Heading to IKEA

Heading to IKEA in Emeryville, then lunch at PF Changs. Happy.

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Art and Soul and 12 of Bats

It's Saturday, the weather is returning to it's normal pleasantness after several days of HEAT, it's a holiday weekend, and I'm alone. It's all cool.

I'm spending the afternoon in Oakland at Art And Soul. Music, Food, Art in the outdoors for a reasonable cost. How can I NOT go? I'm getting used to attending these things by myself; often I end up running into someone I know (which makes it even more pleasant). I'm taking my camera, and my phone and will try to remember to send an update or two here through Utterz.

Oh, and my tarot card for the day? The Twelve of Bats (extra innings). The Play: Adventures. Pursuing an interest. Putting out extra effort to get waht you want. Off-the-cuff action. Feeling vibrantly alive. Courage. Daring. Willingness to throw yourself into things.

Seems like a great card to pull with the day planned!

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Mondays and Saturdays.

Changes...

Some of you might not know: on Wednesday afternoon my MIL suffered a brain bleed that slowly resulted in her death on Thursday. My husband in town visiting her (a blessing), and will stay there through the funeral and closing up her rooms in her assisted living residency.

At his request, I am staying here in California keeping life "normal" back home.

I've been cleaning my studio, including going through lots of old papers. I found my morning pages from when i did TAW 6 years ago (around the time of my 50th birthday), and was surprised to see myself writing about the same kinds of things I wrote about Tuesday: feeling isolated and wondering at that time if it was healing or fear. Feeling a need to get myself back out in the world. And lots of fear.

I've been working in this area for a long time, but I finally feel like I'm MOVING beyond mere contemplation toward ACTION.

At that time I was also pulling a Tarot card each card to answer the simple question: what should I remember (how do I focus, what is the key) today? I use my Baseball Tarot cards because I love baseball so, and I find baseball a great metaphor for life.

My card today: The Ace of Mitts (Internal Beginnings). This card represents beginnings in the areas of life associated with emotion, intuition, receptivity, relationships, spirituality and love.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Mondays and Saturdays.

Breakfast at Java Jax's in Vallejo

Eating scrambled eggs and bacon on whole wheat with a cuppa joe. This is a hangout for the locals: police and Highway Patrol, merchants, etc. Nice vibe.

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Coming Clean

Decided maybe it's the right time to come clean with a number of you. Things have changed on this blog; the tone, the frequency, the passion. It's different.

I'm telling you all a secret I've been hiding for almost 2 years.

I'm fighting a battle with anxiety and (coming up from behind like that proverbial one-two punch) depression. The anxiety has been a constant companion since 12/15/06. I can't give you the exact time, but I pinpoint the moment.

My spouse said: When I retire, all I need from life is you and the dogs.

I haven't slept a night without drugs since that moment. Because in my life I need 95% more than I can get from this man and my dogs. I don't want to be responsible for his whole life and I don't want to limit myself to his life decisions. It all feels quite small.

I spent a lot of time trying to work out this condundrum. We've been married almost 25 years. Probably the first 3-5 were good; most of the time since then has been living by rote and habit. But it's A LOT OF TIME.

This year the anxiety has grown to the point where it's sometime overwhelming. Yes, I'm taking some meds to control it, I'm seeing a psychologist to give me someone to talk to. I'm working on it. The shrink says that the anxiety is the pent up energy from not acting on life and the fear of change; acting will eventually give this energy a source to expend and it will decrease.

I've made the clear intentional decision that if I am unhappy and dying in the life I'm living, it is my responsibility alone to change things. To work toward living a live that feels more authentic and more real. To get out in the world more; which necessarily means getting away from the safety net that is this lonely empty house and the interwebs for times each day.

It means building a life for me that IS much bigger than my spouse and our dogs.

I will be looking for work that gets me involved in helping people. I'm good at that. I will be looking for volunteer opportunities that feed my creative spirit; it's almost completely buried under the fear and loathing and fear that I battle every day.

