Teapot Tuesday

Dog teapot

I should have taken a picture of the back of this teapot, too.  The tail is really cute.  I found this in a thrift store yesterday, and just had to have it.  I love dog!  I have two dogs at home.  I'd post pictures of the dogs, but, all my pictures of them are on my phone, and I don't have them downloaded to the computer.  Eek! another learning curve for me. 

Christopher & James

Christopher's quilt

I've been out of town more than in town the last few weeks.  I've traveled every week for the last 7 weeks so far.  Only one of the trips was unplanned.  I had 36 hours to prepare for a 6 day trip with a Venturing crew to the upper peninsula of Michigan.  A great trip, but, I'm tired of traveling now.  Last week I took my oldest son back to college in Missouri.  He is 450 miles from home.  This is his 3rd year at school.  His new roomate this year has been a friend of his since he started college.  I took this picture before I left for the hotel.  After driving all day, then unloading (it took 4 full carts to get Christopher's stuff into the dorm), and helping to set up, I was pooped!  I waited until James arrived to help him unload.  James only had one cart of stuff, since his family lives nearby.  I took the boys to breakfast the next morning before I started the drive home.  You can see the quilt I made for Christopher's dorm on his bunk.  Sorry I don't have a better picture of it loaded onto the computer.

 I did stop at several thrift stores on the way home.  I found some great stuff, including sewing machine attachments. 

Teapot Tuesday and museum photos

Telephone Teapot

I don't remember where I found this little teapot.  I love rotary dial phones.  Remember in the olden days, when you could just dial 'O' and get the operator to dial the number for you?  And the great sound the phone made as it rotated back to place after you dialed a number?  

The TOGA I attended (info in the last post) I found a bit of time to visit some of the museums buildings.  These are some of the sewing machines that have been donated to the museum.  I didn't get pictures of all of the machines.  I wish that they had labeled the machines as to what model and how old they were.  I recognized some of them, but not most of them. 

boot patcher in the back, left?

I think that there is a 'boot patcher' machine in the 2nd photo, in the back on the left.  Someone brought a boot patcher to the TOGA to be cleaned.  I didn't get to see it but for a minute.  

 Look at the handcrank.  Isn't it pretty!?!  I just love the base on it. 

 I loved the quilts in the museum.  These are just a few of the quilts they have.  My pictures don't do them justice.  I would love to have seen these opened up. 

 Check out the crazy quilts!

Have a great week!

TOGA!

White Rotary treadle head my DH bought for me

My new White Rotary waiting to get cleaned up

 TOGA!  No, not the kind from 'Animal House'.  Treadle On Gathering and Academy type of TOGA!  More fun than the 'Animal House' toga, and without the hangover or the 'oh no, what did I do' factor.  Last weekend I attended the Loosen & Lube TOGA at the Barron County Pioneer Museum in Cameron, Wisconsin.  I brought several of my machines so that I could learn how to clean them.  After I'd cleaned my machines on Friday,  Mary and Paul thought I did well enough to clean others machines the rest of the weekend.  Woohoo!  The other Togateers are such good teachers.  I still have lots to learn, but, this was a fun start.

Lets start at the beginning of my trip.  My hubby came with me on this trip.  That doesn't happen very often.  With him in scouting, and barbershop singing, etc, he is
usually headed one way while I'm usually

Paul, Mary & Chryssa

headed another way.  
On the drive up, we stopped at a cute deli/grocery store in Wisconsin.  As we were eating, my hubby points down to the floor and asks if I'd seen the sewing machine yet.  Of course I put my sandwich down and go look.  A dirty White Rotary treadle head is sitting there.  No price, no base, alone.  My hubby says: "if it's for sale for $10 or less, you can have it."  Well, that was some challenge.  Did I just sit there and finish my sandwich?  NO!  The owner of the store walked back in the room, and, I asked her if the machine was for sale.  "Well, I guess so" she says.  I then tell her what my hubby said.  She says, "I'll take $10 for it."  Yipee!  A new (to me) machine.  You better bet I cleaned her up the next day. 

Bob & Paul adjusting the feed dogs on my Singer 15

 Unfortunately, I don't have a White treadle base, only Singer bases.  Whites don't fit into Singer bases.  Also, Whites don't convert easily to hand cranks.  I'll find out more about this machine when I contact the lady who is the 'White guru.'  She will be able to help me determine what model I have and how old it is. 

Machines being sold

More machines being sold

 While I worked on people powered sewing machines, my hubby was either planning his hike on the Ice Age Trail, or hiking the trail.  He'd planned for weeks to hike 10 miles a day on Saturday and another 10 miles on Sunday.  Well....  he wound up hiking about 14 miles on Saturday, part of it in the pouring rain.  The grass on the trail was waist high, and in some places, chest high.  Now that is a hike!  It was more than he'd bargained for.  He was still sore on Sunday morning, so, he didn't hike again. 

Onions during a rare quiet time

Paul adjusting a treadle

Chryssa threading a treadle that I had cleaned

 Behind the great machines is my Christmas quilt.  No, not the one I just had the block exchange for.  This was from the first block exchange in 2005.  Some of us brought 'show-n-tell' that we'd done.  I wish I'd gotten a picture of Kate doing free motion quilting on her treadle.  It was great.  Betcha didn't think you could FM on a treadle, did ya? 

