We have a new addition to our family.

Today Erika and I were walking over to the store to get some veggies. We had to take out recycling on the way as our housemaid often forgets and our butler is too busy shining our silverware.

Our recycling dumpster is in a shed with our garbage dumpster and the people of our complex often leave unwanted items (like old weird velvet paintings or semi-working electrical items) in the shed, presumably so that someone who wants them can then take them home. Sometimes there are things like half a ladder, or a rake without prongs/teeth, or other such “treasures”. I am unsure if anyone has ever actually gone into the shed and said, “Oh hey! I was just looking for a floor-to-celing-hand-crocheted Elvis tapestry!”, but then again, I could be wrong. Someone did, after all, buy it before they threw it out.

Regardless, we never take anything home from the dumpster area. This time, though, in the shed, beside the usual rusted “but still workable” golf cart and slightly-fire-damaged lampshades, we found a lovely blue sewing machine.

This week and the last has been difficult on Essie, my poor c.1974 Kenmore sewing machine. I have been working diligently, sewing up a mess ‘o’ pads for our sanitary kits, and Essie has been to see the doctor twice. It’s in the shop as I write, actually, and all the extortionate repair-person has to say is “Old machines need lots of oil”.

After running our errands, we hustled back to the shed to take the sewing machine home. It was a little harder done than said, though — the thing weighs about 35lbs.

While Erika inspected and threaded the machine, I did a little searching on The Google. Turns out the machine, a Singer 15 clone, was one of many made in post-WWII Japan as an economic stimulus. They were all called “Precision De Luxe” but had over 5000 different brands badged on. This one is a Westminster De Luxe Family Sewing Machine — it even has a vaguely British Lion sticker on it — and, amazingly enough, is in perfect condition. It is a solidly performing and obviously well-taken-care-of machine. It’s a straight-stitcher so we’ll still use Essie for the zigzagging of the liners but we’ve essentially doubled our output because we can now both sew. It will also be easier for us to cart Trudy to our sewing bee on May 26th.

It’s amazing how these kinds of things sometimes happen, huh?

Now if only someone decides to get rid of their boring old Hasselblad….