Loose Threads & Oklahoma Backroads!

I spent a full day with the Loose Threads guild ladies of Laurens, South Carolina –and some friends who had traveled to join in on the quilt... thumbnail 1 summary

11 years ago

I spent a full day with the Loose Threads guild ladies of Laurens, South Carolina –and some friends who had traveled to join in on the quilting fun!

I’d never spent time in Laurens before, though I lived only an hour or so down the road in Irmo, South Carolina. We lived there for 5 years ---right before moving to North Carolina where we are now.

I love this area ---it’s just beautiful, as are the people.

And in this case…all 40 of them! We were in the Family Life center of a small country church – ample space, high ceilings, tons of light – were quilters on the board when they started building this place? It couldn’t have been more perfect – no circuits tripped, and the kitchen was spacious and munchies were plentiful!

You know me and my love of vintage machines ---I had to go around and count! We had 9 featherweights – a singer 301, and a lovely vintage New Home/Janome!

It’s the oddball machines that really hold my heart. This is Hazel, owned by Susan!

This is perhaps a late 1950s to early 1960s machine –two tone paint job – love the greyish seafoam green color! And it is straight stitch only. Straight stitch only machines are my favorite for piecing as the feed dogs are close together and make it easy to get a great 1/4” seam. Look at her curvy body style!

Her model is PARAGON. And she looked hardly used at all when her owner Susan, found her at a local Goodwill for $20.00

The case was beat up of pretty nasty of course – most cases on machines this age are rather worse for wear – but take a look at what Susan did with a bit of ingenuity and a jar of mod podge:

She covered the base, the cover ---and her hubby helped her make an extension table to fit the machine which she then covered in a layer of batting, a layer of fabric, and then a layer of clear vinyl ---and made an accessory bag to match!

Of course when it came time to demo to this half of the room – guess where I chose to sit!

Susan and her project in progress! Look at those stripes!

Thanks, Susan for letting me play with your baby Hazel for a bit – she is a sweetheart, as are you!

Everyone got SO much done –there are loads of fun photos in the slide show below.

Click the image below if you can’t view the slide show on your mobile device – you’ll be taken directly to the photo album.

Oklahoma Backroads, Laurens SC 2013

I'm off to Columbia, SC here in a bit -- I'm meeting up with my son, Jason for lunch at the place of his choice -- that is if he will let me KNOW -- he hasn't got back to me yet on the location! I'm looking forward to spending this evening in my old stomping grounds, and seeing familiar faces and catching up with the Greater Columbia Quilters! Hope to see you there!