In Search Of Debra Stone! ((Item Lost, Item Found!))

Debra, I hope you read this!

I just got a message from Mary at Mary’s Quilt Shop in Bedford and said they have found your “missing item!”

They are holding it for you or will mail it to you if you need them to.

Please email marysquiltshop@comcast.net or call them at 814-310-2278.

They don’t have an address or number for you, but said you stopped by because you read my blog every day and they hope you read this post too!

So that’s the LOST part of this post!

How about a FOUND PART?!

Yesterday while in MILLERSTOWN PA ((Don’t ask me why I called it Millersburg yesterday, there are a heck of a lot of burgs in PA!)) I spied this little round wooden case and I had to check it out:

Oh BOY!

I found the key tied to the top handle, put it into the lock, not sure of what model of machine I’d find inside or what kind of condition it might be in…..I lifted the lid, and:

Oh my goodness! This is a rare find for me! The first thing I see is that it has the “matte” or “godzilla crinkle" finish. Thinking it is a 99k --- I look a little closer. Look at the bobbin winder! Look at the bobbin cover area…it has a shuttle/bullet bobbin! This thing is really cool!

It's a 128!

I was also amazed at how black the bobbin cover slides are. Later this afternoon I found my way to the Featherweight booth here at the show and was telling them about it, and I wound up taking it up to their booth---

Here you can see a close up of the rough matte texture, and the dirty bobbin shuttle area!

I haven’t done the research on the serial number yet. The faceplate on the side is also as black as the bobbin cover slides:

I did some quick web research and this is what I found according to SingerSewingInfo.Co.UK:

‘Blackside’ Machines

During the period 1941 to 1953 Singer occasionally produced what are known as ‘Blackside’ models. Unlike the standard machines, many of the normally bright plated parts utilised a chemically blacked finish instead. This is thought to have been in response to shortages of nickel and chromium.

It is a characteristic of these machines that there seems to have been no hard and fast rule as to which ‘Blackside’ parts were fitted. Generally needle plates, bobbin covers and faceplates etc. would all be Blackside, but various knobs, levers, screws etc could be either bright or black. At the same time Singer also produced a range of accessories, tools etc and even bobbins that were blackside. Generally blackside components had the same Simanco part numbers as their bright plated counterparts.

I don’t have a manual for it – it’s been sitting a long time and runs pretty gunky, but the light lights up! I don’t have an electric shuttle bobbin machine, and there are not oodles of these around, so I’m happy to have found it!

Oh…and this is the fun part – it was marked $45.00, and the booth was 20% off, so I got it for $36.00. STEAL!

Tomorrow is Crazy Day ---full day Smith Mountain Morning workshop, with a luncheon lecture for 236 quilters – the largest luncheon lecture ever held so far at Quilt Odyssey! Holy Moly.

Happy Thursday Evening, Everyone!

Lunch Time Edition! Just Us Crab Apples!

So I’m back in my room for a few ---

I had enough of my dinner left from last night out that it became lunch with the addition of an apple and a beverage.

The little cafes and places downstairs are MOBBED with quilters all trying to have lunch at the same time! I’m thinking tonight’s dinner better come with a doggie bag too, because who wants to waste half or a lunch period waiting in line?

As for ME? I’d rather be back in my room sewing! ((Which I’m going to do as soon as I post this))

It’s not the APP for my phone that is causing the problem. Picasa Web Albums is the problem. And I bought more storage, but it somehow still isn’t letting me post by phone, and I don’t want to see the iphone-o-grams become a thing of the past --- do you? It doesn't matter which app I use, it still says I have "exceeded limits".

I’m looking for info. Maybe it just takes time for my account to reflect that I have bought extra storage.

So here we are, all sewing our brains out! This is a stress-free class…we spent the morning making 9 patches and checkerboards. We talked about cutting. We talked about seams and how to adjust them. My hope is that these little persnickety things we have to do to get our units to turn out the right size to begin with will be something that will help the quilters in the future on OTHER quilts.

These things don’t just apply to THIS quilt – but to everything we piece from here on out!

These gals are a room full of fun! The strips are flying and there is lots of laughter and chatter overriding the hum of the machines.

They are even having fun at the ironing stations!

((And luckily they are not setting off any heat detectors in the ceiling!!))

So anyway ---I’ll keep trying to figure out what to do with the iphone-o-grams. I loved their convenience for instant posting. I don’t really want to go back to just one post a day ---sometimes those “gotta have Ben & Jerry’s NOW!” posts from the phone just have to happen.

In the mean time – looks like it’s going to be a quicky lunch time update like this one ----and hopefully you will still feel like you are here with all of us, just piecing away!

And for the next hour and a half, until class resumes at 2pm – you can just imagine me sitting HERE piecing away!

Happy to just BE with BEA!

Imaginary Post!!

Blogger app will still not post from my phone with any photos even if I have purchased more storage from google.

We are having a great tune in crabapples class---will have to see about uploading pics at lunch break!

Anyone else have issues with blogger app and purchasing more space?!

Bonnie the Baffled.

Antiques Across PA!

How long does it take YOU to drive what should take you 3 hours to get to your designated destination!?

I left Wellsboro around 10am, and got here about 4pm. Not bad. 6 hours! LOL!

Of course, I was stopping here and there and going off the beaten path and treating the whole day as a treasure hunt.

I remembered from last time that with the summer season in full swing, Hershey Lodge has a heavy turn over of rooms daily, and it is nearly impossible to get checked in to a room much before 3pm. So I got here about 4, and had the check in line insanity to wait in. Oh well!

I enjoyed my time wandering here and there…..what’s better than Old Barns or Antique Malls? How ‘bout Antique Malls IN Old Barns!

