'Tis The Season...

...to be jolly or so goes the song and I'm finding, as usual, the cold weather brings up the sewing machine sales. Take Ramona, for instance.

My lovely Singer 115 was rejected once again and I was feeling very sorry for it but I posted it one more time and Ramona answered the call. Maybe it's a bit of a siren call, something possibly dangerous but oh so alluring. But Ramona was from Iowa yet heading north to pick up a few sewing machines and the Singer 115 was on her list:

Singer 115 with gingerbread decals

She called back and said the plan was to come the next day in the afternoon and there was no way I could get any time off from work so my faithful husband, Jim, came to the rescue. It really was a rescue because they got lost and called for help! They weren't too far away and he stayed on the phone while guiding them through all of the intersections and signs to get to Blaine, MN. Ramona might have thought she was going to pick up a Singer 115 but when she walked in the door she said wow, there are so many and are they all for sale?

That's when Jim called me and we spent the next 20 minutes on speaker phone while they looked at various sewing machines, asking price, do I happen to have a Singer 401, or a handcrank, or what's inside of that bentwood case? We got all of their questions answered and they even had to go into the basement, something I do not encourage. The handcrank was down there and Jim was not about to lift anything since his arm has been in a sling for several months (don't ask). In the end, Ramona and her husband walked out with the Singer 115:

Singer 115 bird's eye view

Singer 301 in a table with the cradle (just bought 3 days before):

Singer 301 (sorry no photo of table that needed to be restored)

and a Singer 99 with a crinkle finish in a bentwood case:

Singer 99 crinkle finish (before bentwood case was restored)

They asked if I ship sewing machines and Jim and I both said NO but I encouraged them to make another road trip, possibly for the handcrank and the Singer 401. Ramona said she had budgeted a certain amount of money and would have to stop when she did so they loaded up the truck (two cabinet models, one had a bench seat, and a portable in bentwood case) and went back to Iowa. Jim and I were both pretty excited but I was working late that evening so we had to wait several hours until I could get home. Yup, I stopped to pick up a pizza as a thank you for all Jim did in my absence plus who wants to cook at 7 pm?