Making Stars & Remembering

One thing lead to another this weekend while I was in the sewing room and while I started out taking pictures of the table runner I finished, I ended up taking pictures of the antiuqe sewing machines my daughter and I have collected and remembering some past projects.

First....the table runner made with stars using the Flying Geese x 4 No Math Ruler.  I'll be honest, at first I could not figure out how to use it...but then it all clicked in my head and I had a wall of stars before too long.

 This coming Saturday, I will be teaching a class on making these stars.  My sister-in-law's birthday is tomorrow and I was looking at one of the pictures she had drawn for me...of stars!...and decided to do a table runner for her with some of my sample stars.  But I needed a pretty way to display it for the picture, so I opened up my great-grandmother's peddle sewing machine.  I had forgotten how beautiful the machine is.

 I normally keep this machine closed up and have it covered with a large crochet doily and my jewelry box.  The machine lowers down into the cabinet.  Sally used this in her wedding to hold the unity candles.  This machine is a Singer with artwork on the front and back of the machine and then a decorated silver plate on the end.  One of my cousins from Texas brought the machine to my mom several years ago and she knew how much I loved it and it started my collection.  All I know is that the machine belonged to my great-grandmother...maybe one of my cousins that reads this can give more detail since I don't have my mom to ask.

 This peddle Singer was my grandmother's (Carathers).  She kept it in her attic and used it until she was not able to climb the stairs up to the attic anymore.  It also lowers into the cabinet.  I remember Grannie telling me that she bought this on credit, one of the first loans she ever took out.  Oh how I wish I had remembered more of her stories.

 This boxed, cabinet, peddle Wheeler & Wilson was Sally's contribution to the collection.  She found it at an antique store.  I love the box that sets over the machine.

 This little White machine probably set in a cabinet at one time.  It was the first one that I bought for the collection.  I think it is electric with a light on the back.

 But this one is my favorite that I bought.  It's a portable Singer, electric.

 My mother signed most of her later quilts and table runners.  Her signature is her name and the cross L (which is the brand my dad uses on his cattle).  So I wanted to start signing my projects.  Years ago, when I cross-stitched, I used my initials in lower case back-to-back, db.  I decided to combine my mom's signature with mine making it the cross db.

Actually it came out looking like a heart at the bottom of the cross.  When I dated it, I realized the significance of 9-11 and the fact that I had done stars, red, white and blue.

10 years ago I was also doing stars.  I had planned to crochet an American Flag using a pattern I had in one of my idea books (pictured below). 

I spent the morning, after the kids went to school, figuring out how much thread I would need.  I called one of the shops that I did smocking for and ordered a new smocking machine.  While on the phone with her, I could hear the dust cropper from a nearby farm flying over.  They used my home as a spotter to know that they needed to start getting low so they could spray the field behind our house.  I swear that is sounded like they were landing on our roof.

The lady at the shop put me on hold and I flipped the TV on while I was waitng.  When she came back on the line she and I were both upset and confused.  She told me she would have to call me back to finish the order because something was going on in New York.  I hung up and focused on the TV. 

A tower was falling.

I called my mom.

She was in tears. 

She knew what I could not understand. 

America was under attack.

Another tower fell while we talked on the phone.

The crop duster continued to fly over my house until he was taken from the sky.

Then all went quiet.

After a little while, when the schools decided not to release the kids early, I ventured out to Wal-Mart

for my thread....for the flag.

I stood at a counter buying red, white, and blue thread while TVs all over the store were

showing the terrible scenes from that day.

Saturday, I will make more stars and remember the lives of all those that were killed that day

and all the lives that were forever changed because of their loss.

I will also remember all those that stood up and made American stronger that day

and all the days since.