New Old Baby!

Today we decided to go antiquing with two of my sisters.  What a great way to spend a Saturday!  We really enjoyed each others' company, the beautiful furniture and the dishes.  I actually said I had seen enough dishes with roses on them for the day.  That was before my last find!  I'll show post pictures of those finds on a later post.  This post is about my new little baby.  Check this out:

I know exactly nothing about this precious little machine, except that I now own it!  I'm so excited to find out more about it.  It's a hand crank but has the necessary hardware to put it on a treadle table.

It came with this cover.  Well, here I show the top of the box. It's basically a wooden box with no bottom.  It fits over the machine and locks onto the wooden frame, which is really just a board larger than the machine.  There are inlaid designs in both the top and the frame.

Check out the pretty little scroll designs that are all over the cast iron frame.  Many of the parts are rusty, but the machine does turn and all the moving parts do move.

 This is the underneath of the machine with a little of the wooden bottom showing.

The center part of the machine, showing a bit of the detailing.  There are so many little details that it would take several more pictures to do it justice.  I'm not that great a photographer so I'm thrilled to have these photos somewhat in focus.

The little plate gives the possible stitches per inch.  No where on the machine or on the wooden parts is there a name of any kind.  In fact this plate is the only thing with writing and really there's none.

I'm hopeful that this little bird will be a clue to the brand and mfg. date.  I'm planning to post these pics on the Quilting Board in the hopes that someone who deals with or collects antique machines can give me some info on this one.  I'll keep you posted as I discover information.  What do you think?  Isn't it just darling?  Richard and I looked at it but, when the shop owner gave us a price, I walked away.  Richard kept going back to the machine and talking to the guy, but the price was pretty firm.  Eventually Rich purchased the machine but didn't say anything until we got home.  I was so surprised and thrilled!  Isn't he just the sweetest?  Of course, had I known that he bought the machine, I might have kept my hands off the other items!

I've been interested in antique machines for a long time now.  Share your antique machine story.  Are you lucky enough to have one?  What's the brand and date?  Do you use it?  Leave a comment.  You know I love to hear from you!