Treadle Machine Top Being Upgraded!

My darling girl is upgrading the top of my treadle sewing machine base.  Years ago I saw a treadle machine base at a friend's house.  Her husband had made an oak table top for her.  I loved it. 

My oldest daughter, knowing my love for sewing, found and bought me a base at a flea market.  It had no top at all.  Bless her heart, she hoisted that thing all the way to the car by herself (with a recliner under the other arm).  It is made of case iron, so you know she looks like Hercules.

Today I took the plunge and started repainting the thing.  My husband had sawn the legs off an antique rickety table that used to grace our foyer.  That table was seriously a danger.  I kept expecting one of the legs to give way and have all the decorations come crashing to the floor.  So today I sanded down the bottom edge of the table where the legs used to be and painted the sides.  Rachel is painting the top.  And doing a marvelous job.

In this first picture, I had already removed the drawer and painted the front and sides.

This top seriously needs help.  Will a coat of paint be enough?  The wood is rough, the beveled edges of the top even worse.  I did not want to sand it because it was so wavy.

In my defense, I always had a quilted table runner on it, so all that was exposed was the nasty edges.

Here it is with the top half painted.  Looking better already, eh?

My lovely assistant (get a load of those curls, will ya?).

Finished!!  Now I need to entice her to wash off the cast iron part...it's very dusty.

This might be foyer-worthy again!  For now, it's in my bedroom.

~Joan

Most Thoughtful Daughter Ever!!

Look what my thoughtful, sweet, forward-thinking, lovely daughter, Elisabeth, got me for Christmas. The picture is terrible, and it needs cleaning (very dusty), but this wonderful gift is the base of an antique treadle Singer sewing machine. The table top made for it is way too modern. My DH suggested cutting off the legs of the antique table that had been sitting there and putting it on instead. Great idea (I think it was my idea, but he agreed to do it...you know, my inspiration and his perspiration).

Hope you all have a great holiday. I've had an industrious-sized headache for 5 days now. Make it go away! I am off to bed early.

~Joan

PS: an update...someone read this then wrote me to ask "what was the gift?", so I edited it some to clarify (I hope). Later that same day, my DH did indeed cut the legs off my former foyer table and attach it to the top of the sewing machine base. It looks marvelous. I'll try to post a picture soon.

More good news...my BIL found our camera at his house and is sending it to me. It has been MIA for over a month!! Yippee!

{Post 1,496} Little Quilts

I felt like yelling, "Pinch me!  This can't be happening!"  Yours truly finally got to visit the Little Quilts quilt shop in Marietta, GA.  My first quilts were from their first book.  I think I made ALL the ones in there.

I spent quite a bit of time there, but I didn't see it all the way I wanted...I was in a hurry to get home, which turned out to be ironic since I thought I'd be home by 5 PM and it turned out to be nearly 10 before I arrived. 

Here is right inside the door...your first glimpse.  Wow--they have packed a lot in that little space!

A fall display:

Bought two kits at this display for the next two years' Christmas ornaments for my children.

The quilts over the window are minis.  Notice the pattens below on the left that are 8-1/2" x 5-1/2".

I bought the booklet that has the two quilts on the rod on the left...the pinwheel in the middle and Lu Lu's blocks next to it.

The landmark for verbal directions in Marietta, GA...the Big Chicken.  His beak constantly opens and closes, and his eyeball rolls around!!

Here is what I purchased at the shop.  If only you could see all the things I left behind but wanted to get!!

I have been wanting the Hunter's Star ruler, and I saw they had it just as I was walking out.  The Little Quilts pattern beside it was $1, and it has 2 quilts I want to make.  "Another Slice" was the one that accompanied the blocks hanging on the rod above.  Then the ornament kits.  

At the register, they had a treadle sewing machine drawer with fat 1/8ths in it for $1 each.  I got two for a blossom for my GFG quilt to commemorate the trip.

Then, last, but not least, 2 charm packs of 30's prints for a future quilt.  Because I don't have enough fabric.  Shhhhhh...

