Sew What?

As I unpacked all my sewing equipment that I'd taken to Kathy's, I realized how much my sewing room has changed in the last 10 months. For one, it's become more crowded. Two more machines in cabinets will do that. But it has also taken on the air of a well-loved and much-used room. Here it was in September, freshly painted and floored - I'd just moved in and I'd also just left my job. This is my sewing machine table today. My idea and inspiration boards have become quite cluttered. (And I recently cleaned them up) My pinning, cutting, small pressing job table has become a fixture I don't know how I ever sewed without. And while the window provides wonderful natural light - the mountain view isn't bad either. My serging station sits atop my antique Singer 301A that I was delighted to discover works like a champ with a little cleaning and oiling. Not pictured is also my ironing board at a 90 degree angle to it's original location. And doesn't the new/old treadle machine look lovely in front of the lace curtains?! Now, lest I give the impression that my sewing room is spacious with all these "stations", here's a little video tour, if you are interested. You'll see how efficiently I have fit all this in one small space.

A New Weapon

In the fight against stains and dingyness. I ordered Soilove, finally, after reading and hearing so much about how wonderful it is. I put it in a load of wash, I applied it directionly to stains, I soaked some items in a bucket of diluted Soilove. Let me tell you that it is Soilovely.


I combined it with some good old fashioned elbow grease, Fels Naptha and a washboard for the most stubborn items and my wash came out brighter than it has in ages. I'm really happy about that since the smallest size available was a gallon jug.


And then I had a nice stiff breeze to dry all that improved brightness.

Laundry Day - Old School

So it was snowy on Sunday, rainy on Monday, and beautiful today. I had to do some laundry. I can't turn down a sunny, lightly breezy day that will perfectly dry my clothes and linens.

While I washed several loads inside the house, I also used my "outdoor washing machine" to do a couple more. Of course, this isn't the complete washing machine you see here, because I'm not in the picture.


Here we can see that the extra capacity tub can easily handle an extra large comfortor with room to spare.


Here the advanced design of the agitator can be seen. Actually, this is a really cool tool. It fits inside a 5 gallon bucket or a 50 gallon "bucket". The plunger is designed to actually push water through the fibers on the downward thrust and then suction it back up through on the lift. I provided the "motor". I used my usual homemade laundry soap and some baking soda in the wash cycle and then some vinegar and essential grapefruit oil in the rinse cycle.


And of course you need a dryer that can handle this big stuff. Fortunately, that's not a problem. I have a high capacy dryer as well!


And of course it's always a pleasure hanging out laundry with such a beautiful view!




So, no, I'm not a complete freak. I got the washing agitator for the very specific reason that huge comfortors and heavy blankets don't really wash well or come out super clean in my home washer and I don't like hanging out at laundromats to uses the mega capacity washers that everyone uses for their nastiest jobs. This really fits the bill, gets me some exercise, and makes all the heavy bedding look and smell wonderful.