Opinion : Out with the new, in with the old!

When I was a kid, my dad would take us out to a farm north of where we lived so that he could visit with his longtime friend John.

John was one of these guys that LOVED to tell stories about “the good ol' days” when he and my dad would ride around together and have some fun. Usually a story about my dad's car with flames painted on the side would be discussed and how he out ran the cops.

But the thing that REALLY fascinated me the most was John's ability to restore old pump organs. At the time, I didn't play the piano, but he would let us sit on the organ stool and pump away and we'd make noise on the antique machine.

It seems like the one he had had red velvet on the pedals and the wood was a deep dark color that shone in the lantern light. It had a mirror and carved shelves on it.

And did I mention that John was Amish? The smell of kerosene takes me to his house every time.

Alice, his wife would smile as we played.

But the fascination never stopped. I had always wanted my very own pump organ.

A couple years ago, I finally got my own for a whopping $50, and it still worked. It sits proudly in my living room with an old lamp on it and a mixture of family photos. Once in a while I sit and play it, mostly I just admire it.

A few weeks ago, I saw another antique that I just had to have. An old treadle sewing machine.

Do I sew? You ask.

Not anymore.

But this Singer treadle machine looks exactly like one my Grandma McNeal used to have. It sat in her spare bedroom, and was one of those things I again was fascinated with. I admired the carving on it and the grain of the wood.

So when I saw this machine pop up on a for sale site, and it was in Dysart, I counted out my pennies and went to Dysart.

It may or may not be hers, but it is now all cleaned and ready for me to play with.(My grandma's was sold at their estate auction at the fairgrounds in the late '80s )

It sits proudly next to my pump organ,which sits right next to my old secretary.

We are now looking for an old house to store my old “finds” in. Not really.

But in the task of buying, lugging and cleaning the machine, I made one call to the only place I could think of, Viking Sewing Center to see if they would know how to make my machine clean and ready to go. They did. And again, I am loving our little town. I remember going to Vikings as a kid with my mom to look at material. I think this is the place we explored the types of material and I learned the difference between cotton and polyester, satin and velvet and where I looked at pattern books for the first time.

My memories of learning about sewing are tied to this little store.

While there I remembered that I needed a bit of vinyl to refinish an old chair, and so of course, I asked and they had some there.

I suppose at some point I should take my girls down to show, rather feel the differences in material. I have an old tote full of patterns that would now work for my granddaughters.

As soon as I Google how to put the belt on my “new” machine, maybe we'll give it a whirl.

It's time to teach the girls how to sew...on an old treadle machine...