"She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness." Proverbs 31:27

Monday, March 13, 2017

Picture of Vintage Sewing Machines/Or My house the Museum

Last week I shared pictures of the projects everyone brought.  Today I will show you how I set up my sewing room and living room in anticipation of talking about my machines.  I will share information about the machines in several posts, this is just an overview.
The first pictures are of my sewing room.

Singer 66 Redeye hand crank next to attachments and a puzzle box

Singer 16 Industrial Treadle

Singer 66 with Lotus decals

Singer Featherweight

Japanese 15 style "clones"

My design wall on the right, and the quilt I'm working on draped over the TV

Featherweight, Industrial head, modern Janome, Japanes 15 clone(dark green)




Japanese 15 style "clones"

My living room

Singer Model 12 treadle

New Home converted to a hand crank

On the coffee table Singer 99 converted hand crank

I forgot to take a picture of the Franklin treadle I had in front of the fireplace
You can see a picture of it here:  
Counting my two toy sewing machines and one electric not shown, I have 16 sewing machines.  I'll give more information about the machines in later posts.

How many sewing machines do you have?

Missy

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Sewing Machine Social

I have a Homemaker's Group I go to the second Thursday of the month in the afternoons.  We take turns hosting, and this month was my turn.  I did a talk on my vintage sewing machines.  I will have to show you the machines in another post.
The picture below is of Miss Norma making a mug rug on one of my handcranks.  Miss Norma learned to sew on a treadle but had never used a handcrank before.  I also demoed my treadle, unfortunately, those pictures did not turn out.
 We had a show and tell and everyone brought a craft they wanted to share.
Debra, who does not usually come since she lives an hour away, shared a baby blanket she made. She is Miss Norma's daughter. The baby shower was that night.  I'm sorry about the pictures, the sun was not cooperating for good pictures.
 Linda, on the right, is a friend of Debra's and came with her.  She shared several quilts that she made.

 The below one is cross stitch and embroidery.

 The bluebirds were blocks a lady in a nursing home had started but could not finished, so Linda finished them for her.

 Pat loves using her embroidery machine and sewing.  She embroidered these towels for a college student.  She also made and embroidered the sweatshirt she is wearing.
 Here is a baby bib she made and embroidered for a new baby in our church (we go to the same church).  Cupcake joined our party.
 Garnet  crocheted this baby blanket for a new baby in her church.  I love the ruffly edges on it.
 I delinted and vacuumed all the cat hair on the furniture.  This chair is not in great shape so I keep a quilt on it.  Oreo decided to put the cat hair back on the chair and sleep on it before the guests arrived.  I used my string quilt to cover the TV.
 I had four sewing machines in the living room.  Here I have my New Home(1920) and in the back is my Singer model 12(1881).
 Here is a corner of my clean sewing room.  I had to clean it for my demos.
I promise to do an upcoming series on my blog about my machines.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a journal.  You can enter here. You have until Monday to enter.

We have a different theme each month for our group, next month's is gardening.

Aside from quilt guilds, are you involved in any other clubs?

Missy (currently with a clean house but I doubt it will last long)

Monday, March 6, 2017

New Cushion and Tutorial

I bought myself a new Papasan chair a couple of weeks ago.  I found great deals on everything.  I went ahead and bought the stool, however the cushion was $20 and was a boring solid grey color.  I knew I had material leftover from when I recovered my bench.
Sorry about the awful photo
It was super easy to make.  First I traced around the stool using newspaper.  I put my finger between the sharpie to make the circle bigger since I wanted a 1/2 inch seam.
I pinned the newspaper to the fabric and cut two pieces at the same time.
I sewed a half inch seam around the fabric that is right sides together.
Be sure to leave a gap so that you can turn the fabric right side out and stuff it.
Clip the seams, be sure not to clip the thread.  This helps the seams to lay flat when turned.
I had to pull stuffing out of every box of fabric I could find.  I found stuffing everywhere!  After you stuff it, be sure to sew up the opening.  It's not a perfect circle and the button is not centered, but I still like it.  
Cupcake loves it!  It took her about five minutes to claim it.
Muffin is in the chair, Cupcake on the stool, Custard in the red chair.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a devotional journal.  You can enter here.

Missy

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Bible Devotional Review and Giveaway

I have a special giveaway and review for you today!  One of our local homeschool moms has written and published a series of devotional books.  She gave me one to review and one to give to you!
 The author and publisher of the devotionals is Shalana Frisby.  She gave me The 12 Week Journal for Book-By-Book Bible Study.  It is designed for any religion or Bible preference.

This journal includes weekly Bible study pages for: -Noting in a reading log the dates, chapters, and verses -Researching the background of each book -Writing character studies for each book -Studying the setting and culture for each book -Drawing a map of the location where the book takes place -Listing the main themes represented in each book -Reflecting how the book applies to your life -Sharing the book topic and verses with others -Taking personal notes about each book What you'll need to accompany this self-guided DIY study journal for the most benefit:a Bible of your choice and access to online Bible study resources (or printed commentary and Bible atlas). Note: This study journal is not specific to any Bible version and designed to use your preference of Bibles and resources in a self-guided approach. It works well for personal use, church, Sunday school or Bible classes, homeschool, and more. Give yourself just 12 weeks with this simple journal to learn amazing things about the Bible!

