A New Machine and a Spool Pin Doily

I got a new sewing machine yesterday.  I found it at a thrift shop, and couldn't resist it.  It is a toy machine that was made in England in the early to mid 1960's. It is a Vulcan Countess.  

I learned how to use my vintage Singer buttonhole makers.  I've been wanting to make a Mini Dresden Spool Pin Doily (from The Featherweight Shop).  The pattern is free if you sign up for their email list.

I don't have the correct buttonhole template.  I need the eyelet template.  I made due with one of my oldest Singer buttonhole makers, and set it to the smallest buttonhole I could make with it.  It will do.  I did order the eyelet template, so that I can make a few more of these.

on the machine that I made it on

I have another one ready and waiting for the eyelet template to arrive.  

Blogger is frustrating!  I can only reply to comments from people that I have their email addresses.  Everyone comes thru as 'no-reply'.  How irritating!  I like to reply to EVERY comment that I get.  I appreciate all the comments that I get.

Exchanges, Stitching, Etc.

Now that they have been received, I can show some of the exchanges I've participated in recently.  There are still a few that have not been received, or finished, so, there will be more to come, in the future.

First, I'm in a pin cushion exchange at Beaquilter.  It's one pin cushion each month, for 3 months.  This is the one I made for Bea, for August.  You can see it again, on her post here, along with about 97 other pin cushions that she has. 

front

back, using same fabric as I used for her spool of thread on the front

I haven't received my pin cushion for August, since it is coming from Norway.  Yes, I'll get 2 different pin cushions, from 2 different people in Norway, in this exchange.  How cool is that!?!?!

I was in a paired, mug rug exchange, with my Quilt Along group.  This is an 'offshoot' group from Treadle On.  We did NOT have to use our hand cranks or treadles for this exchange, but, I still did, at least on the mug rugs.  I had to cheat on the project bag, since I just don't have enough hands (or control) with the binding.  Sally was my partner in this exchange.  This is what I sent to Sally.

2 mug rugs (fronts)

backs of mug rugs

I also sent Sally a project bag.

Sally's new project bag (don't you love those treadles!)

Here are the great things that I received from Sally.  The teapots, at the top of the picture, are mine.  Isn't it great that they match what Sally sent!

mug rugs and napkins

I forgot to take pictures of the backs of the mug rugs.  One was in Christmas prints, and the other was a Valentine print.

Sally also sent me some other goodies. 

great matching apron

fun teapot fabric

Sorry for the blurry pictures. 


I was also in another paired mug rug exchange, with Treadle On.  These weren't due till Oct 1st, but, we both had them done, so, we exchanged early.  These were all made on either a treadle or hand crank machine (with cheating on the project bag).  This is what I made for Denise.

front of mug rug

thimble backing fabric

Denise's project bag

Can you tell that Denise loves RED?  It's also my favorite color! (check out all the great RED things in this post, that I received). 

Here is what I got from Denise.

2 great mug rugs

check out the great tea party fabric on the backs

Denise also included a spool pin doily.  I had a great machine, just waiting for a spool pin doily.

up close of the spool pin doily

the machine the spool pin doily belongs to now

I've been doing some stitching, but, not as much.  Now that hubby is back, safe and sound, I took a few days off.  I did go to Quilts of Valor on Tuesday, but, I didn't take any pictures.

I'm stitching on the 2nd Wendy block.  This one is applique. 

Pattern by Alida

I didn't want to do fusible applique, so, I tried using another method, with plain interfacing on the other side of the fabric, then turning it inside out.  It worked on the larger pieces, but, when I got to the arms and legs, it wasn't working well.  Not sure how I will do the shoes, sash, or hair bow.  I'll just draw the lips on, instead of attempting them.  See how tiny it all is, in the pictures below (with the ruler for size).

blues are shoes, hair bow and dress sash

the lips are the tiny orange dot, by the dress

I finished this much on Monday.  I've started on the hair, but, didn't take a picture. (poor, bald Wendy).

Wendy, waiting for her hair

Wendy will be another 10 inch block.


Bonnie Hunter showed a lady with chair wheelies, on her blog last month. The lady's chair wheelies came from Camp Lebanon, a church camp, but, according to their website, they don't ship these, you have to pick them up in Minnesota.  Well, that's not going to work for me.

I decided to see if I could make some myself.  I found the furniture casters at Menards.  They had the best price (almost half the cost of anywhere else).  I also got a set of dog tennis balls at Menards.  I had to wait till hubby got home from his trip, since I didn't have a clue what glue to use.  Hubby used epoxy, and, glued them for me.  Hubby also cut X's in the tennis balls (after gluing) so that the chair legs would go in.

from the top (uncut)

so you can see the wheels

on the chair legs

whole chair with wheelies

I'll be testing these out this month, and see if the glue holds or not.  Hubby thought we might add screws & washers, but, we aren't sure there is enough clearance or not.  I'll let you know how these work out.  I can't roll on carpet, but, at my demo's (where I'll use them) I'm on hard surfaces. 

