Toy Sewing Machine Reference Books

I have these two reference books on toy sewing machines. They have lots of photos of hundreds of machines, price guide at the time they were published. It is fun to look through them and see all the different machines that were loved by many little girls (or boys) over the years. I always wanted a toy sewing machine when I was growing up and never got one so maybe that is why I like to collect them now as an adult.

Until later....

Lynn

Toy Sewing Machine Collecting

I have a few toy sewing machines of varying ages in my collection. This Gateway machine was the very first one I purchased. The interesting thing about this machine is I know a descendant of the manufacture. One of the guys that comes hunting here each fall from the Cincinnati area noticed my machine a couple of years ago. He was surprised to say the least as his family manufactured this toy sewing machine in the 1940s and 1950s and he had never seen any outside his immediate family until he saw mine. I think they manufactured 3 different models.

The two outside machines are the same brand KayandEE Sew Master. The one on the left is missing the tension dial. These are both metal machines and the machines were manufactured from 1943 until 1963. The one one on the right is older than the one on the left.

The red one in the center is a JC Penney machine made in the 1960s-1970s and is made of metal and plastic.

The most expensive machines in my collection are these two Singer hand crank toys. I think the tan one on the right was made in the 1950s and the black one near 1948. They are heavy cast metal machines.

The machine pictured above is a Bell Portable Sewing Machine made in Pennsylvania. I don't know what year it was manufactured but it is not a toy even though it is quite small. It comes with a bobbin and sews a regular stitch not a chain stitch like the rest of the toy machines. I have a case and foot pedal, cords and other accessories stored away. The case that looks like a small suit case doubles as a sewing table when using the machine.

The first pink metal and plastic machine is a Crystal battery operated with a foot pedal machine - date unknown. The second one is a McCalls plastic battery operated machine and this is the most modern of my toy machines - it was manufactured in 1992. The red machine on the end is a Sew Rite machine and was made in the 1950s. I have the original box plus a lot of the original fabrics, patterns, etc. that came with the machine.

I have not added to my collection for many years as the prices for all toy machines has gotten higher than I want to pay. I am not ruling out purchasing any more - who knows if the price is right and I like the machine it might just have to come home with me!

Lynn

Old Miniature Quilt

I have not had time, nor the energy to work on my miniature since I have been in the field helping with harvest, so today I am showing one of the first miniature quilts I ever made. You can tell from the fabrics that it is pretty old - in fact I finished quilting it in 1992 but pieced it in 1990. Some of the fabrics have faded a little over the years but I still like to hang it up during the fall season.

Around the early 90s I became fascinated by small quilts and found this book by Mary Hickey and fell in love with the little quilts in the book. This was before paper piecing became popular, don't even know if it was even done at this time. If it was it was not widely known as it is now. Her quilts were all pieced the traditional way. I learned how important it was to be very accurate with my cutting and my seams doing these small quilts. There just isn't much "fudge factor" with blocks this small. I made this quilt I named "Maple Leaf Autumn" and several others near the same time - I was hooked on making miniatures after that.

I also hand quilted almost all of the things I made at that time too. I tried to draw small quilting designs to fit these small quilts and to keep my quilting stitches small too. After I finished this quilt I noticed my feathered heart quilting designs were a little off and not square with the block. Now I try to be very particular about these things if I can but still sometimes I just leave it when it is not perfectly square. (You can tell I tend to be a perfectionist - sometimes that is good and sometimes it is bad and keeps you from moving forward with new things as you worry about the imperfection of the piece you just finished.)

The little nine patch blocks in this quilt were 1" square and I thought that they were just so small - never thought I would be piecing things much much smaller now. When I first learned about paper piecing it was wonderful, now I could do my favorite quilts even smaller and keep everything so much more accurate.

I didn't have to drive the grain cart today as they had enough guys to run all the different pieces of equipment - yay! The guys are making good progress today but it just takes time. They were in the field by 8 this morning and will probably work as late as they can haul to the elevator. Last night it was 9 pm when John came in. Some nights it gets closer to 11 pm. If they can they fill all the trucks at night and empty them first thing in the morning it helps. Our bins are full so now everything is being hauled to the elevator and John said the lines are not long today so they are getting dumped pretty quickly. Last week some guys had to wait over an hour or more to dump their trucks. Thank goodness we could haul here most of the time to avoid those long lines.