I really like this journal. It is a guide to help you know what that book of the Bible is about. I know that sometimes I will read my Bible without thinking about the background of what was going on at that time in history or of whom the book was written to. This devotional helps you think about those things and will help you understand more of what the book is about.
It is set up on a 12 week program (12 weeks, one book a week) however you can take however long is needed for each book. My first book that I am studying is Micah, since that is the book we are studying in our Bible study at church. I will take a couple of months for me to study it. It is also great to use in your homeschool for children.

If you would like to order any of these books, you can order it here. It is half off for the month of March.

To win the book, I will give you up to five chances to enter by making a separate comment for each entry.

1. Do you have a special book or journal you use for your personal Bible study time? Leave a comment letting me know!
2. Do you follow my blog? Leave me a comment letting me know how you follow.
3. Follow Shalana's Facebook page for her 123 Pubish It Company. You can find it here. Be sure to leave me a comment letting me know you follow her! She has some great videos on Facebook talking about her journals.
4. Sign up for her newsletter. She is having a March Madness sale and giveaway this month. A giveaway every Friday on her blog. Her signup page is here. Be sure to leave me a comment letting me know you signed up!
5. She is also having giveaways on her Instagram page. You can find her page here. Be sure to leave me a comment letting me know that you follow!

You do not need to enter all five times, one time will get you entered, however five times will increase your chances!

She has another giveaway going on now on her blog. Be sure to go enter to win a the Bible Memorization journal there. Her giveaway is going on until Wednesday. Her blog is here.

Very important, when you leave a comment, I need to be able to reply.  Please be sure to leave me your email address so that I can contact you.

My giveaway will be open until Monday, March 13.

Good luck!
Missy

Friday, March 3, 2017

Feline Friday and Machine Update

Almost every morning Muffin crawls under the covers to go back to sleep (he gets up with my husband).  The cats wake my husband up early but know it will not do them any good to try to get me up.  I always wake up around seven, even on my days off.  They wake up my husband between 5:30 and 6:00.
Pippi has a basket she likes to sleep in, so when I brought home my new papasan chair, she thought it was a new basket for her!

Check out the link below to see a video showing how the presser bar works.  I can't seem to get my videos to work this week.


https://youtu.be/nf2A30pO3HY



 I got my machine fixed.  I cleaned the inside with goop and then oiled it with sewing machine oil.  I let it sit overnight and then had my husband loosen the nut on top for me.  I thought you would be interested to see how the presser bar lifts up and down.  I got it stuck by tightening it too much.
This picture is missing the lever, but thought you might like to see the inside.

Do you fix your own machines or have someone else do it?  That is one thing I like about the vintage machines, they are usually pretty easy to fix.  I call my Singer 16 my Big Old Lady, she is 126 years old.  She was born in 1891.

Here is an update on my wall.  I promise that it is not a load bearing wall.  There is even wire mesh on the ceiling, it is in the way of getting the big board off the ceiling.  Such a pain.

I'll be having a giveaway next week, be sure to check back.

Have a great day ya'll!

Missy

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

A "Grey" Day

We have been trying to get this half wall torn down for five months, I've wanted it torn down since we bought the house in April. We thought it would be a quick one day thing, like on TV. 
 Unfortunately, when we started tearing down the wall, we found that it was laced with metal webbing and hooked into the ceiling with metal bars.  Those took a while to take down since we did not want to tear down the other wall, ceiling, or floor.  Then before we could knock down the drywall (which I had fun doing), DH had to move the light switch and plug, which he had never done before.
Now he needs to figure out how to remove the thick board across the ceiling and across the floor.

We did pull out two of those boards that you see on the left.  I also kicked one of the nails sticking up, wearing only socks.  It hurt, but I'm glad it did not break the skin or I would have had to get a tetanus shot!
Did I mention I have a group of ladies, my homemaker's group, coming to my house next week?  Not to mention a baby shower cake to make on Friday for a baby shower I'm helping to host. Ladies Bible study on Friday.   I'm not sure when I'm supposed to have time to clean since I work on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays.

I was hoping to finish my quilt so I could show and tell it Thursday at the homemaker's group and quilt guild that evening, but my sewing machine broke yesterday.  The part that lifts the presser bar that is connected to the foot, snapped loose last night.

I took the face plate off and proceeded to clean the inside.  It was nasty.  You have to remember that this machine is 126 years old.  That is a lot of gunk build up.
This is the lever that lifts the presser foot up and down.

The presser bar is the one with the spring on the left.  It is stuck and will not move.


I oiled everything down and am going to have my husband try to loosen the top nut on the presser bar. Hopefully if he can loosen it, it will become unstuck.  I think what happened is that when I put the "new" hopping foot on it(I found it in my stash), I had to tighten the presser bar a lot.  I must have tightened it too much and caused too much pressure inside or something.  If I can't fix it, I will have to take it to the Northeast TX T.O.G.A. in April and have someone help me fix it.

I declared yesterday a "grey" day!  LOL

Have a great day ya'll!
Missy
"Oh taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him." Psalm 34:8