Life is like a box of Chocolates...............

There were no truer words spoken when that quote was made in "Forest Gump". It applies to life in general but you can also apply it to quilting and vintage sewing machines.

In quilting how many times have we seen a pattern that we thought was just the prettiest but the fabrics were not what we had in our stash or what we really prefer in colors. I know that from a guys point of view I love to use a lot of color and I tend to stay away from whites and light colors. Where I see a lot of quilts that were made by the female gender have lots of white or light colors in them. So I always change the fabrics around to meet my needs and I come up with a totally different quilt that what was made in the magazine or book I have. But the quote really applies to the hunt of the vintage sewing machine.....................

How many times have we gone to a garage sale, estate sale or thrift store looking for what sewing machines they might have there. It is like a box of chocolates because when you enter the place you have know idea as to what may lie around the corner. Could it be a Featherweight for $25 or a really nice treadle with all of the accessories for $75, the hunt is almost as much fun as the find itself. My favorite venues are thrift stores and estate sales, the later is where I find the really nice and more rare machines for a good price. I went to the thrift store the other day and I looked around to see if I could see if there was any new machines put out and I did find a really nice White 614 that needs a few parts to it and a full service but all in all it is a really nice machine. It has the decorative stitches built in and several of the functional type of stitches like the blind stitch, zigzag, button hole you know where I am going with this. Then I found a "short shank" Singer buttonholer in the Green Egg in another part of the store. Well for under $10 I was out of the door and I have some fodder to sell to foot the bill for some more machines!

While I was in the vicinity I walked next door to another thrift store and the owner did a buyout of mattresses and had tons of them in there for next to nothing. I know this isnt on topic by any means (well it will be in a second) but where in the world can you buy a king size Sterns and Foster pillowtop new in the package for $350 for the set!!! Just so happens my daughter was needing a king size mattress set for her new bed so I called her up and later that day we went together and she bought a Serta memory foam top for $435 including delivery! Well here is where I get back on topic.........As she is making up her bed and getting things put away I hear her say "Daddy will you make a quilt for my new bed?"

Later that night she is looking through my newest Keepsake and Connecting Threads catalogs sticky noting the quilts that she likes.