say hello to my little friend

i've been accused of owning too many sewing machines. but i simply couldn't resist adding one more to my arsenal. i have always wanted one of these little singer featherweight machines but just never seemed to come across one that i just couldn't live without (i.e., one that was actually affordable!). then one day i was lurking around the back alleys of ebay when i found a little beauty that was still sitting at $150 with only 8 minutes to go. sure, he was a little dirty (but hey, i have lots of elbow grease for that) and he was missing a few of his attachments (a quick excavation in the treadle machine's drawers turned out quite a few 221 attachments) and he still have 8 minutes to go. if you have ever travelled through ebay, then you know a lot can happen in 8 minutes. so, with nervous fingers, i punched in a bid of $175.52 and held my breath.

okay...so i didn't actually hold my breath. i walked away and assumed i would not get it since most of these machines sell for upwards of $350. imagine my surprise and delight when my smart phone dinged and informed me that i was the proud new daddy of my very own little featherweight!

he arrived today and i quickly set to work with that elbow grease and got him all spiffed up. he runs like a dream, so no adjustments were needed there! i look forward to a long and adventurous relationship! now i just have to figure out his name...

namaste'

a day of shopping

 with the heat finally abating for a few days, it seemed the perfect day to hop on the old kawasaki and get in a little exploratory shopping... there is nothing quite like a partially cloudy day in the mid 70's for a spontaneous bike trip into town.

at my first stop, the montana rescue mission thrift shop, i found some wonderful men's shirts that were just begging to be de-constructed and re-imagined!

also hiding in a little corner was a box of old thread spools filled with wonderfully neutral colored threads! a quick burn test revealed them to be cotton so they will be perfect for over-dyeing...

stopping next at st. vincent de paul's yielded a large bag of wine corks. several years ago, a friend of mine and i embarked upon a carving odyssey for stamping in art journals. i don't know whatever happened to all those wonderful stamps....but i'm thinking these will be perfect for carving new ones to experiment with mark making on cloth!

the a quick trip out to the red barn antique shop on the outskirts of laurel brought me to this little treasure. at first i was excited to find such a wonderful little tin box (given my passion for collecting boxes of all sorts). imagine my joy to find a full set of round tin cookie cutters! of course, these will never cut cookie dough in my house since they are destined for the rust pots for making moons and suns on cloth.

a small tin box (!) full of rusty little tools were also to be had...including an old working padlock and key. these will be happily joining the cookie cutters in the rust pots.

then a quick jaunt into laurel proper to the good shepherd antique and thrift shop brought me to this marvelous stack of old 78's.  i had such a difficult time deciding which to buy for my victrola. there were big bands, blues, classical, and even a few crazy old doris day cuts!  of course, the blues won out and i now have 12 new blues albums to listen to... i'm thinking, however, that i may have to make another trip out there for some of those big bands albums!

most intriguing, however, was this large crate of rusted old door knobs. my soul ached when i decided to pass on them...mostly because i was still on the kawasaki and could only purchase what my old leather back pack could hold and it was already at capacity (if not slightly beyond). i would love to have had the entire box...but may have to settle for picking up a knob or two when i go back out there for more of the 78's.

meanwhile, it's time to settle in and get some needle chanting done tonight. i've pulled out a couple of my "mindless" projects to keep my hands busy while my elders sleep.

namaste'