Betty Jane Jones

I'd like to introduce you to my grandma.
I came across this picture of her as I was sorting and organizing my office/sewing room (a long overdue job that is taking forever).
I originally found this picture of her right after she passed away a few years ago and I had the job of creating a memory board for the funeral. I stopped in my tracks as I stared down at this picture, knowing it was just perfect. I have no idea who took this picture in my family, or how it ended up back in her possession instead of in someone else's box of pictures. But, that aside, this picture is, simply put, the best picture there is of my grandma. If I close my eyes, this is how I would picture her - working away in her ridiculously cramped kitchen, always sporting an apron and getting buns out for some meal. I love that the cupboard is open and I can stare into her cupboard full of boxed food since she was a woman of the 50's. Notice my grandma has 2 tea kettles - one to boil, one to steep - I learned that from her. She made horrid coffee, but she had a great knack for tea. The curtains were made by her when she came to the house as a bride, and 50 years later, in her eyes, they were still perfect. The lovely old stove hardly worked anymore, but she had the knack for knowing how to fuss with it to make it putter along. On top of her fridge is a large tin plate that held the most unusual and useful items ever! As a kid I remember thinking that everything you needed in life could be found in that try - or so it seemed at grandma's. I hadn't put it together till right now but that same tray rests on my fridge now, holding cereal and stuff for my family. The caper on this picture that makes it just about perfect in my eyes is that it is taken from the front hall that lead straight through to the kitchen in her house. When I stare at this picture long enough, I feel like I could be right there, in her front hall, walking in to give her a hug hello. I would give pretty much anything right about now to do that. My grandma was my best friend and I will always, always miss her.

Sewing, old school style

Well, I'm back from our family vacation. We did our second annual trek to the Poconos. The girls love the place we stay at because of the 2 pools and the fact that it backs onto a small stables where they can visit all the animals on a daily basis. I love the fact that a little trip up the road brings you to a Barnes and Nobles/Starbucks. Every day we went for good coffee and tons of books. I stumbled along a very cool book that I felt I could not live without. It is a guide to sewing machine attachments. Now, this may seem a bit boring to some, but to me - I feel like I have found the holy grail of sewing!! Years ago I purchased an old peddle sewing machine that came with a bunch of old sewing attachments that looked odd and unusual. I have been dying to use this machine to find out first of all how hard it is to use a peddle, and secondly to give an older feel to sewing pieces I work on. Armed with this new book I acquired on vacation, I feel I am finally ready to take the plunge and sew with it.

Not only that, this book shows many attachments still available on the market today. There are some I just have to try asap!!I believe I will be ordering a few specialty attachments from some of the stores listed in this book. Really and truly, I believe that the tiny boxes that these attachments will be coming in will be much more exciting to me than a little box of jewelry. My anniversary is coming up soon, hmmm! (steviewonder - hint, hint!!)

Some day soon when my sewing desk isn't embarrassingly messy I'll snap a few shots of this old sewing machine I'm talking about and the sewing machine my grandma gave me when I lived with her. Both have sat dormant way too long (my grandma's in particular since I lost the key to open it - later to be found in a box of barbie bits and bobs!) and need to be oiled and taken for a test drive soon!! More to come!!