This shop is p-a-c-k-e-d with goodies.  I was so close to buying a stitchery kit and frame, but that would have added another $50 to my bill.  And it wasn't worth THAT much to me!  I should have taken a pic, but I was experiencing sensory overload, and it didn't occur to me.

The trip home was going great until I came up to 3 bad accidents in a row on the last little leg back.  It easily added 1-1/2 hours to the travel time, but I did arrive home safely.  I was just glad I wasn't IN one of the accidents.  

Typing the above statement made me think of this picture I snapped going through Atlanta yesterday in an area that has 7 lanes going the same direction at 70 MPH...

If one was a dozing passenger, that would be a frightening wake-up call!!

Happy Spots

A long time ago, one of my friends commented that a quilt I made her "just made her happy".  If she was having a bad day, all she had to do was get a glimpse of that quilt, and her outlook was better.  She asked me if any spots in my house made me happy.  Well, up until that point I hadn't really thought about it.  But now, for your visual enjoyment, are three new happy spots...

The first one is on our mantle.  It takes me sooooo long to finish something.  Often people comment on how much I do.  If they only knew how long it all takes...case in point are these letter blocks.  I looked high and low on the internet and at craft stores to see how to make my own.  Ended up just winging it.  I had a fence post cut into squares (3-1/2" square--big chunky things).  Then I asked Isaac to sand them, paint them black, then paint them cream.  Once the blocks were ready, I printed the letters I wanted on regular paper.  I cut them out ever so carefully and used Mod Podge to put them on the blocks.  I also made letters to spell out "welcome" and "Parker".  There are little imperfections all over the blocks...places where the black shows through a little, a crack or chip here or there.  But I like it.  Now if they get messed up, it will blend right in.  It's so hard to keep things perfect.

I want to sand down the edges of the blocks a little more as well as possibly spatter them with black, but that will be down the road.  In the meantime, I like our Easter tidings.  I thought the blocks were too big, but they DO get the message across.  I would like to find some silk dogwood branches to artistically place around them.

A closer view of the blocks...

Next, let me welcome you to my newly painted and hardwared treadle sewing machine table and antique cheesebox filled with rag balls in the foyer.  There is a 25-watt light bulb in the lamp.  After dusk I like to keep it on till we all go to bed.  It is just enough light to make a warm glow in the hall.  A nice welcome for those who work late.

Last, but not least, is my world traveler table runner.  This pattern is called Honeycomb Stars.  It was hand-pieced and quilted by me, mostly in Ohio and Florida, and the states in between last summer on our road trips.  Beats a souvenier shot glass! 

I am usually not so concerned about being matchy-matchy, but I hung some navy blue candles that Susie gave me to complement the blue in the runner.

And a close-up.  Notice the Lego guys in front of the plant shoots I'm rooting...just keepin' it real!

I had several ladies write to tell me how much they like my RED kitchen after this post.  I still love the color.  Picked it without thinking about it much, but it was a good choice.  Emily is painting her kitchen a similar hue.

TTFN,
Joan

{Post #860} R-E-L-A-X

We had our "Christmas celebrations" this past week...ALL week.  My two college-aged sons are home for winter break, and my daughter and favorite son-in-law were also with us.  My father-in-law and his wife came up two days ago.  My eldest daughter and I were ill yesterday, but the rest of the family was gone all day to visit with my grandfather-, mother-, and brother-in-laws.  I disliked missing the visit, but would not have been much of a companion. 

I hardly had any energy all day yesterday, but when I woke up feeling some better today, I made a list of long-put-off things to do.  I do mean long-delayed.  I cleaned my bathroom cabinets and drawers, deep cleaned the bathroom, folded 4 baskets of laundry (and put them away!) and decluttered and reorganized a hall closet.  Those are big things in my cleaning life.  I heard cleaning can kill you.  I'm not sure that's true, but I'm taking as few chances as possible!  My house is clean today...sorry you missed it!

