I've had an OOPSIE again!

You would think that a person skilled in repairing our little FW sewing machines wouldn't be a klutz, right?  You would be wrong.  I've done it again, fell and broke a bone in my left wrist almost 3 weeks ago.

It's not so bad, really.  I'm so totally right handed that I don't need my left hand for much.  But, I do need it sometimes.  With my left wrist in a cast I can't open a bottle of water or twist off a pickle jar lid.  I do love my pickles.  I can't carry a box of machine parts.  Thank goodness I can carry a FW case with a FW in it.  I still need to do that from time to time.  I don't recommend carrying the FW by the handle but sometimes, like being in a cast, you just have to.  Be careful though.

Thank goodness I got all the FWs repaired and cleaned that were on my workbench before this happened.  I have all of those back to their owners except one.  That one gets returned at the FW Maintenance class in a few weeks.  The workbench is empty of customer machines at the moment. My machines will have to wait for awhile!

The dr says 6 to 8 weeks and I should be fine.  I'm hoping for the 6.  It's a busy season coming up.  The end of October with Halloween is really coming on fast and November might be my most busy month of the year for me.  I have 2 FW Club classes, 3 FW maintenance classes, and a presentation to do for a quilt guild in Ohio.  Yup, busy month. And, let's not forget about Turkey Day and, the day Santa comes to town!  2024 will burst in with a blast and we'll hop onto the 2024 whirlwind for future fun things just like we do every year about this time.

Is your FW all cleaned up and ready to finish up all those Christmas gifts you decided to make back in the spring? I've decided to stop planning Christmas projects.  It just adds to my stress and I'm stressed enough.  It's a good thing I didn't do that this year, right?

One thing I wanted to tell you about is checking your motor belt on your FW.  This one has a kink in it from sitting so long in a closet, the basement or maybe the garage.  A kink doesn't help the motor give a smooth turn.  You might think about trying out the Super Belt if you haven't done so already.  Send me an email about them.  I can chat all day about the advantages to putting a Super Belt on your FW.  So, if you need to clean up your machine, think about coming to a maintenance class or maybe a Sew-In day. We can talk about what you'll need to do.  I won't be able to come to the October meeting but I plan on being at the one in December.  Because we are having the last FW Club meeting in November, we won't be having a Sew-In day that month.

The Final FW Club class will be November 3rd or 5th.  I have a lot planned for us.  Go over to the Class Schedule tab and you can read about what we'll be doing.

Okay, guess I'll go see what I can accomplish with this green thing on my arm.  If you have any questions or just want to say, hi, email me or comment here.  Have a great day!

Such a pretty time of year

 I guess we will start to get some cooler weather now.  It certainly has been a bit steamy the last couple of days.  I really can't remember a time that we were still picking things in the garden after October first.  I'm not complaining.  We certainly have enjoyed the fresh veggies.

With holidays like Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up, I start thinking of sewing stuff.  And, the first thing with planning to sew is to pull out a featherweight to clean up. Sometimes it's a FW that I own that  needs to be cleaned so it's ready to sell.  Sometimes it's a FW that a customer has asked me to deep clean for them.  Not everybody wants to do that dirty job.

When you open up the spool pin cover, you get a good idea of how badly a FW needs a good deep cleaning.  I was told this machine had been serviced.  I don't know who serviced it or how long ago it was done.  My work was cut out for me. Where do I begin? 

First, you have to remove all the old gunky grease.  I use a wooden toothpick and get as much as I can.  Don't use a Q-tip because you don't want to leave fuzzy fibers in your gears.  Sometimes I use a wooden skewer if there are wads of grease farther than what a toothpick will reach.

Once I get as much old grease out as  possible, it's time to squirt some kerosene on the gears and use a toothbrush or lint brush to finish getting everything clean.  Then I use a rag from an old t-shirt to wipe everything clear. Use a clean toothpick to wipe every tooth of the gear you can reach.

Of course, the gear under the machine needs the same attention.  Usually the bottom gears aren't quite as bad.  Don't run the machine until you've put a new dab of grease on those gears.  And when I say a dab, I mean a small amount about the size of a green pea.

There is still a lot to do before any machine is totally cleaned.  I thought you all might like to see the very first step to getting a FW back to the best condition possible,

If you have any questions, email me.  jdquilts123@yahoo.com

If you need to order parts, go to the featherweight shop through my link:   https://singer-featherweight.com?aff=70.

There will be 2 basic and 1 advanced maintenance classes at the Quilt Patch in November.  Check out all that information on the Class Schedule tab on the right.

And, get out and enjoy the fall colors.  Mother Nature sure does a great job turning our green world into a spectacular display.