Pickin' in the West Bottoms

     A friend recently invited me to travel to Kansas City for the well- known event of 1st Friday, which actually lasts all weekend.  We chose Saturday so we could also visit City Market, which is the open air produce market in downtown Kansas City.  Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of it.  It is very colorful, as you can imagine.  We loaded up on fresh radishes, onions, asparagus and some pansies.  We stopped buying produce because we wanted to leave room for vintage shopping in the West Bottoms.  This area used to contain the Kansas City Stockyards and warehouse district.  Most of these buildings had been abandoned until some enterprising souls decided to take them over for antique markets.  I had never been to visit them, so jumped at the chance when invited.  

  Our first stop was Good Ju-Ju, only open that first weekend of every month.  Two factory floors of vintage and repurposed furniture, as well as vintage collectibles.  I found a Toby Mug to add to my collection, my first made by Royal Doulton.

He is the one front and center, joining his new family.

    We moved on to the next building, called Vintage Rose.  My first find there was a Norman Rockwell tray.  It is called "Last Ear of Corn".  Rockwell's characters are always so amusing.

Isn't it great?

    I have been looking for a vintage sewing chair for my Singer 15-91 and count that as my best find of the day.  Not only did I find one, but found two alike.  $20.00 each, or both for $30.00.  Of course, I took both of them.   I immediately put the second one on the Facebook page of my LQS and found it a good home with Jessica, another vintage machine enthusiast.

And with storage under the seat.

Here's how it looks with the 15-91.  

     And it's comfortable!

     Don't you love the retro upholstery?  At first I thought I wanted to recover it, but have since decided I will leave it alone.  I think it fits the machine.  

Hope you are getting some sewing done.  I'll blog about that next time, just had to share my picking adventure.

Judy

Rocheport shopping and starting the graduation quilt.

    This past Sunday, I joined my favorite group of rug hookers for a little hook-in in Rocheport, MO.  They have a great wool shop, White Horse Antiques.  The owner, Marcia, teaches rug-hooking and this is where I learned.  She has a monthly hook-in during the winter months and I try to go every chance I get.  On this occasion, I went a little early so I could buy some rug binding from Marcia, but I also wanted to stop by one of my favorite antique shops.  I always find something I like there.  The owner looks for sewing collectibles, so that inventory changes all the time.  Here's what I found;

This adorable little cockatoo pincushion.  So cute.

These aren't sewing related, but they were still a nice addition to my collectible cabinet.

I have looked for a Scrabble game with wooden tiles for years (for a price I was willing to pay), and they had one.  They also had these little wooden circus toys.  The graphics on them are wonderful.  They have a different animal on the reverse side.  The horse has a zebra on the reverse and the elephant has a bear.  I would love to know what kind of a set they were.  They almost look like puzzle pieces, but don't fit together. 

Back to the sewing room.  Here's what I've been doing.

Twenty of these adorable nine patches went to guild meeting this week for a swap.  We take some every month and at the end of the year, we take home the same number we have contributed.

I did a lot of cutting from my 2-1/2" scraps so I'm ready to sew some for next month.  They will make great leaders and enders.

These are bingo boards.  We had the directions for making them before the meeting, then played bingo on them for fat quarter prizes.  Now they will go into a charity quilt.  I thought this was a great idea. 

What's on my design wall this week?

I have started my grandson's graduation quilt.  

It will have some pieced stars, as well as some stars with embroidery.  In Logan's case, it will mostly be sports related embroidery designs.  

I don't have any quilt designing software (and don't want any).  My designing is done with a book of traditional quilt blocks and a piece of graph paper.  A simple quilter has simple ways.

The star, of course, is Sawtooth Star and the alternate block is Homeward Bound.  I thought that appropriate for a young man leaving home for college.  We always want them to find their way home again. 

What's on your design wall?

Judy

Quilts for local charities

     I am so proud of our quilt guild.  Not only do we make Quilts of Valor for our local veterans, but for the past 3-4 years, we have been making quilts for local charities.  This year, we made 19 collectively, and they were shown at our guild meeting last Tuesday night.  I took pictures of some of them.  I got a late start so missed some of the early ones.  They will be presented to our local women's shelter and one of the nursing homes.  In the past, we have also donated to our Sheriff's Department and Police Department.

And here is mine…I know, I'm a real slacker, I only made one.

I have been interested in the big block quilts I have seen recently.  This is a free pattern on the Moda Bake Shop website.  It is called Moda Love and is available in different sizes, using different pre-cuts.

I quilted it using an all-over floral pattern.

     We had snow predicted today, so I cancelled my plans for the day to avoid slick roads.  The snow never did materialize, but I managed to accomplish something anyway.  I pieced the backs for two quilt tops, then basted and pinned them for quilting.  The best part is that I pieced them from my stash.  I love the look of pieced backs, but I hate making them.  It's something about all of those long seams and figuring the math, so you have it large enough and keep it symmetrical.  I tend to have a lot of 1 yard pieces in my stash.  I am trying to revise my thinking on this and buy larger pieces when I find something I like, especially when it is appropriate for backing.  What size do you buy for your stash?  I think it would be interesting to hear other opinions.

