Jedidiah Valor

Back in January, I had the privilege of doing a photo shoot with this handsome, 11-day-old little man, Jedidiah Valor. He was so cooperative, easy, and fun to work with. I think his personality just fits the new newsboy cap, diaper cover, and bowtie set he modeled, don't you? He really does look like he's just hanging out and having a good time (maybe!).

 

Welcome to the world, Jedidiah Valor! May you truly grow up to be a man of God, and full of valor for His Kingdom!

The Remington: Cleaning and Tune-Up

I had all Saturday afternoon free, and I took the opportunity to finish cleaning the Remington. I had the machine completely dis-assembled (as far as pieces that will come off), and finished cleaning and oiling it. In some parts, and especially inside the metal body of the machine, it was so dusty that the easiest fix was to take the Dyson stair cleaner attachment to it. This vacuum cleaner did a great job of getting all the dust out - the first time!

The pieces of the hand wheel assembly. For your reference, the washer (middle piece) is just a little larger than a quarter - closer to the size of a dollar coin, if you've ever seen one of those Sacagawea dollar coins that were all the rage many years ago. Can you picture the sizes of the other two pieces from that?

The nice and shiny clean underside of the Remington

I took apart the whole tension assembly, cleaned it, and put it all back together again. It's simple. I've done it before. The key is lining all your little pieces up in order on a paper towel or old newspaper so that you don't forget the order they went in.

See, all squeaky clean and shiny, and looking oh so beautiful! It's completely re-assembled now, except for screwing the mounting bracket and motor on the back.

And see, it even threads the bobbin and sews! It has some other minor tension and timing issues, but nothing I haven't seen before.

That's what I did in the basement next door on Saturday afternoon. This is what I did in the Master Bedroom/Sewing room on Saturday morning:

Before

After

I'll let the pictures speak for me. Suffice it to say, the sewing area is now useable again! :)

313 Photography Project - Week 7

Week of February 13th...and I'm finally caught up!

Tuesday: The street light on a frosty February morning

One of our street lamps, photographed on a chilly winter morning

Wednesday: My New 'Baby'

A side view of my new 'baby', The Remington

Thursday: Homemade Snickerdoodles

One of my little brothers requested snickerdoodles for his birthday dinner on Thursday...they were delicious!

Friday: The Memoirs of the Birthday Boy

It was so sweet - the birthday boy received a magnetic notepad for his birthday and has had it up on the fridge, and wrote a page each day since. Enjoy reading how he loved his birthday! :)

Saturday: Claudia

I love old sewing machines, and this one is probably one of my favorites. It's my 1980's Singer Touch and Sew named Claudia (yes, I do name my machines! :) It has a zig-zag problem, but I enjoy doing all my small straight stitch projects on it.

313 Photography Project - Week 6

 This is the week of February 6th...


Monday: Knitting

 A couple sweet ladies at our church have started teaching a knitting class that one of my sisters and I are participating in. We're making cabled wrist warmers right now.

Tuesday: Another Pattern

 

Just another pattern for the Shoppe!

Editing: adjusted exposure and contrast a little and rotated slightly

Wednesday: Vintage Buttons

More buttons for the Shoppe...I see a pattern this week!

Editing: adjusted exposure and contrast a little and rotated slightly 

Friday: Our Mailbox and a Shovel against the Sky

A photographic opportunity found in a shovel leaning up against the mailbox

Saturday: My new flash drive

 My brother gave me this little beauty for my birthday last month, and I've been enjoying its mobile storage abilities! :)

313 Photography Project - Week 5

A little bit of catching up - nothing serious!

Monday: Yarn

Lots of new projects in the works here!

Editing: None

Tuesday: Guitar String Bracelet

One of my newest jewelry projects - re-purposing old or broken instrument strings. This beaded  bracelet I made from a guitar string. I now have this bracelet up in the Shoppe!

Editing: Slightly increased exposure, highlights, and contrast

Wednesday: Exciting things going on outside

I'm beginning to like the way this picture came out with the grid of the window screen.

Editing: None

Friday: A late afternoon walk

 

A delightful walk with friends in their neighborhood. I didn't mean for this picture to come out blurred, but I think it gives it a softer look.

Editing: None

Meet the Remington

When you hear Remington, what do you usually think of? Chances are, like me, you think of typewriters or guns. Yesterday, we went to pick up my newest 'baby', - the Remington.

I found this beauty on Craigslist recently, and was finally able to work out an appointment to look at it. It looked nice in the pictures, but was a sorry looking specimen in person, and I was able to make an offer lower than their asking price, and brought it home for 10 bucks. I'd been doing some research on Remington sewing machines; needless to say, there's not much information out there to be found about them. The most I could find about them was that for a short time around the end of WWII, Remington made sewing machines. These machines were made in Japan as the black metal Singer look-alikes, and they seem to use all the same parts as their Singer counterparts. I've been comparing it with the similar Singer models, and so far, it seems most like the Singer 15-91. Needless to say, I've begun the project of restoring it, which I'll hopefully be able to document completely here.

It was filthy, and I began by removing every part that could come off. I do fully realize that it could backfire on me in the form of losing those tiny little screws, or by mixing up parts, but for now, I'm taking the chance. Here it is this morning with the side place, bobbin cover and face place, stitch lever plate, and stop motion knob and hand wheel removed.

This is what I found when I removed the feed dog plate.

And the back of the stitch lever plate - yes, those are dead fly bodies. Gentle readers, this is a machine that has not been run for 30 years, according to the lady I bought it from, and likely sitting in their garage that whole time too.

A view from the side with the stop motion knob and hand wheel removed. I also removed the bobbin winding mechanism (the contraption at the upper left), and the motor on the mounting bracket (more to come later on why I did that!)

The underside of the machine. You can see the dust there to the right, underneath the main shaft. Notice the power cords in the lower right of the picture. A former owner duct-taped them, and I'm not looking forward to seeing what's underneath.

The machine from the side, with the bobbin winding mechanism and the motor and mounting bracket removed. Doesn't it look cleaner already? I attacked it with wet paper towels, and its beautiful shiny black finish and gold trim are stunning!

That is as far as I've gotten on Master Remington so far. I've just had an influx of orders for this adorable Very Hungry Caterpillar set, and duty calls me to set him aside and crochet instead.

-If you'd like to see the pictures in higher resolution, you can click on them to see a larger, full resolution copy.

313 Photography Project - Week 4

Tuesday: Hairbows

The adorable little girl's hair clips I made a couple weeks ago!

Editing: None

Friday: Stir-Fried Rice with Parsley

We made this for guests on Friday evening and it was delicious!

Editing: None

Saturday: Buttons

Some new vintage (or is that redundant?) buttons for the Shoppe

Editing: Adjusted exposure and contrast

Not the best of weeks, picture-wise, obviously! I'll be trying to do better!