Linda working with machine owners

After this weekend, I now have three machines that I am in the process of turning into hand cranks.  The lovely Singer Spartan that Caryl gave me last month now has a wooden base and a spoked hand wheel.   I still need to stain the wooden base.  I can still use the motor on the Spartan if I want to.  Hand crank number 1 is almost done.

The Singer 66 Red eye that was so dirty and I didn't know if it could come back to life, is now pretty and functioning.  I can either treadle her, or, if I want, attach a hand crank and crank her.  I still need a base to put her in.  Hubby is going to make me one. Hand Crank #2, when I get another hand crank and the base.

The New Home A that I bought back in February had a 'motorectomy' at the TOGA.  Paul took the motor off her while I was still bringing machines into the room.  He's fast!  She is clean and waiting for the adapter so that I can turn her into hand crank #3.

I also took my Singer 15 treadle to get the feed dogs adjusted.  Paul showed me what to do and got her fixed up quickly.  I even found a small amount of time on Sunday morning to make a few 4 patch blocks on her.

I did find some time on Sunday to look thru a few of the buildings at the museum.  I took pictures of some nice, people powered machines and some lovely, vintage quilts.  I'll show those on a later post. 

Now a challenge to you.  If you have a treadle or hand crank sewing machine sitting around your house, USE IT!  I've learned the basics for cleaning and oiling these machines, and, I know a group of people who know LOTS more than I'll ever know that can help you.  I also know at least one person who sells parts for many of these machines.  Singer parts are the easiest to obtain.  Parts can also be found for some of the other brands. 

Bob, Anne & Mary working sign-in

 Research how to clean the machines BEFORE you start.  I accidentally silvered the decals (what was left of them) on my first treadle (the Singer 15) by using water on it.  Oops! 

Paul adjusting one of the many treadles

Cindy, our parts person

I'm headed back to Wisconsin in the morning to pick up my son's stuff from camp.  This will be my 4th trip there in 4 weeks.  I'm getting tired of all this driving. : )  Have a good weekend!

Mail Call

Greist Zig-Zag attachment

 Well, I was out of town for 5 days for the Loosen & Lube TOGA (Treadle On Gathering & Academy) in Wisconsin this weekend.  When I got home, I had lots of goodies waiting for me. 

Batik charm squares

5 RED fat quarters

 I had ordered this Greist Zig-Zag attachment and it arrived.  I wish it had directions, so I don't make a mistake when I try it.  This will be fun to try on all of my vintage machines.

Japanese box

goodies in Japanese box

Kasuri & goodies in Japanese box

 I won a giveaway from Toni at The Quilting Pirate a while back.  These lovely batik charm squares were waiting for me when I got home.  I'm thinking half square triangles.  What do you think?

Annie at Adventures in Oz sent me these great RED (yes, my favorite color) fat quarters.  Sew pretty!  The bottom one has gears on it.  Great after the TOGA this past weekend.  Thanks Annie!

And look at all the neat things I won from Julie at My Quilt Diary.  Julie lives in Japan.  I knew this was coming, but, I didn't have any idea what would be inside the box.  Just the box it came in is a fun thing to add to my collection.  This box will sit by my hand quilting frame.

Look at all the goodies Julie put in this box.  Fat quarters in tans and browns.  A charm pack with 100 10cmx10cm charms in browns, tans, creams with some reds and greens.  They go beautifully with the fat quarters.

Julie also included a stack of 10 Kasuri fabric pieces.  The note Julie included says: Kasuri is a very old traditional form of fabric.  The thread is dyed before being woven.  The top weave and the check are most valuable and sought after.  These are all quite old.    My hubby and I were oohing and aahing over all of this.  They are so pretty!

Year of the... panel

Up close view of panel

Julie also included 2 panels.  One depicts the animals from the Japanese Year of the... calendar.  It includes: 1) Mouse or Rat, 2) Ox, 3) Tiger, 4) Rabbit (this years), 5) Dragon (next years), 6) Snake, 7) Horse, 8) Sheep or Ram, 9) Monkey, 10) Cock, 11) Dog, and 12) Wild boar or Pig. 

 The second panel is the cat panel.  Julie wrote: The left paw raised welcomes wealth.  The cat is holding a coin saying 100 million Ryo on it.  The raised right paw welcomes good fortune.  That character is "Fuku" the first of our name.

The last 2 panels are tenugi. Julie writes: Blue is made for Boy Scouts of Japan (now SAJ or Scout Association of Japan).  The green (top panel) was dyed in Janap by a tradition method for a Scout Troop in San Jose.  The kanji says "kokoro" or heart.  Julie included these since she is involved in scouting, as is my family.  It is another bond that we share. 

Julie had a great way to choose the winner of her giveaway.  Check it out here. Thanks Nikko for picking me.

I'm just catching my breath from being gone.  I'll post about the TOGA later this week.  Lots of fun things to blog about.  Even a new machine my hubby found for me!