Judy

A Week of Vintage Treasures

        I really didn't "need" any more vintage sewing machines, but I have recently had two more offered to me.  They both belonged to some extended family, my son-in-law's family members.  Here's some pictures. 

This is a Lady Kenmore Model 89, c. 1959 or so.  I have previously restricted myself to Singers, but after doing a little research, decided to welcome this one to the herd.  She was built in West Germany in the factory also making Pfaffs and has a pretty good reputation in the VSM world.  Apparently, her only problem area is the zigzag cams, which are plastic.  Everything else looks like it is metal.  We had to do some wiring before we could even plug it in, then had smoke from the motor, so thought it was a lost cause.  I had already sprayed with Liquid wrench and applied a liberal dose of oil, but she ran slow and the motor overheated.  Oh well, it was worth a try, we said.  Two days later, my husband decided to try again.  I guess she just needed to soak up oil, because she took right off and the motor stayed cool.  She has a knee control, which I haven't used since Home Ec class in high school, so that is presenting a learning opportunity.  Peachy, the pink Atlas seems happy to have another mid-century member of the family.  I have named the Kenmore Minnie, from the woman who owned her.  She was my son-in-law's grandmother.

This a Singer 128, crinkle finish, blackside.  Yes, I know, I already had one of those.  I declined at first, then after thinking about it, talked myself into taking it.  Here's my argument; it has all the blackside parts, it has the original manual, and is in excellent condition.  And, how often do you have two vintage blacksides come your way?  There is just some kind of karma going on there.  I have been wanting a handcrank to use for heritage demonstrations here in our little historic village, so I will take the other 128 and convert it to a handcrank.  

When I picked up the 128 from my SIL's parents, Beverly (mom) offered me this box of vintage quilt blocks.  They were made by her mother, Alice.  There are many different patterns, some hand pieced, some machine pieced, but all in excellent condition.  I think Alice loved the process of piecing as much as I do.  It looks like she wanted to try every block ever made.  I can relate to that.

     

   And then to top off my week, I received this antique darning egg in the mail this morning.  It is a birthday gift from friend, Lola.  The handle is silver and momogrammed. Isn't it adorable on one of the vintage blocks?

     It has been quite a week for a picker and stitcher.  I hope yours has been good to you too.

Judy

A Little Picking

      I dropped by the local vintage shop last week and this machine followed me home. It is a 127, I think, and dates to 1892 by serial number.  Most of the decals are gone, but the spoked hand wheel sparked my interest and the price was hard to pass up, even to use it for parts.  Although, we have now bonded and parting it out is not an option.  I think she will become a hand crank.  It looks like she started life as a treadle, had a motor and light added at some point and was put in a case.  The case is marked Montgomery Ward and is sturdy, though ugly.  The motor started smoking when we plugged it in, so the decision was easy to make.  The hand wheel turns, bobbin winder works and the shuttle case is there.  She deserves another chance at life.  I will order the hand crank this week and keep you posted.

     I also picked up a couple of new/old pincushions.  That's actually what I was shopping for, not another sewing machine.  Here they are:

I also have been watching eBay for a sewing bird that I could afford.  I don't know what happened, but managed to get this one at a reasonable price.  Of course, it is clamped to the treadle.  Where else?

That same day, I attended the Country Patchwork Quilt Show.  They had a lovely display of antique doll quilts which grabbed my attention.  Here are some pictures of them.

Aren't they great!  I love the blue one on the left in the second picture.  

Here are some of my other favorites from the show.

And there was a Dear Jane, very well done.  

Isn't it gorgeous!

   I have been sewing, too, not just shopping and going to quilt shows.  I finally got the "Follow the Leader" quilted and bound.  It is on the bed, waiting for a label, so it can go to our quilt show this week-end.  I should have kept track of the hours of machine quilting involved.  It measures 96 X 112, so I know it was a lot.  I was really proud of my Viking Mega-Quilter.  After the initial problem with the skipped stitches which was solved by the needle lube, it handled it like a champ.  Here are some photos.

     Thats all for now, but am saving some photos to post after our guild meeting tomorrow night.  I have finished my challenge project, which was "Reach for the Stars".  It was to contain multiple stars and to be a personal challenge.  I chose paper piecing as my personal challenge and finished 10 blocks as well as several Dear Jane blocks.  Paper piecing no longer holds a hatchet over my head.  Thats a good feeling.  Until then, Keep on Stitchin'.

Judy

Pickin ' in the Ozarks

     I couldn't seem to find this picture when I was doing the earlier post, but wanted to include it.  We'll call this an addendum.  We stopped at a couple of flea markets on our way home from Quilt Camp in the Ozarks and I found two little sewing collectibles.  We also found a Singer 15-91 in pretty good condition for $35.00, but passed it up.  I have had non-buyer's remorse for days.  That is almost worse than buyer's remorse.  So, here is what I did buy, a sock darning kit in a wooden case and a needlepoint pincushion.

Here is the other side of the pincushion and a little better view of the darning kit.  The thread post fits into the wooden case. 

Its not a very long drive back to the flea market with the 15-91 and Gina is always ready for a road trip. 

Stay tuned for the next installment.

Keep on pickin'.  

Judy