Arkansas Goodies!

This past weekend was my family's 30th Anniversary reunion in Mountain View, Arkansas.  The reunions are every 2 years (used to be every 3 years), and I've only missed one reunion (I went on my honeymoon instead). 

Mountain View is the Folk Music capitol.  There are lots of great things to do there.  There are also lots of antique stores and 2 quilt stores.  The best quilt store is The Quilting Bee, where hubby purchased me a Janome sewing machine 8 years ago at a family reunion.  I take that machine back to be serviced every 2 years.  The owner is a sweet lady!

One year at the reunion, we brought back a dog.  That was a great year!  Padfoot is now 12 years old.

Padfoot in her 'Yellow Submarine' Halloween costume

Sorry, the best pictures of her are on my phone, and I don't have a clue how to load them on the computer.

This year, I brought some other things home from the reunion, like 2 sewing machines!

cabinet is in rough shape, but is strong and stable

Necchi BU Supernova, made in Italy #35-0173029

Necchi is missing it's cams

Necchi attachment box and attachments

I don't know how old this machine is.  It's really dirty, but, it runs when it is plugged in.  It only cost me $30.  I've heard that these are great machines. 

I also picked up a sad little Singer 66 in crinkle finish.  I kept going back to look at her.

Singer 66, Nov 29, 1949

Singer 66 #AJ242744

I don't really like crinkle finish, but, this little machine just kept calling to me.  She is filthy and missing some parts.  I don't know if the motor works, either.  the wires need to be replaced if the motor works.  I can turn this one into a hand crank if she sews. 

I also found more attachments, mainly Griest.

box of random attachments (Griest)

I found lots of vintage hankies and doilies, along with 3 thimbles.

vintage hankies and doilies

vintage hankies & doilies & 3 thimbles

At The Quilting Bee, I found some great deals.

several yards of 3 different fabrics

love this spider web fabric

The large stripe/print will make another table runner next month for my tiny guilds demo.  The spiderweb fabric (sorry the color is terrible) will be backing for some of my Wicked blog hop projects.  Come back and see them on Wednesday, October 24th.  I worked on several of the projects while at the family reunion. 

I also found this cute little pattern and the kit to go with it at The Quilting Bee.

Sew Fun pattern and fabric kit

Across the street from The Quilting Bee is another shop that has quilting fabric and items in it, along with lots of other items that they sell.  I found lots of cute, crocheted flowers for $0.50 each.  I had to have several of them, of course!

crocheted flowers

They also had some fat quarters for $1.  I just couldn't resist.

$1 fat quarters and cute scissors for embellishments

I also found a sewing bird at this shop.  I have a vintage sewing bird, but, I couldn't resist this 'new' bird.  My vintage sewing bird can be seen here.

new sewing bird

new sewing bird

The last thing is a cute, crocheted teacup.  I just thought it was sew cute!

crocheted tea cup

The best part of the family reunion was my youngest son getting to come.  He arrived Friday night, so we got to spend the weekend with him.  We won't get to see him again until Christmas.  Here is a picture of him standing next to the well where my grandfather was born.

Connor next to the well where my grandfather was born

Now to finish catching up on the computer.  Have a great week!

September is National Sewing Month

My grandparents

 September is National Sewing Month.  Bloggers have been encouraged to tell about how they got started sewing or quilting.  My fathers mother sewed clothes on a Singer treadle sewing machine.  My daddy wanted me to learn to sew like his mother.  I wasn't interested in sewing when I was growing up.  I did love the quilts that my grandmother had.  Her mother and sisters quilted.  My grandmother developed Alzheimer's while I was in high school.  I didn't get interested in sewing or quilting until after her death.

My great grandmother

 My daddy wanted me to learn to sew, so badly, that he bought me my first sewing machine for Christmas when I was in 2nd grade.  He knew how to thread it and sew on it, but, I still wasn't interested, to his great disappointment. I kept that machine until it disappeared when we moved to Illinois.  I wish I knew what happened to that machine. 

 My great grandmother quilted.  She gave my parents a quilt when they were married.  As children, we played Matchbox cars on that quilt.

