dawn payne

Congratulations! As I've whined before, I'm the only daughter-in-law who sews, but, I'm sure I won't ever be the daughter-in-law to get my mother-in-law's machine when my father-in-law gets rid of it. She died in2002.

cabinfever

I know where you're coming from. I am the only DD or DIL who sews in our family on either side. I was shocked when one day one of my SIL asked my MIL if she would "leave her" the old treadle machine; my MIL was only 50 at the time. Not to offend anyone here, but it would have been inappropriate to do this in MY family; no matter how much you wanted or liked something.
My MIL is now 78 & has decided to give the machine away, my SIL no longer wants it, so it was offered to me. I was very honored that she offered it to me, but as it has now been in the barn for 5 years...has severe water & rust damage to both machine & cabinet, I declined. Also, most of the bobbin parts & accessories are all lost in the short move to the barn. It's just a shame that I didn't know that it was left out there all this time under an old tablecloth; I thought my SIL had it. At the very least I would have been willing to keep it out of the weather & in good working condition.

I still could never bring myself to ask anyone to "leave me" anything. It's a shame your FIL doesn't think to offer it to you. Maybe you could offer to do some mending for him on the old machine. This would at least allow you the thrill of using the old beauty & keep it from freezing up. Maybe he hasn't even given any thought to it hiding in the closet.

My mother is downsizing a lot now as well & has said she won't sew any more. I don't really need another modern machine, and have asked her to keep it, so that when I am on cross-country visits I can do her mending. I had to fix quite a few things last summer that she was just going to donate. She was happy to get them back in her wardrobe, and who knows...but I might squeeze a little quilting in during my visit as well:)

Rumbols

Congrats, lucky you.

dawn payne

My FIL is in CA & we're in NV. He is straight out of Italy. I don't know what is proper to him as we haven't had any in depth conversations over the 31 years I've been in the family. My MIL always kind of "guarded" him from conversation with anyone she didn't care for . . .enter Dawn.HA