It was another River Rats TOGA last weekend and it did not disappoint: hand crank sewing machines, treadles, even some electrics, but all about our passion for sewing. On my way into town I stopped off at Cindy Peter's house where her family was busy making deals in hopes of getting her vast inventory of sewing machines and parts cleaned out. Cindy was the founder of the River Rats and instrumental inTreadle-On, so her passing last winter was a huge loss for our community. Some of my friends were there and we consulted each other on identification of parts and the necessity of it. I loaded up my trunk with two Berninas, a Jones Meccaro, and a Husqvarna CB-N along with a large bag with foot controls with cords and many miscellaneous parts. On to the TOGA!
After unloading my raffle contributions and checking out the tables, I bought tickets for the raffle which helps defray the cost for the TOGA. One of my main tasks was to get my little Pfaff hand crank working so I tracked down Cathy Nelson who helped me last year with a German transverse shuttle sewing machine and she did her magic again. I didn't know which needle would work and she has a nifty chart and inventory of needles to figure it out plus she showed me how to set and time the needle. I worked with Bob who assisted in threading the boat shuttle and we were off and running. Speaking of running, this was the first year for hand crank races and was it fun. With nine contestants there were three heats
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| From 2 of the heats |
In the final contest we had a very close race when there was a mechanical problem (see top photo below) but it was very close:
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| Middle photo shows start of the final, top photo when something went wrong, and our winner at the end |
I think this is going to be a regular event but next time we will have those who have been training for the whole year. There were other events like sewing machine cleaning, chenille quilting, block exchanges, much selling of our own extras, and that included fabric in a separate room. Yes, I bought more fabric. Once I had a chance to think about what I got at Cindy's estate sale I decided I needed to go back so I made a final haul. This time I got new foot controls, bags and bags of low shank presser feet, a Pfaff 130 without a motor, needle plates, bobbins, accessory boxes empty and full, and even some Singer flat cams and Elna cams. All packed into my car and I headed back to the TOGA and geared up for the raffle.
The raffle has some of the more prized items with individual "bags" where you can "up" your chances by feeding more tickets into a bag of something you really want. What did I want the most? A quilt kit that wasn't finished but oh-so-nice. The raffle started with Mea and Diane calling out names for the bagged items first and, tada, I got the quilt kit! On my way back to my seat I was told it was found with Cindy's things so that made it extra special:
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| A dozen of the 16 blocks were completed |
As my name was called I kept choosing items until I could no longer fit anything else into my vehicle. I finished up and made my way home, hoping to travel while it was still daylight, but the raffle took so long I ended up traveling right through downtown St. Paul after sunset. When I got home I had to bring everything inside, write up receipts for my purchases, and check everything out:
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| Inside the trunk of my car (no Jeep this time) |
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| 4 were from Cindy's, the others from the raffle |
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| Cindy's estate sale |
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| and the raffle: too many tickets this year? |
Confession here: I was secretly glad my husband was up north hunting so I had a chance to check everything out slowly and put it all away over the next 24 hours. He's always supportive but this was overwhelming! I checked out the sewing machines, those purchased and those as part of the raffle, and will continue to have fun getting them up and running, sorted the presser feet, tested the foot controls, and ran my hands over the fabric purchased. I'll have more to say in future blog posts but for now it's goodbye to another River Rats TOGA. It's always great fun to share your passion with those who are just a bit crazier than you!