I don't know how my life is going to change in the next few years, but it needs to change. I fear deep in my soul that a lack of change now means that I will follow my grandmother and mother who both gave up on the idea of living their lives.. and lost themselves to Alzheimers disease at ages just a few more than my current age.

My spouse? He will have to make his own decisions. Change, remain the same, move on, or die. It's his life for him to be responsible for not me.

Honestly, this is all very hard and the energy to write this and the energy to live it takes away from the power to do much more.

Let me say that I feel the support from many of you even when you knew what I what was doing. Before the first comment hits the page (or the private email hits my box), I know you stand beside me holding me to my best intentions.

Thank you for this. It means the world.

Now excuse me while I head out into the light of the world and breathe some fresh air.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Mondays and Saturdays.

Say Hey!

Listen to this song and just try to keep your hips from swinging and your lips from smiling.

I Love You!



I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Mondays and Saturdays.

Like a 2x4 To My Soul

Sunset Over San Pablo Bay, 8/14/08.

I was reading a piece somewhere about our astrological signs and our creativity. While it all seemed true, aren't these things written to sound true?

Creativity is giving birth to your unique vision. It's expressing truths, filtering these truths through your perception and sharing these with the world.

Ultimately, being creative (in some manner) means realizing your full potential and manifesting the life of your dreams.

yada, yada, yada.

So for me, I need a space that clean and uncluttered (gee, no wonder I walk into my studio and immediately run out).

I tend to analyze my emotions instead of feeling them. Breathe deep and simply feel. (yeah.. that's an easy one... but OK, I'll work on it).

And then I hit this passage:

Like the Crab who periodically sheds her shell, your creative risk is to let go of what you have outgrown n order to move toward what you really want. When you hold on to anything that has outlived its purpose - beliefs, possessions, habits, jobs, relationships - your creativity suffers. Your acute intuition tells you when it's time to let go. Although you may fear losing security and safety by releasing the old, the creative energy that rushes in when you take that risk actually provides greater internal security in the long run.

Wow.

I have been hanging on to LOTS of things that I've outgrown: fabrics and materials, ideas of who I am as a creative spirit, my habitualize living, and several relationships. There is a lot there that can be blocking my creativity.

No wonder I feel my soul stir and it quickly seems to be buried beneath a heavy weight. I need to let go of so much. I need to make room for good things to come into my life. I need breathing room and the time to sit and breathe.

This is going to be a journey. Do you want to follow me through it?

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Mondays and Saturdays.

Filed in: creativity, life, change, moving on

Refashionistas: What To Do With Jeans

(crossposted BlogHer)

It's been a while since I've done written about the refashionistas, those creative, frugal fashion crafters who take older, unworn clothes and thrift-store finds, cut, paint, sew, style, and design great new functional items from them. A gold-mine of ideas for used jeans can be found at WiseBread's post: Twenty-five Things to Do With Old Jeans by Myscha Theriault.

Let's examine some of her ideas:

2. Cool Quilts. Theriault and I are fan of these jeans quilts. Simple but heavy, these are great picnic quilts and dorm rooms quilts. You can find a discussion on making them written by Susan Druding at the equilters forum, with links to insturctions by some of the makers. There is also an inspring forum on jean's quilt photos.

4. Pocket books and backpacks. Jeans, with their already constructed pockets and installed zippers are a natural for cutting up and making purses and backpacks. CraftBits offers simple instructions for a "no sew" denim bag. My experience with gluing as she suggested, is that the purse will fall apart quickly and usually at the most inappropriate moment. Crossing a busy street, maybe?

WikiHow has great instructions for sewing a similar purse. If you're more of a needle-artist, Crochetnmore offered directions for turning a leg from jeans into a purse with a crocheted top.

