Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Seeing Red!

As you may know, we are away on a four month road trip, and Christmas has been very different for me this year. All the parcels were wrapped and mailed before the end of the first week of Dec. This was definitely a first for me. The only baking I did at home was fruitcakes, another first. We packed up and left on the 8th of Dec.  I almost felt like I was skipping out on Christmas. No baking, no turkey and all the fixin's, no gift wrapping till the wee hours, no decorating. Being away, staying in hotels, I kept thinking we might pass by the big day and not even realize it. 

Mr. O and I had decided not to exchange gifts earlier on, because we knew we would be stopping at LLBean to buy what we wanted. 

Even with all the Christmas greetings from service people and friends and Christmas music at the concerts we have attended, it just did not feel like Christmas. We talked and decided we would exchange a stocking (my favourite thing to do). It is challenging to do, but I always enjoy it.
Today after picking up the groceries I needed for tomorrow as well as a few other things, we had time to do some leisurly shopping. Supper at the Olive Garden and back to our condo to relax.
First though, I had some important details to attend to..



I decked the halls with boughs and holly...well not reall holly. I bought a string of lights and strung them on the artificial tree here in our condo, then some Dollar Store garland for the mantle, a few more lights, a couple of my new decorations, hung the stockings and thats all it took to make it a little more festive.
Mr.O filled my stocking and even gussied it up a bit. I filled his, and we were all ready.


Since leaving home we have stopped at many thrift stores and flea markets. I was on a mission to find me a vintage electric iron. In a perfect world It would be a red, very heavy, dry iron. 
We went to a large flea market with at least a hundred vendors booths. As usual, Mr O has moved through ten while I am still rooting around the first one. After about an hour of scouting, Mr. O come to find me. "Come see something" he says, so I reluctantly followed. He pointed to the floor of a booth near the back of the store. SCORE!!!
I nearly leaped at what I saw, all packaged up in a plastic bag, sitting on the floor.
Just look at what Mr. O found...


Isn't she a beaut? It is brand new! Well actually it is probably 40 years old, but brand new. Never used. The warrantee card and manual still folded up with it, all in a flannel bag. Even the cord was still wound up and wrapped with the manufacturers heat seamed tape. Like I said, SCORE!
I really didn't even know that irons were available in red, until watching a Craftsy class of Anita Grossman Solomon. She has the same one, and she refers to it, as her "little red mustang."
Now that is a real compliment...I know that because our first new car was a 1972 red mustang, fast back, with black leather interior...and boy could she move!

She looks pretty sweet cozied up to Ruby. I even plugged it in and ironed some strips for my granny squares.



Yup, that Mr. O has a pretty sharp eye when it comes to spotting rare finds. I was so excited, I really couldn't get too interested to do much more shopping. Sheesh! I really need to get out more, when buying a 40 plus year old iron gets me excited.
It's been a great day! 
Bring on Christmas! Decorating done, gifts are done, all the fixings for our dinner are in the fridge, I am ready for it.





5 comments:

  1. I think you ended up with a really festive Christmas! The iron is gorgeous and I can't believe it is in brand new condition! You know, only quilters would get excited over an iron! It does look really great by your machine, too. Have a great rest of the day and Merry Christmas!

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  2. Hope you had a wonderful day Wendy! Sure sounds like the two of you are having lots of fun. Thanks for sharing it with us...

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  3. What an amazing iron! I hope you a perfect little Christmas day.

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  4. I'm thrilled that you got that 40 year old brand new iron! Have a lot of fun with it!

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  5. Love when something on the wish list is acquired. The iron looks pretty nifty.

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