Vintage Thingie Thursday

While in Shipshewana we visited a store with lots of lamps and primitive decorations.  We came upon this reproduction vintage sewing machine lamp.

The ladies were teasing and taunting me.  "This lamp is so you, Terry", "we ought to call your husband and tell him to buy this for your birthday", and " you need to buy this, we can change the lamp shade if that's what is bothering you".  I am sure there were many other reasons they rattled off but those are the few that stuck in my brain.  We did end up changing the lamp shade from wool to the cute Civil War Repro fabric.

 

I spent time yesterday working on learning the new Pro Stitcher updates.  I finished three rows of quilting and then ran into trouble.  I will be working with, Elaine Gilmore, Handi Quilter Educator to learn the basics before my classes next week.  Thanks, Elaine for coming to my rescue.  There is hope and a light at the end of the tunnel.

 

I took a break from working on the longarm lessons to meet the vet over at the horse barn.  It was time for Hoot's annual shots and Coggins test. He passed with flying colors.  Now to get him moved out to pasture. 

 

When I get stressed I like to piece.  So I had this block cut out and partially pieced.  I sat down and finished it easily in about a 1/2 hour.

My inspiration for trying this sheep block were my friends, Kelly who raises Shetland Sheep and Lisa who likes to decorate her home with sheep.  It turned out cute and to size.  There are pieces as little as 1" square.  This has helped me decided that I want to make the quilt with 12" blocks.

 

I hope you are having beautiful weather wherever you are.  We are having back-to-back cool, low humidity days that are very comfortable.  It also made for good sleeping at night.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

Vintage Thingie Thursday

Wednesday I got up in a hurry trying to pack a few things for a sewing day down in Peoria.  I had made a fresh fruit salad and strawberry muffins for our lunch.  Unfortunately, it was very foggy and we waited for a while for it to clear.  I also had a quilt on the longarm for  my customer in E. Peoria.  So I turned on the machine and started finishing the last two rows while we waited for the fog to clear.  My friend, Kathy O., who went with me to Paducah came to the house to wait with me.  She watched the longarm run while I loaded the car.

 

We drove about an hour to Washington, IL, to my friend's new home.  If Washington rings a bell, that's were the tornado destroyed many homes on November 17, 2013.  It is amazing how much of the town is rebuilt.  At least 75% of the damage is repaired and it is very apparent that the final 25% is being worked on.  You can see the damage in my blog posts starting HERE.  Three blocks from where we sewed at Cathy K's new home was the hardest hit area.  Cathy K's daughter lost her home and I had gone down to help selvage what we could rescue for them.  When we left to go home I drove Kathy O through the rebuilt area and showed her Cathy's daughter's home.  (I should have taken a picture of the new house.)

 

We all had planned to work on UFO's.  Kathy O bought a 1948 featherweight in Paducah and brought it for sewing.  Cathy K has had a lot of experience with featherweights and was looking over the new baby from Paducah.  Kathy O plugged it in and experimented with sewing with much dismay.  It wasn't sewing a nice stitch.  The two Cathy's started opening up the different compartments of the featherweight only to find out it was very dirty. 

 

Cathy K went and dug out all the necessary tools to clean the machine: old toothbrush, t-shirt material, q-tips, tweezers, etc. The next hour and a half, they dismantled that 1948 featherweight, cleaned, oiled, and adjusted. 

 In the back where the belt goes around by the motor, they found a bent needle wrapped around the shaft.  We are were very disappointed in the condition of the machine.  It was suppose to have been reconditioned and ready to sew. 

 

Thanks to these two women's perseverance, it is running quietly and stitching a beautiful seam.

Happy days are here again.  Kathy O continued sewing the rest of the day on her featherweight.

 

Kathy O and myself headed over to Peoria for the Gems of the Prairie Quilt Guild meeting.  This beautiful quilt was being shown.  Cathy K and her friend, Cindy, designed and promoted this quilt-making.  This quilt is in memory of the Washington Tornado victims and the rebuilding of the town.  The city has decided to use the money raised from raffling the quilt to rebuild the park in Washington.  You may purchase raffle tickets, $1 a ticket or 6 for $5, through the Washington, Illinois Chamber of Commerce.

 

Here is a close-up of the center house, Washington Strong! 

