Monthly Archives: March 2018

Not a sewing machine

Posted by terip on March 28, 2018 None comments

We are finally going to have a garage sale this weekend. We’ve put it off a couple of times. The garage has been cleaned out, and we have a tarp cover out front, in case it rains. I think I will put a couple of my electric machines up for sale (the Viking and the Singer 401). If they sell, fine. If not, I’ll figure out if I want to take them with me.

I have a new hobby! I was going to wait on this, but just got swept along with the idea. I bought a dulcimer! This is a very basic one, a Dulcimer Factory from the late 90s. It sounds okay but has a high action so is a challenge to play. I put a much better instrument on layaway today and hope to have it before my birthday next month. Here’s the one I have now:

I play around with it in the evenings. I am hoping to be able to play well enough to maybe join in with a group of pickers some day. Once upon a time, I built a kit dulcimer but never did much with it. I do like the idea of being able to pick out some simple tunes.

No new sewing adventures to report. I do need to sew a new petticoat and skirt soon. Flannel petticoats are great most of the year here, but I’d like something lighter for when it warms up. I have the material, just need to cut it out.

Another hurdle

Posted by terip on March 16, 2018 None comments

We had a walk through with a real estate agent today. Just trying to get an idea of what else needs to be considered. I am going to try my hand at painting again this weekend. I want to finish up the main bedroom. We still have about half the inside of the house to paint. Yard sale was pushed back another week.

Didn’t feel well mid week. I think it was some nausea and back spasms at the same time. I didn’t know if I was over it, so felt the need to take a full day off. I do feel much better and I got a small amount of sewing done. I do enjoy sewing on my hand crank. I need to spend some quality time with the Davis though.

 

I’m waiting for a hand crank to show up for the other 28. I ordered it from Canada so will likely be here next week.

Another quick update

Posted by terip on March 13, 2018 None comments

Still haven’t tried the Two Spool in that base. I can’t find the wood screws for the hinge pins, so I’ll have to buy new screws. I do want to try it out and it would be so nice if it fits that base.

I found a home for the 99k! I will be taking it across country, but it will be great to get it to someone that will use it. It’s a nice machine. I fired up my other electrics this weekend. I’m going to do a baby blanket using Janet Szabo’s instructions. I’m using minky and flannel, which means I have to use a zig zag. I removed the bad capacitor from the Viking and it works again. I’ve decided that I am going to sell that one. It’s a good machine, but it’s likely other pieces may start to fail. And I’m also selling the 401, which I just don’t care for. I’ll be left with the Necchi Supernova and the Singer 237. I’m planning to take the Necchi to the shop for an overhaul. I’m not happy with the stitch quality and I still can’t get the cam stack to turn correctly. I could work on it, but that would take away what little time I have for fun projects. Right now, I’d rather have some time to sew. The Singer 237 still stitches perfectly.

I am going to turn that Singer 28 head back into a hand crank. An original Singer hand crank turned up on Ebay, so I bought it. I took the machine outside the other day and it is really grimy. I need to clean it up before I start putting things together. I will need parts for it, but will pick those up as I find them. The other big expense will be a case for it. Once it’s together, I can decide if I want to keep it. I think it would be nice to have two hand cranks. So, I have been trying to make some decisions about what machines go with me.

We are about to paint the main bedroom. We had help cleaning up the area around Lon’s desk, which has been really cluttered. The house looks so much better. I can’t wait until we start to move out some of the bins we’ve packed up. We still have some painting to do in the living room and kitchen/dining room area. Then we’ll have the inside and outside of the house completed. Still pulling together a garage sale. This is all very stressful, but it’s amazing to think that the end might be in sight.

Quick update

Posted by terip on March 6, 2018 None comments

I still haven’t tried to sew with the Two Spool. It looks like it will fit in the base of that Minnesota K I bought. The hinge pins match up and fit in the Two Spool. I am still looking for the screws to the hinge pins, so can’t try it out yet. That base will need drawers at some point, but I think it will be a good match for the machine.

I am thinking about going to the PNW TOGA in Auburn in June. I really need to thin the herd a bit, especially if we do move cross country. I just picked up a Singer hand crank for the little 28, so I guess I’m keeping it. I’d like to get it all put back together. It’s actually my oldest machine. I have this mental inventory of the machines I really want to keep and I would like to rehome a few electric machines. I think I will be using those less in the future.

Mostly I am bummed out as we had folks over this weekend working on the house. Our friend did a great job in the living room and painted about half of it. And he cleaned the dirt and grime off things as he went. We have to match two more colors of paint, so we can finish the front part of the house. There’s talk of a garage sale this weekend, but I don’t know if that’s going to happen. I just get drained when I’m around other people all day. I just don’t feel like I had any time off. Oh, and I replaced the keyboard in my ThinkPad and worked on the Two Spool. Lon was impressed that I could span those technologies. I love these ThinkPads. They are so easy to work on and I am used to the little pointer mid keyboard. It’s much faster than the trackpad, which I disabled. I picked up an amazing electronics tool kit from Amazon, that should have all the tools I need if I decide to start taking cell phones apart.

And, I don’t have a copy of the pictures, but this marks the first day that Jake and Gary have played together without any issues! It was wonderful to see.