Happy 2013! Plans for this year.

Happy 2013 everyone! I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and New Year's holiday! Ours was busy but fun. We had a fabulous concert at our church. We found a new church home at the end of the
summer after searching for a new church home closer to where we moved. We couldn't find anything out here in our area so we had made the decision to return to our old church, only to find out that the very same weekend we made that decision, there was a huge split within the church, and most of the members, as well as the pastor we adored, were gone.  At his recommendation we came to where we are now and we love it. I joined the choir and hubby is working in the Audio/visual booth. The kids are in Awana, and my daughter has found herself a good group of girls in the youth group. It's an hour drive each way, but worth it.

At long last it appears that we will FINALLY be able to convert from just a blog to a fully functioning website within the next couple of months. We may have some talents with a needle and thread, but I know NOTHING about building a website. I have tried unsuccessfully to to do it myself, and I've tried hiring several people over the last 2 years, never to get any results. Fortunately a very good friend of mine has stepped in and offered to help me, and he figures it will be ready to launch around the end of next month. We will have the blog, a gallery, store, and other features.  If you have any suggestions of things you would like to see, please feel free to let us know. I may add some forums as well, so we can discuss patterns, techniques, and whatever else.

We have one new pattern in the works right now. It is done but the pattern writing (i.e. MY PART) needs some tweaking. I am planning on writing up patterns for some of the bags I have designed as well, and we will be working on selling some kits and various other items in the store. My intention is to be able to carry everything that you need to make one of our projects.

I've been playing with my embroidery machine alot more lately. I still have alot to learn about how to properly stitch out designs on it, and I mess up alot but I'm getting much better. I love watching it create beautiful designs. At one point over the holidays I had it going all day long on my kitchen table while I had another machine set up at the other end working on projects for a customer.

I've added a few more antique machines to my collection, but not too many. I lost count of all of them. I was able to get a Singer 24 chain stitch treadle, and a Wheeler Wilson #9 treadle. I have quite a few restoration projects now, so I'm hoping we get an early Spring so I can get to work on restoring more of the cabinets.

Mom is coming to visit next month as well, and I'm anxious for her to teach me a new (to us) method. She's been doing fabric coloring using crayons. I've seen the technique before with some beautiful results. She's an artist anyway, and the stuff she's been creating are amazing. She's going to teach me her secrets, so maybe we will incorporate that into a future design.

Just a few photos of some of the latest additions to my collection. A Jones Hand Crank that is currently pending a transformation into a treadle. A friend of mine is trying to buy a treadle version and we are planning to trade the cabinet for the HC if he's able to buy it. Jones is my maiden name, and aside from being fabulous machines, who wouldn't want a gorgeous antique with your name on it?!

 This is a little toy machine I found in a local antique shop. It is in working condition, and I'm hoping to do a full restoration and paint job on it. Isn't it cute?!

 This is a machine I found on Craigslist. It's a Singer 27 with the Pheasant decals. The cabinet is in kind of sad shape but easily restored.

 A Davis treadle. This is a New Vertical Feed. My second Davis treadle. These do not use traditional feed dogs to move fabric under the needle.  It's a pretty innovative machine for its time, and one of my favorites. This was a gift to me from a friend.

Please post some comments or feel free to email us and let us know what you would like to see on the website. I would love some feedback!