Black Beauty & Home Improvements

Isn't she glorious?
Personally, I think she's the most beautiful machine ever created. And work? She can still crank out the hits without breaking a sweat.
I've always wanted to know how old she was, and any other information that could be gleaned through research. Getting right on it yesterday, I found out she's certified as being from the year 1910 by the
Singer Sewing Machine Company. Her motor, Singer made with all it's numbers, is 1911. Operation is powered by a knee lever (very long and heavy), and she is a shuttle bobbin unit, pictured below:

It has an amazing pop up button on the armature bar, making bobbin replacement quick and painless. As you can see, this beauty has been used quite a bit. The decal is quite worn. I don't care! She's still beautiful to me!
My research tells me she is a LaVincendora, circa 1885, and because of her spoked wheel and bobbin winding mechanism, she originally sat in a treadle cabinet. Oh, what I would give to have that cabinet now. Anyway, she's portable. Her carrying case is simplistically beautiful in itself.

So, the story is still not finished. I'd love to know who had her before, what she sewed, where she's been, how she came to be in a tiny, dirty 'antique' shop, waiting for me to find her.  I'll keep looking. You never know. It was in this same small shop that I found a tall, 2 burner wood/coal stove for my kitchen, that just happened to originally come from my farm house where I was living! It belonged to my great aunt. So, it made its way back to its home where it belonged and was needed. I did a lot of cooking on her!

We put up the 'new' kitchen curtains for the winter. They look like they were made just for these windows.

These are the best windows! I get a wonderful view of all the wildlife here, and right outside these windows are where the deer like to feed and play.
Since we moved here a year ago, I've wanted to put down new kitchen floor tiles, so after the curtains were up and looking marvelous, it was time to start the floor.

before

 

after

It's a work in progress. And my legs made me pay for that little exercise. But, everything is now matching!

With the kitchen getting right cozy, I decided to make soft molasses cookies for a reward, using my great grandma's recipe (as always).

Don't they look yummy?

Recently, a certain variegated skein of yarn caught my eye, so I couldn't pass it up. Getting it home, I realized it exactly matched the colors in the kitchen curtains. Happy day! Out came the hook and a few coasters for the table were born.

Potholders of the same yarn followed shortly thereafter. All of my Fall decorations are still up (until the day after Thanksgiving), and their colors are all in sync with the curtains, floor, coasters, and potholders. It's amazing.

Speaking of turkey day- I hope all my readers have a wonderful day.

Toodles.


Cowland Studio