rashundatramble.com

I’ve spent the vast majority of my time in Memphis either at home or in the car. In both places I’ve come close to getting frostbite.

I believe this seals my integration into European life: I can’t take air conditioning anymore. Granted, it hit 102 F here yesterday, but doggone, can’t a girl get some fresh air?

Especially when a particular loved one is a chain smoker and refuses to open the windows.

Yes, I went there.

It’s around 10AM right now. It’s 90 degrees.

Lawd.

In any case, I rooted around the basement when I got here and checked out my Aunt Hattie’s sewing machine. Aunt Hattie was my great aunt….some kind of way.

Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about with the last part of that sentence. Y’all know there are people in y’all’s family that you been calling “aunt” or “uncle” or something for 30 years, then you find out that they’re either not your blood aunt, or they’re actually your cousin twice removed or somebody’s “partner” or something.

Actually, Aunt Hattie was related to me by blood. I just can’t remember how.

Anyway, she made quilts and such according to my dad. She probably didn’t use this machine to quilt though. Dad said that when he was a kid, he remembered all of the women quilting by hand on a “horse.” It was some type of contraption they used to stretch out the quilt. He said he always got kicked out when the women came over. I think this was just her normal everyday machine. It was still threaded with an old, crumbly spool of thread.

I’m not an expert on old sewing machines, but since I’ve seen this type of machine in many antique stores, it’s probably not worth that much. I don’t have plans to sell it anyway. I wish I could have it shipped back to Switzerland, but: a) We have no place to put it and; b) It would cost a ridiculous amount to ship.

It was cool to rummage through its drawers though. I found lots of buttons. Why did women keep so many buttons stashed away back then? Also, I found a clipping from a Little Rock newspaper from 1947 about storm damage. A “negro blacksmith” was injured.

I’m not sure which is more interesting, finding old stuff, or going through what’s inside.

Note: Sorry for the crappy photo resolution in the post. I took these pics with my camera phone and obviously messed up some settings. You can click all of the pics to get a closer look.