Singer's Song

My Great Grandmother bought this Singer treadle sewing machine from a door to door salesman in 1915. She's been singing in my family ever since. My mother and I'm sure hers learned to sew on it and it retains pride of place in Mom's home even today. The wood finish has worn thin where countless yards of fabric have passed over. The felt strip sewn around her neck to hold pins has worn the Sing off of "Singer". I can remember it being a treat as a child to get to work the treadle. It took a bit to catch the rhythm and then off you go. Tha thunk, tha thunk, tha thunk providing a base beat to the music of the making.

Yo Yo GMa

I spent part of this afternoon mending yo yos in a quilt top my Grandmother made. This was my Dad's mother. I had only met her twice before she passed away. One of my memories of her though is connected with this quilt. I can remember cutting circles of cloth with her and placing them in a glass mayonaise jar. Once the jar was full I'd take out a circle, fold over the edge and begin a gather stitch. A pull of the thread and as if by magic the yo yo was made. As I stitched today and tightened that thread I pulled back memories that aren't always at the front of my mind, but they are there, and can be drawn from the past with just a simple needle and thread.

Scissors

Does your mother do this to you? "You don't want these old things do you?" "I'm going to just give these away." "You didn't know I had those?" Mine does and did and now I've got a new collection started. Black handled scissors. Heck, one of them is even mine from high school home ec. Did you grow up with these sewing work horses. Sturdy and sharp, pratically indestructable. They do however age, just like the rest of us. Not quite as sharp as they used to be and a little loose in the joints. They rattle a bit when shaken and the black is going silver. Its hard to get rid of something that still has use. Even if all it does is serve to remind you of that first pattern you cut out or aided in Barbies first haircut. They don't take up that much room and serve as time travel aids ever time I see them.

Bone Button Romance

Have we talked about my love of bone buttons? I've got jars of them sitting around the house. I've been known to tap old buttons against my teeth to determine if they are bone or not. Do I let the fact they've been sitting in that jar in the antique store since God was a boy? Oh hell no! Tap tap tap, SCORE! Wrap em up, I'm takin em home.

Silk and Needle

Lavishly lavender light leans languidly and loosely over the slightly slippery and silken spool of thread. All pierced by the hard sharp point of the tool. The needle.