 

Today I will be busy planting flowers and playing in the dirt before the rain arrives.

 

I have linked up with My Quilt Infatuation.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

 

 

 

 

 

Vintage Thingie Thursday

Last fall I received this quilt from a couple who purchased it at an auction.

They asked me to put a back on it and a binding.  The lady passed away before I could get the repair done.  I finished the work on Friday and handed the quilt to her mate at the memorial service Saturday morning.  He was so excited, he spread the quilt out on the trunk of his car to view it.  His joy at viewing the quilt was worth all the hours I put into it.

 

Before I did anything to the quilt, I took it to an appraiser.  I didn't want to ruin the value of the quilt by doing work on it. 

The appraiser didn't recommend appraising it and to go ahead with the request for backing and binding. 

The quilt is 123 years old. 

The quilt measure about 83" x 84".  It contains many different types of fabrics, velvet, suitings, silk which is fractured, wool, cotton.

The back was very interesting civil war type fabrics, it is foundation pieced.

Of course, I forgot to take a picture of the back. 

I laid it out on a sheet on my deck to try and get a picture of it.

I tied the backing on with embroidery floss using buttons as support.  It was a fabulous quilt with all the hand embroidery and variety of fabrics.

 

Today I am linking up with My Quilt Infatuation's Needle & Thread Thursday.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

 

 

 

Vintage Thursday & Cooking It Up

Today my blog is in vintage memory of my mother and a long time family friend, Willamae.  This week is the anniversary of my mother's death 17 years ago at the age of 59.  She was a fabulous wife and mother along with being a great friend to many.  She was healthy until the last two months of her life when she was diagnosed with a gleoblastoma, brain tumor.  She is the reason I love to quilt, sew and craft.  Also, she was the caregiver in our family and I have taken over that roll.  Believe me those have not been easy shoes to fill.  Love and miss you, Mom.

 

Willamae just passed away on Jan. 5th.  She has been our family friend as long as I can remember.  My first memory was of her was working with my mother as a radiologist.  She also was my Grandma Ruth's best friend.  The adventures those two had together would fill a book or two.  I hope my mom, Willamae and Grandma Ruth are having a great reunion in heaven!

 

Yesterday was another whirlwind day.  I went to the basement to get a black and white quilt started.  I immediately was interrupted by a phone call from Matt, who wanted to come look at my furnace and see if he could add a couple of vents in the basement.  After checking out the situation and a short trip to Holt Supply, I now have two vents in my sewing area.  Yippee, another item checked off my To Do List.

 

While on Facebook I found some yummy looking recipes and decided to try them.  I grabbed a bag of my shredded chicken.  See post HERE about making pre-cooking chicken.  First, I found the recipe for Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole.

 

I had so much chicken in the freezer bag, I decided to make this recipe of Chicken Fried Rice.  It is better than take out.

 

This morning I made Toffee Crackers for our Sew Days this weekend.  I have already made and froze chili for Saturday lunch.  Later today I will finish the second part of my dessert which will be homemade custard to pair with the Toffee Crackers. 

 

Can you tell, I just love cooking in my new kitchen?  Now to head to the basement to finish the black and white quilt for my Friday Finish post.  Also, the quilt will get delivered to its owner this weekend.

 The quilting pattern is Drop of Paisley.

 

Its sunny and bright outside and the temperature is suppose to reach 32 degrees.  We are having a heat wave and I am very thankful.

 

Today I have linked up with Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

 

 

Throw Back Thursday

I recently surprised my Dad and my step-mother, Pat, by driving out to Altoona, Iowa, for a family brunch.  I didn't tell anyone I was coming because each year I seem to catch some bug.  Many of our friends have been sick and I didn't want to disappoint my dad by telling him I was sick again this holiday.  The look on everyone's face when they answered the door was a Kodak moment.

 

Above Dad and Pat are watching the great-grandchildren and grandchildren open gifts.

 

Thanks Eby for taking our picture!