I have 3 more sew-in's this week (2 overlap on Saturday), but, I don't know what I'll be working on yet.  I need to finish Wendy before I start on anything else.  I also have another exchange due by the end of this month, that I haven't started on.  Maybe I'll get started on that.  It's a Harry Potter Frog Card exchange.  Tiny, 3" pentagon's.  Hmmmm.......I'm getting tired of tiny.  I want something BIG!
 

I couldn't resist, really!

I started off being a good girl on Tuesday.  I went to the Quilts of Valor sew-in, and stitched away.  The trouble started when I left.  I haven't been to either of the thrift stores in that town since late summer.  How could I resist? 

Nothing special at the first store, just a few DVD's.  I went thru the second store, and, was almost thru the whole store, with NOTHING in my basket, when, I turned the corner to the very back of the shop.  Oops!  I saw a cabinet.  I ignored the cabinet, and looked at everything else in that area.  That cabinet kept calling to me.  I finally uncovered it (yep, covered in other stuff so you couldn't see what was under there).  I had to pull the cabinet out, so that I could lift the lid and see what was inside.  A dusty, Singer 66 with a motor, and really bad wiring. 

This Singer 66 has decals unlike any other Singer 66 that I own (yes, I own several Singer 66's).  My birthday is coming up soon, so, I decided that I needed to get myself a present.

My latest Singer 66

The cabinet isn't in the best of shape.  They even had tape on the side to keep the piece that supports the lid, inside, out of the way.  There was tape (clear and masking tape, both) on the base of the machine.  Yuk!  The stitch lever is painted a weird white color, too.  I've never seen one painted before. 

I borrowed a screwdriver from the guys in the back of the shop, and proceeded to give this machine a 'motorectimy' right there.  Boy were these guys surprised!  I then unscrewed the machine from the base before they loaded it in my car.  They didn't know I could do that, either. 

On Wednesday, I decided that this machine needed to be cleaned and tested.  Here are some of the before and after pictures.

what's left of the tape that crumbled when I tried to remove it

the serial number dates this to an allotment of 35,000, started September 30, 1941

told ya it was dirty, you should have seen under the motor area

before cleaning

Except for the tape removal, this was a pretty simple cleaning job.  I had to let the sewing machine oil set on the tape area to soften the remaining glue.  It worked pretty well, along with my fingernail.

see how shiny the metal is after a nice cleaning

this part was the hardest to clean.  I don't think it had ever been cleaned or dusted back there where the motor went

my new Singer 66 hand crank in the cabinet

I wiped the cabinet down with Murphy's Oil Soap, but, it still needs more cleaning, and some Old English Stain remover applied.  Maybe today.

top AFTER cleaning.  Wow, what did they do to this????

I even found a great spool pin doily for this machine. 

spool pin doily

Here is an example of the wiring, and why I didn't even mess around with it.  The guys at the shop offered to plug it in for me, until I showed them these wires. 

see where the wiring is split open????  Eek! 

I tested the stitches on this machine, and, after a few minutes of playing with the tension, she sews nicely.  Sorry I didn't get pictures of the stitching.  I think this one is going to stay in the cabinet, and head up to my sewing room. 

Empty Nest and Fun Finds

Well, I dropped my youngest off at college last week. 

messy dorm room

youngest son in new dorm room

We unloaded him on the 12th floor.  Only 2 of the 4 elevators were working when we arrived.  The forecast for the day was 106 degrees with high humidity.  We got there a few minutes after 8am, to try to beat the heat.  Using my rolling carts that I use for my treadles and other sewing machines, and lots of that wonderful industrial plastic wrap that businesses use to keep their products on pallets, we made it in 3 trips.  It only took 3 hours to get everything in his room.  Gee, and he thought mom was crazy for bringing the carts and plastic wrap, at least until we arrived, that is. 

I got to meet his new roommate and the roomie's parents.  All really nice people.  Youngest son has already been invited to spend some weekends at their home.  They are only 90 minutes away, while we are 735 miles away. 

Youngest son took the Kenmore sewing machine with him, and has already been asked by another young man in the dorm to help him mend some items when he has a chance.  He is also going to hem some curtains for his dorm window.  Over the summer, he worked on making a shirt as a Renaissance Fair costume.  He's made this shirt all by hand stitching, and without a pattern.  He just used a friends shirt as his 'pattern'. 

almost finished Renaissance Fair shirt

hand sewn French seams

hand stitched embroidery hem

I am one proud mama!  I still don't know how to sew clothes, and he has taught himself.  Cool!

