Vintage Sewing Machine Table

When it comes to old treadle sewing machines, I seem have a magnet in me that draws me to them.  One day I spotted this rusty frame (below) sitting in the rain and sun on someone's yard. I couldn't help but ask about it. For a small fee they let me have it. It is a FARMER sewing machine frame, something I don't recall seeing before.

  I cleaned, scrubbed and sanded the frame quite a bit. I was debating what color to paint it. The original was brown, so since I was in a restoring mood, I went with it.

 An old piece of plywood found in the old shed works well for the tabletop. I took a rosewood colored polyurethane (that was lying around from before) for the finish, and there I have it. A simple yet sturdy little table that could be turned into a sewing machine table again, or just to be used as a coffee table. In this case I have my vintage bowl and pitcher sitting on it.

Plus, it makes a nice place for little feet to play . The kids have fun pushing the pedal up and down. This is one 'sewing machine' they are allowed to do that on as much as they want to!

See you again soon! I've got more fun coming up!

Old Quilts update

Remember the old quilts a while back? I have come to give you that promised update. I visited my aunt before the baby came, and found out some neat facts about my buy.

She remembered the quilts, but not too well. She did say they were made of feed sacks. (Actually I now believe only the oldest one, the white one, was from feedsacks) She said when a new shipment of feed had come in, the women had all been eager to go shopping for feed! It had been exciting to be one of the first to be able to pick out the prettiest sacks possible.

She must have found some real nice sacks.

 This was the one I did not know what it was used for. I found out quickly that it used to be a sewing machine cover, so I spread it over mine for the photo.

I treasure these old pieces for now, and look at them now and then. My daughter and I are planning a tea party soon, and hope to use one of the quilts as part of the setup. 

Have a good one!

Another Yard Sale, another good find...

This week was my aunt and uncle's retirement auction. I went there, hoping to snatch something of value to me. I was not disappointed. I found this oval shaped enamelware dish that used to belong to my Grandmother who passed away years ago. O, was I happy! Since I already collect enamelware, this was precious.

The next thing I looked at buying was an old blanket of some sort, used to put under a mattress or possibly on the floor. It was very heavy and I would have no use for it. The only thing that attracted me to it was the fabric cover which looked very vintage. I walked away and later came back and it was still there! My aunt saw me fingering it and said, "That is made of feed sacks". I asked what was in the inside, because I had some sort of hunch it might be valuable to me, and she said an old quilt. That did it! I picked it up and was very happy to pay 5 Bze for it. I couldn't wait to rip open the cover to find out just what was hidden inside. I wondered, if the outside cover is made of old sacks long ago, then how old is the quilt that's inside???

This was the outside cover. I want to open the seams so I can use the pieces individually.

 
 This was on the inside. A stitched together heavy piece of quilt...or as I would discover, quilts!

 

After removing the cover I undid the stitches that held together the inside piece. As I opened it, I discovered layer upon layer of an old quilt made with colorful fabric pieces. To my glad surprise, not just one quilt was used, but another one that looked even older, and another piece of something with an interesting shape that I do not know what it would have been used for!

 This baffles my mind. What do you think it could have been used for??? I will be sure to try and find out...

The nicest quilt. Ain't she a beauty? A shame to cover it up for so many years, but on the other hand, good for me as this way it stayed preserved to a certain extent. I will try to fix the damage of the cut off strip somehow which you cannot see in the photo. Some blocks are quite torn but most are intact. I think I even see fabric in it that could have my mother's dresses when she was young, as she has saved up a small square of every piece of fabric that was ever used to sew her a dress when she was a girl.  How neat is that! She even wrote down what year the dresses were made, so I can see how many she got in one year. Not all that many, and many were made from feed sacks...The good old days that we know so little about. How times have changed!

 A few blocks from up close.

Wow, wow, wow.

Here is the next quilt, the older looking one. It had been patched over in the worst places which I tore off because I wanted to see the quilt in its entirety. This one is worn worse than the other one, so I might just cut some patterns from around the outside and make myself a small quilt or wallhanging out of it. First, I want to know the history before I go ahead and do something like that though.

 here are some closeups of the blocks used on the quilt. Very neat.

 This would have made a gorgeous dress for any little girl. It is my favorite color in this quilt.

I considered myself very lucky. It was well worth 5 dollars to me! The only sad part is the quilts have both been cut to fit into the cover, so now I need to find a way to restore old quilts. I have been thinking about gluing the pieces together, or sewing them together; I am not sure which I will decide to do.

I plan to make another visit to my aunt. My guess is she will be very surprised to see all the old pieces. I have so many questions to ask. Hopefully her memory floodgate will open wide!

Who made the quilts?

Who used them?

Are they all made of feed sack fabric or other fabric?

Would my Grandmother or even my Great-grandmother have used any of the fabrics?

Were they wedding gifts or other special gifts?

I wonder if the women that quilted these quilts came together with horse and buggies for the quilting? These old quilts would have so many stories to tell if they could talk, and I hope to be able to get a hold of some of them before they are lost.

Here is the update!!!

Family Treasures

After my Grandfather passed away a while ago, the aunts, uncles and Grandmother did some housecleaning, and I made sure I would not miss the event. I always want to see what goes into the 'junk' box, and did I have fun rummaging through it...

old cards...

A 1968 Rand McNally road atlas. I have searched google a few times, and can not find any book like it online. I am not sure why that is. I will just pretend that means they are rare, and it is extremely valuable... :)
 

The best find, two old plates. One is ceramic, the other enamelware. Both are cracked.

