Thursday, October 23, 2008

Babushka Babblings: Sewing in Russia

Last Saturday I received such a huge encouragement - and that encouragement would come from non-other than my babushka, Baba T!
Baba T was out of the house baby sitting her grand kids so with much prayer I risked doing a load of laundry by myself (once again, a 7-step process just to get the machine going and also run the risk of flooding the bathroom). If something went wrong I would probably be deemed unworthy to ever do laundry on my own in Baba T's house! I praise God that I was able to do my laundry my way (with cold water and not over loading the machine!) . . . AND there was no flooding involved!
Also, on Saturday I was attempting to hem some of my pants (since I refuse to wear heels and the streets are pretty muddy). As I was sewing with some a needle and thread I brought with me, I was thinking that it sure would be nice to have a sewing machine -- I don't know what I was thinking not cramming one into my luggage!?!
Then in walked Baba T, she saw I was sewing by hand and asked me if I wanted to sew with a machine and I stupidly replied that I didn't have one. She then rattled off a bunch Russian, of which I caught, "My machine"! She then showed me her sewing machine and helped me get it set up and had me explain to her how I wanted to hem my pants. Once she saw how I wanted them she sat down at her foot-peddle-machine and hemmed my pants! I was so touched by the blessing of the sewing machine and the blessing of Baba T that I started to tear up. Maybe someday I will be able to explain to her what an encouragement she was (and is) to me!
Praise God for sewing machines in Russia (even though it might not be a Bernena)!

(Can you spot the sewing machine in this picture? Neither could I! But that "end table/cabinet" is actually that stinkin awesome sewing machine!)

4 comments:

CristyLynn said...

Hey, Vanessa, I can't see your "who needs a coat..." story. It just shows the title and then an old post underneath that. That title was so captivating, that I don't know if I'll be able to get anything else done during the day while I wait for the story to be able to be seen. HELP ME!!!! :)
(probably just some problem with blogger, something similar happened with one of Jim's recent posts, but I wanted to make sure you knew in case there are other people who want to know what's happening)

Joel & Amanda Sewell said...

thats a good story... It really is, really..

Anonymous said...

Hi. I stumbled on your images in a search for Russian sewing machines. Do you know what brand your babushka's machine is? I only know of Singers in Russia.

Good luck on your journey. I was in the Gulag north of Magadan (Xalali, Kolyma, and others I can't recall now). To be postive, lovely country and rivers. Wonderful people.

RS

Vanessa said...

Her sewing machine is a German make - Naumann. She also told me of a Russian brand of sewing machines - Padolskaya (Падольская)