I've Named Her "Hazel"...

Brynwood Needleworks - Good Housekeeper Sewing Machine

She's been here for a while, but arrived damaged. The case was carefully packed in the shipping box, but the machine wasn't as well-padded inside her case. When she got here, she'd been jostled about quite a bit. Her spool pin was broken and the case was battered, too.

I sent her off to the "hospital" and she got a complete overhaul. Cleaned, repaired, tuned up, and with hardly a scratch, she's ready to go to work. Except that she needed a name.

This machine is a Good Housekeeper machine born in 1959. Yes. She's actually a little younger than I am. (sigh) Aaaanywaay...I started thinking about what I wanted to name her and I started chewing on the "good housekeeper" angle.

What came to my mind was a television show from the 1960s called "Hazel". You might remember it if you've been around a while.

"George Baxter was a highly successful corporation lawyer who was always in control of everything at the office, but almost nothing at home. When he returned from the office at day's end, to his wife Dorothy, and his young son Harold, he entered the world of Hazel. Hazel was the maid and housekeeper who ran the Baxter household more efficiently than George ran his office. She was always right, knew exactly what needed doing, and pre-empted his authority with alarming, though, justified regularity. - Written by Anonymous"

Seemed appropriate to me. I decided to call her "Hazel".

Are you ready for the goosebumps part of my story? 

Brynwood Needleworks - Good Housekeeper Receipt

When I began the process of recovering the remnants of Hazel's case, I took her off the base to set aside. Under the machine was the original receipt of sale. The lady of the house paid a whopping $59.95, plus $1.60 sales tax for the machine. She made a $30.75 downpayment. But that's not the really interesting part.

Brynwood Needleworks - Good Housekeeper Receipt

At the top of the receipt was her name. 
Mrs. Hazel Young
HAZEL!

I swear. I didn't see this before I chose her name! Pure coincidence. Cool, huh?
 

Brynwood Needleworks - Good Housekeeper Sewing Machine

When my machine came back from my go-to machine guy - Bob - he told me that when he went to pick up the case by the handle, the top of the case broke apart. (Lucky for us, it was only about 4" off the ground when it happened!) I won't be using the case anymore, but I wanted to keep the bottom of the case to use as a sturdy base for the machine. Trust me when I tell you it looked nasty!

Brynwood Needleworks - Good Housekeeper Sewing Machine

 

I got out a piece my laminated cotton (Yes. I even have a small assortment of laminated cottons.) and craft glue. I only spent an hour covering the base to "pretty it up". Now, Hazel is ready to sew and her base is presentable, too. All that's left is to make a cover for her and I'll do that soon.

She's a heavy duty machine, so she'll be multi-purpose, like Kenny, who still needs a base. (For those of you who missed that announcement, click HERE). She's going to be a fine worker bee my studio.