Sewing Machines

I really do love to sew - I mean, really REALLY! There is nothing more relaxing and therapeutic than sitting at my sewing machine after a stressful day at my *regular* job at our local hospital. The hum of my brand new fancy-schmancy computerized sewing machine is so soothing. Yet, I miss the clickety-whirr of the machine I learned to sew on, back in the day when computerized machines were just a twinkle in the eye of sewing machine manufacturers. There was something mesmerizing about the rhythmic machinery sound as I sat as a fifth grader making my very first dress. I guess that's why I am drawn to vintage sewing machines - that unique clickety-whirr sound of my childhood.

Here is a picture of my little collection of vintage mechanical sewing machines.  They all work!  My favorite is the aqua and white beauty in front - it was my grandmother's.   Do you have a favorite memory about learning to sew?  I'd love to hear it!

Update on Mary Zoom's Cottage

Now that the weather is FINALLY warming up and hopefully we have had our last frost (which was only a week ago), the vegetable garden is finally going in.  It's been about a month or 6 weeks since we did the initial tilling of the garden plot.  Since then it has been just too cold and damp to go any further.  However, this weekend was nice, so we weeded the plot, smoothed out the surface, laid weed barrier down and edged the plot with recycled 4 X 4s that we found by the shed.  


As much as I am itching to work inside our "Southern Home" and get my sewing studio set up and moved, we are concentrating on the outside gardens and yard while the weather is nice.  Once the 100-degree weather hits and the Western Kansas winds start howling, there will be plenty of time to work on the inside.

Here is the vegetable garden all set up in the back yard of Mary Zoom's Cottage.  The trellis is made from two scrap pieces of livestock fence we found laying around.  They will soon be covered with green beans!  There are also some tomato plants ready to go in. 

Isn't this a beautiful patch of rhubarb?  This came with our house!  In the background is some oregano that I planted shortly after we moved here.

We like to use everything.  This is where we found those 4 X 4s that we used to edge the garden.  I can't wait to use the old picket fence!  And look at that beautiful old door! We are planning to clean it up, scrape chipped paint off and make it into a headboard for our bed.  I'll post a picture when it's finished.

This homemaker would have had a vegetable garden similar to what we are putting in.  Do you have a vegetable garden, and what are your favorite vegetables to grow?

Lotsa Boxes Tutorial - Again

With the summer craft fair season almost upon us, I thought I would share this post again. These make up fast and easy and are quite addictive!  They are a great extra give-away to include with jewelry sales.  I know my customers love them.

These cute little boxes are a good way to use up all those leftover greeting cards.  I have also picked up greeting cards at yard sales and thrift shops EXTREMELY cheap!  They are lots of fun to make and go together really fast.  I made a ton of them one evening and put them in a big basket in my craft fair booth and gave them away as an extra little gift to each of my customers.

Step 1:  Gather the following tools and supplies:

- Leftover Greeting card

- Quilting ruler

- Glue stick

- Rotary cutter

- Bone folder

Step 2:  Cut the greeting card in half at the fold with the rotary cutter for a nice straight cut.

Step 3:  Cut about a 1/16 inch sliver off one short end and one long end of the inside half.  That way the bottom of the box will fit nicely into the top.

Step 4:  Take the bone folder and score both cards 1 inch (2.5 cm) from every edge and then cut 1 inch (2.5), using the score lines as a guide, on the short ends only to the score lines (see the picture).  If you would like a deeper box, then make your score lines farther away from the edge.


Step 5:  Bend in all score lines on both cards.  Glue the short tabs on the ends inside the longer end tabs.


And now you're done!  You have just made a cute little gift or treasure box from a recycled greeting card.  Anyone have any ideas for what to do with all the leftover envelopes?