Friday, October 11, 2013

Progress?

We found Spark!

Sort of.

She's living outside, a few houses down from us.  There's a series of very natural, wooded yards there, and plenty of mice and chipmunks.  Which Spark is eating.  In fact, she hasn't lost any weight, despite being in charge of her own food supply for two months now.  She looks a bit bigger, if anything, since her coat has filled in considerably.  So she's probably staying warm despite the chilly nights.  

Unfortunately, Spark appears to be entirely happy with her current situation.  She takes off running as soon as she notices us, and won't eat any of the food we leave out.  She didn't come near the live trap, either.  She is, in fact, acting completely feral.

We've decided to back off for now, and not risk chasing her off from the area.  Hopefully, she'll be a little more open minded about food and traps once it gets colder, and harder to hunt.  She might also decide she doesn't like snow, once it gets to that point.  At the very least, we'll be able to track her movements a little more effectively with snow on the ground.

Household and yard projects are continuing, though the sheer number of them is overwhelming at times.  And progress-prohibitive.  I do make progress daily, but it's in bits and pieces, spread out over all the various jobs.  So no single job is moving forward sufficiently to post update photos.   Should have something soon about the sewing machine restoration, at least.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

An unexpected project



While taking our family walk this past Saturday, we found quite possibly the last garage sale of the season.  And imagine my delight when I spotted a vintage sewing machine table right at the edge of the driveway.  And when I saw the $5 price sticker, I practically shoved my money in the poor man's face.  He smiled, seemed pleased that I was so excited about it.

"I could probably get more for it if I just scrapped the metal... But it's nice that someone will enjoy it."

"Oh, I will!"  I was already rearranging furniture in my head, choosing the perfect spot for mynewsidetable.

"I did mean to restore it.  I just never seemed to getaround to it."

Well, it would need a little cleaning, maybe some repairs to theveneer, but "restore"?

He walked over to the table and began to lift the lid.  "Do you want help carrying it home?  The machine is stillixn there, so it's pretty heavy."  

And there it was.  A dusty and scratched up but nonetheless beautiful vintage treadle sewing machine.  P. walked over at that point and the two of them took the cabinet off the base so each could carry half, and off we went.  I held K.'s hand across the street, and must admit that she wasn't the inly one skipping once we got to the sidewalk.

The best part?  The machine is a Singer, and they're currently celebrating their company history.  Their website allows you to type in a vintagem achine's serial number and tells you when it was made.   So, ladies and gentlemen, I am now the proud owner of a Singer 66-16 Redeye manufactured in... 1912!

Unfortunately in my excitemend I failed to take a picture prior to its being dismantled for transport, but here are the befores of the pieces.

The treadle:




The cabinet:





And the machine:




I am avidly looking forward to this restoration project.  I WILL get her working again.