5. Patches. Using denim as the base for little art patches is the brilliant idea by B. Original. I don't think I've seen this before, but I'll be playing this idea later this weekend.

6. Embellish. While Simplicity offers an article on embellishing jeans, I'll admit that I would want these fused embellishments stitched down, or at least have the edges painted over (painted fabric embellishments. Doesn't that sound too 1980s for today?) Unless you cut open the inside seams, however, you'r limited to awkward hand sewing. I like the suggestion of checking at local bead shops for classes; that should give you a more modern look!

7.. Pimp Your Jeans! The link to Thread Heads Coffee stained jeans is fabulous! After all , who doesn't love a Thread Heads video??

10. I LOVE the idea of an electronic gadget pocket from old jeans. Something to keep my phone and car key together no matter which bag or purse I'm using? The Instructable How-to by sage femme is complete, even to this warning:

Denim is strong - I broke two needles, a pair of scissors and a seam ripper making just two of these little pocket pals. That taught me some lessons I'll pass on to you: Don't force anything and Always cut through the thinnest area possible.


13. Ofcourse recycling jeans into a crazy quilt jacket has been around perhaps as long as either individual skill. The piece by Magpie Mumblings appears to include some nice embroidery, traditional piecing, and maybe a furry collar?

14. Demin Vest. Turning jeans upside down and using them for the basis of a vest? It's another old idea. But is it old enough that a whole new generation might be ready to adopt it? I can't judge! (that old, "if you wore it the first time, don't the second time around" rule keeps screaming in my ears!). You tell me.

17. Coffee cozies. An office/club small gift idea whose time has come? I like the ones by two straight lines with the little button detail, but pink milk and fairycakes published a whole tutorial on flickr.

18. My favorite idea of the bunch is this custom camera case from Evil Mad Scientist. Maybe because it was designed for my camera, so I don't have to go changing a thing?

OK. I ran through the list, adding a few links and pointing out some of my favorite ideas. Now it's your turn. Which of these ideas are you itching to get to started on? Do you have any other big ideas for used jeans? One idea I didn't see mentioned (again, it may be one whose time has come and gone) is cutting your jeans into strips, joining them together and making a braided rug from old jeans. Should I be wearing my "I survived the 60s/70s/80s crafts movements" Tshirt to even suggest that?

Let me know in the comments.

And a big ole beef-jerky hat tip to the fabulous MizFit for pointing this link out in the first place.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Mondays and Saturdays.

Tags:

Filed in: BlogHer, refashioning, recycled crafts, jeans

Dealing

Yeah, things have been a lot quiet here. Prep for BlogHer, the flu and some personal things have zapped my brain of any energy possible to put together a readable blog post. I'm tired of putting up crap just to have something here. It lessens my value and it dishonors you.

I'm taking a short sabbatical from blogging here. It may be a week, it may be month. Wish I could say more.

In the meantime, for those friends who check here just to know if I'm ok and what I'm doing. I will install a twitter widget on my sidebar. While I cannot think in full sentences and paragraphs, I am capable of something approaching 140 characters. and I promise to twitter atleast once a day. Kind of like microblogging checking in.

See ya on the other side.



I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Mondays and Saturdays.

Building a Crafty Online Community

This year, when you talk to a knitter with any kind of online presence, they mention Ravelry. I can't remember a time when an online community developed such strength and following as quickly. I've talked with a number of crafters who speak wistfully about the hope of building a similar community that might include other activities. A site like Ravelry for quilters, jewelry makers or all those paper crafts.

While I cannot suggest an exact duplicate, I have found a crafting community for you to explore that might satisfy your community seeking: CraftStylish and one that just started in beta is CraftyNation.

A Magazine With More Online

Craft Stylish is a quarterly "special edition" magazine from Taunton Press (the same people who publish Threads magazine and number of wonderful craft books). It is also a community site that brings all the crafting knowledge of the publisher online and invited each reader to get involved. The website provides the choice to discover which articles exist on the website, share your own projects through a photo gallery and the ability to create a profile and write your own posts for the site.

