The EXTRA Long Way Home.

Well, THIS was NOT on my agenda!

I had planned on heading south from Pennsylvania to the IKEA at Woodbridge, Virginia – though it wasn’t directly on my way home to Mouth of Wilson, it was a much shorter detour than a trip to the IKEA in Charlotte, North Carolina.

With the fuel light letting me know that I needed a fill up, and soon – I turned off the interstate and in to the gas station entry – only in avoiding a car that was taking up too much space coming OUT of the drive,  I found myself much too close to the curb. 

Yep.  I ran that tire up against the curb and promptly gave myself a flat tire.  Well RATS!

Curb check FAIL!

It’s Sunday.  I’m in Hagerstown, Maryland.  Are tire places even OPEN here on Sunday?

Thanks to a local guy who was filling up at the bay next to where I had pulled in, we were able to find a local tire place. From the tire place I got the number of a towing service.  Within 40 minutes I was locked, loaded and ready to roll  in THEIR truck!

This is NOT what I had planned!

But I am so grateful – it could have turned out so much worse.  It could have happened ON the interstate instead of in a gas station parking lot where I was moving quite slowly.

It could have happened in the rain or the snow, instead of on a gorgeous sunny September Sunday.

It could have happened at night time when no one was open.

It could have happened in a town where all tire places were closed on Sunday.

Instead, it happened in a place where I could get speedy help, and the tire place was connected to a shopping center where there was a Burger King, a Krispy Kreme, a Chinese Buffet, a Family Dollar, and an Aldi.  What more could a girl want while waiting?

They were done with my fix-it by the time my lunch was eaten and paid for and I was back on the road.

By this time a few hours had passed however, and my desire to go off course to IKEA had been scrapped. That can wait for another day.  All I wanted was to make it to the cabin and take a nap.

A bit grainy from zooming in closely -

These two stopped and watched as I crawled up the drive to the cabin – the time? About 5:15 pm.

And the nap happened even though it was that close to evening time.  I was that tired!

From my antiquing jaunt on the way to Pennsylvania -

Isn’t this the cutest thing?

Do you know what it is?

Vintage bonnet needle case!

SO sweet!

I bet these wouldn’t be hard to make -

There were a few machines I didn’t share the other day – because 19 quilts took up all of my post.  Some of these machines really need someone to love them:

This Singer 66 has seen better days -

What a pretty cabinet!

I love the crossed “White/SM CO” in the irons above the pedal.

Oh honey, someone has loved your decals right off!

The hand-wheel turned easily – shuttle in place!

Hopefully this one will find a new home soon.

Have you ever spotted a Howe in the wild?

If someone asked you “Who invented the lock stitch sewing machine?” And you answered SINGER – you’d be wrong.  It was actually Elias Howe who invented the two thread lock stitch.

Elias Howe and Isaac Merritt Singer battled over the patent of the lock stitch in 1854 , and Howe came out the winner.

Isaac Singer HAD made good changes to Howe’s basic model, and that was some of the debate – it was still Howe’s invention.  (Sounds a lot like our copyright debates today, doesn’t it?)

There were many companies producing sewing machines that were similar to Howe’s model, so he took the protection of his patent to the courts. After many years of legal tensions, Howe was rewarded compensation and royalties for his invention.Howe went on to receive money for all sewing machines produced in the United States.

I have no idea how early this Howe machine is -

But Howe himself died in 1867.

And yes, the shuttle is still there!

This 1950’s Japanese import owes a lot to Elias Howe, too!

Today’s agenda – mail order out the door, and settling into September and some deadline projects ahead.

I am HOME until I leave for Alex Anderson’s Fall Retreat in California in October.  So let’s draw this month out and enjoy it day by day and see how we fill it up.

I would love to give Quilt Cam another try – but right now I have no voice thanks to the ragweed allergies that befell me in Pennsylvania.  It’s blooming up there, but not down here yet.  But it’s coming!  GAH.

As soon as my voice is back (Ask the folks at retreat – they saw it happening day by day as it started on Thursday with sticky eyes, ear pressure and then moved on down my throat…) we will give it a try.  I want to hard-wire the laptop to the router to see if that gives us a better signal here at the Quiltville Post Office.  

I’m not giving up on it, but connection here is close to dial up.  I have plenty of download speed – it’s the upload speed that we need for a video broadcast so I thank your for your patience.

Quiltville Quote of the Day-

Vintage nine patch quilt from my collection.

A dream is just a wish until you put action behind it. How bad do you want it? 

Make some progress towards that dream today -