My parents wedding quilt

 I started a quilt in college.  I didn't know what I was doing.  I bought several fabrics and cut them into squares.  I never got any further than that.  I don't know what happened to that fabric.

 In 2011, I signed up for a quilting class at my church.  I made my first quilt, a mini quilt.  I rushed so that I could show the finished quilt to my daddy at Thanksgiving.  The rest of the class hadn't even started to hand quilt theirs yet.  Thus, I taught myself how to hand quilt and bind.  My daddy was please that I finally wanted to learn sewing in some form. 

My daddy

 My father died from Alzheimer's in November 2009.  As a tribute to him and his mother, I wanted to find a Singer treadle sewing machine for myself, and sew on it.  In August/September 2010, I acquired three Singer treadle sewing machines in 4 weeks.  I have sewn on the first treadle, a Singer 15 series from 1896.  My daddy and my grandmother would have been so happy.

New (old) things

Sewing Bird

 I have a Sewing Bird!  I'd heard of these, but, I'd never seen one, or, at least I hadn't since I knew what they were.  My mother gave me this one.  My mother who doesn't sew (AT ALL).  I'm not sure where she got this from.  It could have been my grandmother's (I doubt it) or it could have been my great aunt Clara's.

1889 Singer Treadle with Coffin Lid

1889 Singer 27 VS2 Fiddlebase

Darner box

Darner and box

antique curling iron

Mom has lots of Clara's things.  Personally, I don't think it looks like a bird, I think it looks like a dog, but, it's still a sewing bird.  I attached this to my oldest treadle.  I have three treadle sewing machines.  This one is a 1889 Singer 27 VS2 (vibrating shuttle) fiddlebase.  It was given to me last September, along with another treadle machine  I'll post about another time.  It is a lovely   machine.  I cleaned the irons and the wood base, but I still need to clean the head and adjust the tension.

I found the darner, in it's original box when I picked my oldest son up at college this week.  The original price states 50 cents for the darner, and 25 cents for the extra spring.  The box and the darner are both in really good shape.  Mine didn't come with the 'spring', but, since I probably won't ever use it, that is ok.  I'm sure I could use it on one of my ZZ (zig zag) machines. 

Japanese teapot

vintage table runner

vintage doilies

wood 'foot'

The curling iron came from my grandmother.  Mom has had it for quite a while.  Mom's been remodeling half the house, and wants to get rid of some stuff.  Since I love vintage things, I got the curling iron and the sewing bird.  They will both live in my guest bedroom, which is full of antiques and quilts. 

I found the Japanese teapot in the Goodwill store in San Angelo, when I was in Texas over Spring Break.  They had it behind the counter, but, they had a great price on it.  I love teapots, so, I just had to have it.  I am showing it from the back so you can see where  you put a candle in it to keep the tea warm.  In the opening there is a little china insert that will hold a tealight candle. 

I found the 1930's table runner at an antique shop in San Angelo.  It is damaged, but, still nice.  It is hand pieced and hand quilted.  I was surprised at how little they had it priced at.  I snatched it quickly before they could change the price ; )

I also found lots of doilies while on Spring Break.  I found some in Iowa, most in Missouri and some in Texas.  The ones at the bottom are more spool pin doilies, like I've posted about before (Thanks, Linda).  I couldn't believe I found them.  Now I can pick and choose which one I want to use on each machine.  The teal and the gold & cream doilies are just a bit larger than the spool pin doilies, but, I can use them on my white Janome e-machine.  The cream spool pin doilies don't show up on the e-machine.

I want to use the wooden 'foot' to make a thread holder like one I showed in an older post.  The other thread holder uses 'found items' to make the thread holder.  Now I just have to 'find' a few more pieces. 

*An update to an earlier post.  My friend's home is safe, thank goodness.  The fire stopped and turned just a mile from her home.  Unfortunately, another friend's ranch burned.  The firefighter's saved the house, but, everything else burned, including the barn that held his parents antiques.  Luckily, the 'Wildcat fire' didn't have any homes burned, but, it burned through over 158,000 acres.  There are still several wildfires burning throughout Texas, and more start every day.  Tornadoes throughout the South and Southeast, and flooding in several places.  So many people to pray for.  Now to find ways to help.