I found a number of wonderful how-to articles including Know Your Hand Sewing Needles. This article was written by Diane Gilleland, (aka Sister Diane from the Church of Craft) and will help you recognize your sharps from the straws and everything between.

The website currently running the The Tote-ally Crafty Bag Challenge (you have until 7/31/08 to enter). Looking through the gallery, there are a number of creative entries already.

This site is new, and while it does not let you share stash or search for patterns like Ravelry does, there is the beginning of a sense of community building and the opportunity to blog your projects there might make it more appealling to some of us who never find the time to photograph our entire yarn inventory.

In other crafty news:

Vickie Howell is looking for crafters who'd like to Join the Craft Corps.
I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Mondays and Saturdays.

Tags:

crafts
Craft Stylish
Vickie Howell

Photographing Crafts

(crossposted at BlogHer)



One of the best things about finding a good craft blog, whether it's someone using yarn, fabric, paper, tin, or plastic, is seeing the photographs of a person's work. When an item is well-photographed, the hand of the creator can be seen in the work. It's almost like touching the product.

However, taking a great photograph is not the easiest thing to do.

Deb Lacativa spent two days trying to photograph her latest work and running into frustration:

Getting good digital images of textiles is a struggle on a good day but throw anything shiny like metallic thread or paint or damask fabric into the mix and be prepared for hair pulling, crude cursing and lots of sweat.

Part of my problem is not being able to decide if I want the digital image of the work to highlight the basic elements of the design - the shapes, colors, lines and energy of each piece, to speak first and loudest, or do I want the textures of the fabric and the textures created by the stitching to have an equal voice.

Like her commentors, I think the piece taken in natural light, highlighting all the stitching she's put into the piece, is the better of the two. What's your opinion.

Reading her post reminded me that Stephanie Barnes (she of Little Birds Handmade and 3191 photoblog fame) once wrote a piece with advice on taking photos of crafts. Her piece of advice #2:

Natural light is your friend! Always use natural light, if at all possible, to take your photos. This means turn your flash off, folks.

Riffing off some of her other advice, here's some of my own suggestions for great shots:

Outdoor light in direct sun might be too harsh. Find a spot with dappled shade, or an indoor area close to a window.

Use or make a tripod. It limits the possible blur of the photograph.

Get even with your subject. If you place a softie on a table to shoot, bend down to the table's height instead of standing above it and shooting at an angle. Square flat pieces can start to look like parallellograms when shot at an angle. (there is a technical term for this, someone tell me? The edges begin to drift off the to horizon point?...)

Take more than one picture. Take pictures from different angles, different sides, if you can different speeds and aperatures. With digital cameras, you have nothign to lose. Then pick the best 2-3, edit them, and publish the very best one or two.

Style your photo. Nobody wants to see yesterday's dirty dishes piled in the sink in the background of your photo. See you can include objects to help "tell the story" of the craft.

Come in close. Some of the best pictures I've seen have been super-close ups. These allow us to see the fineness of the stitching, the detail of the work. They pull us in and make us want to stay there.

Crop. Crop everything out of your photo that isn't perfectly relavent to the subject. Don't be afraid to leave part of the picture go beyond the frame.

Consider building a photo studio. It might be a box you place objects in to get a good bouncy light; or a a stage that consistently lets you fold a nice piece of knitting. To take a good series of "how-to" photos, I built a custom boom (photo above) to attach to my tripod. It allows the camera to hang over the work surface, I do a project as I normally would (well, I try to do it with a little less mess), reach up and snap a photo at regular intervals. It took all of $5, a trip to the hardware store and about half hour of fitting nuts and bolts.