An old yeast container; I remember my mother using yeast from tins like these. It was not instant yeast, but the kind that had to soak a while before you could use it.

This reader is one my mom picked out for me. She knows I like old stuff...thanks Mom. Jessica loves reading it. Does anyone of my relative readers know, (and is brave enough to comment ;) was this Grandfather's reader when he went to school? I would love to know!

It is a canadian reader filled with lots of good old-fashioned stories and pictures.

An old book that has lovingly received a fabric cover.

And oh, the old letters and envelopes and books that any vintage collector can use!

This one is amazing. I got several short papers, school papers I believe, with the most beautiful hand writing I have ever seen. They must have really focused on neatness back then. Isn't that written with a fountain pen?

This must be how they learned. I also found this penmanship notebook. Not only were the students learning penmanship, but at the same time facts as they copied the sentences over and over...

The book has some blank pages in the end. Maybe I should get out a pen, and try my hand at it; see if I am better now than when I was in school...I was terrible.

...what's important is the memories of my Grandfather that I took with me out of that box...

Vintage Enamelware

Yesterday there was another yard sale, which meant more fortune for me! I have been collecting enamelware for a while without realizing how much I was accumulating. Now, I am thinking all I need is an old cabinet painted white, and I will have a lovely display. 

The flower bowl to the back left was my Grandmothers. It seems to me it was a soup bowl, but it being so long ago, I can hardly recall anymore. The cup to the front left also belonged to her; the handle is broken off. 

The little cream pitcher to the right is something my mom passed on to me. The bowl to the back right, the candleholder, and the two huge cups toward the middle I picked up from yesterday's sale. The candleholder and bowl were free. :) The rest of the items are garage sale finds over many years. I have green enamelware as well, but decided only to show the white here.

I welcome any suggestions for displaying these items, if you have any ideas.

Yard Sale Find

Yesterday I took Jessica along to a yard sale. In case you haven't noticed, I am a bit of an antique freak, so I have to go check out all antiques. I don't think many people around here care that much for old things, so I sometimes get lucky.

(1 BZE $ = .50 US)

  A complete old-fashioned marble checkers game. The children love to play it. I thought it was a good buy

(especially since I checked ebay and saw people are asking $60 US for these!!!...)

Two more teacups with saucers to add to our collection.

 An old wooden handmade box.

Some great books for our little bookworms. I can buy the workbooks here and I think I will just do that for our little bookworm students.

A gallon canning jar: $5.00. I love jars, especially these old ones that are becoming rare!

'Some of the best things in life are free', right? Or, 'one woman's junk is another woman's treasure'. I usually look in the FREE box for stuff, in case this can happen. I was very much pleased to find all these vintage hankies tucked away in it. A steal, isn't it! Especially since Jessica has started her own collection...

It was definitely worth going, and I can't wait for the next one...

What do you think?

The other day I was at a thrift store, and saw this most beautiful ornament in the antique section. A lovely wash basin with matching pitcher, with forget-me-not flowers on it. I had always wanted one, but never come across a good one that I could afford. This one was priced for $38.00. Whew! A lot of money, and I wasn't going to pay that much! But, they had this sale several days later, and I made it happen that I went into the city for some business that day, so I dropped by the store and went right for it; sure enough, there it was. I didn't hesitate. I picked it up and carefully carried it like a real treasure.

So, what do you think? Would you pay $19 for something like this, or would only I do such a thing?

The bad and the good

Today did not go as hoped. I needed some winter clothes for the children; it's stunning how I can't keep them supplied.... Anyway, so I went first and bought my groceries. After I had shopped and loaded them, I realized I had not bought the flax, so back in I went while I left the kiddos on the car, after strict instructions to stay buckled up and not to unlock or open doors for ANYONE. I don't usually do that, leaving them like that, but sometimes you just do what you have to do. In a small country store, I think it's quite safe, but still, you never know.

Well, after that I went to kidworks for clothes, and when I got there I found out they did not have any carts to put my baby in. Duh. How do they expect me to shop in peace if I have to carry around a 24 lb baby?!!! They would not even let me borrow their strollers. That is all right, because they want to sell them, but I don't know how they expect to sell baby clothes when moms can't even put their babies down anywhere safe. As I went out (after buying just one sleeper) they said they hope I come again. I just grunted. I don't feel like going back anytime soon. And then the prices were through the roof! 35, 45 for a jacket? For crying out loud, I better head to Walmart.

I ended up going to Salvation army, but no clothes there worth looking at. I did find a treasure, which is the good thing. Keep reading, and you'll see...

Well, so we were hungry after that and I bought something at Taco Bell. I decided to quickly go see what Goodwill might have after we were done eating, but then my baby fell asleep... I could not be so mean as to wake him up and make him go through another shopping session, so I decided to just head on home.

Anyway, here is my treasure. The two cutest, smallest oil lamps I have ever seen. Since I collect oil lamps, this was a real keeper. So, my day was somewhat unsuccessful, but at least I have two more oil lamps! That is always a good thing, right?

Here is one that is burning beside one my big lamps. It works perfectly.

It actually fits in my hand. I have never seen such a cute lil lamp, have you???

Bathroom decor

For a while I have wondered how best to display my blue canning jars. I have a bunch of them, and today I finally had a great idea. Put some sand in bottom of one, and shells on top, and there you go! Very easy yet very lovely. It reminds me of the ocean...

If you have more great ideas for how to utilize these jars, pass them on! I would like to put my others to good use as well.