Vintage Thingie Thursday - Singing About a Singer

When I was ten year old, my mom sat me down at her sewing machine, a Singer treadle.  I learned to sew on that machine sewing the seams of shorts and shirts for my sister and myself.  Since then, I have had a soft spot for Singer sewing machines.  The machine I use today is a Singer I bought twenty five years ago.

When I was asked if I would be interested in purchasing this Singer, I couldn't resist.  It is a Singer Touch and Sew Zig Zag Model 758.  The cabinet is in excellent condition as is its matching bench.

Here she is a little closer.

 Look what is under her "hood!  Cams!  She does more than just straight stitch and zig zag.
 

This is the accessory box that came with her.  There are six presser feet including a general purpose foot, a straight stitch foot, a special purpose foot for ornamental stitching, a zipper foot, a button foot and a buttonhole foot.  Also included are four throat plates.  One for general purpose, a straight stitch plate, a chainstitch plate and a feed cover plate.  

Look at all of those cams!  There are nine fashion discs, the black ones.  Place one of these on the disc holder to produce such stitches as an arrowhead, diamond, crescent, ball, domino and pyramid stitch.  The white discs are "flexi-stitch" discs and include a feather stitch, duck stitch (It looks like little ducks swimming in a row.), Turkish hemstitch, star stitch, sunburst stitch and an overedge stretch stitch.

The seat comes off of the bench to reveal storage space. 

   

Inside the bench I found the instruction manual in pristine condition.

And I found this!  The sales receipt.  It is dated May 17, 1950.  At that time this entire set up cost $212.  That was a lot of money back then.  No wonder my mom was still using a treadle machine in the late 60's. 

I know you are dying to know if she still works.  Yes!  I have given her a good cleaning and some oil.  I am still trying to figure out the discs and have only managed to get a crescent stitch from her but have not had time to play with her much since.

Why don't you head over to Suzanne's and see what other vintage, retro and antique things others are sharing?  Click here to take you there...

Vintage Thingie Thursday - Kitchen Gadgets in Green

There are a lot of you out there that are going to be green with envy this week because I am sharing some of my green handled kitchen utensils.

Let's see what is inside this enamel ware basin.

Strainers

Beaters

Mashers and a whip

A sifter, Santa cookie cutter and a quarter cup scoop.

A can opener, spoon and pancake turner.

I know you linen lovers noticed the lovely vintage tablecloth underneath all the green handled items. This baby soft cotton is printed with red and yellow fruits and flowers surrounded by a border of aqua leaves.

You have got to go see what everyone else is showing this week at Coloradolady! There are some awesome antique, vintage and retro items being shown off. Click here to get started.

Vintage Thingie Thursday - Honey Pots

It is time for another Vintage Thingie Thursday. If you like vintage, antique or retro you will love seeing what others have to share this week at Suzanne's Coloradolady.

If you have been around VTT for a while, you know of my collection of bees. You can see that collection here and here.

Christmas brought many items to add to my collection. It seemed there was a theme. I received all these honey pots.

I love the green of this one.

This one would not hold much honey.

And he looks terribly mad about it.

My mom sent me this one. She found it at a garage sale for ten cents. It did not bother me a bit that she found my Christmas present at a garage sale. It is the only one that has a dipper with it.

This one has to be my favorite. Look at the crazing on it. Yes, it has been cracked, but that just adds to its charm. It does not have a dipper but a ceramic spoon.

To see other vintage things, click on the Vintage Thingie Thursday button at the top of this post.

Finished for Friday - HURRAH!

Say it like a Marine...WHO-RAH!

After several weeks of the inability to muster up the energy to get anything done, I am so pleased with my accomplishments this week. After getting the Christmas stuff put away last week, I was ready to get our house back in order. I am ashamed to admit that it had not been cleaned since December 23. EGAD! Almost an entire month of dust and dirt! Tonight, the house is clean and every thing is back where it belongs. Laundry is done as well.

I rearranged my studio as I needed to make room for a "new" sewing machine.

While I was rearranging, I decided something needed to be done with my fabric stash.

All the fabric was put into piles according to color...

...then repacked into plastic totes.

All of these bits and pieces of fabric were gathered from hither and yon and now have a plastic tote of their own.

Another accomplishment this week was filling out adoption applications with two boxer rescue groups. The first step in finding a sister for these two. Rough life, eh?

Since I've worked so hard this week, I think I need a reward. Tomorrow I am heading to the "big" city. I will do some thrift shopping and some major smooching on these little cheeks.

Next week? We've got some packing to do as we will be heading to Milwaukee next Friday.

Milwaukee in January? Are you crazy?!

Yes, we are! Crazy about this little guy who will turn two next Friday.

What have you accomplished this week? Big or small, share it with us at Lit and Laundry.

Vintage Thingies Thursday - Aunt Grace's Nutmeg Grinder

It has been such a long time since I joined all my vintage loving friends at VTT. It is good to be back.

My mom lovingly packed this sweet grinder in a box she sent for Christmas. It was her Aunt Grace's. She knew I would love it and take care of it.

I have never seen one with a top like this. Be sure to click on the photos so you can get a better look.

After grinding your spices, you can use the top to measure the amount needed for your recipe.

After you measure your spice, you can open the top to make pouring easier.


Want to see more vintage, retro or antiques? Check out what all my friends are sharing at Suzanne's place, Coloradolady.

New Moon TUSAL

Last year, I started collecting bits and pieces of thread and fabric to play along with Yoyo and friends at Dragon My Needle. While my cups (or jars) runnethed over with these bits, I didn't post pictures on the new moon as was requested. I am participating again this year and have resolved to post at least six months this year.



These jars were empty on January 1. The jar on the left is the one that sits by my recliner in the living room. It will hold orts from my embroidery and items I will be hand stitching. Right now it is filled with bits of thread from a quilt I started machine quilting. I was not happy with the results I was getting, so I am removing the stitching.

The large middle jar sits in my studio and is where I put tiny bits of fabric as I trim seams and corners or cut off selvages.

The jar on the right is the one that sits near my sewing machine. It gets all the thread from the beginning or end of seams. When I change my sewing machine needle, I drop it in this jar. Since I am not one to always pull out the pins before I sew over them, I place bent straight pins in there too. When I empty a spool of thread, it gets thrown in this jar. I love the clink it makes as it hits the side of the jar on its way to nestle in the bed of thread.

The next new moon is on Valentine's Day. Check back then to see the progress of my Totally Useless Stitch Along.

Finished ON Friday - Holiday Decorating...

...or maybe I should say Holiday UN-decorating.

It has been a real struggle for me this week. Last night I decided I just needed to push through the blue funk that has been surrounding me for the last couple of weeks. I decided that if I got the Christmas decorations put away, I would feel better.

This is what my dining room looked like this morning.

This is what it looks like now.

Where did all that stuff go? Back in the TEN plastic totes where they belong eleven months of the year. All of these totes are stuffed.

Please! Someone tell me they have as much, if not more Christmas decorations. Shortly after taking this picture, Hubs put his muscles to work and carried all these boxes to the garage. Some time next week, we will move them to the loft in the garage.

It was a beautiful day here today with lots of warm sunshine. I made sure to get outside to soak up some yellow light. It seems the blue has disappeared.

Have you managed to accomplish something this week - big or small? Tell us about it at "Finished for Friday" at Lit and Literature. Threeundertwo is our host and she has a new look. Check it out!

May you have a productive weekend!