A Quilter's luncheon

I invited my quilting friends from St. Margaret Church over for a luncheon. The weather didn't cooperate as the roads got slick. Thanks to a husband or two they all arrived safely. 

 I forgot to take an after picture but I made them all  spool doilies.

I had 7 decorated trees up.

I also had all 19 of my vintage sewing machines on display with their history.

 From left to right here is what's in this room:

1948 Singer 66 from a friend (who I actually dated once). His mother Ruth Ott, owned the Singer store in Jefferson City for years. This machine features what is called a Godzilla finish.

1953 Elna Supermatic. I was telling my friend I was looking for a Singer featherweight. She told me about a machine in a case her late husband had in their garage. Next thing I knew she gave it to me. In it's day, it was considered a fancy machine. According to the book with this machine it belonged to Gladys Ewing Niehaus from Lamar, Missouri. According to google she was born in 1900 and died in 1985. This machines operates with a knee bar.

1952 Singer model #301 bought at a Moffet auction for $10. It features a slant needle and will sew blue jeans with no effort at all. 

I was given a singer 1961 Singer Rocketter from Jim McCarty. You might know him as the editor of The Rural Missouri newspaper. This machine will do zig-zag by putting different cams in it.

Franklin machine treadle, bought this at Bernie's cousin’s auction in July 1994. She sewed all her dresses with this and quilt tops too.

1911 Singer 24-62 a chain stitch only machine bought at Moffet auction. Machine is working, but the cabinet needs to be restored.

1931 Singer model 99, hand crank. We had no intention of buying a sewing machine at the Gratz auction, until we saw this beauty early in the day. It wouldn't be sold until late afternoon. Being a few miles from the auction we went home to research it. We returned just shortly before bidding began. Luckily we won. It wasn't in this pristine shape. My friend Phil restored the machine. It sews beautifully.

My friend Pattie called me from Georgia, she had found this 1904 Singer 15 K in her garage and wanted to know if I wanted. The price was right, FREE. I restored the cabinet and Phil restored the machine. It features a sphinx decal. This decal isn't seen too often on the singers machines. 

1949 Featherweight 221 at Cornerstone Antiques in Fulton. My friend Sharon runs this shop. She had advertised it on craigslist. The case even had the original bill of sale. It was sold in 1949 for $145.00. That is after Mrs Snyder traded in a Franklin machine. She made a down payment of $29.00 plus $2.90 tax. Featherweights are one of the most sought after machines. Not my favorite, yet I still have 3 of them.

I saw this 1954 Featherweight 221 on Jefferson City Craigslist. I was the first to call. The young man had no clue what he was selling. It was $25 dollars. It has everything original with it, the booklet, the oil can, the grease tube and all the accessories. I didn't need it, but I would have been crazy to pass it up for this price. I could easily resell it for $300-$400.

1949 Singer Featherweight 221 at a rummage sale for $50, another bargain just too good to pass up. 

 

I found this Singer 15-91 dated 1952 (my birth year) at Missouri Blvd Antiques. The cabinet is model #56. The machine has been modified with a special foot which enables me to machine quilt. That is the only thing I use this machine for.

Maybe my most beautiful buy. It's a 1919 Singer 66 Red eye in a parlor cabinet. I found it on craigslist in Washington, Missouri. The cabinet is tiger oak and has 9 doors and 5 drawers. This machine was equipped to sew either using electricity or treadle. We did no restoration to the machine or cabinet. It sewed perfect when we got it home. In goes in the cabinet in a very different way.

My sister in law called from Truman Flea Market saying they had one of those old black machines, was I interested? They had no clue what the machine was. However when she told me it was $55, I had her buy it sight unseen. It's a Singer 99 dated 1956. It's My most used machine. I do most all of my piecing on it.

 

I got this 1912 Wilcox & Gibbs from the local Goodwill after a Facebook friend brought it to my attention. This machine only sews a chain stitch. It was $30. Check out the foot control. It's pretty neat and it weighs a ton!

I bought a White Rotary machine from Darlene Wolken. According to the book found in the Martha Washington cabinet that houses this machine, it belonged to Nora Lydia Pries, she was born in 1898. She married William Carl Brandt and had 4 sons according to the 1940 census in Illinois. At that time her boys were: Leroy 18, Floyd 8, Wayne 6, and Delmar was one year old. They lived on Second street in St. Peters, Illinois.

In my search I found that her husband died in 1952 at the Jefferson Barracks Veterans Hospital. He was born August 11, 1892, this making him only 59 when he died. She was widowed at the age of 54. Nora died on July 13, 1982, at the age of 84.

Further in my search, I am pretty sure she married some years later to a Mr. Washington. In her son Leroy's obituary in 1968, it listed his mother as Nora Washington. Leroy was injured in World War II and lost the use of both legs. I found quite a military story about Leroy on line. It's always fun to learn the history of the antiques I acquire. (Darlene is one of the ladies I quilt with and she was at the luncheon)

I wish all the quilters could have come, but illness and weather made that impossible.

Here Rita and Janet and several others of us played some card game that Darlene (a.k.a. Miss
gameoholic) brought.

Ready for lunch. (This wasn't the exact table setting but close)

This is the quilt we are working on now. Does it look familiar? Yes it's the patriotic quilt I pieced. You see I owe these ladies a meal and more for quilting it! Willie, Henrietta and Virginia are quilting away.

Yep, that's me in the back. Thank you Janet for the photos. Here Hilda and Marilyn are
helping.

The end of 2016 is here. To my quilting buddies I toast you to many more tiny stitches, lots of laughter, great fellowship and good snacks! I love you gals.

Sew on  ~ ~ ~ ~