The author of Vikatikkeja understand the challenges of lighting crafts. Living in Finland, she has very dark winters.Ph On January 1st, she wrote:

I haven't blogged much recently, but that doesn't mean that I haven been busy with needles. I've knitted lots of basic socks and mittens for kids and four pairs of Kerttu-socks, and few Minttumaari-scarfs. Here in the north is so little daylight at this time of the year, that photographing crafts is almost impossible.

Normally I read all my blogs through BlogLines, but I have a list of favorite crafters who I make a point of visiting because of their photographs. Yes, BlogLines now pulls in the photos, but it still doesn't feel like the same thing. Who are your favorite craft photographers? And what tips would you share?

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Mondays and Saturdays.

Ok, so screw Nablopomo

I managed to keep my blog rolling through the 4 days of BlogHer, but coming home and getting sick?? Completely did me in. So I'm giving up on the idea of NaBloPoMo for the future. Instead, I'm personally aiming for 3-4 quality posts a week about what I'm reading, what I'm doing.

I sit here feeling sorry for myself because I'm coughing and tired and lonely and sick and I hate it. Until Sunday afternoon, I was surrounded by positive energy and lots of love. Now I'm home alone with nobody with whom to interact. No energy to draw from. No discussions of how lives are similar or different.

I really miss the energy.

I'm thinking I need to find a job as much for the interaction as for the income. I miss that positive flow. I missed it last year, but this year feels very different mainly because BlogHerbola has drained so much energy from me.

If I could, I'd go back in time a week and change things. Drink more water, make better food choices, use the hand sterilizer they gave us more religiously. Enjoy each moment more. Be present more.

I'd still feel down and depressed this week, but I'd the energy to start going about changing things to bring that power toward me more often.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Mondays and Saturdays.

BlogHer Notes: Good, Bad and Whatever

Things I Loved About BlogHer this year:

I could get there by BART. Walking the 2.5 blocks up Geary wasn't hard, and my whole transportation bill was about $10.

My room was one floor above the conference. I left my computer set up on the desk, and would just pop up there and check Twitter and email.

Free wifi (after the guy on the phone spelled the password).

A decadantly comfortable bed.

A bathtub longer than I am high.

Hugs and smiles and seeing folk I have seen in a while, or ever.

The Community Keynote Speech was worth the entire weekend.

Break-out Sessions! If the panel I was in wasn't what I expected, I just used the law of 2 feet, and headed over to the break-out session (bird of a feather, etc.). Didn't feel rude leaving or sliding into a panel at the half-way mark.

Playing Wii. Almost makes me want to buy one.

Laurie, Genie, Erin, Maria, Genie, Liz, Kaliya, Lisa, Kalyn, Virginia, Kerry, Shannon, Jane, Jane, Jane, Dana, Elizabeth, Catherine, Liz, Minnie, Liz and Minnie's Mom, Catherine's mom, Heather, and whoever I forgot.

Getting to wear my totally cute nearly sleeveless dress for an entire evening! Swirly-girly fun! I'm sure there's a pix of it somewhere.

The Less than Good

The ambient noise level. I must investigate noise-cancelling earphones before the next conference. Not only was it painful, but I could not hear most of the key notes because the constant chatter in the room drowned out the speakers.

The cold mezzanine floor (I mean it was chilly whenever I had to spend time there). I don't think they were ever successful at keeping it a temperature that was comfortable.

The carbo-pallooza catered food. The words protein or vegetable seldom crossed the caterer's lips. White flour, however, was in abundant supply.

Dropping my second Green-tini. It was delish.. and my last drink ticket.

Getting a frakkin' cold from the weekend.

Whatever

I am just jaded, or was the swag just not that exciting this year? There was a lot of it, but was most of it worth bringing home? I think not.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Mondays and Saturdays.

Tags: nablopomo

BlogHer08

Apple Cake

I'm continuing to go through some of my hand-written recipes off grease-stained pieces of scrap paper. I'm not sure how long I've had this one, but it's a favorite goodie on a cool day.

Apple Cake

This is a simple snack cake, not to be confused with the type of cake that one would frost.

