Sunday's auction . . . and then another machine

Sunday's sale advertised a treadle machine and a "featherlight" machine. When we got there we found the featherweight machine sitting on top of the treadle cabinet. The black suitcase was empty way across the room. I found one of the auction workers and told her it belonged together. I also found the original book in a separate box. After the two of us worked together it was a complete deal, grease tube and oil can included. I'm not sure of the age of this machine, but the most current date in the book was 1947. 

We left way before they got to the machine. I left a bid with the auctioneer. Not for me, but for a my friend Phil. I guess we didn't win it, as I was never called. 

We did bid on this nice pressure canner. We dropped out. Upon our return home we looked the canner up. We could have almost tripled our bid and it still would have been cheaper than a new one. Dang!

The canner had several hand written notes from the lady that owned it. She gave a little history of her canning and the purchase of it. 

At the sale, we ran into an old classmate from high school. The friend lost his mom less than two weeks ago. She had been the Singer dealer in town for years, retiring in the early 70's. 

Through tears he talked about disposing of her things. One thing lead to another and he invited us over to her home to look at a few things.  

This 66 came home with us. It has what is called the Godzilla finish. The blacksmith put a new belt on it and did some cleaning. I think we are going to install it in a treadle cabinet but use it as an electric machine. 

It was bittersweet to become the owner of this machine as I had visited his mother's store many times in the late 60's and early 70's. Just a few weeks before she passed away, I sent a note to her daughter-in-law to show my sewing machine blogs to her. I know she had a heart that supported all Singer machines. 

We purchased a few Singer items from him, one being a gallon Singer oil can. How cool is that?!

Machine #12 now resides with me. 

Rest in peace Mrs. B

Another sewing machine!!!

Today was another auction in Osage County. . . Missouri that is. 

Let me show you a few things that were there. 

 A double wedding ring quilt top.

 A double wedding ring quilt. (It had a few stains.)

 A nice hand quilted churn dash quilt. It had a really neat big flower printed back. 

 A complete featherweight, including original grease tube and oil can. It sold for $225. 

 A lonely featherweight in a card board box. It sold for $175.

 Tons of vintage 36 inch fabric. 

Feed sacks, now these knocked my socks off. They were divided into 5 stacks and sold per stack. They brought right at $500 for all 5 stacks. 

Some of this vintage fabric came home with me. However it's not for me. It's for my friend Mara. 

 Trading stamp books, most were full ones too!

I drooled.  I'm sure it cleans better than my HE washer that is agitator free!

 Crocks, crocks, and more crocks.  

 The one he's holding went for $135.

 This one sold for $170.

This Western 15 gallon sold for $165. There was an 8 gallon Western with fruit markings.  It sold for $135.  A 12 gallon Western with the mother in law tongue markings sold for $150. A 12 gallon Western with complete handles sold for $110. 

The blacksmith bought this knife. His dad worked for Eagan Tire company in the 50's and 60's. It was a knife just like the blacksmith was given one Christmas. He lost it years ago, but now he has a brand new one! 

I saw the thimbles and since they were also an advertisement for Eagan, I bought them too. Inside of each holder is thread, needles, and safety pins. 

 This is what I came home with for Mara. 

These 3 pieces I pulled out to show you their sales tag. The first one was from F. W. Woolworth Co. 2 yards at .39 cents. The middle one was from J.J. Newberry Co 5-10-25 cent stores for .35 cents a yard. The striped one is also from Woolworth's for .39 cents per yard.

The next 3 pictures are of fabric I did bid on for myself, mainly for the tags. However sadly, I didn't win these. 

South Side Dry goods is the store where I bought the fabric for my wedding dress. However, not in 1945 as this ticket indicates. 

I am now the owner of sewing machine #11.  This is a Singer 301. I thought that would complete my set. I have now been told by my sewing machine man Phil, that I really need a Singer 201-2.

Oh well, there is always the sale tomorrow!

1 sewing machine, 2 sewing machine, 3 sewing machine . . .

My name is Patti and I am a sewing machine addict. Well not really, unless you look at what I've obtained in the past 12 months. 

Riccar Zig-Zag

This is like my first machine, a Riccar. It was a good solid heavy metal machine. Mom bought it for me when I was 14, in 1966. The date is still stamped inside the cabinet. 

I can't begin to tell you how much this machine was used. I made most of my clothes in high school. I not only made my wedding dress, but 2 flower girls' dresses, my two attendants' dresses, and my going away dress.

For the kids, there were baby blankets, baby clothes, little boys overalls, little girls dresses, Halloween costumes, Christmas dresses, quilt tops, and more quilt tops. 

This machine now resides with my niece Mandy. 

Elna Quilter's dream 6003

My next machine is about 10 years old. It's an Elna Quilter's dream 6003. It's plastic. Enough said. In the last year it's been in the shop more times than I can count on one hand. I'm still not pleased with it. In my opinion the feed dogs are worn out. I never have been pleased with the machine quilting I do on it. 

It is now in time out in another room. 

On December 12, 2012, we went to a local auction. 

The blacksmith saw this machine among the furniture and other items up for auction. No one there seemed to know how to get the cabinet off. He succeeded.  He then pointed out to me that it was a hand crank.  It was going to be hours before the auctioneer would be close to selling it. We went home and did a little research. I decided I wanted the machine. Four hours later we returned. The bidding started at $10 and had I not gotten a little excited and made some noise behind the auctioneer, the lady in front of the auctioneer might have won it for that. In the end it came home with me. 

It needed just a little fine tuning. Our blacksmith/sewing machine repairman Phil came to the rescue. 

