Antiquing My Way Home!

It was this kind of day yesterday --

Bright with blue skies, a bit of a breeze and temps that were TRYING hard to reach 50 degrees.

It was a perfect day for a long leisurely drive up I-85, made longer by many pit stops and poke-abouts along the way!

I haven’t had a solo day to wander for a while, and though the drive in itself would have taken me about 3 1/2 hours door to door, it took a good 9 hours for me to make it home by dinner time.

“Stop off at Cowpens, South Carolina and check out Main Street, the whole street is lined with antique shops!” said one commenter on Facebook.

And off the beaten path I went!

Oh, I was glad, but I was taking my time!

I love these stitcheries, and I have adopted several of them on different trips.

I love the sentiments!

As I edited down more than 100 photos I took yesterday for this post I tried to think how I could make this as cohesive as possible without just dumping EVERYTHING in a slide show.  I think the only way to do this is to break it into parts and stretch it out a bit!

Of course there were QUILTS!  Oh so many quilts --

And machines, too!

Shall we start with the ridiculous??

Are you kidding me?!

The scenario goes like this – “Oh look! Little black box, a little black box! Machine inside! Look at the price tag - Heck, no!”

For this price, that bobbin case better be gold plated! Someone needs an education. This machine BETTER work for that price.  And it wasn’t in exceptional condition.  It’s going to sit there a good long time.

Too much for this one too, though I love the styling!

1950s Brother zig-zag, made in Japan.

This one caught my heart!

But although the hand-wheel turned, the needle would not move.  It’s badly frozen and it will take some doing to get it functional again, that is if the shaft isn’t bent.

If I had my choice between the Brother above, and this one – it would be THIS one.  Straight stitch only means the feed dogs are nice and close, best for patchwork piecing.  The vintage zig-zag machines often home “straight stitch” position at far left in the foot with the zig-zag only swinging to the right in the early machines.  Something to think about if you want to adopt a vintage machine for doing straight stitch patchwork.

Pity on this one…that paint job is amazingly excellent!

I learned to sew on a Kenmore like this!

Oh honey!  $150 is too much for you in this condition!

I gave a good check out to the cabinet.  This is an older machine with a wooden pitman rod, the rod that makes the petal move.  QUIET movement where metal rods can be clanky.  But the table was too shot to make it worth the $150 either.  Poor thing.

A White Embossed Beast!

I have never sewn on one of these, but I am intrigued by them.  They look quilted!  Beautiful.

A little crinkle finish 99.

$100.00?

Think again!

What’s in here?

Oh, honey!  If you want to sell this machine, don’t pile stuff on top of it to the point that we can’t get to the machine!  Especially BREAKABLE stuff!

You just may find that the machine inside is worth far more any any of the junk on or around the machine hiding it.

There is a beautiful 201 inside!!

This beauty was found wandering the Depot in Concord, NC.  The asking price is $175.00 which I find a bit high, but the cabinet is not in BAD shape, and if you’ve been looking for a 201, this could be the machine for you.  Notice that the spool pin is missing, however.

Plan on 2 hours to wander through here.

It’s HUGE!

This one.  Oh, This one!

Check out the Celtic Decals!

This is the first time I have come across these decals “in the wild.”  I love the fancy S for Singer there on the machine bed.  This is a 128 machine, shuttle bobbin, and electric. 

The electrical wires are toast.  Really in bad shape.  And they were asking $80.00 for the machine.  I waffled on it and decided to wait.  If I got it, I would pop the motor off and treadle it in my 3/4 size treadle cabinet.  But I already have a couple of lovely 99s that I prefer to shuttle bobbins.  And that is how my train of thought worked when I decided to pass on this one.

Oh.  My. Goodness!

This is what was waiting for me when I arrived home!  TWO USPS tubs of mail, for me from YOU!

just took one look at the dining room table and cracked up! In other words, be careful what you ask for! I put out a call for leftover grey strips from the Allietare mystery. I had no clue that so many would respond! There is no way that I can individually reply to every single letter, so please take this as my blanket thank you and I can't wait to sew these strips up into a fabulous quilt!
 
Oh, I think my mail person hates me now. She spent forever on our front porch scanning everything that needed a barcode scanned!  Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart!
 

 

Oh, Emmy Lou!

 

I spent the evening in my new comfy chair opening up wonderful Scrappy mail! Emmy Lou is giving me the stink eye, she thinks she should be the only grey thing that I am paying attention to! You guys, I am just so overwhelmed with the outpouring of strips! It is fun to see the actual greys that you used in your own Allietare quilt. I am feeling the love!

 

So how about a bit of Quilt-Cam tomorrow night, Thurs, Jan 14th?  I’d love to spend some time sewing with you.

 

Time to tackle all the book orders that have come in while I’ve been gone, and get this day going.

 

But first:

 

Quiltville Quote of the Day!

 

Today is the day to pay it forward. Your small acts of kindness may go unrecognized, but that's okay. Just don't stop being kind. You never know what it might mean to someone else.

Have an awesome Wednesday, everyone! This bit of 1950's loveliness was found in Dallas Texas a couple of weeks ago.

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