Over the Kitchen Counter: Angie's Place for Cooking and Crafts

1924 - 2015

My mummy has died. xoxoxo

 

Treadle Table

When I saw this table I just couldn't resist that beautiful treadle base, complete with the gorgeous SINGER name. I didn't want to peddle to sew and therefore, didn't mind that the big piece that you put your feet on was missing. I love the little drawers and the machine hidden inside the cabinet (and spider webs!!!) was just a nice bonus! For the small price tag, I had to load it into the back of the van.

The box of goodies inside the drawers was worth the price alone. Not only did I score some vintage attachments and a button holer, but also the exact key I needed to open the Bentwood case my Centennial 99 came in! Wow! No longer do I need to use a screwdriver.

Once I cleaned up this treasure a lovely 15-88 emerged. She is my oldest girl yet, born in 1936! She sews beautifully (of course) and has a stunning scroll face plate. I have to keep this one, named Hazel. Inside the buttonholer box I found a small gift card that said "To Hazel, From Lester". So sweet! Also, inside the middle tip-out drawer was written the pant lengths for both Lester and David (son????)! How charming it all is! Here are the pics of this new-old gal and all the muck I had to clean away to reveal her true beauty!

Update...

We are all ok, including mom. A team of many family members has been working hard to clear her house and get it ready for sale. No small task, let me say! We have put in several 10 hour days and still not 'there'. Ninety-one years of life leads to a grand accumulation of stuff and it is not easy to purge when it is someone else's treasures. We have made great progress and are united in our efforts to preserve the important keepsakes yet remove the unnecessary items. I'm proud of us!

There has been little time for my own continued unpacking and in fact, I've re-cluttered some rooms in the new house...for now. I'm trying to be patient with myself and not panic but it can also be very overwhelming - both physically and emotionally.

Everyone who sees my multiple machines asks if I actually use them and sew. Oh, how I would love to be able to start a new project and simply stitch away the hours rather than cleaning and sorting, packing and removing! Soon...I hope! I also have the new task of scrapbooking years of photos from my mom's stash. It might take me ten years to get to it at this rate!

Hope you are all well!

Celery 221

A very collectible vintage sewing machine is of course, the Singer 221 (and free-arm 222), nicknamed the 'Featherweight'. Just like potato chips, you can't stop at just one of these adorable workhorses. You may think you've joined the club with a basic black model but then you learn there are so many different ones to collect.

Within the group of the traditional black with gold decals are subsections, including model year (everyone wants one from their own birth year!), face plate finish (scroll, Egyptian, striated), decal type (fancy or modern paperclip), badge style (Centennial - the 1951 celebration badge, Red S, World's Fair, etc.), paint finish (blackside, crinkle) and general condition (you just might find a better one!). Obviously, the potential is endless for desirable additions!

Once you've covered all the black machines you want, move on to the other variations: white (well, there's true white, off white, and a slightly greenish 'celery' white), and tan (really harder to find, ranging from creamy beige to light brown). Heck, people even buy ruined machines and have them painted any colour they want from purple to candy apple red (not my cup of tea but if the machine is garbage otherwise, I can support it!). We could even start talking about cases!!!!

Here is a new addition to my personal FW family. She is a very pretty celery white model (I really wanted the celery version!). I had to drive quite a distance to get this machine but it was totally worth it. I tried to test her before I purchased but I couldn't thread the needle. I think it had the tiniest eye ever or was not even a functional specimen. Regardless of that and a belt that slipped (I knew I could easily adjust that), she was in beautiful condition and came with a great, awesome green and white case with the coolest handle. I loved her right away!

Once I got her home and cleaned I realized there was something not quite right. I could not get a balanced stitch and the bottom tension was way too loose. I swapped out a bobbin case with another machine and she sewed perfectly. Upon closer inspection I found the problem...a missing tension screw! I ordered one from April's and now she is stitching away to perfection! It still kind of amazes me that I am well enough informed now to determine a good purchase and also figure out any problems and how to fix them!

My little charmer Glinda (white and sparkly like Glinda the Good Witch from my beloved Wizard of Oz), came with a few bobbins, a box of attachments, an original plastic oil tube, screw drivers, and a manual. I can't wait to sew some patchwork on her and she just may be my favourite one yet! I had such a disappointment when a deal for a white fell through so getting this one instead made it all right again. It was meant to be, of course! ;)

Keeping Things Organized

I am happy I started out with a great system for keeping my sewing machines organized. Now that I have (*cough*) several, I'm actually losing track of what came with, and goes with, what. Fortunately, as soon as I bring home an orphan I put all the bits and pieces into one of the snapware Snap 'N Stack containers. I should have invested in the company earlier on!

Each machine has a section of the container labelled with its model number. These snapwares are great because I can mix and match the trays (there are two deeper and one shallow shelf per set) as needed. Some machines only come with a few extra bobbins and some come with all the Singer attachments and feet, including the chunky ruffler, and those require a bigger section.