1931 Singer 99, hand crank  

This is how he returned it . . . fully restored. I love how smooth and quiet this machine is. One day during a storm our electricity went off. I sewed an entire baby quilt top together just one crank at a time before the electricity came back on. The grand kids love stitching on this one too. 

1949 Featherweight  

On February 10, 2013 I found this Featherweight on EBay. It was located fairly close. I made a phone call and  two days later went to see it. After a little haggling on the price, it came home with me at a bargain price.

Several hours later it was visiting with Phil!

1956 Singer electric 99  

October 19, 2013, we were at a blacksmith conference in Oklahoma. My sister in law called from a craft show in Missouri. She had found this machine. After she described it to me, I told her grab it. It was another steal. Currently this is my go to machine. I love sewing on it.  

1952 Singer 15-91, #56 cabinet

November 22, 2012 I saw this machine in a local antique store. I took a picture, wrote down the serial number and came home to call my man Phil. He told me it's a unique Singer. It is gear driven where most are belt driven. He said Margie (his wife) has one. He does a little modification on them and they make wonderful machines to quilt with. 

The next day I went back, bought it, and loaded into the back of my jeep. After all it was born the same year as me, how could I pass it up?  Not to mention it was only $65. The cabinet alone sells for more than that on EBay.

A week later it went to visit Phil for the modifications. 

December 23, 2013 . . . craigslist, St Louis area (2 hours away) I find this. . .

1919 Singer 66 Red eye   

The parlor cabinet it came in!

I emailed the pictures and the description to my man Phil. He said if he were closer he'd buy it. He said it's a gem. 

I wasted no time in making a call to the owner. Two days before Christmas we traveled to Villa Ridge to pick it up. 

It is one of the sweetest machines I have acquired so far. The tiger oak cabinet has 9 doors, 5 drawers. The machine can be used as either a treadle or electric. It is in wonderful condition. It was fun trying to figure out how the machine retracts into the cabinet. We finally found a YouTube video telling how to push the machine straight down into the cabinet. To bring the machine up, you push a wooden button on the front of the cabinet, the machine then lifts up. 

1920's Franklin 

This machine was purchased at the auction of family member over 20 years ago.  It is a vibrating shuttle machine and takes the long bobbin. 

1953 Elna Supermatic  

What a unique machine! It's sewing case becomes it's sewing table. It has lots of cams to change the stitching patterns. It is using by pressing a knee bar. It was given to me by my friend Mara after she found out I was searching EBay for one. Her late husband (a blacksmith too) also liked to buy old machines and restore them. It was collecting dust in her garage and she was happy to send it to me. I got this in September of 2012.

Bernina Deco 600

This machine resides among the others. It's an embroidery machine that I am still learning to use. 

So in the past 12 months, I have acquired 5 new-to-me Singer machines; good, metal, good sewing, 

dependable machines. I'm hooked on them!

I now have a machine from the teens, 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's 60's, and more. Sometimes I feel like Johnny Cash singing "One piece at a time". 

So my New Year's resolution is not to buy any more machines this year. . . 

. . . at least until the next one comes along!

Where have I been???

My son asked me the other day, "Mom did you give up blogging for Lent?"

I thought, wow is it Lent already?  I've been so busy with just stuff, the time has been flying by.

I finished hand quilting one quilt last week and immediately put another one in the  frame. It is such a fun quilt to do that I told the blacksmith, "I may not clean the house or cook until I get it out of the frame". 

Between quilting, taking care of the grand kids, super bowl party, canning soup, sewing machine shopping, and a road trip, life has been busy. Oh yes, throw my birthday in there too!

This past Saturday  my blacksmith was teaching Erin (and several others) some basic blacksmithing techniques, in Fulton, MO. 

There were some that got a little too close to their work too! Guess I could say Ken had a hot butt!

It's always fun for me to watch a tag team. Here Ken and Bernie work on a hammer eye punch. 

I left the ladies in the house at the hammer in, and took off for an antique shop in downtown Fulton, Cornerstone Antiques. I had a date with a featherweight machine. 

I have been looking for a vintage Singer featherweight machine for over a year now. I found one on Etsy Friday and called about it. 

I didn't leave the store without it! She gave me a deal I couldn't pass up. The original 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. 

The machine is almost perfect. It needs a new cord and a repair on the light. Nothing the blacksmith can't handle. 

I am so excited!

We then took a road trip to northern Missouri to pic up this gal!

Our friend Phil restored this 1931 hand crank Singer 99 machine for me. Even the case is restored. It's beautiful!  

We spent the night with our friends, Phil and Margie. Sunday morning after a great breakfast of Margie's farm fresh eggs, bacon, and homemade sour dough bread made into skillet toast, we headed off for their church, Hamilton First Baptist Church. 

Margie, Phil, the blacksmith, and I have so much in common, in that some of us were Baptist and some of us were Catholic a long time ago. 

Phil told me this would not be like my former my southern Baptist church. The congregation welcomed us with open arms. Then the music started. There was one gentlemen playing the guitar, two women, a teenager and one bass vocalist singing. The music was not any of the hymns I had ever heard. About the third song Margie leaned over and said something about "Oh brother where are thou".   Now you probably know, that movie is about the most favorite movie of the blacksmith and I. We have it on CD, VCR,  and several copies of both of the music CD's.

And this is the song they sang next . . . . Angel Band

If it weren't so far, I'd drive there every week for church.

Good friends, good times, good fellowship, and good food. Thank you Phil and Margie!

Life is Good!