Sunday, May 11, 2008

An interesting day out.

Yesterday I went, with my husband, to the Model Engineering Show held in Harrogate. Its quite a distance from here, a drive of around one and three quarter hours. Harrogate itself is a delightful place to visit. We have spent some really happy times exploring the area.

A textile enthusiast going to a Model Engineering Show? Well, the models and engines are amazing to see - lots of texture there, in the metals, woods and other materials used. It was a really interesting day. As well as the exbibiton, there was also a large number of stands with items for sale. I bought a surprising number of things, which I shall use for future textile-based projects.


My favourite purchases were three lights. The first is a large angle-poise, which I have bought for a friend. It has a good-sized magnifying section. The lamp attaches to the desk with a clamp. I have two of these of my own. Each is large enough to stand over a sewing machine and shine onto the working area. So useful to be able to use the magnifier when stitching some Free Machine Embroidery. This cost just £39.
This is one of my own lamps sitting over the top of my sewing machine.


The next two lamps are for my own use. The first of these, a smaller angle-poise, now stands beside a chair in the livingroom ready for me to continue sewing and stitching there. It will be so nice to have good light to stitch and sew by so I continue working at night. It only cost £19.

The last lamp is rather an indulgence. This is a small lamp to take with me when going to the Knitting group or to some stitch and chat sessions. It has a small magnifier surrounded by a circle of eleven LEDs. It can use mains electricity or batteries and has its own little carrybag. It did cost £30, but I shall use this a lot.


All three lamps have daylight bulbs.

Can I suggest that if any of you have a friend interested in model engineering who goes to a show, ask them to look out for useful equipment for you. I cannot get this type of lamp easily and have found these shows invaluable in stocking up. My first two lamps came from this same show in previous years.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

cool!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Hi Mandy, Those lights are terrific! I bet you are going to get a lot hours of fun out of those! I'm sure you were excited about getting them home to use them with your creations...smiles, alicia in Hawaii

Mandy said...

Hello Mark and Alicia, thanks for your comments. Yes, I shall have loads of fun with these lights. As my dear husband commented earlier today, "engineers would not pay those prices!"
We had been chatting about the comparative prices of these items at sewing / quilting shows and at engineering shows in the UK.
He thought it really funny when I, rather naively, suggested it might be because the buyers at those shows were mainly women.....
My friend Hilary was really thrilled with her light.