Sewing Machine Mat

I made a sewing machine mat for my BFF.

The candle is holding it on the table but this is how it hangs but with her sewing machine sitting on it!  It is decorative, can cut down on noise and/or vibration, and holds needed tools nearby.   I used magnets to attach the trash bag (so it can be removed to dump it) but it could be that that part doesn’t fly.  One of those perks (ha!) of getting the first one ever and that I didn’t do a test run for myself first.  🙂

This is the top side with it laying flat.  Her initial in the top right area.  Hand-guided, freehand quilting.  The accent stitching is in a yellow King Tut thread and the fills are gray So Fine thread.

The pockets have single-fold bias binding and then traditional double-fold bias binding for the edges.

The back~

Looking inside the pocket from the front, it is just quilting.  However, I quilted it in mirrored handwriting that appears only on the back.

Many happy stitching hours, dear friend! ♥

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MIL Treasures

My MIL delights in auctions.  DEEElights!  She knows to be on the look-out for sewing machines & quilt stuff.

I knew there was a nearby auction on Friday but I couldn’t go w/ the quilt show on my calender.  In the haste of harvest & getting my own stuff around, I forgot to call her.   However, she called me from the auction.

She said there were several treadle machines. However, I was gone until 5, Phil & FIL were swamped with harvest, and JP was at work.  So those would have to go home with someone else as she would need help in loading.

She said there was a Bicor machine. I’ve never heard of this brand.  Now I know it was made in Poland.   I haven’t had a chance to clean it or look for a manual yet.

MIL said on the phone that there was a Singer, some type of lightweight.  It was white.  I said to buy it.  HOWEVER, she brought home this HUGE suitcase like overnight bag.  Inside is a serger! LOL!!  I laughed but paid her for it as well.  I’ll get it going and look for a new home for it.

And then 3 flats of quilt tops and embroidered linens.  Jackpot here!!

A dark navy & black top made from suiting scraps.  Not sure this will ever be finished.  It is a good quilt for the trunk of your car on cold wintery drives.  🙂   I’ll be happy to finish it for anyone that wants to buy it.  The photo is of 1/4 of the top.

This next one is an older top, maybe even done for the US Bicentennial and the quilt revival then.  Red, white & blue.  It is hand-pieced and about 65″ square.   The blocks are about 19″ but even with just 4 blocks, they each vary greatly.

One of the red borders is sun damaged.  I thought maybe I could just flip to the back side of the fabric but there are also some holes in the outer border.  I think I’ll take it to a quilt shop sometime and see if they would have some red that is close to the original.

 

This is a printed table cloth but I think it would be cute quilted.

~~

The real beauty of the whole pile is this cross-stitched quilt.  Yummy!!

I left this photo larger if you want to click on it to see it about twice this size.  All the cross-stitch is complete in blues, greens, and a bit of lavender.  I love this!!!  MIL knows I was quite thrilled with this one!!! 🙂  It is 82″ x 98″ and I can’t wait to see this quilted and finished.

I have a remaining pile of various embroidered linens.  Some pillow tops that need finishing as well as dresser scarves and chair covers.

Here is a funny from the whole thing.  MIL was buying these piles of linens and had a stack in front of her.  A lady came up to her and asked, “What are you doing with all these pieces?”

She replied, “I give them to my daughter-in-law!”   🙂

“Wow!  You must be a really good mother-in-law.”

We laughed over that one.  She & I were both pleased.

I informed her that I’d be feeding FIL on Saturday since it was bean plot day so she was off of lunch packing & delivery duty.  She was glad for all the more time for her to be at an auction she wanted to go to.  However, even visiting 2 auctions on Saturday was nothing compared to her Friday finds.  She also had her own treasures from Friday.

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Black Singer Sewing Machines

I’m getting ready for a Beginner Sewing Class that I’m having here at the house.  Most of the students are young homeschoolers and I’m excited to be doing this!

I’m providing machines…. I guess this isn’t so hard with a collection like this!  🙂

This afternoon I cleaned them all and checked all the cords.  All are threaded and make a perfect stitch!!  Nice job Singer… too bad you changed something when you quit making these black ones!  They are portable machines but not featherweights, but I wonder about #4. (more on that)

I just love seeing them all out & knowing they sew so nicely!!!   🙂

From left to right (front, back, front, back):

1 – this has an Ashland label so I’m wondering if Dad bought this at the church auction several years ago.  It isn’t Aida Mae’s, that is in a cabinet.  (from the church sewing room?)

2 – my mom’s, purrs like a well-loved machine.  Didn’t need any cleaning at all.  Ready to go!  This is the machine I learned to sew on and the reason I’ll snag a black Singer at a sale!  🙂

3 – from an auction but I have no idea when or where!

