When I am in Albuquerque, I always stay at my Mother-in-Law’s house (1.) because I enjoy her company and (2.) because it’s free. During my visits, her sewing room becomes my sleeping room. I’ve had plenty of opportunity to admire her sewing machine:

My MIL is an old school needlewoman; she has used this treadle machine since she was tall enough to reach the pedal, and continues to use it regularly to this day. She has made dolls, quilts, wedding dresses, and everything else imaginable on this old Singer… she’s quite talented. And guess what else? She has some great original documents to go with it. Here’s one of them:

The sewing machine was delivered by wagon to the family’s home in Chilili, New Mexico in 1930. My MIL actually has a picture of the occasion… how cool is that?! Check it out:

I have lots more photos of the trip to share, though none as historically interesting as these. My daughter sent her little Webkinz, Cheese, with me on the trip as my travel companion and he had a few adventures along the way which I documented for her… I’ll have Cheese’s Travelogue posted soon. Here he is snuggled in my tote on the day of departure:

Today’s simple pleasure: discovering I can still do a pretty good cartwheel or two.
April 29, 2008 at 12:39 am
Wow. To have the documentation on the sewing machine is awesome. Those old machines were workhorses.
April 29, 2008 at 2:52 am
How wonderful to have such tangible history. Love those old photographs.
April 29, 2008 at 4:01 am
Oh!HOW COOL IS That!!!!!! To have the picture of when it was delivered as well as original documents and the fact she still uses it. I wonder what she thinks about today’s machines? Thanks for sharing an interesting piece of family history.
Oh and isn’t Alby a great place? I loved it when I was out there last year.
April 29, 2008 at 4:56 am
What an awesome sewing machine! It is so very cool that your MIL has the original documents and the picture :)
I am looking forward to my first trip to Albuquerque this summer.
April 29, 2008 at 6:55 am
Wow – amazing pictures! How incredible to have a photo of the machine when it was delivered!! It looks to be in awesome condition too. We have a similar table that hubby and I pulled from a garbage pile and he refinished for me. I even found an old machine to plunk in it, but sadly, its not in working order.
April 29, 2008 at 7:50 am
wow!!! fantastic heirloom !!
postman just arrived, thanks very much, Monique.. your threadkeepers are to die for!!
hugs
Pxxxx
April 29, 2008 at 9:04 am
Wow that is outstanding! And the fact that there are documents that go with it makes it even more incredible! How special :)
April 29, 2008 at 10:12 am
That is cool. NEat little bit of history there.
The machine is beautiful.
Hope cheese enjoyed his/her visit as well?
Natasha
April 29, 2008 at 10:24 am
OMG I know the post is about the sewing machine but I love that little dog in the photo!
April 29, 2008 at 10:26 am
How cool! The picture of the delivery wagon makes it so special.
April 29, 2008 at 11:41 am
HOW COOL! What a neat piece of history she has! The delivery picture is absolutely priceless.
Thanks for sharing!
April 29, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Wow, what a fun post! I love the picture of the sewing machine being delivered! I bet Singer would love it too :) We have one of those in the family too .. not sure what year it is, but it looks very similar. Thanks for sharing this with us :)
Can’t wait to hear abou Cheese’s adventures!
April 29, 2008 at 12:46 pm
I loved your story and photos. Are you a sewer too? The American Sewing Guild is holding our 2009 Conference in Albuquerque July 17-19th. We’re so excited about introducing many of our members to the “Land of Enchantment” for the first time. I’d love to see you and your MIL there!
April 29, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Hi Monique: Oh, your post brought many memories to mind. When I was a young child, my parents visited my paternal grandmother in Pennsylvania. She had a fantastic sewing room – machine set up similar to what you had in your picture. I slept in her sewing room. Not only do I still remember the sewing machine, i remember the sewing dummie!!! It was kinda frightening in the dark : ) LOL
April 29, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Since I am up to my eyeballs in genealogy, I just love vintage photos — and the stories to go along with — and they don’t even have to be mine!
What a treasure to have the machine, the documents, and the photo — hang on to all of them because they are very special things but I don’t have to tell you that.
Looking forward to more photos of your adventures — and Cheese’s also — sounds intriguing!
Melissa
April 29, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Wow, what a cool sewing machine. I bet it still works great, too. And to have a photo of it arriving at the house – priceless!
April 30, 2008 at 4:26 am
What fantastic photos Monique. A true piece of history:)
April 30, 2008 at 1:06 pm
How incredibly cool! And the fact that she still uses it … amazing!!
April 30, 2008 at 3:56 pm
wow! how cool is that!! I can’t believe she still has the warranty documents!!
April 30, 2008 at 5:14 pm
What a fabulous piece of history and it’s still going! Amazing! Thanks for sharing.