After recovering from a heart attack two years ago, fisherman Monte Ible was bored. “I was in the hospital for two weeks, but I survived,” he said. “When I went home I could not do anything strenuous.”

To make matters worse, his 35ft boat, Ordinary People – was out of commission too. “It got ‘sick’ when I did!” he said.

Then a friend asked him to sew a bag for her. At one time, stitching was his hobby, but he stopped doing it in 2014 when life got busy.

Suddenly, his passion for a needle and thread, came flooding back to him. He was only too happy to help his friend.

“I had a lot of canvas left over from years ago,” he said. “A lady who fishes with me gave it to me.”

Since then, he has been churning out change purses, eyeglass holders and other items made from canvas or denim, to sell.

He has no storefront or website, but pitches his products to people he knows, or chats with on the street.

He carefully stitches his pieces on a sewing machine, then paints and sews unique designs on them.

The decorative part of the task takes him anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour. Some items are not painted but have patches on them that say things like: ‘Have a great day’.

“I never do the same thing twice,” Mr Ible said. “To get new ideas, I go to sleep.”

Sometimes his designs are inspired by common household items.

“I had an iron that died on me,” he said. “I said well before you go in the trash, let me use you a little bit more.”

He painted the tip of the iron to create a triangular design on the fabric.

In the lead up to Cup Match, he is selling pouches in Somerset or St George team colours. He also sells a few things with designs in red, dark blue and light blue.

“Those are neutral colours,” he said. “May the best man win. I have never been into sports. If I went to a game, it was because somebody dragged me there. Fishing was always my thing.”

As a young child, he loved watching his older sister Bette Lu, stitching on the sewing machine.

“Then I touched it when she was not looking and stitched my finger,” he said. “My sister cut my backside. So I got pain twice.”

His fascination remained, despite the punishment.

When he was 24, he convinced his sister, and his former wife, to teach him how to use the sewing machine without splitting a finger.

At the time, they were working in a store on Chancery Lane in Hamilton.

“I made up my mind that I was going to learn,” he said. “I told them don’t touch it. When you see me going wrong, just tell me. I wanted to do a hands on thing.”

He learnt so well that one day his sister commented that he knew how to sew better than she did, so she needed to up her game.

Mr Ible went on to sew dresses for his daughter, and backpacks for his sons, and many other items. “Sewing is healthy,” he said. “It is relaxing.”

Over the years, not everyone has been accepting of his pastime.

“Some people thought I was gay,” Mr Ible said. “I really don’t care. I am not a person who worries about what people think about me.

“My father always said if it ain’t true, don’t worry about it; and if it is true you have to deal with it.”

He remembers his mother and father, Maisie and Hubert Ible, as great parents. Mrs Ible was Bermuda’s first female taxi driver in the 1940s.

“My grandfather drove a horse and carriage back in the day, and my father also drove a taxi,” he said. “My parents had their own taxi, No 1500.”

As much as he admired his mother, he was never a mama’s boy.

“My father was my favourite,” he said. “Many guys hate their fathers, but I did not. Your parents are really your best friends, if you realise it.”

He admitted he did not always appreciate that fact as a teenager.

In early childhood he lived on Sound View Road in Sandys, before the family moved over to East Shore Road in the same parish. Then, when he was 12, he moved to Woodlawn Road in Sandys to live with his grandmother.

“I would get in trouble a lot for going fishing by myself off the rocks,” he said.

His favourite place to fish is anywhere the fish are biting.

“Every day is not a fishing day,” he said. “If you are a spoilt brat, then do not go fishing. The fish bite when they want to.”

He has not been fishing in two years, but still loves it. “Fishing is fun,” he said.

Like most fishermen he has his stories. He has been stranded out on the ocean more than once.

“That is something you have to be prepared for,” he said. “It could be because of engine failure, or anything could happen. One time I broke down because I had dirt in my engine. I had even cleaned the filters, but she still stalled at sea.”

He called a friend and asked for help, but it never came.

“I was out there all day and all night,” he said. “Then I called another friend and he said another fisherman was out there. He came and got me.”

The biggest fish that escaped from him was a wahoo.

“I got him right up to the boat and he got away,” Mr Ible said. “He had to be at least 100lb. My gosh that thing was big.”

He believes people need to respect the people who work the land and the sea.

“Fishermen and farmers are the only people who really feed people,” he said.

He has six children, one of them deceased, and ten grandchildren.

• Lifestyle profiles the island’s senior citizens every week. Contact Jessie Moniz Hardy on 278-0150 or jmhardy@royalgazette.com, with the full name and contact details and the reason you are suggesting them