SEWING BOX!!

This is an item I have never possessed.

I have managed for years with one spool of black thread (and another one of invisible thread which was a complete waste of time because I could never see it!) and a couple of needles.

When James asked me to sew the hem on his trousers it suddenly occured to me that it was about time I rectified this situation, so off we went to 'The Sewing Box' in Morpeth this morning where I informed the very helpful ladies that I did indeed want a sewing box of my own.

I was proudly led to the collection of said boxes, only to discover the naffest collection of twee little fabric-covered, padded and braided sewing boxes you can ever imagine. It took quite a while to select one that didn't offend my sense of style and good taste (!) and even then it's got chickens and cows all over it and I only chose it because it has a duck egg blue background and was cheap.

Obviously it was empty, so it needed to be filled with all sorts of useful sewing stuff. Again, the ladies were very helpful and every time I chose something they would ask if I was really sure that's what I wanted! Then when other customers came in, I was told to carry on choosing, but they would keep an eye on me to make sure I didn't get into trouble!!!

Eventually, after a lengthy discussion about scissors and tape measures I managed to purchase needles, pins, thread in four useful colours, TWO pairs of scissors, a tape measure and some WUNDAWEB.

The whole lot cost about 50 quid! Ouch!

And when I got home, I found I already had WUNDAWEB so I turned his trouser hem up with that instead of having to sew anything!!!

(Mustn't let Charles read this - cos he paid!!)