N is for Needles

Sewing fills my days, not to mention the living room, bedroom and closets. 

{Author Unknown...but it could have been Me} 

I remember exactly when I became fascinated with The Needle! 

The rhythm of the Treadle Sewing Machine and Mothers hands feeding the material under the foot had this six year old girl completely spell bound. 

I would sit beside her for hours and watch the needle go up and down. 

My job was to hold the Tomato Pin Cushion to receive the pins that steadily were pulled from the material before it went through the foot.

Mother was very careful to always pull the pins so the NEEDLE would not be damaged.  It was a long way to town for a package of Singer Needles.

Starting with Needle and Thread and scraps of material, I hand stitched doll clothes until finally I was long legged enough to reach the Foot Pedal of the old Singer Treadle. And so began a life time of Needlework, an appreciation  for the Art of Sewing and Collecting Sewing Stuff.  I still occasionally sew on a Treadle...often sew on a 1950 Century Edtion Featherweight...and mostly sew on a Janome Memory Craft 6600 Quilters Dream Machine.

Here's a bit of NEEDLE History....afterall there are lessons to be learned about the Letter N.

• The first sewing needles were made from bone and were used to sew animal hides together. The oldest known bone sewing needle was one found in what is now southwestern France and has been estimated to be over 25,000 years old.
• The knowledge of needle making was also used to make fish hooks in England. The country became well known for high quality fish hooks as well as sewing needles in the middle of the 17th century.
•  Metal needles were handcrafted before the industrial age. The process began with cutting wire long enough to make two needles. Then points were ground on either end of the wire, the wire was flattened in the middle and eyes punched out. The needles were then separated. This operation is still followed today, but machines now do the work instead of people.

Take your needle, my child, and work at your pattern; it will come out a rose by and by.

 Life is like that - one stitch at a time taken patiently and the pattern will come out all right like the embroidery.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

"I will not allow my creative spirit and need to knit to be thwarted by a lack of materials."

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee ~ The Yarn Harlot

"DITTO" 

 CollectInTexas Gal ~ Collector of Knitting Materials

Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit, either.
Elizabeth Zimmerman











I like making a piece of string into something I can wear.
{Author Unknown...but it's not Me...unless you count OneSock}







Another Set of Needles - Crochet - "I like making a piece of string into something I can use to wash dishes." 
 CollectInTexas Gal...maker of Crocheted Dish Rags.
N is for Needles....Linked to Alphabe~Thursday...Thanks Jenny!
As ye sew and knit, so shall ye rip.
{guess who}