Beat 2 eggs.
Add 1 C sugar and beat again.
Sift together, then add to egg/sugar and beat:

2 tsp. each of baking powder and baking soda
2/3 C. flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Fold into this:
2 Cups diced apples
1 tsp. vanilla
1 Cup nuts chopped
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Spoon this mix into a greased square cake pan. Bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes. The cake will be lumpy and moist and there is no great way to test for doneness. It more resembles a baked apple fritter than the traditional idea of a cake. You may wish to dust the finished squares with a little powdered sugar.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Mondays and Saturdays.

Tags: nablopomo

Good Wife Lemon Bars

A couple summers ago an online friend was bemoaning the fact that she could not be a good wife. "The sign of a good wife," she sighed, "is making a good lemon bar." And her lemon bars were far less than good.

I sent her my recipe, sure that the problem was with her ingredients not her technique. When I heard back from her later, she confirmed that one ingredient change did make all the difference. She can, indeed, now proudly call herself a good wife. Wish I remembered who it was, but the recipe has been changed to:

Good Wife Lemon Bars

1-1/4 Cups of all purpose flour
1 Cup of sugar
1/3 cup of butter, softened
2 eggs or 1/2 cup egg substitute
3 TBS. Minute Made Premium Lemon Juice (found in the freezer case) or fresh.
Confectioner's sugar

Combine 1 C. flour and 1/4C sugarp cut in butter until mixtue resembles course crmbs. Press mixture onto bottom of 8x8x2 pan. Bake at 350F for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Blend eggs, lemon juice, and remaining flour and sugar; pour over pastry crust. Bake 15 minutes more or until set. Cool slight; sprinkle with confection's sugar if desired (it is desired!). Cool completely; cut into 1x2" bars.

makes 32 bars (if you can cut accurately. Mine are somewhat less)
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes.

Now the secret to these bars is the lemon juice (well, duh!) If you are tempted to use the reconstituted stuff in the big green bottle, be prepared to fail in the "good wife" area. That stuff is foul and should not be touched. It will ruin your lemon bars. If you are unable to get fresh juice, take the time to search out the Minute Made stuff. You will be glad you did.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Mondays and Saturdays.

Tags: nablopomo, recipe, lemons, desserts

Linky Love: 7/18 Edition

Y'all know I'm actively participating in BlogHerCon this weekend, right? Can I say thank goodness for the publish in the future feature on Blogger? It let's me keep up with my great Friday linky lovin'!

So on with it:

Science Daily reported on a University of Missouri study comparing Weight Watchers to gym membership weight loss programs.
While the WW participants lost about 5% body weight, this was mostly comprised of lean muscle mass. The gym participants, in contrast, did not lose much weight, but did lose significant amounts of intra-abdominal fat. While this makes the gym program sound more successful, they researchers also found that without support, the gym participants quit, while the support of meetings from WW kept it's participants in the program.

“These results imply that overweight, sedentary women joining a fitness center with the intent of weight loss or body fat change will likely fail without support and without altering their diets,” Ball said. “Nearly 50 percent of people who start an exercise program will quit within six months.”

“This study attempted to discover what takes place in the real world when overweight women attempt to lose weight.” Ball said. “I think the outcome of the study speaks volumes about the necessity for a multi-pronged approach in order to lose weight, body fat and gain health benefits. I hope that this will be the first in a series of studies investigating commercial weight-loss programs.”

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Mondays and Saturdays.

I'm Writing From San Francisco

Ok, so it's 11:30 pm on Thursday night, and I've finally gotten online at our hotel. Only17 emails, so I'm lucky.

I started talking about 5 pm, and lost my voice by 10.

The hotel management must think that we BlogHers are smokin' hot, because the AC on the meeting levels was turning me into an icicle. A really cute icicile, but still...

Time to get some zzzs...

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Mondays and Saturdays.

