Back in January, I added a new (to me) sewing machine to my collection.  Ok, well, not much of a collection… I only had a Kenmore sewing machine and a White serger… but this baby is by far the coolest.  It’s a Singer 15-91 and was made in the 50’s.

I finally found a place for it in the studio… but I have actually moved it from this spot since I took the picture.  It was in good shape when I got it, but it needed a good cleaning, oiling and greasing.   The lady I got it from seemed surprised that I was actually going to sew with it.  I mean, that’s what you do with a sewing machine, isn’t it?

The beermaking adventure is complete (for now)!  I gave Chris a homebrew kit for Christmas and when enough bottles were collected, we got started brewing.  This past weekend they were ready for drinking, so we cracked open our wheat beers we dubbed The Railsplitter.

We started making the beer on Lincoln’s birthday, hence the name The Railsplitter.  The text below the image states: ‘Please Enjoy This Tall Sucker – Brewed and Bottled at C+B Ranch.’  Back in the Lincoln days, a person from Illinois was referred to as a sucker… not really what it means today!

The very first step in the process was to boil the malt extract (and hops).  I gotta say, it stunk up the whole house! About a week later, we bottled and capped the suckers, then they sat for a month.

Now it’s beer!