 

I did have a little excitement just before arriving at the brunch.  I stopped at a McDonald's to use the restroom and to put Eby's address in the Garmin.  It was 48 degrees when I left home at 6:30am but it was 27 degrees when I arrived at McDonald's.  I stepped out of the car to run into the restaurant, not grabbing a coat, and proceeded to across the driveway falling flat out on my right side.  Glad no one saw this graceful move.  Its not the fall that hurts but that sudden stop that gets you.  I got up and grabbed my purse while looking around to see if anyone was looking.  I went into the restroom and looking into the mirror, I realized I was wet from my right knee up to my waist.  I used the hand dryer to dry my right side off, standing like stork to get the side of my leg up closer to the dryer.  Drying out took 10-15 minutes.  My hands had some road rash and my knee was skinned up.  It took about a week to get over the soreness. 

The puppies were having fun.  On the left is Ella, the seven week old Airedale, and Roscoe, 2 year old Yorkie.  I got my Yorkie fix, holding and loving Roscoe.  I lost my Yorkie, Rascal, in October and I am broken hearted over the loss.  Rascal was my quilting buddy.

 

During my visit with my Dad, he showed me this picture on his cell phone.  This is a picture of me probably about five or six years old standing by my dad's Scout.  We lived on a dead end street with a circle at the end.  Dad would pull all the neighborhood kids in a big train of sleds, up and down our quiet street.  Dad would create a big snow pile at the end of the street so we could sled and play outside in the winter.  I had two buddies growing up, Lex and Tracy.  We still stay in touch and love to reminisce about the things we did growing up.

 

Hope you are all staying warm.  When I went to do horse chores yesterday afternoon it was -5 degrees.  I had two stalls to clean and had to sit in the car inbetween stalls to warm up.  Taking the wheelbarrow out for dumping was frigid and hard on the bare skin.  I am happy I don't have a whole barn of horses to maintain.  Below, Skye curled on my pile of laundry to take a warm nap.

 I even did some pressing of my Bonnie Hunter mystery units in the kitchen because its warmer there.

 

Last but not least, I have uncovered one longarm and working on this cute polka dot quilt.  My goal is to finish it today for a Friday Finish picture.

 

Today I am linking up with Kelly at My Needle Infatuation.  Also, check out this blog by Diana about organizing with baskets.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

 

 

 

 

 



Vintage Thingie Thursday

A while back I had an adventure with my friend, Barb.  We went to a home that was filled with treadle machines and a few feather weights.  Oh my, oh my, where do we begin!

This was their reading lamp.  This was super cute.

 

Every where we turned there were more machines.

 

This is a Wheeling & Wilson.

 

So I came home with a Feather Weight table.

 

Grandma Esther's feather weight now has its own table!  Its so cool!

 

I will be going back as I left my name on a beautiful oak treadle machine.

I had to leave before I was tempted to buy more.  I don't have endless room to store these things.

 

Have a great Thursday!

Yours in quilting,

Terry

 

 

 

Vintage Thingie Thursday - Grandpa's Garden

So last Thursday, when I didn't post a story, I was headed to the Quad Cities.  We made a stop at Flick's by the airport.  Flick's is a home improvement store for kitchens, baths, and lighting.  We had purchased a bathroom sink  and our dining room light there previously.  We are trying to do our homework so when the contractor gets back to us with a floor plan, we know what items and style we want.  It was a productive morning looking at cabinetry, counter tops, bathroom vanities and flooring.  There are so many choices on the market.  What I liked best was the time to look.  We arrived early and were allowed to browse without be hounded by a sales person. 

We also stopped at Johnson's Carpet Shoppe on the way into town to further research the vinyl flooring the contractor recommended.  We looked at some flooring at Flick's but what we saw at Johnson's Carpet was stunning.  We brought home samples to see how things match our current woodwork and décor.  TaDah! We have flooring picked out.  The new vinyl flooring looking like hardwood but is more durable for a four dog family!  Doing the happy dance!

Next to Flick's is a landscaping yard with loads of mulch.  Bingo!  We now have picked out the color of mulch and can buy a truck load.   Another accomplishment!  We have picked out golden mulch due the possibility of arsenic being in the red mulch.

I haven't posted a Vintage Thingie and linked up with the Colorado Lady for a while.  While tending to my flowers yesterday it dawned on me that many of my perennials are vintage family heirlooms.

We have been in our home 25 years this September.

These are irises that my grandfather gave to me and we transplanted them from his home when I moved here

I have lost a few, but I think keeping them going for 25 years is an accomplishment.

Later I will have pale lavender iris with purple highlights.

It is hard keeping the four dogs out of the flowerbed by the deck.  They are pretty good at sneaking through almost any fencing.