See Ya! I'm Outta Here!

I've got a couple things pre-published so there will be posts, but I'm not certain that I'll be blogging at the conference about the conference.

You can check out what I've got to say on twitter, and likely find some photos on Flickr (just search on BlogHer08).

See ya all after the insanity.

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Mondays and Saturdays.

Tags: nablopomo, BlogHer08

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Sewing Machines, old and new.

(crossposted at BlogHer)

I was going to write about sewing today. That was my plan. I've spent the weekend sewing on a purse I've been designing, ripping and redo-ing as each little problem with my no-pattern-all-in-my-head piece became apparent. It seemed logical to simply search for fellow bloggers doing the same thing. Right?

Right?

And it's not that folks aren't sewing and blogging about it.

Cottage 46 Knitter just starting sewing and has several of the beginner's projects that she shared. Reclaiming the Home has started sewing clothes for school (with tutorials!) already. So cute!
DIY Maven at Curbly even wrote a nice tutorial on making an apron out of napkins.

There is a basis to write about sewing projects. But as I wandered through blogs, I found a greater theme: sewing machines.

Cottage 46 Knitter, besides knitting, started sewing after acquiring several sewing machines, including this vintage Singer 99 in a bent-wood carrying case. (From personal experience, let me tell you these things only make the "portable" class because they are not in tables. Mine weighted a ton!) Hers, from 1928 will be unelectrified and turned into a hand-crank machine. Sewing during "power down" days will not be a problem for her!

Idyllic Chick was gifted a nice Singer 301 In honor of receiving her wonderful gift, she posted a great gif on how a sewing machine works. Go check it out! After I posted about her machine at BlogHer, she even posted photos of her beauty!

I used to own a number of vintage Singers, including a Feather Weight constructed near my birthdate, about 5 of the 99 - most made in the 50s- and one of these 301s (in the more contemporary tan color). Believe me, it's one of the very best Singers ever made. I would pick this hands-down over a Feather Weight any day. (gasps from the readers change weather around the northern hemisphere).


The 301 is slightly larger and slightly heavier than the revered FW, but this is a gear-driven machine where the FW is belt-driven. The difference? Besides the obvious fact that you don't have to keep trying to locate and replace belts for the machine, a gear-driven machine doesn't transfer any of it's kinetic energy like a belt-driven machine does. Every little bit goes right into the act of sewing, which makes this a strong silent workhouse. This is a machine that can power through upholstery fabrics, heavy denims and even machine quilt with ease.

And the 301 and 99s are 3/4 sized machines. This means they are a bit shorter than their full-sized sisters (like the 201) but not quite as tiny as the 1/2 sized Feather weight. Sometimes having just an inch or more room in the throat plate region makes a big difference in what you can sew

If you're at a garage sale or auction house, and need to choose between these machines. don't hesitate. Grab your self the 301.

Not everybody is going vintage, however, in their sewing machine acquisition. Minnie's old "big box sewing machine" died on her a couple weeks ago, and she went out and purchased herself a shiny new Bernina! Does she love it? I think so:

Already i have completed a bunch of basic mending tasks that have been sitting around in my sewing room waiting for me. Some for actual YEARS have been waiting to completed. Also many of the decorative stitches have been tested and gloated over.

I swear.. sewing with this thing is sweet!

We sewers do have a dedication to our equipment. We split into camps of "Classic Singers", "Pfaffies" and "'Nina heads". Many women promise that the first item out the door in an emergency evacuation would be their sewing machine. Yet some anonymous woman chose to go a step further and bring her machine with her to eternity. Check out this Flickr photo of a sewing machine etched on a headstone.

I sold or gave away all my vintage machines about 10 years ago, when I purchased a (then) near top-of-the-line Pfaff. It's far from the newest machines of today, but it still keeps me in stitches.

Do you have a sewing machine love story or a photo you'd love to share?

I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Mondays and Saturdays.