I can add manuals (back then they were small, flat booklets), lightbulbs, and any additional goodies the seller included, like old fashioned wooden spools of thread or packs of vintage needles. I've also bought little black notebooks for each machine in order to keep track of its history, purchase details, and maintenance schedule. At first, I purchased a set of three gorgeous Moleskine pads but they are really expensive, relatively speaking. I switched over to similar looking, but very cheap, regular notebooks that cost $1.29. I print out a label on the computer with the model of the machine, date of manufacture, serial number and given name and add that to the front of the booklet. I know, I'm a little squirrelly!

I have all these snapware containers rowed up on my open shelves and they are starting to look quite impressive! It is so easy to pull off the one I need for the machine I'm using that day and I know everything inside is a perfect fit. Happily, I discovered a source for these here in Canada. I had been stocking up on them every time we visited the States but of course, I kept running out! It would be against my nature to use anything other than matching containers so now I can just keep a couple in stock at all times and pop to the store when I need a couple more.

Cutting Table is Done

** First an update on my mom. She has survived another scary incident and after a couple of days in the hospital is back at her retirement home...in a different room. We are so lucky that an opening was available on a higher care floor and my sister moved some of her things to it before she was even discharged. Good fortune was on our side this time!

I thought I would share a quick pic of my new homemade cutting table. As I wrote before, this was created from an old shelving unit I found in our cold room. After my contractor tore it from the walls, he added a melamine shelf on the bottom and six casters to allow me to move it around. My hubby painted it for me after I had cleaned it well and then finally my new countertop arrived and was installed.

Although this is a huge piece in my workshop it is exactly what I had envisioned for a fraction of the cost of what the kitchen cabinet place quoted. It is an excellent height for me to use for fabric cutting and scrapbooking and many of my machines will fit on the two shelves. As luck would have it, my bolts of quilt batting fit absolutely perfectly on the back of the shelves. Wonderful!

My mother-in-law has returned home and my two youngest are settled away at school. I will finally have some time tomorrow and I am taking a 'personal day' to get to work on some of my new/old machines. I am so excited to get some quiet time to get lost in a refurbishing session; it is therapy for my soul!

Hey, Remember Me?

UPDATE: Unfortunately, "no news is good news" does not apply. My sister called at about 10:30 to say that mom was on her way to the hospital in an ambulance. She had been found in the night on the floor and despite seeming well, by breakfast she was complaining of pain and that was that. I'm awaiting updates and will keep you posted. :(

I have been M.I.A. for over a week! Last week my mother went into her new retirement home after being at my sister's for a month. My niece stayed over for the first night and nurses checked in regularly. I couldn't believe it but I got a call saying mom had been admitted to hospital that very first evening! What a disappointment.

X-rays showed a mild pneumonia but as you might imagine, I just didn't feel comfortable not being there. We all know the elderly (mother is 91-1/2 now!) can have a hard time getting over an infection and in her weakened condition, I was just so worried about her. I got this news in the afternoon and DH, DD, and I left as soon as we were able to get the dog in the kennel. My family left the next day but I stayed with my sister for a week to visit mom in the hospital and offer support to my poor sister who has been dealing with this. I know how it feels as I did it for 13 years and when there is illness it is absolutely very stressful.

I have never been away for that long without my hubby and not on vacation. I also didn't have a car so it was challenging for me. Add to that the emotions of seeing mom uncomfortable and confined to a hospital bed and it was not a very pleasant situation. After 5 days the patient was discharged and we got her back to her 'new' home and settled. We hired care workers for the times we couldn't be there but that will take a bit of adjustment on mom's part. I stayed with her the first night back and I didn't sleep at all. She was very weak and disoriented and she is struggling with her breathing. It was not a good start.

However, the next few days saw much improvement. She has been eating well and feeling better. The services we've arranged have made her feel more secure and at home and we have been visiting 2-3 times a day. She came back to my sister's for an afternoon getaway and everything seems to be stable. I really needed to come home so my hubby and kids came to get me. We spent a couple days together there and now I am finally back!!!!! I was so excited to see my dog and since I'm still unpacking my house and organizing, it felt awesome to walk through the door again! It smelled so nice. Last night I had a wonderful soak in my tub and a pretty good sleep in my own bed. There is a ton to do to catch up with my life and I'm hoping to reschedule my missed appointments. One of those was to install my new cutting table countertop so that was a real bummer to have to cancel.

Mother spent her first night last night without a family member sleeping over so I was a little anxious. I'm hoping it all went well. She had the same caregiver tuck her in as dressing her for breakfast so that continuity perhaps provided a bit of security for her. This has been the most stressful year of my life I think! I am looking forward to working on some new-old machines I've rescued and sharing them with you. I am excited for some fall baking too. I don't know but this summer just slipped away and was one of the weirdest ones yet. I'm keeping my finger's crossed for a more even keel in the autumn!

Here are some gorgeous roses I found for my mum as a house warming. Mauve is her favourite colour and these were just the right shade! It was a massive bouquet!