Last month when Susie, Rachel, and I went to Florida, Susie and I planned to visit the newborn son of some friends at the hospital.  I have so many good memories with Susie!!  Anywho...we got to the hospital and called the parents.  They asked us to come back in an hour.  We were like, "Um...we're in the parking garage."  On the way to the hospital, about a block before it actually, I spotted a Steinmart store.  I got a gift card for their store about 4 years ago.  I mentioned to Susie that I had the ancient gift card and had never seen a Steinmart before.  I didn't know the balance on the card.  Would it--could it--be in my purse right that very second?  YES!!  I called the gift card balance number and found out we had $50 to spend.  One thing many of you might not know about me is that I.  hate.  to.  shop.  Especially for little-needed items.  I detest window shopping.  But we had an hour to kill, right?  We headed back and found ourselves trying to find $50 worth of stuff to buy.  I would have been happy to spend it all on Susie if she found something she liked.  You would think this would be an easy task, but no.

We started wandering around.  She tried on some absolutely goofy looking dress hats.  Then we split up because we weren't finding anything worth blowing the wad on.  My mechanic has one of these "Relax" signs at their service counter.  I have always admired it.  When I saw one of these at the Steinmart store, I knew that would be my first purchase.  One of my kids saw it in my room later, on my treadle sewing machine table and asked sarcastically if that was my new motto.  "No", I said, "Just a necessary reminder."  It is so hard for me to relax and enjoy...well, ANYthing!!  Seriously!

When I was cleaning out our hall closet (you might have been wondering why that came up earlier?), I found the nativity night light.  Isn't that where you store yours...behind the bathroom cleaning caddy?  I appreciate the reminder that I can "relax" because Jesus came to pay for my sins.  I have a home in heaven when I die...do you?  Everything does not depend on me.

Last night three of my children were shopping at a mall.  Within just a few feet of them there was a shooting.  A woman pulled a gun out of her purse and shot a man who was evidently abusing or trying to kidnap a small child.  The man was shot three times.  My daughter ended up being locked in a store adjacent to the hallway with the shooter, victim, etc.  A few moments later, several shoplifting attempts were thwarted nearby.  They are guessing that the thieves were taking advantage of the confusion because of the shooting.  We live in unsettling times.  A security guard knocked a thief attempting to flee into the storefront window a few feet away from my locked-in daughter.  When I heard about it over the phone but didn't have the details yet (remember, I was lying about at home), I was so glad God's grace was sufficient for me.  He was protecting my children, I was not.  Thank God they were unharmed.  

Here's hoping you can relax and enjoy the moments that make this very special holiday special indeed.  

God bless us, every one.

~Joan   

{Post 1,749} Sew Many Quilts Finished!

 

This has been such a busy month. I had more customer quilt tops than ever to quilt. Had what I thought was going to be a first-time, one-time experience...I quilted a double knit quilt. No sooner did I finish it than I got THREE more double knit tops to machine quilt for customers. They turn out beautiful, but I personally had enough double knit in the ‘70s. Here are some customer quilts that I did since my last post.

Next up are two I Spy quilts I made for two of my children for their children. One was for four boys and the other for two girls. 

This is the back of the boys’ quilt (the second one with the triangles)...

I made some quilts and a hard candy bag to give away...

I quilted some tops I had made in the past to sell. There is a brick and mortar store that sells my quilts on commission.

I had 6 small (3”) churn dash blocks left over when I quilted an antique top for a customer. One end of the quilt was damaged, so I had to remove the whole row. These 6 blocks were still in decent shape. I made two myself and then hand-quilted this little runner for the top of my grandmother’s treadle sewing machine that I am fortunate to have. 

Today is my husband’s birthday. I am baking him a loaf of his favorite bread and a pound cake tomorrow. Too much going on today to do that. We went to a Longhorns restaurant for supper. The meal was perfect in every way. I said he did not look happy in the picture. He normally has a great smile. He said he was just too relaxed...and too full of good food.