N’s grandmother’s kitchen wallpaper. One word: fantastic.
N’s brother got married last weekend. The weather could not have been more perfect.
I couldn’t get enough of uniform + bubbles.
I’ve been sewing in all of the spare seconds I can find. I’m trying to get ready for Color Fiber Festival and the SF Bazaar Bizarre. Color happens tomorrow (!) so if you are in the Berkeley area and want to check out some local fiber artists and socialize with fellow fiber enthusiasts you should stop by the Pacific School of Religion. The hours are 10am to 5pm - see you there?
First there was one
then there were twins
and now a whole family!
Ive been keeping a bit of a secret from you… In November after a tip-off from Karrie I went to the East Bay Depot and adopted a twin of my singer 301 sewing machine. The new 301 looks pretty, has a nice box and all of its attachments, but it also looks as if someone poured motor oil everywhere inside and then let it sit for 30 years. It was completely seized when I took it home but after some elbow grease and a good dose of advising from my dad the gears are all turning. With enough time spraying solvent into it I think I can get it running again.
Fast forward to January 2008 and an unanticipated craigslist find. Ive been looking on craigslist for the table which goes with the singer 301. I’ve seen them on there before and I’m not in a hurry so I figure that if I look long enough I’ll find one. My RSS feed picks up a lot of other sewing machines though and yesterday I saw a little featherweight listed for $100 (they usually go for $200-$400). I couldn’t resist and drove down to Mountain View to pick it up last night.
Its not in perfect condition - it looks well used - and thats the way I like it. I dont want a machine that cant be used! It runs and all the parts and attachments are there - even the original manual!
Look how tiny it is!
Just about everyone I talked to said I was crazy. 3 sewing machines in a studio apartment?
Well there is another bit of news I have yet to share…. We are moving. Our new place is still in Berkeley about 2.5 miles south of where we are now. It will have walls. More on that later…
Or, more accurately, the ECCWGS (El Cerrito City Wide Garage Sale). I love the idea of a whole town organizing garage sales on the same day. It makes any particular junk-finding probability so much higher! This year’s find? A crock pot. A fantastic shade of red-orange and free to boot!
the instructions were with in in the box — dated 12/29/1973. There are some “exciting” recipes in the booklet made even more fantastic by the by-lines for the titles and the super cute little illustrated vegetables and meats. They are quite similar to the box of recipe cards we found last year but without the heart stopping photos.
The cat had to check it out also. He even had his head stuck down inside but I was too slow with the camera, so all you get is the feet.
meet my new plants, they eat bugs!
Except maybe moo-oo-oo-oooo.
The best thing Ive heard in quite a while
You need to hear it to believe it
I bought this stuffed pork chop from Sweet Meats at the craft mafia trunk show in SF this last weekend. It even came all wrapped in butcher paper with a deli sticker. So cute! I think apollo likes it too…
this weekend really did have too much shopping involved. I may or may not have the energy to talk about it (yes it really was that exhausting) except to say it involved BOTH the Mountain Hardware wharehouse AND the Patagonia outlet and that some items were cheap enough that I had to buy them and Ive already started pawning jackets off on other people… (I have two more - anyone my size?)
Nick discovered this recipe in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking (p 306). It feeds 12-16 people! Below is a description of how the dish is to be served.
The host starts the proceeding as usual by spearing out the beef and lacing it on a platter. Then he finds a sausage, and after that a big piece of pork. Finally, to wild acclaim he brings out a chicken.
It’s t-3 days until judgments day….
Here she is… My new sewing machine. Born 1951 in Anderson SC she now comes to me after the best craigslist experience Ive ever had.
She weighs in at ~16lbs while my previous sewing machine, a 1913 White rotary (the bottom photo), probably weighs 50.
The woman who gave me the machine said it needed a name–thats right, a really nice woman I met on craigslist GAVE me this machine in return for me working to “save the earth from the ill effects of humanity” (which is really what I do already, right?). Anyone have a good suggestion?
The bottom picture is my old(er) machine. It was my grandmothers which she had converted to an electric. It still runs like a champ, but after sewing on the Singer 301 there is really no comparison. In fact I think that due to lack of apartment space the white will be put out to pasture at my Mom’s house. It still amazes me that a machine made in 1913 is still perfectly functional. I think we might have to throw a 100th birthday party for it or something.
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