Just bought a vintage early 60s Shasta camper to restore!

She needs a ton of work, but we are really excited to get started.
Aren't we hopeless romantics?

The Half-way House for Wayward Sewing Machines

Look what my mother-in-law brought me from Grandma's basement!

This is what it looked like after I wiped some grime off with paper towels and water,
and I had removed the fly wheel and bobbin winder

Nice decals!

She had rescued it from her Great Aunt's basement and stored it at Grandma's. It is from 1924, and it has a cabinet that I will be refurbishing. I spent my time last night and today obsessively rebuilding it with parts from my other Singer 66 which ran, but it's decals were a little sorry. Aunt Ceil's Singer is really only worn where the fabric went over the base. However, it was very dusty and gunky from having sat unused in basements for several years- so about a gallon of machine oil, 55 Q-tips, half a roll of paper towels, a little soap and water, and  a fair amount of elbow grease later, it is up and running.

Love it!

I borrowed the base from the other 66, as well as the light and motor. I thought running it with the motor would help with the rehabbing and get some of that oil worked in. I intend to have it in running in the treadle base, though.
Can I just say, it totally blows my mind that you can pull a nearly hundred year old machine out of a basement where it has been sitting for decades, oil it, pull some gunk out of it, throw a few new parts on it, and have it sewing beautiful stitches through nine layers of fabric in half a day! Where will the plastic Brother I learned to sew on be in 100 years? They REALLY just don't make 'em like they used to!
Well, I have wanted a treadle for some time (Thanks Lorraine!), so this one will be joining my permanent collection (that makes 4 including the serger- not too bad!). BTW, I used this manual from TFSR (a really neat organization) to direct me with the refurb. If anyone has an old Singer, check this info out. It makes removing the tension assembly and other scary tasks unscary!
Next, it's on to the treadle base, which will need some cleaning, gluing and clamping, and maybe a coat of stain or polyurethane. It's very pretty, and I love having projects!
What about y'all- have you started any fun and crazy summer projects?

Sometimes You Just Need to Get Away- Our Camp-cation!

We spent Memorial Day Weekend at the Jekyll Island, GA campground with my younger sister and her soon to be husband. We got started on the wrong foot- it took us far longer to pack then we expected, and just when we finished the check engine light came on in the Subaru, and it started making funny noises. We looked at rentals, but we didn't want to pay very much, so we ended up taking our truck, and yours truly ended up riding nearly the entire way (it took us almost 10 hours) in the trundle seat of our pick up truck. In case you haven't had the good fortune to ride in one of these, it is a tiny little seat that faces sideways in the back of a king cab truck. And it is very hard on the derriere. I almost backed out, but luckily I had a moment of clarity and realized that once there, I would be without the constant nagging responsibilities that follow me around all day at home. So we went, and it was wonderful! 

Baby was asleep when we arrived, and she was soooooo
excited to wake up in the tent the next morning!

Baby in her Pope Mobile (as we like to call it, it's really a bike trailer).
This was great fun with the bikes! 

Grandma & Grandpa stopped for a visit on their way back to FL. 

The baby began her juice box addiction- she had never had one before, and she liked it a little too much!

Are you SURE you want to be my brother in law?

My little sissy has always been taller than me. When we were kids she always said that
she was supposed to be born first, but I pushed her out of the way! :)

Family shot

This was kinda weird- is that guy hugging a toilet bowl?

Father-Daughter Nap Time

Beautiful Driftwood Beach

Baby's first visit to the beach. The most amazing part of parenthood is
seeing everything for the first time again, through the eyes of your child. 

That is a sea turtle in the mirror in the background- we were at the
sea turtle rescue center- there was one that was 200 lbs!

Baby was an angel in the car

It was sweaty, and buggy, and a long drive, but for three days we ate out of one pot and one pan and lounged around doing a whole lot of nothing. Now we are on the look out for a neat, small, vintage camper to pull behind the car.

I hope everyone everywhere had a great weekend, and I hope those in the U.S. had a nice Memorial Day holiday. With my family and all of the good food and relaxation, I had plenty of time to think about those who made the ultimate sacrifice so that I could live in beauty, freedom, and peace with those I love. I thank all of our fallen heroes for their service.

