual, I also made a sample piece to try out all the stitch cams:
And here it is: All the stitches:
After the test drive, I also took the machine apart as far as I could. I did some cleaning and oiling and I also got rid of a colony of dead moths that ended (up) inside the machine. Yum.
She is so shiny and pretty now :)
Now I just have to find a new project to play with! It’s been a while … For a number of health and related reasons, I did not have the energy or motivation to sew much in these last few monts. But I really hope that the spring sun will change that sooner rather than later**.
*Insert evil laughter.
No, seriously. A big thank you to the people who live very close to the the end of the world.
**Yes I am aware that it’s snowing again, and it’s freezing. But one can hope for a bit of sunshine, right? It’s almost may -.-