 

I also moved several style of hostas from Grandpa's garden.

This solid green hostas will be waist high and about four feet wide by the middle of summer.

These small hosta with the white margins travel in a border along the flower bed to the side of the house.

Last but not least, Coral Bells.  These are about 23 years old.  I transplanted these from my parents' home.  The Coral Bells wrap our back deck and line our north lot line.  The humming birds love them.  Its fun to sit on the deck quietly as the sun goes down and watch the humming birds feed.

 

The benefits to having vintage perennials are the low maintenance.  Every 4 or 5 years I split a few of the plants that get crowded in the Spring.  Otherwise, I weed and mulch each Spring and then enjoy the low maintenance the rest of the year.  I do plant a few annuals for color but not the amount that I did when we first purchased our home.  I will post pictures of the annuals on my Friday Finishes tomorrow.

 

Today I am linking up with the Colorado Lady.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

Vintage Thingie Thursday

Oooooo.... Wednesday morning was so fun.  I joined two friends at the new Flour House bakery and coffee bar.  MMmmmmm ... good, we sampled bagels and a cream cherry scone.  Melt in your mouth good.  Sorry to say, I forgot to take pictures of the goodies.

At 10 o'clock we headed next door to Beetz Me shop.  This shop is quaint and fun!  Look at these vintage sunglasses and hats.  The whole store is full of vintage, worldly, and unique home décor and gift items.  As well as, some fun summer clothing and accessories.  Its fun to get of the house and visit the local shops and have fun.  We sure caught a case of the giggles trying on the vintage cat's eye sunglasses.

 

I couldn't pass up the wine selection.  I am not a big drinker but enjoy an occasional glass of wine.  I bought a bottle of Raspberry Moscato.  It should be refreshing on a hot day when we finally get another one.  Today, we may see 60 degrees today with scattered showers later.

 

Today I have been organizing and packing my suitcases for my speech tonight at the Sterling Quilt Guild.  I laid them all out on the sofa first.

 

Then packed the quilts from last to first.  Rock n' Roll we are ready to go.

 

Have a geat Thursday.  Today I am linking up with Colorado Lady.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

 

 

Vintage Thursday

Today I am sharing one of my favorite figurines, Holly Hobbie.  This figurine was produced in 1971.  I looked up some the information about Holly Hobbie's many adventures on Wikipedia (information below the picture.)

 

Today I am linking up with Vintage Thingie Thursday over at the Colorado Lady BlogSpot.

In the late 1960s, Hobbie sold distinctive artwork of a cat-loving, rag dress-wearing little girl in a giant bonnet to American Greetings. This series of illustrations became popular, and her originally nameless character became known as "Holly Hobbie".
As a contract artist, Hobbie worked with the Humorous Planning department at American Greetings under art director Rex Connors, who was responsible for launching "blue girl" as the most identifiable of the Hobbie characters. Also working in Humorous Planning at that time (1973, 1974) was Bob Childers, a veteran humorous concept artist and designer. Childers insisted that there should be a doll. Since no one seemed to listen, Childers went home and, on his own time, hand-stitched the first prototype and presented it to Connors. Rex Connors then took the doll to Tom Wilson, Creative Vice President, after which American Greetings approached Knickerbocker Toys concerning the Holly Hobbie license.
In 1974, Knickerbocker Toys licensed the Holly Hobbie character for a line of rag dolls, which were a popular toy for young American girls for several years. Holly Hobbie products are now once again being marketed by American Greetings in association with Carlton Cards.
In 1980, Holly was featured in a novel by Richard Dubelman entitled The Adventures of Holly Hobbie. In this book, Holly Hobbie is a ghost who lives in a painting that was painted in 1803. She comes out of the painting to help a descendant, Liz Dutton, find her missing father, an archaeologist who has vanished in Guatemala.
In 2006, a redesigned Holly Hobbie was launched as part of a spin-off product line called "Holly Hobbie and Friends." She was featured in a movie titled Holly Hobbie and Friends: Surprise Party. The movie aired on Nick Jr. and is available on DVD.^[1] The traditional line still exists, with the back story that the "original" Holly is the great-grandmother of the "new" Holly.
In 2006, Mattel released a brand new Holly Hobbie doll line, which includes Holly (blue eyes and blonde hair), Amy (green eyes and red hair), and Carrie (brown eyes and black hair). The dolls feature an all new face sculpt, a new body style, and flat feet. There is also a series of smaller Holly, Amy, and Carrie figures; each of these figures arrives with a farm animal (Holly has a dog named Doodles, Amy has a pig named Cheddar, and Carrie has a cat named Bonnett). Separate doll outfits are being sold; each outfit can be customized by the child or collector. Holly Hobbie (the cartoon) also has three popular songs, two sung in her own voice, "Just Like You" and "The Things That Make You Special." LeAnn Rimes sang "Twinkle in Her Eye," the theme song.

