*beaming grin*
So I know I haven't been writing much. I've been making things even less, although I do have the beginnings of a new doily; found an issue of Decorative Crochet magazine at the thrift store and scarfed it up immediately--they don't publish that one anymore, and it was one of my two favorites! I'll blog about doilies later, though, after I decide if I can finish this one.
You see, not only have I been sick for lo, these many weeks, I have also flared up my carpal tunnel syndrome. It makes doing things rather uncomfortable and so I have been reading a lot.
A lot. It takes up a day and/or evening without causing me extra pain, yanno? But I am missing my "makings" more and more, and as the CTS relaxes some I find that I am thinking more and more about what I want to do next. Curly was loads of fun and now I need to try again for that Red Paisley Chicken with That Thing on the Top of a Chicken Head. Gryph's amulet bag needs finished, and then the strap and fringe need to be started. I just finished a leather bag and am thinking about the next hide we need to get. Drawing is starting to pull at me again... haven't done any in sooo long... and of course, there is still crocheting; I never did finish the starwheel mat in size 80 thread. One needs happy wrists for a thing like that!
And then, of course, there's sewing. *beamingly happy sigh* I haven't done any lately... but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy...
Meet the newest member of the household! I could not BELIEVE it when I saw this beauty at the thrift store! Including the table and bench, it was $40! Was I ever thrilled!
And then, yanno, was I ever curious! I thought at first it was a Featherweight that had been mounted to a table, but I was wrong. It has a serial number right behind the bobbin-winding set-up, so we went online and found it!
It seems our beauty is a cabinet model which was made in Elizabeth, NJ, in 1952. The model number seems to be 201-2, a "Family Sewing Machine," from the references in the manual... can you imagine!! 56 years old and it STILL has the original manual?!!!
The bench is in amazing shape, just amazing. I would not be surprised at all if this were the original cover. I'm thinking about getting one of those vinyl repair kits they sell for car upholstery to fix that rip. If I do decide to recover the bench, I think I will leave the vinyl alone and just wrap the new fabric over it.
The inside of the bench is what blew me away, though.
Can you BELIEVE the good luck? All those attachments! And yanno what? They ALL came with manuals! Truly, I was just blown away!
We had great fun yesterday cleaning the machine and setting it up, but we discovered pretty quickly that the leaf cannot take much weight. Gryph closed the machine up for the night, and we came out this morning to this sight:
Self-Installing Cat Accessory, Module 4, initiating her most sincere "I am an angel" program unit. How I managed to get a picture that was not totally blurred is beyond me; she was talking and moving the whole time. "Whatcha doin, huh huh huh? Tell me whatcha doin huh huh huh? What's that clicking sound, whatcha doin? Aren't I pretty, aren't I your good girl? I love you Mama, whatcha doin, huh huh huh?"
It would be ever so much easier to accept her as an angel if she weren't the biggest bully in the household. She's worse than the doglet! *wry smile*
I leave you with a picture that makes me smile and smile, and nothing wry about it, just pure happiness. I anticipate lots of good sewing in the weeks to come... oh, and the manual said the DARNEDEST thing, something I had never heard before! I was taught to pull my threads to the back of the machine, straight out to the back between the feed dogs... but the manual says to pull them off to one side, so the feed dogs and presser foot catch them. I was so surprised! But yanno what, when you pull them straight back, you also have to hold them down because if you don't, they snarl terribly... AND you have to leave pretty long threads when you start anything... really wasteful, and kinda difficult to hold the threads and fabric and turn the balance wheel all at once without letting the fabric immediately go off-kilter. BUT if you put the threads sideways across the feed dogs, you shouldn't have to hold them.... I cannot wait to try it out! First though, another thing the manual said... practice without thread! I never would have thought of getting used to the machine that way!
Anyhow, here's that pic that makes me smile. Take care and hope things come along to make you smile all day, too!
Cath
Congratulations...Your post about this Singer made me smile...I bet it also has the memories of a gentle spirit lingering in there, there is a reason why you got it...(send her relatives a blessing, I have the feeling she wants you to do that).
ReplyDeleteI am remembering my mother's and grandmothers old Singer, even older than this one, I learned to use it when I was only 7 or so...with a pedal...I am inspired to get on with organizing my house so I can use my machine again...do you have any ideas to get me started...it is a matter of having made too many trips to the Thrift Store...laughs.
I am going to have to quit browsing in here now, I started to look for more pics of your house, those old buildings mystify me.