Bright lights and shiny stuff....

Ok so this week I spent some time working on the Commodore badged Deluxe.  I went off hunting for the belt on Friday when I was off from the main job, but was unable to locate one. I hit several stores locally looking for something that remotely resembled the belt.  I did see some vacuum belts that were almost perfect so I went off in search of a vacuum belt that would match. You would be surprised at how people are not willing to help you when you ask about a vacuum belt that is the same size as what you have in your hand... Needless to say, I wont be going back to that location.
So after all that, I ordered a belt from Ebay and set off to clean up the machine properly. Of course the beauty cleaned up so nice. A little Turtle Wax and an old pair of sweats seem to go pretty far.

The chrome on the wheel is nearly perfect and shined up with almost no work.

As you can see the chrome that Justin shined still has the awesome mirror shine and now you can see the paint is almost new car shine. Not very good pictures but they catch the shine. 

So now that I have the belt ordered, the machine shined its time to change the plug... So after changing the plug thought to leave that test for the husband.  Well when he finally came back from the race today, he plugged in the machine (after checking my handy work) and the light turned on. Woot! Or so you would think.  So lets press the pedal... Can anyone guess what happened? Big old spark shot out of the motor of the machine and I thought Neil was fried. So lets see if a heavier plug works then hopefully it will be fun to play with, if not... well lets see what the motor will cost to rebuild.  Can you tell I'm just heart broken that the machine isn't currently workable and that the belt is in transit. 

Amateur radio and sewing

A couple of years ago Neil (hubby) had his interest in amateur radio rekindled. Shortly after he got his license or ticket as they call it, he joined a local club called LIMARC, Long Island Mobile Amateur Radio Club.  We met a lot of great people and after a few months I started studying for my license, which I got last May.
So about that time we stopped by one of the ham's houses, to see his "shack" which is his radio room, when lo and behold we heard a sewing machine and his lovely wife is a seamstress.
At field day another ham mentioned his wife quilts. During a shop hop weekend my husband happened to mention we were headed out to one of the shops out east on the radio and another ham offered his sympathy for being made to go as his wife had already left with her friends, during the same shop hop we had a husband approach us about being a ham (do you see a trend yet?).  During the club Holiday party we were sitting with another couple, another ham active in the club too, and his wife quilts too!
Last night on my way across the parking lot, I stopped the only other female ham who works in my building, and mentioned the old 66.  Well surprise of all surprises, not only does she sew.... she collects sewing machines too! So what a conversation, showing her the remote mount radio in the car, discussing the clubs and their members updating her on some she knows but hasn't seen in a while, and sewing machines and the best places to find used machines and ham radios! I've come to the conclusion that ham radio and sewing go hand in hand!
Now to figure out how to use the treadle to power the radio...

WOOT!

Ok my beautiful machine is running, now only to bring her home and make the adjustments to it so that it will run.  I am having a problem where there normal 66 class bobbins aren't fitting but will have to figure that and the needle thing (cause thats not fitting either). YAY it works!

Flight of Dreams

Just over three years ago I discovered I have a talent for quilting.  A girlfriend from work had been diagnosed with breast cancer and I embarked on a new journey myself.  I made my first true throw sized quilt made with all breast cancer awareness fabrics for her. 

Shortly there after I joined my husband's family in the Relay for Life.  My husband had lost his brother to cancer in 2007 and his family had been doing the Relay for Life since.

 On a quilt high from the beautiful throw for Jean, I volunteered to make a quilt for the silent auction that year, and my now husband put out the request for blue fat quarters. Why blue? Because it was Paul's favorite color.  Deciding on a pretty log cabin design, my daughter learned how to use a rotary cutter, and both my boys learned how to use the iron. 

As the top of the log cabin quilt was done, I noticed I had a lot of fabrics left over. Some of the family had had so much fun in picking out fabrics (Marti yes you...) they brought a lot into this quilt. I must say, the ladies who bought the fabrics did a wonderful job so many amazing and awesome to choose from.  So after figuring out I had enough left over for a SECOND quilt... I put together a design of stars and flying geese.  Of course once you have two quilts going you know what happens... Yup, both sewing machines decided to not work.  Well this was a special quilt, it needed a special name, so we put up on facebook for people to name the quilt.  My step daughter Ashley, came up with the name flight of dreams.  It was perfect for the quilt.  However, the day of the relay as you can see in the picture below, my other half, my stepdaughter Amy and I finished tying off threads and hiding them during relay.

