Gear freaking

I may have mentioned before on this blog that my husband makes model aeroplanes. We have a little room each, next to each other upstairs, and we sit there in the evenings in companionable activity. With a wall between us, which I think is quite companionable enough for an old married couple. He thinks my hobby is a bit strange, and I think his hobby is slightly bonkers, but we are polite about it. And we both think that the other quilt makers / scale modellers in the world that we deal with are complete loons, so we swap "I don't believe it" stories about freaks who scratch-build 1/48th harness buckles and make king-size quilts from half-inch hexagons.

The other thing we swap is a shared passion for gear-freaking. A hobby's no fun unless you can buy stuff that's of no earthly use for anything else, and we both understand that. (And we have separate bank accounts for this kind of stuff too, invisible to each other, which makes life a LOT more pleasant).  Mostly there's not much overlap but this little beauty was picked up by a scale modelling friend who very kindly gave it to me when I expressed an interest, and it is awesome.

These are bonsai shears. You use them for pruning your tiny wee tree. But they are also the best dog-ear trimmers and thread cutters I have ever seen! Sharp blades and an excellent size. When I'm making a hundred half-square triangles I just cut the thread and trim the dog ear in one easy snip, then iron them. Who would have thought of bonsai tools...