So, this one was only about 8 miles off the designated route!

I found this lovely circa 1890-1900 Bow tie…so excited over how bright those fabrics are!

These neon prints are SO fabulous! and I love the shirting stripe used as the background!

Look at these yummies!

I loved this album quilt for the fabrics it had in it also ---wide striped sashings make this one really interesting!

Lots of great indigo blues!

Another 9 mile jaunt off my route landed me here! I think the town was “Millersburg” but I can’t be sure ----

I fell in love with this old singer in a cabinet that came complete with a 1935 dated coupon book for lessons and tune ups!

No, I didn’t buy this machine, but I loved the coupon book….I get the feeling we are out of luck though, they are only good if they are still attached to the book, and only good for 1 year from date of purchase!

Remember my talking about quilts with signatures the other day? Here is one that had more signatures than I could count! This was a very special memory quilt – I hate that it isn’t with a relative or someone who knew the owner ---

Puss in the Corner blocks are surrounded by signatures embroidered in redwork.

See how the last names are in pairs? Must be Mr & Mrs!

This is ONE HUGE QUILT! I couldn’t get enough space to lay it completely out, but I was able to unfold it enough to expose the center panel and the whole story became more clear!

Made by the Members of the Primary Department of Messiah Lutheran Sunday School, 1912.

VERY COOL!!!!

It’s time for me to get this day going and go make myself acquainted with 24 students who are no doubt waiting for me outside my class room ---have a great day, everyone!

That Blogger Iphone App!

When I went to upload a post from my phone today --- it said I had exceeded my limit. BOO HOO!

Has anyone ever had this happen before? I am wondering if it is because the photos that come directly from the iphone are very large in scale, and the ones I edit down on the computer and upload are fairly small in size comparatively.

At any rate, it looks like I might have to buy some storage.

But until then…this is the post that wouldn’t post with picture, and made no sense with out them!

This is me, standing in a line!

A long long long line of quilters and other vacationing guests who are here to stay at the Hershey Lodge this weekend!

I should have gotten here earlier, but I was busy ----busy hitting very unique antiquey spots all along my route from Wellsboro to here!

So what’s a girl supposed to do to occupy her time while standing in a very very long line?

Have her picture taken with the KitKat guy, that’s what!!

Things are gearing up here, and staff is arriving from far and wide. My down-the-hall neighbor, Pepper Cory, and I just made plans to escape via Shamu for dinner tonight --- so I better get a move on!

Staff meeting at 8pm, them quickly set up the class room so it is ready for tomorrow morning. Whooowhooo!!

Which reminds me. I was going to go to Staples and get copies made for the foundation base of the Crab Apple Trees that was tomorrow’s class ----better add that to the to do list too!

Have a great evening, everyone!

A Little Blue Heaven in Wellsboro!

Have you ever had one of those days where weird unexpected events become hysterical?

Our workshop was in a building that the guild had never used before for workshops --- and all started out great – plenty of tables, the heavy duty kind that don’t bounce when you sew fast on them.

**Side note** When at retreat I always choose the ugly heavy duty brown wooden HEAVY tables for my own sewing instead of the nice clean pristine lightweight white ones just for that reason. Machines BOUNCE on lightweight tables! **End side note**

We had 29 students sewing away in a large room with lots of windows and all was going fine until…

THE FIRE ALARM STARTS BLARING and we are all ushered outside.

Turns out the irons were right beneath some heat sensors and we set them off. They had to call off the fire department.

We moved irons around, spread things farther apart, tried to keep irons away from heat sensors ---- and about an hour later ----off go the alarms again!

We are cracking up by this time, and no one wants to GO OUTSIDE because we KNOW it is the irons, there is no fire --- and yet, the guys who are in charge of the building are getting mad because they keep having to call the fire department and tell them it’s a false alarm, it’s the irons setting off the heat sensors.

Well the head guy must NOT be related to a quilter, because he told us we had to turn ALL irons OFF. That we could not have ANY irons plugged in in this room.

WHAT?!?

Now imagine a classroom full of “deep in the throes of quilt construction” quilters --- with NO IRONS?!

In an effort to just get through this day -----it was suggested that we run the extension cords out the back door, and that we set up our ironing stations OUTSIDE.

Actually, though not ideal --- it was beautiful out there on the back patio area!

Somehow---I can’t see the guild renting this place come winter – can you imagine all the ironing stations out there in the snow?! LOL! Nope!

I do think a search for a new location is underway --- too bad too, because this place was great. Except for the ultra-sensitive heat sensors!

The pic above is of Me and Ava – Ava is the hostess with the mostest for the Mountain Laurel Quilters --- she’s handled all of my arrangements and we’ve had a great time together! In fact – it was her Singer 404 that I was fawning over:

Yeah baby, she’s a cool 1950’s two toned girl!

Another guild member brought her Singer 301 to class….and classed up the place in the process:

I just love seeing these old girls still in circulation and doing what they were intended to do…STRAIGHT STITCH! We also had several featherweights in class….made me wish I had time to sew yesterday, but as it was --- there wasn’t time!

We were SEW BUSY!! Take a look at the progress these ladies made:

		My Blue Heaven Wellsboro PA 2012 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

This morning I am on the road to Hershey for Quilt Odyssey! My time in PA is flying by and I’m looking forward to the 3 hour or so drive. I have plenty of time to wander and still get me there on time. I’m excited to be reconnecting with quilting friends and other teaching friends. It’s been a couple years since the last time I taught in Hershey, and they put on such a good show!

Of course, that “complimentary” Hershey Bar they give you when you check in has nothing to do with my excitement --- or does it? :cD

Happy Wednesday!