The quilt was raffled off at the end of relay, and the amazing thing was out of the hundreds of raffle tickets we sold, Paul's widow's sister won the quilt. 

This year its time for another flight of dreams, this one however wont be raffled but sold out right and part of the proceeds will go to the Relay for Life. Nothing like a good cause to fire up the creative juices.  I love the flight of dreams quilts. This year the colors are vibrant, greens and yellow. Bold and stunning. 

Just cant wait until its totally finished and even more striking! 

Deluxe Commodore clean up

Today I was working on the Commodore by De Luxe with my middle child Justin. He's going to be 16 next week and can polish metal to a fine shine.
After some assistance from Mr Wonderful-Husband, I was able to pull off the face plate and also the bobbin cover assembly.

Oiled the whole machine, and worked the oil through.

And gave the old gal a nice sponge bath.

What the main thrill of this whole thing, was that my nearly 16 year old was helping. I cant begin to tell how much it means that he's helping. I'm pretty sure he might find some of these motors interesting. 

Bad Jill, bad bad bad Jilll

Well, I brought home another machine... Bad bad bad Jill.   This is a beautiful Deluxe made Commodore machine.
Last night my husband started perusing the craigs list ads again and we found this beautiful machine that is in need of some TLC. From what I understand this old gal has been unused for at least 26 years. Yet she starts right up just needs a belt and a new plug. Also from what I understand I have purchased this machine from the original owner's grandson and his wife (lovely people!). Now a special word to a great co-worker who is such a nice person he came with me to pick up the Commodore, thanks Tom!  This gal is a portable and will fit in a corner for now while I restore and wait for the chance to bring home the 66. I look forward to learning more about this terrific, hernia causing, darling.
I have already done some research and found out that the Deluxe brand is a Japanese clone.  They were often branded for stores, and were often the economical choice. Yes they were not as expensive as the main name brands but this baby weighs a ton, definitely solidly built and built to last. I've read more then once that these are machines that last.
Pictures of this beauty will be following shortly, but I didn't have the time to take them tonight.

Sisters

So the other night my wonderful husband and I were again discussing the online search for a regular presser foot for the 66-1.  So while discussing the differences between a small hemming foot and a regular foot, as well as the cost of a full set vs the overall value of the machine. When my terrific husband states he doesn't think the 66 will be used as much as I think as I have all these "better" machines.  By "better machines" my husband means my current, newer electric machines, the ones that didn't work for 9 days after Sandy hit our shores (yes we live on the north shore of Long Island so got away easy) or after the storm last year that left us without power for 6 days.


First let me introduce you to the oldest of the sisters.  My blocky and beautiful Husqvarna 320.

The Husque (Husky) was a great Craig's list find. I had been working on two quilts for for our family Relay for Life team when my brand new singer started acting up. Of course the old Singer also was extremely moody and I had gone through two Singers 3xs to try to finish these two quilts. So this beauty popped up on Craig's list and my husband promptly called on it (yes I did say he's wonderful... usually). Unfortunately we were too late someone had already said they were picking her up. Luckily that person never showed and I am now the proud owner of this beautiful machine.  Mostly though I use her for the heavy duty alterations and some piecing. 

 
The next sister is another Craig's list find.  A beautiful Babylock BLQC.

 

This beautiful machine was listed as not working because it wouldn't recognize that the presser foot was down.  Figuring that we could either fix it or take it locally to be fixed it was worth the pittance that they were asking and stopped on our way from upstate New York to pick her up in Connecticut.  Well the car ride must have done something because she works like a charm.  This lovely lady is my favorite piecing machine and rides on my hand made quilting rack. 

I still have the two Singers, they still don't work well and I am not about to take them off to the rude servicer in NJ again these two sit in my storage. One day perhaps I will take the time to take them apart again.  I also have a singer serger that I love and find useful for edging fabric before washing, or when making clothing. 

These are the sisters, they have their uses and I love them all.