There are a list of tools of the [historical costuming] trade that I want to have, but don’t yet have. Some I don’t have because I haven’t had a project where I desperately needed them yet, some I don’t have because at the moment they simply can’t be bought (18th century ruffle punches, replica or real), some because I can’t afford them, and many, many because they are so hard to get in New Zealand, and so ridiculously expensive to have shipped in (and I don’t enjoy shopping over the internet, won’t use pay-pal, and like to see and handle things before I buy them). This week I got extremely lucky, and was able to tick one of my biggest wishes off my list (and for an extremely reasonable price).  I’m now the proud owner of not one but two hat blocks! Aren’t they gorgeous?  Aren’t they things of beauty and joy forever? Felicity thinks so (actually, she’s kind of indifferent to them, but since I put them on her favourite windowsill in the morning …

I am the biggest pushover in the world when it comes to Felicity.  When she climbs on to my lap, she gets to stay on my lap, while I find things I need to do on the computer, and carefully reach my toes and use anything I can reach to pull anything else I can not-quite-reach into reach so that I can sew and do work, and leave her to sleep, undisturbed, on my lap. Really though, when the view looking down looks like this, how could you not? (photo courtesy of my french curve, which was sitting just within arms reach, allowing me to use it to move a tea-cup, so that I could hook the curved end of the french curve in my camera loop and drag the camera across the tea-chest (we don’t have a coffee table, we have a tea chest, because we drink tea, not coffee, and it’s a chest, not a table) to within arms reach, so I could take this series of pictures). Having hand-sewing to hand is …