I took 2 days to drive back home after I dropped him off.  With my feet and legs, I have to stop more often, so, I figured I'd stop at several antique malls that I've been passing for several years.  I was a good girl.  I didn't spend much on this trip.  I found lots of great things, but, I wasn't in a spending mood, thank goodness.  I did find several doilies at different locations.  I also found a Singer buttonholer in a 'Jetson's' case. 

Singer buttonholer in a 'Jetson' case

Now I have one of these in the green case.  I already had one in the pink case.  The pink case is for a slant shank machine (I don't own a slant shank machine, yet) and the green case is for a short shank machine (I have several of these machines).  I also found this great bag that the buttonholer is sitting on.  It is reproduction material with things on it from WWII.  Not sure what I'll do with it, but, for $1, I just couldn't pass it up.

The best thing I found was a box full of doilies and pieces of doilies.  There were patterns, cut from the newspaper, for several different doily tablecloths.

Box of doilies, patterns and extra's

patterns and extra yarn and wool

This whole box was only $7.50.  How could I go wrong?  There are several small doilies that I can use on my spool pins.  There is antique laces and bits and parts of pieces that I can use in a crazy quilt one day.  The lady's name and home town are written on the box top.  The patterns don't have a date on them, but, one of the doilies had a tiny piece of paper folded in it that has the date of 1941.  The newspaper clippings have a place you can send either $0.15 or $0.20 to get a pattern for each of these.  There are several of the doilies made to match several of these patterns. 

Oldest son is home this week.  He has one week between summer sessions and the fall session.  Oldest will be a senior in college this year.  He leaves on Friday, then we will be empty nesters officially. 

Oldest son and I stopped at a thrift store while out shopping for him, earlier this week.  Boy did I score!  I got this brand new Pfaff bag to carry my Janome table and my rulers and stuff.

Pfaff bag

inside of Pfaff bag, holding my Janome sewing table

I've been struggling with that table and my ruler bag and such for a long time.  I have a sew-in every Thursday, and it takes a balancing act to get everything inside the classroom.  Now that I have this bag, it should make it much easier to carry everything.  It even came with a carrying strap and handles.  There is a place on the back of the bag that will slip over the handle of my sewing machine rolling case. 

I also found a Greist zig zagger at the thrift store.  It even has the instructions with it.  Now I have 2 of these. 

Finishes! Starts! and Treasures! (& Teapot)

I finished this quilt top for Quilts of Valor this past weekend.  It is sewn on my Singer Spartan hand crank.  Sorry for the bad colors in the picture.  It is much prettier than it looks.  I started another one like it in reds, whites and blacks today at the QoV sew-in.

Quilts of Valor quit top

I also finished the Valentine blocks that I showed last week.  Again, sorry about the bad colors in the picture.

Valentine block

I also started a few things last week.  The first is a sewing machine base for my Singer 66 that I will turn into a hand crank, now that it has a base.  I painted the base black, to match the machine.  I will add a Singer decal to the base soon.  I also purchased an extension for this base. 

base for sewing machine, also, extension for base

base with extension attached

I am making this little quilt for a lady I work with.  Her birthday is later this month.

Kari's quilt top

I received this bentwood sewing machine cover from another lady.  Isn't she pretty!

bentwood sewing machine cover

I ordered more spool pin doilies from Linda when I ordered the sewing machine base.  Here are the lovey spool pin doilies I received.

Spool pin doilies

I decided to visit a few thrift shops on Friday as a birthday present to myself.  I was almost through the last shop when I turned a corner and saw this lovely beauty.

hand pieced and hand quilted Grandmothers flower garden quilt

close up of Grandmothers flower garden quilt

I of course 'raced' down the aisle and grabbed this!  SCORE!  The border fabric is frayed, and some of the flowers are disintegrating, but, she's still in pretty good shape, and, she's lovely!  She was also half price!  Woohoo!  Less than $5 for this quilt!  Then, I started to see if there was anything else on the aisle, when I came upon this quilt.

Carpenters Wheel vintage quilt

close up of Carpenters Wheel block

Another vintage quilt.  This quilt is in really good shape.  I wish there was a label on one of the quilts, but, there isn't.  This quilt was less than $10.  Talk about some great birthday finds.  I also found a cute (and tiny) teapot.  I haven't seen many teapots at the thrift stores lately.  This one was marked half off.

tiny teapot

tiny teapot

I put the phone in the last photo so that you could see just how tiny this teapot really is.  I couldn't even put this in the basket for fear that the lid would fall thru the holes.  The decals aren't fuzzy, just in the picture, sorry.
 
This was my weekend, how was yours?  Also, don't forget about my Triple Whammy Giveaway!  You still have time to enter.

PS:  The sewing machine base and extension table, and the spool pin doilies can be found at Linda's store, Lindalu's Treadles and Treasures.   If you don't see the doilies, just ask her.