It started with a phone call from my mom. 

She follows several homesteading blogs and youtube channels. One recent blog featured a lady who converted her old treadle sewing machine into a modern unit with, well, a modern machine!

Hmmm... I had an old Singer in an old cabinet. It belonged to my Great Grandmother Hattie Wolf, who got it in probably the 1930s. I used the cabinet, closed, as a table for my modern machine. But, here it is opened up and sitting upright.

There was a serial number on it that I looked up online. My machine wasn't a diamond in the rough by any means - it was one of the largest productions, had been electrified, and well used. It was valued at $50, far less than what I paid for the new machine!

Normally I take more time to make decisions that cost this much, but getting through the first month of this pandemic and making several difficult decisions at work had me feeling like I needed to make a big statement of positive self-agency. The machine was on order, and I was super excited!

Until I looked down at my feet. Notice something missing? No? How about the namesake of the machine's power: the treadle. 

Yep. It had definitely been removed at some time to provide more foot room for the electrified pedal. This was about to get more expensive.

A quick trip to eBay actually produced results! I thought I only needed the treadle, but I couldn't find any model number for the base of my cabinet so I wasn't sure what might work and what might not. I was pretty sure my legs were universal legs, so I didn't need those. I was pretty sure I just needed the bottom treadle. I found this listing, which was $75 and thought the extra pieces wouldn't hurt.

Shipping was $85, though, so I just added $150 to my little project. Solid iron is no joke! It was worth it though, as I also needed the wheel and bottom support under the treadle. Wrangling the pieces together to form a working machine took about 5 hours. You can click through the slides below.

And here she is in action!

I could finally close the lid for the night. And put my old machine on top to finish the project I was in the middle of. ;)

Every experienced sewing person knows each machine has its own personality. I will have to find some dedicated time to learn this new one! Meanwhile, anybody want a few old "Singer" pieces for decoration? 

As Aida cloth didn't exist in the Renaissance, most work was done on linen, or some other kind of evenly-woven fabric. From my very first frame-able piece, I've used evenweave, which is an embroidery fabric usually made of a blend of cotton and rayon. However, I came across some Belfast linen for needlework on clearance, which I snatched up, knowing I'd find a use for it. Linen is a little more difficult to work with than evenweave, but it has really given the project a more period-appropriate look.

Secondly, I stumbled across this song on YouTube that I found myself replaying for its beauty and calm. Below is the version I first heard. It's not your typical recording space, and it's not a professional quality camera/microphone by any means, but take a couple of minutes and listen:

There are a few things to know about the song; it is one of the most popular hymns in Iceland. The lyrics are a psalm composed by the devoutly christian poet-cheiftan Kolbeinn Tumason in 1208. He had been mortally wounded in battle, and it was composed on his deathbed. The tune was composed in 1973 by ​Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson, but it evokes the style of a medieval chant.

Here's the first verse, translated into the modern Icelandic you hear in the song:

​Heyr himna smiðr
hvers skáldit biðr;
komi mjúk til mín
miskunnin þín.
Því heitk á þik
þú hefr skaptan mik;
ek em þrællinn þinn,
þú est dróttinn minn

After reading through several different English translations (both word-for-word and more poetic translations), I came up with my own version of a translation that I really liked. Here's the first verse as a teaser:

Hear my invocation, Smith of Constellations,
May your mercy come softly to me.
So I call on thee, for you have crafted me.
​I am your slave, you, my Lord on High.

I really have no timeline for how long this cross-stitch will take. I tend to work on these more in the winter, and as we're just getting into the good parts of spring, I may not get back to this until late fall. In the meantime, hopefully by telling you all about it, I'll have more motivation to pick it up again when I have the time?

It seems like only months ago that our nephew, L, came into our lives, and like that I found myself trying to decide what to do for his second birthday!

Our brother and sister-in-law had just bought their first house - a fixer-upper that, in time, will be a beautiful craftsman style farmhouse, including the classic four bedrooms upstairs. Of course this means no more nursery style room for L, but an actual big-kid room! I asked my sister-in-law what colors or themes they'd decided on, and she said she was thinking of camouflage green and grey with red accents. And also maybe dinosaurs. Very appropriate for a high-energy, curious little boy. I stumbled upon this fabric while out shopping, and I knew I had to do something with it. 

Two factors made up my mind for me - the impending deadline of L's birthday, and the fact that I didn't really want to make anything too precious. A simple square patch tied quilt was it!

To break up the busy dinosaur pattern, I grabbed some leftover off-white and green cotton fabric from my own supplies. L is in a toddler bed, so I decided on a quilt size somewhere between oversize crib and small twin. If it survives long enough, it can be a foot blanket for a standard twin or full size later.

After basting the top and a thin layer of batting to a plain off-white backing fabric using giant stitches and quilting thread, I used a variegated cotton yarn and an upholstery needle to tie knotted bows at the corners of each patch. The edges of the quilt are finished using wide bias tape.  There was also enough left-over fabric that I made a pillowcase to match.

My sister-in-law later texted to say that L loved his "dino-rawr" blanket. I hope the little quilt will shelter many good dreams in the years to come!