Yours in quilting,
Terry

Vintage Thursday - Featherweight

Today I get to share my vintage beauty.  I started out sewing on this machine at my grandmother's house, while my parents were on vacation.

The case is in good shape.

 

Isn't she a beauty!!

I just had her tuned up this fall and she is ready to sew!!

 

For so many years I didn't know what a gem I had received from my grandmother.  But now I treasure her.

 

I have the car loaded and I am headed to my church's quilt retreat.

 

Today I am linking up with the Colorado Lady.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

 

Vintage Thursday

I am not sure how it all started, but we tease our friends, Mary and Scott, about their super large master bedroom.  Its big enough to have a workout area for the tread mill but also teased that it would be big enough for a brass pole for pole dancing.  Pole dancing is such a good work out for your abs and arm strength. 

Scott and Mary enjoy shopping at garage sales, second hand stores, auction, etc.  On one of their trips they picked up this record album for me.  Isn't this a hoot!  Music of the Stripper and other fun songs for the Family!  Oh really, this is not what I think of when I think of family fun.  I can't find a date on the record or the cover.

I love the we have great friends that we can have fun with and some teasing, too.

Beautiful sunrise this morning.

The temperature is much warmer today, about 20 degrees already.  Headed to the basement to sew.

 

Today I am linking up with Suzann at Colorado Lady and My Quilt Infatuation.  Bloggers love to hear from their readers, leave us all a comment today!!

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

Vintage Thursday

Its always a little bit of challenge to figure out what to Vintage thing to write about.  Today I have chosen my quilt ladders.

Because the ladders are about 6' tall, its difficult to get it all in the picture.  This  ladder has an "A" frame shape to it.  I found it in a wonderful antique store in Washington, IL, just a half a block away from the Quilt Stop.  A van load of quilters had headed to Washington, I believe for someone's birthday, and spent the day shopping.  After lunch we strolled over to view all the goodies in the antique store and I found the ugliest ladder.  It looked very gray because the wood was old and weathered.  Some the ladder parts still had hardware on them so we knew it had been an extension ladder, plus it had quite a bit of silver roof paint on it.  I just fell in love with the one section and could imagine it in my country style home holding quilts.

 

The secret to turning an ugly ladder into a beauty is using varnish or polyurethane.  We did some light sanding and then used three coats of polyurethane and it now looks like a piece of furniture.

WARNING:  you must seal wood before hanging quilts on it.  The wood acids will stain and damage your fabrics.  Have you ever seen a quilt that was stored in a cedar chest?  Usually yellow stains where the fabric touched the sides of the chest.  Please seal shelves, quilt racks, trunks and ladders that you might display or hang quilts on for protection from wood acid damage.

This ladder is about 6' by 36" at the bottom.  It has lots of room.

This ladder was one of two that we found when cleaning out my Grandma's.  They were going to be thrown out as they weren't safe to stand on.  My husband and I knew there was a possibility they would make good quilt ladders.  We took them home to our garage.  While I was gone to a retreat one weekend.  My husband dug them out of our garage.  Cut them down to manageable sizes and polyurethaned them.  We gave each one of my "quilty" friends one for Christmas that had helped us with Grandma's house or cleaning out the farm.  My friends were thrilled, as none of them had a ladder for displaying quilts.

 

That Christmas my husband also surprised me that he had saved one for me!

This one is much narrower and sits in our stairway on the landing.  Make sure your quilts are out of direct sunlight.  You don't want sun rot or fading of your gorgeous quilts.

Today I am linking up with Susann of the Colorado Lady Blog, My Quilt Infatuation, and

Live A Colorful Life.

Yours in quilting,
Terry