roguequilter

born & raised in socal deserts, lived in california central valley, pulled honey in lower central valley of CA in 124F, now living in yakima valley with 106F today, eastern washington. hot is hot no matter where ya live

RebeccaG

I can't imagine that kind of heat. Do you stay inside when it's that hot for the most part, unless you absolutely have to go out. Do you kind of get used to it? I just can't imagine.

Mrs. SewNSew

It was 106 here today too. You learn to plan your outside work for early or late when the temps are cooler and in the afternoon you stay indoors, swim, or go somewhere with a/c!

redbugsullivan

I've been attempting to build a treadle base for my Davis VF. As I gathered the bits together it was clear that the case it came in was filthy (the bottom case was very water damaged). Who knew Endust would come to the rescue? Nothing I had in my kit would clean the nastiness that covered the top of this case without stripping everything down. In desperation I pulled out Endust.

It worked so well! Even the metal corner guards and handle anchors got clean and I thought they were rusty/dirty beyond repair. Spray, spread it about, let set for a couple of minutes and wipe. Totally AMAZING results.

ThayerRags

I used old “German Gem”, my Singer 111G156 Handcrank walking foot sewing machine today. I don’t get to use it much, so I’m excited when I do. It’s got a steering wheel spinner knob on it for a crank. I have it set up with size Tex90 thread and a size 18 needle. I repaired the shoulder strap on a concealed carry purse with it. The stranded steel cable that’s imbedded in the center of the strap didn’t get captured on one end when it was made, and ended up getting frayed out and poking out through the soft leather, so I had to cut the strap off and re-sewed it to the buckle. Old Gem sewed right through that steel cable like it wasn’t even there.

I used “Whiplash”, my Singer 319W Treadle, to mend 5 pairs of denim jeans today too. I had gotten behind on my mending while I was in “vacation mode” for the past 2 weeks. I got my needle into a bind on one crotch seam on the second pair of jeans and must have dulled it, because after that, I could hear my needle going “thwack, thwack, thwack for the rest of the job. It’s time to put a new needle in it, but I don't want to rush into anything.....

CD in Oklahoma

Rodney

I picked up a White made Kenmore a while back. One of those $10 thrift store finds. It only turned about 1/2 a revolution before it would stop dead. Olivia and I took apart the hook assembly and cleaned out the packed in lint, it was hard as a rock and stuck to the machine. No good. Still not working. We took apart the nose next and a crank arm fell out. That freed things up. We spent some time with some mineral spirits (I'm out of sewing machine oil and this is a crinkle finish) and a tooth brush and scrubbed all the dried oil and gunk off that we could find. It's looking a lot cleaner and turning freely now. I don't think it's quite fixed yet. It looks to me like the presser foot bar is sitting too low in the machine. I also need to round up a new drive wheel along with some oil. I bought it as a bare head. It has the motor but no controller. The motor and light work, I was able to test them but can't hook them up yet.
It looks like someone had it apart and didn't quite get things back together correctly. I'm not sure what if any other problems we'll find.
Rodney

ThayerRags

I like those kind of machines! (Well, not the Kenmores or Whites, but the old Singers that I like.) It keeps others from buying them when something is “wrong” with them, but it’s usually an easy repair or replacement for me.

CD in Oklahoma

miriam

Mom and I took the cover off a buttonholer this afternoon. She is 89 and plays possum a lot. Some times when I do things she perks up and watches. She loved watching how the buttonholer worked. I cleaned it up and oiled it and it is much smoother now. She has one of the older 'naked' buttonholers but I don't think she ever got the hang of how it works - I don't even remember ever seeing it when I was growing up. I'm thinking we must have only had zippers in all the clothes or something. I'm thinking I should clean and oil the 'naked' buttonholer, too - but then maybe I already did and forgot. So much dementia... Tomorrow will be another boring day otherwise. She was in the hospital for a Tuesday and Wednesday - came home Thursday with a new diet - I keep up with reading QB on the ipad but I can't get it to let me post - dementia must be a package deal.

ArchaicArcane

This is what I had to do last year when the shingles on the house failed. The 2 hottest weeks of the summer and I was on the roof putting dark brown shingles up - alone while DH was at work. The roof would hit obscene temps and from 3 - 5 I simply couldn't be up there - my feet were burning through my shoes - so I'd cut shingles for ridge cap and prep other things or get caught up on email, etc. I don't remember the temps now but I remember at the time thinking my oven started at a lower temperature!

My goodness! No, don't make any snap decisions! I'm totally guilty of the same. I sit there thinking gee this machine sounds terrible.... oh,.. a new needle!
No, it's the iPad, they like to mess with people's minds.

Sewnoma

I found a nice old 28 (or maybe 128?) at the thrift shop for $65 yesterday and I left it there, but I might have to go back. It has a cool motor that swings over to the side to engage and the old school pedal with that big round cage looking thing to the side but the wires were toast. Decals in good shape, chrome shiny...even had an extra shuttle. Crap. I'm going to have to go back and see if it's still there, aren't I?

Funny thing is they had a yellowed Touch&Sew right next to it, for $10 MORE! Someone definitely has a different idea than I do about which of the two is more appealing!