Move Over, Make Room

For the first time in a very long time I sat down yesterday-- and stitched; on my brand-new, inherited, vintage Singer 301.  After lovingly oiling her this past weekend, and adding some motor lubricant to the teeth of the gears, she purrs like a kitten and makes a most impeccable stitch. It took me all of, hmmm... let's see, ten seconds to get used to the sewing posture for this one. There is a knee-lever which controls the (mounted inside the cabinet) foot pedal; for the last twenty-plus years I have been sewing on Berninas where the knee lever controls the presser foot up/down. I adjusted quickly to the change. There is a handy little cross piece along the inside bottom of the cabinet on which to comfortably rest my foot. I adore this machine, I have named her Ruth.  When it was time for me to bring her home to live here my husband innocently asked: "where will this machine go?" I answered, immediately, "in the sewing room, of course." "Is there room?" he continued. "I will make room" was my reply.  And I did. I have two other cabinet machines situated in the center of the room.

This picture is from ten years ago, when Mr. Goodneedle built this three-part table for the machines and storage. It is well used and much loved.

Ruth and her first real project since arriving at Chez Goodneedle, a pillow case for Ryan's Case for Smiles.

Ruth entered this space quietly and graciously, she fits nicely right in front of the window and gives me a wonderful view of the bird feeders just beyond the side porch. My other machines haven't been one bit jealous of Ruth's arrival, they have deferred to her senior status; there's been no pushing or shoving for top-dog status. This relationship is one of harmony and cooperation.

The comings and goings just outside the window, at the finch feeder on the other hand, are the exact opposite. These pretty little birds are quite aggressive with one another vying for a place of their own at the table. They could learn a lesson from Ruth if only they just peeked inside, there's room for everyone to coexist peacefully, if they would only wait their turn.

...and we just keep buying seed...

Life is Good!

Weekend Wrap-up

I trust everyone had a wonderful Labor Day weekend, the fruits of my "labor" are abundant! The quilting on yet another table topper is completed, it awaits binding. Quiltkeemosabe and I are shop-hopping on Thursday, hopefully I can find something left of this "Figgy Pudding" line in one of eight quilt shops, at least enough to bind with, I didn't have even a sliver left over. Lucy Ann's Love Bugs is loaded now and Sundance and I have been racking up the hours quilting pretty shapes on that one. A galaxy of red and white stars are piling up on the cutting table; one (set) a day, it's easy, like taking a vitamin! Oh, and I read, too. A short story by Steven King, Mile 81. Why? Because it was a mere $2.99 to download it to my Nook. Not a good enough reason, not at all. Definitely creepy. I'll stick to stitching, and happy endings.

And sew it goes...

Life is Good!

Thread--Out Of Sight

Ever since my sewing table has been installed I've been looking for a way to store my thread spools. They used to occupy two large thread "trees" which sat on a long, narrow table behind my sewing chair. When the larger sewing table entered The Studio the narrow table migrated to
the attic to make more room for maneuvering the chair between the two installed machines. The physical set-up is ideal but my thread supply was relegated, temporarily, to trays placed under the cutting table where the spools were hard to reach (except for Hannes who nibbled on the ends of a few~) and time consuming to retrieve. Solution: shallow drawers mounted directly beneath the cutting surface that accommodate the thread trays. These allow the thread to be easily accessed (by me!) and quickly referenced by color and type. All this and a bonus, too: the drawers close tightly to prevent dust and light from ruining the thread! My husband has been working on the drawers in his workshop and they're even more wonderful than I had imagined. There will be two for thread, another one directly under this one, and one identical drawer beside this one that will eventually hold my rotary cutters and acrylic rulers, freeing up more valuable space. I'm already feeling much more organized and efficient!

Life is Good!