4 – from an auction in 2009; I peeked in the non-traditional case (not the traditional wooden arched case) and saw a black beauty! This came home in exchange for my $2.50.  It is a British Singer.  It is little… were the British featherweights in cream & leather cases?

Do you know of a website where I can put in the serial numbers and get model numbers & dates? I have Featherweight parts suppliers but not regular Singers like these.  Would love to get a few new parts.

ETA:  Thanks to Michelle, I’m dating a few of these!

#1 made in 1930, 10000 were made Model 99

#2 made in 1948 and I have my mom’s pristine manual still 🙂

#3 made in 1946, could be Model 15 but manual online doesn’t match machine.

#4 was made in 1954, Model 99K, and I was able to download the manual for it free!!! 🙂

At various sites, the information on the models conflicts but I think these dates are at least in the ball park!  😉

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Running Around Day

I left this morning for my Bernina dealer which is 1 hr 25 mins away.  I needed to get my sewing machine cleaned & oiled.   Usually I take it so it is there by Saturday and the owner of the store takes it to back to the suburbs for her husband to do the work during the week.  Then she brings it back to the shop the next Saturday.  A week without the machine.  Argh!

So I knew it needed to go in and figured I have enough other things going on in the next week (a day on a long-arm…. 🙂  ) that this week would work.

When I emailed the shop owner, she said that her husband would be IN the store on Thursday so maybe I could get it back the same day.

Yippee!!

Nothing like saving me an extra 3 hr drive!!  🙂

So I left this morning at 9:15.     The wind is a bit less but still pretty strong.  Crossing those passes, the High Crosswind warning signs were a bit harsh to read today.      I actually had no traffic to speak of and arrived at 10:30.

However, the owners hadn’t arrived yet so after a bit of visiting with the store manager, I settled in with some handwork.   I ended up stitching down the bindings on 2 more table runners.

They arrived about an hour later and he was working on my machine by 11:45.   At 1, I got up and wandered around the store.   An embroidery magazine begged to come home with me.   (wasn’t worth it… I’m done with it already.    )   But that was my only purchase there.

Finally, my machine was done, the receipt was filled in, the bill was paid ($50 for cleaning), and I was on my way.  It was 2:00.

I was starving!  I am on day 3 of a headache.  Our cupboards are bare.   I had no snacks with me.

A 30 min drive landed me at a subway for a cheat and a not very fun lunch.   Then on to swim.   I hope that was good for me.   At least it was warm & the showers were hot.  🙂

After swim, I took my 3/4 full back seat to Goodwill.   I hope some people are happy with their new-found treasures.  🙂

Then groceries.  I was later than normal.  It was 5 p.m. when I checked out.  Not everyone else was there but almost.  😦

I should have taken my camera to spice up this post.  But really I prefer 2 hands & 2 eyes on that winding road.   The trees are mostly bare.  Only a few here & there on a hillside still had some colored leaves.

Here is your tidbit…

Since I last had my machine cleaned in Feb 2009, I’ve put on 2.5 million stitches.

Nearly 8 million stitches since I got it about 5 yrs ago.   I think these numbers are fun.  🙂

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Our Quick Road Trip

We ended up being gone 31 hours and had over 12 hours of driving.  🙂

Phil & I left mid-morning on Friday and headed south.

We went through Princeton as I had heard good things about the quilt shop there.   Just over an hour of driving and we found the town & a quilt shop. It was huge!  The worker said 5 rooms of fabrics.  Each room had at least 3 rows of bolts and they were usually 3 bolts high.   A LOT of fabric!

But as I wandered I realized most of the inventory was purchased in the 80’s!!  hahaha!   What were they thinking? I wandered through in amazement.  IF and that is a big IF, I’d ever think of making something from my older quilt fabrics and IF I would think I needed more… I now know the place to go!  Just past the railroad tracks on the right side of the street.  (roll eyes here)

The shop did have a good inventory of batiks and I sampled a few of those.  But in the midst of my wanderings, I overheard the worker tell another customer that maybe the other quilt shop would have the thread she was looking for.   Hmmm…. another quilt shop.  I decided I had missed the mark.

So we drove a few more blocks and there, still on Main Street, was another quilt shop.  We stopped and Phil went in with me.   Apparently, an older couple had walked in a minute before us as the workers were getting the gentleman a chair while the lady shopped.  So busy with them, that they looked at us but didn’t even offer a greeting when we went in.  Hmpf.

I overheard they were busy cutting fabrics for the upcoming Madison quilt show but still no notice of us being there.  There were only 2 aisles of fabric and nothing was calling my name so I said to Phil we could go.  He was not quite disappointed.

We continued driving south using the river road hoping for a glimpse of the Illinois River.  I found a few glimpses but the view would be better in the winter when the leaves don’t block the view so much.  We found a Subway for lunch before hopping on the interstate for a quicker trip the rest of the way.

