11/5/12

I think I ended up with more than one extra hour

Wow!  What a whirlwind weekend.

First thing I did was work on the Singer 401.  I found a free adjusters manual, and even though the pictures were copies of copies and very not clear, I was able to find the problem and fix it and give the machine a good oiling and cleaning and adjusting and now, it is sewing terrific!  Makes a bit of noise, but I’m hunting that down with my oil bottle and will eventually find it.

So, what was wrong?  One of the first things I did was rebuild the upper tension.  I’ve learned that there is usually gunk in a vintage machine that hasn’t been used in a while and so I just started breaking them down.  But, I never knew how important it was to get that tension spring on the side set right.

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You know what I’m talking about.  That little spring on the side of the tension assembly that bounces up and down with every stitch.  Well, apparently, the purpose of that spring is to jerk the thread back up after the stitch is made and because that wasn’t tight, it wasn’t jerking and the thread was getting caught in the bobbin area. 

Hey, the more machines I work on, the more I learn about working on them. 

Anyway, once that was fixed, I was sewing like a madman. 

I made 10 blocks for Erin’s Sandy relief effort.  I decided that it wasn’t fair to send her a quilt’s worth of blocks to assemble and quilt, so I’m going to finish this one and send her the finished quilt.

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Fun and addictive blocks. 

And, I spent a few hours working on the pink baby quilt.  It’s mostly quilted.  Just some more echo work and then the final border.

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Huge feathers and echoes.  It fills, it’s fast and it’s quite becoming on this little girly quilt.

I even pieced some Christmas tree blocks.

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I’m up to 9 of the 13 I want and two more are cut and waiting for time to assemble.

Today is Sydney’s birthday.  She wanted to make her own cake.  She made a Mississippi Mud cake.

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A doctored up Devil’s Food cake mix (per the Cake Doctor) and a layer of marshmallow fluff and a layer of cooked frosting and a layer of pecans.  It nearly sent me into shock last night and all the chocolate gave me the shakes. 

She got new “snow boots”…like it ever will snow here.  And, she’s getting a Kindle tonight.  And, cards.  Grades are up and she is paying more attention to her school work.  Sometimes, you just have to get her attention.  And, despite the sense of disappointed entitlement that plagued us all day yesterday (yes, you do still have to do your weekend chores, even on the day before your birthday), I’m thinking she’s going to have a happy birthday. 

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Or, maybe I’ll just beat her with a stick.  Ya’ never know.

Be well and have a great Monday.  Lane

9 comments:

Linda said...

I wish I were more mechanically inclined. I would be afraid to take anything apart on my machine. (I DID teach my 3 sons that they could do anything if they just had the instructions. I'm just not practicing what I preach, I guess. I used to buy them old clocks, appliances, etc. at garage sales for a quarter or so, cut the cord off, and let them take them apart and try to put them together again. It was a great way for them to learn! I should have been in there playing right along with them!)
Your quilting is just beautiful on that girly quilt!!! I also love the quilt for Sandy victims.

PattiLynn said...

Happy Birthday Sydney!!! Enjoy your special day! Your cake looks so yummy.

Lane, love the quilting. Thx for the great pics.

Elizabeth said...

What a beautiful birthday girl! I love that sweet, smile!

Lane, those feathers are so beautiful! You do great work.

xo -E

Michelle said...

Happy Birthday, Sydney, and congratulations on getting the 401 going!

Anonymous said...

Mississippi Mud Cake is one of my favorites. My friend would make them, from scratch. They were her husband's very favorite cake. Since his passing, she doesn't make them as often. Thanks for sharing.
cindy

Unknown said...

I have never heard of a cake like that, but it sounds yummy! Sydney is becoming such a beautiful woman. Get ready Dads! The boys will be coming around soon!

Glad you figured your machine out! You may have a new business when you retire!

smiledarlin said...

You can now go to Singerco and put in your serial number and they will issue you a certificate of ownership on your machine. I also have that 401A and might need to clean my tension, it also seems sluggish.
Will keep looking for the site you found with the adjustment information.

Vesuviusmama said...

What? You are sending a completed quilt? You are THE BEST!!! And how in heck did you get all that done in one weekend??

cbott said...

"She got new “snow boots”…like it ever will snow here."

9 years in the future: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAaaaaaaH!

I hope you all fared well through the horrific first 1/6th of 2021. As you can tell, I'm still in your 2012 so I have no idea how you're dealing with actual real life. I managed to spend that awful wintery week in someplace "warm" (not Cancun): the Pacific Northwest (caring for my parents).

Still plugging away at your blog and enjoying every minute of it,

Carolyn