Am just hoping it doesn't snow here like they are predicting in a couple of days. We still won't be done with harvest and it is a real worry. Farmers depend on their whole years income from their crops. If they can't get it out of the field or if they loose part of it they loose income for a whole year - you only have one chance to grow and harvest that crop each year. The inputs (costs for seed, fertilizer, chemicals, irrigation fuel, etc.) don't change if you don't get a crop - you still have to pay all those bills.

I try not to worry as it doesn't help but still don't breath easy until it is all safely harvested and binned.

Lynn

Harvest

This post is about what I have spent my time doing since my last post. Corn, corn, corn...waiting to be harvested or the term we use most is "combined". Combined or Combining are a funny words when you think about it and it can be confusing to the non-farmers out there. The machine we use to harvest with is called a Combine so that is where the word comes from so if I refer to combining you know what I am talking about. We aren't mixing things together like the common definition would give the word - just harvesting with the combine!

I don't drive the combine - way too many controls to watch. My job is driving the tractor and grain cart. I drive along the combine to collect the grain and then take it back to where the trucks are parked and unload it. I go back and forth, back and forth all day - kind of boring to be truthful. Saves time for the combine operator and he can keep harvesting so makes the job go faster that way. Most all farmers have grain carts now, unlike when we first got out of college and came back to the farm. Then we only had a combine and the trucks. More labor is needed now because of the extra machine to run so guess that is my job most of the time. We do have an extra guy that comes out after his regular job around 5 each night so I don't have to drive after dark. I am pooped by then anyway, besides I just don't like doing it after dark, especially if I have to back up. I never know for sure which way to turn the wheels of the tractor to make the grain cart go the way I want it and need lots of space with nothing parked close and daylight is a big plus. If I drove a tractor all the time I would probably finally remember how to do it but I only drive it for a few weeks at harvest time so forget between times.

Notice on the photo below the combine is unloading corn into the grain cart on the move.

In the next photo I stopped the tractor for a bit to get a photo of the combine full of grain waiting for me to come so he can unload. You can see a reflection of some of the stuff in the tractor in the sky as I took the photo through the tractor window. I try to get back after unloading in the truck as fast as possible but the corn yields have been so good that most of the time the combine has to pause a bit so the corn doesn't come rolling over the top.

Made it around the end of the field and am approaching the back of the combine.

I have to count three empty rows between my front wheel and the combine and that is where I drive. After I get along side the combine he starts going again and I have to keep up with him as he harvests and unloads onto me at the same time. Most of the time it isn't too bad as I can pretty much set my speed and the combine adjusts if he needs to fill the front or back of the grain cart. The photo below has some blurry spots in it because I took it through the dirty tractor window as we were moving along. Just held the camera back and clicked. Didn't know what I got in the photo until I previewed it. Hired may driving the combine in the photo.

The next photo shows my view most of the day. I can look out the side windows but need to keep the tractor going straight. I do have air conditioning and a radio for company though. We have a 2-way radio system in the combine, tractor and trucks to communicate with the rest of the crew but use it only when needed.

You can see I am just speeding along at 3.9 miles per hour. This is pretty much the speed of the combine/grain cart combination as we lumber through the fields. I do go faster after I am full on my way back to the trucks and faster still on my way to pick up another load. I don't like to go fast though as the tractor bounces and it makes it harder to steer it between the corn rows. If the tractor skips over to another row it can really bounce and you can loose control if it keeps going cross rows at a high speed. How ever fast I go feels too fast though. At the end of the day my ribs and back are really sore and after sitting for hours on end I get really stiff.

This is a view of the tractor and grain cart and the combine as they come to the end of the rows that they are working on. Obviously I am not driving in this photo.

My husband took this photo of me unloading into the truck. Normally I have my eyes glued to the auger and truck to make sure the grain I am unloading is going where it should be and not running over the sides.

Side view of the same thing - this time I am paying attention!

When the trucks leave the field they are either taken to the elevator in town or to our farm to be unloaded in our grain bins. We don't have enough bin space to hold all the grain we harvest so have to take some of ours to the elevator. All landlords share goes to town too.

The photo below shows John unloading a truck into the auger system to take it up to the drying bin. The corn moisture has been running 18-19% lately and it needs to be dried down some to allow it to stay in good condition and not mold while in storage. This grain will be stored until next winter or next spring probably before it is sold and hauled to the elevator.

This last photo shows a long range view of the unloading system. The small bin that the grain is going into first is the drying bin. There are large fans that blow heat into the grain until it is dry enough to unload into the larger bins.

Today I have the morning off as John is hauling the cows and calves back from one of our pastures. He has a crew of friends helping so I get to stay home. The guys help each other out and today it is our turn to call on them.

Lynn