Showcasing Some Of My Treasures

‘Sew’ many people have asked me, ‘Michelle, when you buy sewing machines and fix them up, do you keep them, or do you sell them?’ My answer is, ‘I keep them!’ These machines are my babies, I guess. When I get them, I doctor them up to be fully functional again, and then I sit back, look, and enjoy them.

Sometimes  finding a place for them IS a challenge, but I guess I DON’T have to have them ALL out, do I? I do have most of them out, and when I figure out more ways to display them, I will bring out more. I SEW enjoy looking at them. They make me happy. They are ALL over my house. The machines I am going to show you today are in my basement.

This machine is the one I most recently got from a Craigslist seller. This is the one we got up early for, dragging my brother and SIL out of bed early on her birthday to go with us, and we drove two hours to pick it up.

Look at her now. I added a few ‘foo foos’ for eye candy, and I love looking at her.

These pink valances were an afterthought. I bought them at Goodwill, because I wanted the buttons. I came  home, cut the buttons off them, and set the valances aside. I then got the idea to put them on a spring rod and hide the first shelf of the bookcase the machine is sitting on, (and I also thought they would look cute with my pink machine.) That shelf has a huge roll of butcher paper, which my quilting friends and I use for tracing patterns, etc.  To hang the valances, I needed to sew the buttons back on.

I also needed to shorten the tabs. Take note of the jelly rolls under the cheese domes. I got that idea from my friend Amy.  Look carefully at the pictures in her sewing room and see if you can find her cheese domes!

The valances hide most of the second shelf too, which holds a roll of freezer paper, also for quilting needs. (We should NEVER run out!) I almost wish I had bought the other two valances. Live and learn!

Remember the Domestic machine I just bought for the case, then realized how nice the machine was? How about the PINK BROTHER…and my Blue Beauty? All lined up, just like on a used car lot.

I have a couple machines on this bookshelf. My black Singer 301 I bought a couple years ago is on one shelf, and my Kenmore Model 52 is on the other shelf.

My second Craigslist sewing machine purchase, my Necchi Lelia 514, is on one shelf, and an electronic So-Fro I picked up at Goodwill which also works perfectly, is hiding under the machine cover (made from a pillow sham) on the other shelf. (My first Craigslist sewing machine purchase was my Brunswick treadle in the parlor cabinet, which lives in my office.)

That’s just some of my machines, and where I have displayed them.

A couple weeks ago, Louie and I went junkin’. (I know…big surprise, huh?LOL!) I did very well. If you look at the fabrics on the left side of the picture, from the bottom up, the first 6 fabrics were all bought for about $5. The light green one (the 2nd one up, is a fat quarter) The 3rd, 4th and 6th fabrics are half yard cuts, and from the same designer.  I believe (without looking) that the first one from the bottom, and the 5th one up are 1 yard cuts, maybe two.

The Christmas fabric is one yard, and the 2nd and 4th fabrics from the left, which are the same design, are both over 1 yard cuts.

The pink polka dot fabric is two king size pillow cases, which will be re-cut into fat quarters probably, or saved to use to cut up when I cut out a quilt. The second fabric is actually a big sheet size ‘cheater’ panel, which I will probably quilt, just as that, and the pink/orange fabric just made me happy. It is over a yard too.

I got this cute piece of flannel at Goodwill for 88cents. It is a one yard piece, and I’m sure it will be used on the back of a Quilts for Kids quilt at some point.

I got these two quilt books at another thrift shop for a dollar apiece. The Machine Quilting book is not a pattern book, but talks about which quilting designs to use on certain quilt designs. I probably will be passing this one on, as I am a stippling/ loop-de-loop kinda girl!

It’s been raining today, and it is still very muggy. My sweetie is working on my van. He changed the upper intake gaskets and bolts on my van, and now he is changing the motor to the left side sliding door. It’s a mess, yes?

I’m watching a ‘Little House on The Prairie’ marathon, and later, we are going to go out for supper with some friends.

Hope your day is wonderful, and you have a wonderful weekend. The USA has a long weekend this weekend with Labor Day being on Monday. After the rain gets out of the way today, it looks like the rest of the weekend will be nice, but cooler. Hopefully, we’ll get some highway time on our Goldwing.

Be blessed!

Michelle