Plenty to Talk About!

You never know what you're going to find at the flea market. Shannon, Allen, and I went up to the "Big One," the October flea market at the fairgrounds in Nashville. We actually drove up Friday night so that we could be at the flea market early Saturday morning. We didn't buy any little people chairs, but we did find some treasure. Shannon came home with a retro radio, among other things, but I think I got the best finds.The first find was this accordian style wooden sewing box. It needs some repair, but Allen will be able to help me out with that, and for $10, what a deal! I'll have another stash for sewing stuff. While that was a bargain, the second item we bought is truly a treasure.We found this Singer 221-1 Singer Centennial Featherweight. Quilters say the Featherweight is The machine to use for piecing. From the serial number on it, it seems this was made in 1951. It has a case, the original (musty smelling) instruction book, and the original attachments. It's not in mint condition, but it is very nice. Allen knows a good bit about sewing machines from his time working with Bernina back in the early 1970's, and he knows machines, so we were pretty confident about getting it to work. On my first try, though, it jammed. Uh-oh. We turned to the book we bought, Featherweight 221, The Perfect Portable And Its Stitches Across History, and Allen took apart the bobbin mechanism to find a many year old thread glob. Try number two -- success! She hummed along and stitched perfectly. We think we got it for an excellent price based on after-the-fact research. I love, love my Bernina, but what fun this will be!
After lunch at the Franklin Chophouse, we headed to my favorite fabric shop in short driving distance from home, and Allen patiently waited for Shannon and me. I picked up backing fabric for a new kitchen table batik I'm working on plus a few fat quarters for Tap's birthday quilt and some blues for a little project I am going to do for Shannon's work. I always think it is a good thing that I don't live closer!Sunday was "Empty the Kitchen Day" for Allen and me. Take one last look at the painted white cabinets. I just don't think I'm going to miss them.We pack lots into our kitchen. It now fills the dining room and the living room. All flat surfaces are covered. I know that I am not the best of housekeepers, but the amount of kitchen grime and dust is pretty embarrassing. When the new dishwasher is eventually hooked up, we will give it a good workout before we fill the new cabinets.
The first cabinets to go in were in the laundry room. Now we have more clearance between the machines and the cabinets, so maybe I won't have any more squished fingers opening the washing machine! Plus, these have shelves up to the ceiling which will provide a whole new shelf space. These are the upper cabinets above the sink area. The top set will have glass front doors. Tomorrow, they will finish this part of the work and re-install the microwave and stove. Then Wednesday the counter people come to make a template. After that, we will still not have water or counter tops for seven to ten days, but when the counters are ready, the plumber will install the sink and the new Bosch dishwasher. Pretty darn exciting, if I don't say so myself!

The only unhappy part of all of this is that I was home today -- due to a broken tooth. Ugh. I felt a twinge or two last week, but then Saturday morning while I had a biscuit breakfast at the flea market, the back end of a back tooth broke off. Today I stayed home to go to the dentist. At least it was a crown, not a root canal, but other than that, I can't say too much positive. It's expensive, and while it wasn't hurting this weekend, now that I have the temporary crown, it is pretty sore. I'm just going to focus on the kitchen and my new Featherweight and the fact that I could spend some hours sewing today. Oh, and Allen is home (yeah!) and Ozzie is now about five weeks old.