Colorado has seen a very temperate beginning of summer, with 80s being reached only a time or two. Earlier in the month we got four or five inches of rain lasting for several days. That is more than the normal average for the entire month of May. Needless to say it made everything very green. We were fortunate to have lilacs this year, at their best about the 8th of May, avoiding the common Colorado late freeze that can sometimes catch them by surprise.
This month we have reports from James and Courtney. We'll begin with James.
James
James has made a recent acquisition, taking some pictures of it that he shares with us:
After a bit of a sewing machine hiatus, I could not resist getting this motorized Willcox and Gibbs chainstitch. The outside of the case looks really nice with several missing copper/brass corner braces. I may try getting modern brass corner braces of the correct size and use a Dremel to cut out enough material to match the original corner braces and age them.
As you can see it still retains most of the original pasted instruction sheet on the underside of the lid. It also came with the original instruction manual that is in pretty bad shape but it has all the pages. A black Willcox and Gibbs attachment tin manufactured by Greist was included. I do not think it is complete but contains quite a few attachments including a handmade needle threader made to hook the thread while threading the machine. There is apparently an extra grease lube screw with a spring included.
The machine itself dates from 1907 according to the serial numbers published and dated in the spreadsheet. The decals are in good shape with some pitting of the japanning here and there. The hand wheel moves smoothly and the needle and feed move just fine. Despite the wiring being in decent shape, the motor does not run when plugged directly into the outlet. The pedal is in good shape but I am not sure if it works since I can not test it against that motor. I plan to test it on my stand-alone Hamilton Beach motor.
James
Courtney
Courtney did a little traveling over the last month. He tells us of his interesting experiences and finds. He writes:
A couple of weeks ago Connie and I went on a short road trip vacation. We took US Highway 36 across Kansas and ended up in Hamilton, MO. Highway 36 was great. No traffic, especially no big trucks, and a really good and smooth road. Next time we go East we will probably take 36 again and stay away from I-70 or I-80. Why Hamilton Missouri, you might ask. Well Hamilton is the home of the Missouri Star Quilt Company of YouTube fame.
Hamilton has become a quilters mecca. Missouri Star appears to have taken over nearly half the downtown area. One whole block, both at street level and up on second floor, are quilt shops. They also have most of the shops in the block across the street and a block down. Instead of everything all together they have a bunch of different shops, a Batik shop, a florals shop, a shop with licensed fabrics, and several others. It's great just to walk around and see all the different fabrics. For the guys not interested in fabric they have a lounge with easy chairs and TVs. Connie spent most of her time in the lounge explaining that she's not the quilter, her husband is. We spent the first night of our trip in Seneca, KS and drove the 2 hours on the Hamilton the next day. Our first day there was just looking around but the second day we had to get out the wallet and spend some money. After going through Hamilton one last time, we started home and spent the night in Marysville, KS where we visited the Pony Express stating and stables. Great Fun!
Besides the quilt shops in Hamilton there is also a quilt museum in an old high school. They have a fine display of modern and antique quilts. In the museum they also have a nice collection of antique and vintage sewing machines. They are still working on the sewing machine displays but they have a wonderful collection of toy sewing machines. A whole room dedicated just to toy machines. While going through the room with all the toys I spotted and unusual machine. It was a bit bigger than a Singer model 20 Sewhandy but not much. I am sure that is why it was in the toy room. It was a Singer model 76-1. I had never seen or heard of one before. That night in our motel, I looked online for info about the 76. The next day, besides spending money in the quilt shops, we went back to the museum, and they let me closely look it over. I could not see a "stationary" needle but could see a number of very small gears that could gather the cloth as the handle was cranked. At least I have something to think about and look into. I still can't quite figure out how it worked.
We spent the first night of our trip in Seneca, KS and drove the 2 hours on the Hamilton the next day. Our first day there was just looking around but the second day we had to get out the wallet and spend some money and visit the museum a second time. After going through Hamilton one last time, we started home and spent the night in Marysville, KS where we visited the original Pony Express station and stables still there. Then back to Greeley and pick up the dog. Great Fun all the way!
Sorry, I can't be with you on the Zoom call this month. Sew Downtown, our local quilt shop, has been so nice to me over the years. so that when they asked me to do a program on mathematics in quilting, I could not say no. It has inspired me to work on a quilt that I will show off next month.
Have a great June.
Courtney
In Closing
We want to offer thanks to our members who give us pictures and notes about their work to post here. And to our readers, thank you for reading.