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