Quote for the Day:
"We admitted we were powerless over our addiction..."
~ Step 1 of the Twelve Step Program
"Hi, my name's Loretta, and I am addicted to sewing machines."
"Hi, Loretta, welcome!"
I can see it now...Sewing Machine Collector's Anonymous. Seriously...we need a program! Oh...and one for Fabric Collector's, too! :)
Last night Andy TWISTED my arm and FORCED me to attend an auction with him. Some of the items looked like they were from an estate, but most of the items came from an antique store. They were all very clean and nice and some even still had the tags or stickers from the store on them. (The auctioneer said they tried to remove the stickers, but some they couldn't get off easily.)
I had seen the pictures of things up for auction on the online site we go to to scope out auctions we want to attend, and I had seen a vintage sewing machine that was going to be at this auction.
Now, let me tell you right here and now that we saw that another more popular auctioneer was having an auction last night, too, so we figured that the dealers, etc., would be at that auction and the "regular folks" like us would be at this auction.
And I can tell you right now that that is exactly what happened!!! Things went DIRT CHEAP! Much cheaper than we could have even imagined!
So, in my defense, I saw it as my responsibility to bid on this vintage sewing machine that I've been wanting to add to my collection for a while now...
For those of you who don't know, this is a Singer 301 long bed, slant-needle sewing machine, manufactured in Anderson, SC, in either 1950 or 1951. It is considered by sewers and quilters to be the "Big Sis" to the Singer Featherweight, one of which I was able to purchase at an auction in Maine in April.
This machine was made so it could be portable or to fit into a special cabinet. The left-hand side of the bed flips up for storing in it's case. Mine came in a case, but it was so water damaged that it is not worth trying to save.
Now, for the kicker...remember when I said it was my responsibility to bid on this machine??? Well...I was the ONLY bidder on this machine and got it for a crisp $2.00 bill!!!
Okay...all of the quilters who read my blog are now picking themselves up off the floor at this point! LOL
They sell on Ebay for between $75 and $225!!! See...I told you things were going cheaper than even what we could have imagined!
As soon as I got it home, I looked at the manual to find out how to oil and lubricate the machine and motor...did as the manual said to do...then plugged her in and she purred like a kitten! YAY!!! She was very clean, inside and out. If it hadn't been for thread on the bobbins that came with her, I would have thought she had never been used as there are no scratches or pin marks in the paint on the machine's bed.
I feel extremely blessed to have gotten this little gem! :) Right place, right time!
We also picked up an antique Warren Telechron mantel clock made during WWII, from what we were able to find on the internet. Plugged it in and it started right up! :)
This is the picture we found on the internet of our clock...
Ours is in almost perfect condition (think antique store item) and we paid a whopping $4.00 for it! :)
I'm sure that whoever was having this stuff auctioned off was not too happy with the low prices that things were going for. :( But as buyers, Andy & I were very happy! :D
I said in my last blog post that I would review the audiobook that I was just starting at that time...
"This Is Not The Story You Think It is...A Season of Unlikely Happiness" by Laura Munson gets TWO THUMBS DOWN from me. I'd give it more thumbs down, but I only have two to use.
I wasn't even able to make it past the first hour. Boring and self-adulatory is the best way to describe it. It was about as interesting as reading a quantum physics textbook. :(
Okay...that's my opinion...everyone's entitled to their own opinion, and that was my opinion and review of that book...for what it's worth! :)
Today I made another batch of blackberry jam...this time I made cooked jam and water-bath canned it. This is the third batch of jam I've gotten from our blackberries this year...the other two batches were freezer jam and I got 7 jars from each batch. The cooked jam recipe made 10 jars today. I think there may be enough berries left on the bushes to make one more batch before they come to the end of their harvest.
Loretta
Hi there, I have just about the same story as you about the sewing machines! I inherited a featherweight with table last year and just two weeks ago found a 301 at a thrift store for 10.00. My 301 was pristine too! Not even a baby dust bunny! She is the black, short bed version which works for me because she fits in the feather weights table. Although the case was salvageable it looked like someone had slopped jam down the side of it and never cleaned it up! I took some time with her and even though the case is not perfect it works. I too have tension issues with mine and I am wondering if you have any suggestions that I may be able to try. Machine repair is not my strength....collecting them is!! Thanks for your help. I found you on the quilting board.
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