Yesterday's Special & Off on a Camp-cation

Yesterday I lucked out at a local thrift shop and found some great
vintage patterns from the 50s & 60s.

An Excess of Eggs Leads to....

Homemade pudding.

 Homemade pudding leads to homemade banana pudding pie.

 And the left over egg whites will lead to meringues later, if the munchkin will go to bed on time tonight. If not, maybe an egg white omelet for breakfast.
I am starting to get caught up on some home food prep here, and that means eating healthily, at home, and incorporating as much of our own stuff as possible. We had an awesome pasta salad for dinner last night (I didn't make the pasta this time) with tons of fresh, chopped herbs and some chopped spinach and arugula from the garden. It vanished quickly. Is anyone else making anything special lately that incorporates fresh ingredients? I know you are! Do tell!
Also yesterday I found something fun for my sewing space at the thrift store:

Well, it's a beautiful day, and it's just me and the bunny today as my husband has gone to play trumpet with a wedding band. Have a good one, whatever you are doing.

The Salad Days, Strawberry Jam, and Farmhouse Garden for Betsey Johnson

My sweet little baby was sick for about a week and a half, and I have been far too tired a caregiver to post anything here. There is nothing worse than a sick bunny- here she is, sweet as can be, hugging her sick bunny at the dr.'s office.

Thankfully, the bunnies are feeling much better!

Looks like it's good I wasn't paying attention, as a lot of Blogger users had frustration with Blogger being down, and losing and getting back posts and such. I hope any of you who had trouble have gotten this all straightened out.

Around here, we have been enjoying what is starting to feel like summer- the garden is beginning to produce, and we have had amazing fresh salads several nights this past week.

There is nothing better than going outside to pick your fresh food,
and then eating it a few minutes later!

Our favorite farm stand, Osage Farms, has opened for the season, and we bought a gallon of strawberries last weekend for jam.

Prepping strawberries for jam

I love kitchen gadgets! This "Tomato Shark" made hulling the strawberries easy!

Canning helpers

More canning helpers... ;) 

Boiling strawberries and sugar

Exciting canning action shots taken by my husband

Found a great recipe in this book- strawberries and sugar :)

The jam came out really loose, as there was no added pectin. I like it this way; it is more like strawberry topping. I often use jam to flavor my yogurt, so this worked out perfectly for me.

In other farm news, the lightening bugs are back. I can't really begin to describe to you what that looks like here- I know most people have seen lightening bugs before, but I have never, ever seen them like this before. The low lying fields and trees are positively full of them, millions of them, and they sparkle and sparkle and sparkle. It is a sight to behold; the first time my husband and I saw them here, we were in the car and we stopped and just looked out the windows for a long time. Just the other day, Brian caught one in the house and took a photo before setting it free.

The chickens are really laying now that the days are longer...anyone need any eggs?

And finally, I had to get new storage for my fabric and pattern stash, because the old cabinet caved under pressure :) This was my Mother's Day gift, and I am very pleased with it. However, moving the stash made me realize that I have far too much stuff, and I think I am to the point where it is stifling my creativity because I don't know where to begin. So what did I do when my friend offered me some nice fabric on Wednesday? I took it home and crammed it in with the rest, of course. Some habits die hard. I did immediately put some of that fabric to use though, and yesterday I made myself a new sun hat for the summer using Butterick 3850 - a vintage Betsey Johnson accessories pattern circa early 1970s.

I have listed it for sale on eBay as part of my clean out. This is a neat pattern, and I have never seen it anywhere else. I need to get a good photo of the front for the Vintage Pattern Wiki. And here are a few too many pics of my finished hat!

My fabric was a little floppy, but I kinda like it that way, and I plan on starching the hell out of the brim to make it just a little less so. It is called a "fireman style" and is perfect for really keeping the sun off. And I love this fabric with the bees, citrus, and checks- it is all summer!

Well , now that I am back in the swing, I have a lot of blog reading to catch up on too! I hope the weekend is treating you well!