Sewing on the Porch

This week has been a week of adjustments in the quilting area.  My sweet dog Sally is unable to climb the stairs to join me in the quilt room, and as she ages, I like to keep an eye on her while I work, so I just bought an old Singer 404 machine, and I can sew downstairs on the porch, with Sally at my side. It's a win, win.  The machine was $40, all refurbished and ready to go.  It was one of the last metal Singers that were sold to high schools for use in Home Ec 101.  Straight stitching is all I need most of the time.

New sewing area on the screened porch:

Another adjustment was a change in the size of the turkey feathers I'm using in the border of Talkin' Turkey.  The feathers didn't look large enough, so I enlarged my pattern, and am making feathers again.  I don't know about you, but I'm tired of talkin' about Talkin' Turkey.  Need to get it off my design wall, but it's still up there.  Here's a picture of the larger turkey feather, and some in the process of being made:

The trip to buy the sewing machine was a serendipity.  The machine was in Petersbury area, and we stopped in City Point, VA, where General Grant had his headquarters during the siege of Petersburg.  Lincoln spent five days there with Grant during the war.  It's a beautiful piece of land jutting out where two rivers join, and was a beautiful place to take a little walk.  Here are a few pictures from our walk:

General Grant's family cabin

Headquarters of Union Soldiers

It was a perfect day!  The sky was so blue and the clouds were cotton puffs.

Crossing a river on the way home

I am linking up with Design wall Monday's at patchwork times today.  (Here)