My new baby - a Singer Model 221, aka a Featherweight

"Hey honey, there's an estate sale starting this morning over by St. Francis MN. 

Do you wanna drive over with me?"

Much to my surprise, he says yes.  Oh, oh.

You all know I am a garage-sale-o-holic, but my husband is definitely not a fan of them.  In fact, I believe he may actually curse sales!  I have to laugh, every time he decides to to go to a sale they  are always the trashiest, dirtiest, weirdest sales ever.  Oh boy, I wondered, what I am I getting into?

We drive to the sale, and yup, hubby's curse is still strong. The house was nearly falling down and the outbuildings had already fallen down.  The shabby little house was poorly lit, all the floors were uneven. and it couldn't have been more than 800 square feet.  My imagination of the last resident was an elderly hermit farmer,  a bachelor living on his own for the last 50 years.

Waiting in line, I was so excited and could hardly wait to see what was inside.  This was my kinda sale.  

My husband, standing beside me was shaking his head and mumbling something about  empty shampoo bottles and dirty socks.  

He made a quick pass through the items and headed out to the car to wait.

What was one of the first things I see?  A TREASURE… a 1937 Singer featherweight portable.  Weighing in at 11lbs, the Singer 221 is considered the perfect portable.   This machine is the only Singer model that has complete books written exclusively about it.  There is a fanatic fan base with several websites devoted to it.  Drool.

The rooms in the house were so dark that I really couldn't tell what shape it was in, but I've been looking for one of these babies for awhile now so I made it mine.

I spent the rest of my Saturday cleaning, oiling and buffing her up.  Thank you to Minneapolis' Bobbin Doctor for teaching me all about machine reconditioning and giving me the confidence to tackle this project. 

Let me tell you, she is b-e-a-u-tiful!  She purrs while she sews the straightest line you'll ever see.  

Seriously, quality never dies.

I shall name her Edna and she will be my new best friend.  

Move over computerized modern marvel, there's a new baby in the house.

I am going to have to have my husband curse more sales!