We arrived in Collinsville, IL about 4 and easily found our hotel.  Going against the Facebook votes for Hampton Inn, we had reservations at DoubleTree Hotel.  Nice!  Very Nice! I was glad I went with the DoubleTree.

In the morning, we enjoyed the Saturday buffet breakfast.  I chose good eggs & bacon and some fruit but also cheated with cheese blintzes.  Yummy!!  Do you know how to make these? I would like to make them as safe as I can sometime.   They were like mini crepes with a ricotta cheese filling – maybe I didn’t spell them right.

(I hate bridges so pointed the camera and took shots across the Mississippi River.)

After packing up, we headed to just north of St. Louis, MO to a nice little suburb called Florissant.  There we met my online friend’s dad, Chuck.  How fun!!  I have mentioned my sweet friend Heather before on here.  And she is one of my faithful readers too.  I’ve never met Heather in real life but now I’ve met her dad.  I almost had a tear in my eye since she wasn’t there.  I can’t wait to meet her in real life sometime and hug her little neck!!

This was the reason for our trip as he had an old sewing machine that was of no use to him and I was willing to give it a new home. It will eventually make it to K’s as it is an industrial machine and could make leather sewing easier for her.

The men loaded the table and sewing machine into the truck and carefully covered and strapped it securely.  It was a short visit and the mission was accomplished.  🙂   We hope Chuck is pleased with our trade of some of Phil’s pork chops, brats, & ground pork.

Of course in my trip planning I found that the town of Florissant, Missouri has a quilt shop!  Of course I had printed out the directions from Chuck’s house to the quilt shop.  Smart planning, huh!

What.

A.

Find!

🙂

Helen’s Hen House!

In a very old house, with the still lovely woodwork, staircase, and ceiling decorations.

And the fabric selection was DElicious!! Lots of civil war reproductions as well as new Amy Butlers & Modas.  Fabulous!!

I restrained myself (Phil was watching, you know! 😉 ) and stayed just under …a lot of money.  😀

I got a new book: Wintergraphix and their big print for wintertime.  I love that it isn’t mainly red but forest greens & pinks in there too.  Then I needed a FQ bundle and added 2 coordinating fabrics that could be the border & binding when the FQs become a quilt.   I also got 2 Moda 5″ square packs from the new Neptune line.

Phil read this framed information on the house & the original Helen and relayed a bit of it to me.   The upstairs floor houses a yarn shop and we just walked around enjoying the house and the yarns but not falling into the yarn pit.  🙂

Since the bypass 270 eastbound was like a parking lot when we went in that morning because of construction restrictions, we chose an alternate route to head back to Illinois.   Of course, this route was before the Missouri & Mississippi Rivers had joined so that added another bridge to my travels.  

Crossing the Mississippi River at Alton, IL

We thought of stopping for some sight-seeing on the way home but we didn’t want to go too far off the beaten path so just continued home.   We arrived about 6 and were so ready to be out of the truck!

The men unloaded the sewing machine and after a bit, had the power hooked up and WOW! does this machine GO!! I did a LOT of googling for information and finally (and only) found some manuals at The Smithsonian website.  They have several of this model’s info scanned there that I can print out.

It is a Willcox & Gibbs Model 10-A!  Model 10!! That is how old it is!   It is an industrial straight stitch and sews up to 4,000 stitches a minute!! Wow!  (Did you know they made a specific machine for sewing elastic on undergarments?  Neither did I but I found the manuals for it at The Smithsonian!)

One big hurdle with the machine is figuring out how to thread it.  I thought it would be relatively easy to figure out with all the different machines I have used.  However, this one is not like the others.  🙂

I found a 4 page manual on threading the machine also at The Smithsonian website.   The first part says, “pay special attention to the way it was threaded when you go it.”  The whole problem in the first place for me & Chuck… IT ISN’T THREADED!!

The manual then explains over the 4 pages how to thread the machine… only uses words – no diagrams!! Ack!!  Some day when my brain is fully engaged, we’ll work on that.

I love the metal double thread cone holder and the (maybe) original pincushion dangling from the thread holder.

Quite fun and Phil & I were glad for a bit of time away.   Thankful that JP handles all the chores here at home just fine on his own!  🙂

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Numbers

224

Ounces of goat milk lotion Mrs. So & So made, bottled, and labeled on Friday.

20

Minutes of rest period on Friday.

95

Pounds of soap made in January 2009

20

Months since my sewing machine had been serviced.

And on my receipt I found:

5,465,315

T0tal stitches my machine made since I bought it in 200?.

2,778,999

Sewing stitches (mostly piecing & quilting)

2,686,316

Embroidery stitches

1

Accidents  Nina had in the house today, and the day before, and the day before that, and every other day since she has been home with us.  One.a.day.

0

Items Phil bought at the farm auction today.

7

Great-nieces & nephews counting…

1

in the oven! 🙂

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