Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Scissors sharpened

Happy April Fools Day! I guess the joke's on me. I thought the next set of flower pictures I'd be taking would be cherry blossoms since spring is heading towards our part of Japan rapidly. Hah! Woke up this morning to snow! It hasn't snowed in April in our town in years and years! I guess that will hold the cherry blossoms off a couple more days.

Yesterday I finished little Luke's quilt and today will get a label on it and wash it once before delivering it. I'm amazed how fast it came together but that is thanks to Tonya's wonky quilt class last year since I did get a lot of practice making letters. Also thanks to Bonnie's leaders/enders I had a great supply of those on hand too. Ok. Back to other things.

Yesterday afternoon the doorbell rang and I found an older man standing on my doorstep. Ah, another salesman. We regularly get people coming by wanting me to get my house re-roofed or re-painted or re-something and I always politely decline. We also have many sales trucks slowly wandering around the community with speakers blaring announcing their services for hauling garbage, selling kerosene, collecting old newspapers or selling laundry poles. I don't pay too much attention to them either. Yesterday's old fellow handed me a piece of paper (which I could barely read) and I got the gist that he was a knife and scissor sharpener. Hmmm. Yes, I could send him on his way, but I do have scissors that get a hard workout daily and have never been sharpened. If I don't take advantage of this man's services they may never get sharpened so why not? I inquired about prices and it didn't seem unreasonable so I collected two of my scissors. He was so pleased and promised to have them back to me in 30 minutes.

After he left I decided I wanted a picture of this process so I got out my camera and went looking for him. He had waved his hand in the general direction of the neighborhood and there I found his small van and him diligently working on my scissors. He'd put out his sign and had a generator going and had a whetting stone ready. As he worked I chatted a bit and found that he also fixed shoes and umbrellas but that not many people bother to have those repaired nowadays so he mostly did sharpening. It seems to me that it would be a hard way to make a living since he charged a piddling and I seemed to be the only person in the neighborhood that was interested in having something sharpened.

I do feel that if anyone's scissors deserve to be sharpened and oiled then mine do, so they are now sharp and smooth and ready for more fabric!

12 comments:

andsewitis Holly said...

Hi Tanya! Luke's quilt turned out so wonderful. I like the white background and the hearts are perfect for the theme. What a wonderful gift.

Mary said...

Your letters look so good - I really can't wait to try some more of them - my postcard experiment didn't turn out that well - they were all slanted!

We've had snow today too - tons of it!

Mary said...

Your letters look so good - I really can't wait to try some more of them - my postcard experiment didn't turn out that well - they were all slanted!

We've had snow today too - tons of it!

The Calico Quilter said...

We're lucky here, the scissor sharpener comes to the local fabric store every few months and sets up shop to sharpen them while you wait. Boy, did I avail myself of the service last time! I gathered up every sewing, paper, utility, pinking, applique, thread-nipper and other scissors I could find and he sharpened seven pairs of them. What a joy to have scissors that actually cut now!

anne bebbington said...

Love Luke's quilt - good job! We used to have mobile scissor and knife sharpeners come round the neighbourhood when I was a girl - I haven't seen one for years - could do with one now really

The Calico Cat said...

Send him my way... every knife in the block needs to be sharpened & I too have a few pair of scissors that could use a good sharpening too.

wataru and heidi said...

I am crying, how precious is this. Your fingers sowing this incredible gift for a labor of love for Luke, he will love it!! You are the only friend I know that would stay at the hospital and help me with what you did! I am forever grateful.

artfilstitch said...

Can't wait to see pictures of Luke with his wonderful quilt. With like new sissors....Tanya will be on a roll. :>) I could use some maintenance on mine.
Thanks for sharing!
Liz

Shelina said...

Most of our door to door salespeople sell cable, but there are also the roofing/siding/home improvement types. An occasional lawn mowing or snow shoveling service. Sometimes the Jehovah's witnesses will come to talk about my problems. Once, some college students painted everyone's house number on the curb by the street.
I can't say I've had hauling garbage, kerosene, or selling of laundry poles.
I'm glad you have sharp scissors now - we'll be expecting more quilts from you now that you have proper tools!

Simonetta said...

Hi Tanya,lovely lovely the Luke's quilt ,really beautiful job!Hugsss!

Annette said...

Tanya,
What a beautiful quilt! And what a perfect verse to choose. Blessings to you!

Christine Thresh said...

Luke's quilt is precious. I hope to see a picture of him with his quilt soon. I hope he and his mom are doing well.