Meet Miss Lucy and Gracie

I promised to come back and post photos of some of my vintage machines (see previous blog post titled "My Collection"). So here I am, but first I want to tell you a little story.

I planned the trip to pick up the machines so that I would be picking up the Janome Sew Mini first. I had a twenty dollar bill ready to pay for it. Then I was going to go to the bank on the way to get the vintage machine and get change for a $100 bill so I could pay $40 for the vintage machine.

Life being what it is I got a late start that day and decided I'd better go and get the vintage machine first since that lady had plans later and I was afraid I wouldn't get there in time if I went there last.

So off I go with my older sister and my little three year old granddaughter along for the ride. We get to the house where the vintage machine is and the lady is such a nice person. We loaded the machine in my trunk and talked for about twenty minutes about Etsy and that she has a booth where she sells antiques. She took some of my cards to hand out, gave my granddaughter a Barbie doll and we started to leave.

As I turned to get in my car, the lady said "you need to pay me". Oh no! I forgot to pay her! So I apologized PROFUSELY and got the money out of my purse. You guessed it...the twenty dollar bill. Then she said "it was $40." So there I was, apologizing profusely AGAIN! I was SO embarrassed!  How uncomfortable it must have been for her to have to remind me to pay her and then to also have to remind me to pay the right amount! I must say, she was very gracious about it. I felt so bad that I gave her a business card with a 10% discount code on it.

All I can say is that it was a senior moment. I guess my brain was still in plan A mode and didn't get the memo that there was a change in plan. I was all set to pay that $20 to the first person I went to. geez!

OK, now for the fun part. Let me introduce you....

                                                to Miss Lucy.
Miss Lucy was made by Southern Pride. Her cabinet is in very nice condition and there are some spaces in the door on the front for spools, bobbins and other small items. I'm not sure how old she is since I haven't found much information about her yet, but I'll keep looking. Miss Lucy is the vintage machine that I bought on Thursday...the one I forgot to pay for. : /

This is Gracie. She is a Singer 99K and was born in 1955. She's a year younger than me! Gracie is between a full size and a featherweight.  She needs to be serviced, but is such a pretty little machine. Gracie is one of the six machines my husband bought for me for a birthday present a couple of years ago. I'll have to come back another day and show you some of the others.

I am really having fun with all these vintage machines. If you have vintage machines I'd love to hear about them.

Have a great day! Happy sewing!

My Collection

Some women collect teapots, cookbooks, dolls, bottles, books, friends on FaceBook, shoes and clothes. Some women even collect husbands. What do I collect? I love old sewing machines. Yeah, those old vintage sewing machines. I have at least 16 vintage machines. I can't tell you off the top of my head what all of them are, but most of them are from 40-75 years old. I don't have them all up and running, but that is my goal when I retire.

To name a few, I have a black Singer 99K, a green Singer 185J and there is one treadle machine among them. The majority of them are Singers. No they don't sing, they are made by the Singer Sewing Machine Co.  Sorry, I couldn't resist!

 I also have two that are from the '80s and one sewing/embroidery machine that was manufactured in 2005. I could've bought a car for what I paid for that one. The least expensive one is a Singer 401 that I bought at a yard sale for $5. Yeah, $5. It doesn't have a cord, but I turned the wheel by hand and it does sew. I just have to get a cord for it and have it serviced.

I particularly like the old black sewing machines. I guess that's because that's what my Mama had, an old black Singer. I believe it is a model 66. One of my sisters has it.

My husband bought 6 of the vintage machines for me for my birthday a couple of years ago. I haven't looked at Craig's list since then because I know I can't resist the old machines. : )

Then a couple of days ago, I looked...and found two machines that I HAD to have. A full size Southern Pride (black with gold decorations) in a cabinet and a Janome Sew Mini still in the box. The Sew Mini is one that you can buy new, but this one was a steal! It has never been opened and I thought it would be a good one to use in teaching our granddaughter to sew when she's a little older. What to do....Would hubby let me have more? Where would we put them? Who cares! I HAVE to have them! LOL Just kidding, but you know what I mean. : ) Update: As I learn more about sewing machines, I know that I would never buy one of these plastic machine again. The old girls are so much better, even for teaching little ones to sew. Live and learn.)

I emailed and found that they were both still available, made arrangements to pick up the Southern Pride. I decided that maybe I would sneak it in and tell hubby later. (insert evil laugh and rubbing hands together)

I had saved the web pages for the two machines on my desktop. Then I decided I'd hide them til I got up the nerve to talk to hubby about them...after I bought them. : )  I mean, really, what man in his right mind would want 19 sewing machines in the house?

Too late! He'd already seen them. Oh no! He came in, sat down at the computer and said "I thought you had some sewing machines on here" I said "I did, I put them in a folder."(I showed him where they were) He clicked on the black and gold one and said "this one looks really good and it's a good price too. You need to get this one. What about the other one?" I told him about the Sew Mini and he said "I'll pay for them if you'll pick them up."

That's when it went all warm and fuzzy. Don't you just love it when they "get" you? He really gets that I have this passion for vintage sewing machines and supports me all the way. I LOVE that man! I think I'll keep him another 39 years.

I'll post some photos in a few days. This post is a little long already. I have a tendency to ramble...like now. Anyway, I have a quilting retreat going on at my house for a few days starting tomorrow.  I'll tell you about that next time.

Have a great day!

Long Over Due

I am SO tardy in getting back here to report on the pear wine. It's been over a year since we made it. We didn't much like it to drink. I don't think there's enough flavor in pears to make good wine. We should know..we're experts by now...I mean...we've made it twice! 

In the last few months I have been adding some baby items to my Etsy shop and sales have started to pick up. I love making baby things, so it doesn't seem like work when I am sewing for the shop. The part I dread is making and editing the photos, writing descriptions, etc. All the things you have to do to list an item. It's very time consuming. I'd rather be sewing. : )

Last year I made purses for our girls for their birthdays. Three of them are Alabama fans and so I made theirs with black and white houndstooth with either red or crimson lining and lots of pockets.

Actually I've only made two of those.  I still have one more Bama purse to make for our oldest. Her birthday was December 23rd. She's very patient. Bless her heart. The other daughter wanted a brown canvas messenger style bag. I used an argyle print for the lining and added an adjustable strap.

Currently I am working on a custom order for pacifier clips. I just listed the samples in my shop this evening. The buyer is in New York and is working with a designer. It is potentially a large order. Maybe it will lead to other things. I could certainly use the work.

I'll try to get back soon and blog about something interesting. Maybe something exciting will happen and I won't be able to sit still til I blog about it. You think? : )

Have a great day!