My Sewing Fleet

Kenmore 54 This is the newest addition to my sewing fleet. I bought this at an auction for $5. Brought it home, cleaned it, oiled it and it is a dream machine. It will become my primary quilting machine once I find a quilting foot for it.

Singer Ultra Lock. This was purchased at a garage sale for $35. It was brand new in the box, never been used. Noisy thing, but it does the job and I had been saving to buy a new one for around $250.

Brother 700 II Embroidery Machine. This poor thing has been used and used. It was ran daily for the first year of it's use, I haven't got to do as much embroidery lately as I'd like to so its been getting some breaks. I did pay full price for it, but it was worth it. Embroiders beautifully. It does have some mood swings, but it gets the job done.

Brother SE350. This is a combo embroidery and sewing machine. It is a refurbished machine I bought on ebay. The company was great as my first one had a computer related crash basically. I had owned it for 4 or 5 months when it happened. Sent them an email. I had a new on in 2 days with a shipping sticker to send the broke one back. Didn't cost me a thing. That was 2 years ago and this has by far been my primary sewing machine. It had to go to the shop once, but it was my fault when I tried forcing it to do something it didn't want to do and I got it out of time.

I actually have 3 more sewing machines. One is a Singer 99K I bought for $2. It works great, but having some tension issues, so will take it into the shop. it actually sits in the living room with some other antiques, but it does my denim quilts as its by far one of the toughest machines in the house.

I have another old Singer, but we fixed it up and am giving it to a friend of mine. Then we have an old Kenmore, older than my Kenmore 54. It's waiting for a cleaning and oiling. Then it may go up on ebay..........if only I could make some room for it.

Then I have a newer Kenmore, it's a great machine, but somewhere when cleaning my sewing room, its power cord was lost, so it's sitting in waiting right now!

I am always telling people that anyone can sew and you don't have to have a brand new expensive machine to do it. The 2 toughest machines in my house are the Singer 99k and the Kenmore 54, total invested into them is $7 They don't have the fancy stitches or cut the thread for you, but they are the most reliable ones sitting here.

Cards With Fabric and More Distressing

The same birdcage card I hated from before. I did a bit more to it, then forgot when I hit the iron on it, it removed the embossing......kind of gave it a more trashed look! LOL Bird pictures are some more digital art from etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/KFcollection

and the the upper bird is some stickers I got from http://www.etsy.com/shop/LittlePinkKangaroo

Still not sure I like the card, but its definitely the etsy shops fault!

The two girl pictures are from vintageholidaycrafts.com I did the same thing and digitally put them on some sheet music, then printed them out. The lace is an actual very old lace I had on hand. The background of the card is an actual 1930s sheet music paper.

The horses.....The lower horse is an image I got on etsy from http://www.etsy.com/shop/Graphique

I then took a background image I have scanned into my computer from a 1933 Gene Autry sheet music book I have and put the horse image onto it.

The upper horse image is a rubber stamp I have, I scanned the image into the computer and have altered it to make it stand out some more and placed onto the same sheet music. Distressed some muslin and more Tim Holtz distress inks and may have gone overboard.

Teddy Bear still needs some bling or sparkle. The teddy bear is cut from a fabric that I've made several quilts from, the frame is done with my cricut.

Deer Oval is from a fabric and i still haven't sewn anything with it. I am going to make another one and distress it so i can see the difference.

Another very basic card done with the same deer fabric, then a sentiment stamped and some ribbon.

Phelps County Missouri Disaster Relief

As a lot of you know, I am the Phelps County Emergency Management Director. We have recently been through quite a disaster with the tornados. My county lost two wonderful people due to the tornados. The county just south of us lost 2 lives as well.

We have many people with no homes due to the damage. Some of these families have no insurance and have to start their lives over from scratch. I got with the Rolla police department who has a wonderful organization called Behind the Badge. They are capable of taking financial donations. I've had a few people ask about helping.

We have one couple with a 10 year old son that lost everything. There is nothing left of their home. We also have the family of one of the people that lost their lives and they are having trouble paying for the funeral expenses. I have a feeling this list may grow.

This is the post I have copied from Chief Kearse's Rolla Police Department facebook page.

As many of you know a tornado touched down in Rolla/Phelps County on December 31, 2010 destroying many homes within our community. A family has been presented to Behind the Badge for immediate assistance due to total loss of their belongings and rental home. After getting the information on this family, we found that there were many others that needed help from this disaster. We have created a disaster relief fund through Behind the Badge with the assistance of Sandy North, Emergency Operations Director, Phelps County Sheriff Department and the Rolla Police Department. The money collected will help only those tornado victims for such things as food, shelter, and clothing. We will first start with this family and their young boy.

If you can give, please do, every little bit adds up. Donations can be dropped off at the Rolla Police Department this week. Please make checks payable to Behind the badge and note; disaster relief. Behind the Badge is a not for profit organization ran by the employees and spouses of the Rolla Police Department to help RPD employees in need as well as others in our community. As stated this money will only be used to assist families that are in need from the tornado. Thank you very much. Chief Kearse.

Donations can be mailed to:
Rolla Police Department
1007 N. Elm St., Rolla, MO 65401.
Please make it Attn: Disaster Relief Fund

The residents of Phelps County Missouri have been wonderful. They have been out there every day helping in the clean up effort. We have had tons of clothes donated for these families that have lost everything. Our emergency services were nothing short of awesome. We have gotten calls from as far away as North Carolina. Everyone has been great.