w.i.p.

So, the workroom makeover is in full swing. I could tell you that I forgot to take “before” shots, but I’d be lying. I took them, but all they show are my piles of crap covering every horizontal surface so I’m not going to post any yet. Maybe after the room is done and I can counter with pictures that show I am not a complete slob.

Besides the workroom, I’ve also been rearranging my bedroom. By “rearranging” I mean: dismantling my closet entirely, setting up my antique brass bed,

 deciding (much to my daughter’s delight) the bed was too high (my nightstand needed a booster seat);

 and too “girly” (it is, and yes, the room is really that purple. It used to have dinosaurs on the walls too.)

and moving it into her room, setting up a will-do-for-now bed from the thrift store, building a new garment rack from iron pipe to replace the dismantled closet, and then deciding to completely reverse the layout of the room, and decorate it like the set from a Chanel ad. To accomplish that last part means finishing the demo of a wall-to-nowhere that has been waiting to come down for about 5 years, and also means some drywall repair.  At this point I decided the bedroom flip would have to wait until I was finished with the workroom. 

And here is a DIY from my dad: He didn't have enough room to store his extra art work in the garage of their new condo, so he hung everything. 

The new season brings new routines and projects, thus the absence. In short, I'm still trying to get used to school hours-- and not too successfully. With several new ideas in the pipeline my old Singer Touch and Sew decided she was not up to the task, and quit-- no notice. Well, not exactly without notice-- she'd been to the shop twice for repairs recently and yesterday was the first use since the last visit. She worked great for all of 10 minutes, and then quit feeding the bobbin thread. So this morning I ran to the thrift store hoping to find something cheap and working. Actually, I always hope to find an amazing industrial machine with a $5 price tag, but so far, no luck. Instead, I found a very nice Touch and Sew and was tempted until I checked the gears and found they were still the original nylon. As that is the origin of most of this machines problems (being that plastic gears tend to break and wear after a few years), I kept looking. The only other machine was this pretty little green gal-- the Singer 185J-- which, according to the internet, is a simple straight stitcher, not very pricey for resale, but a real workhorse. A quick check confirmed the electrical seemed to work ok, but the belt was missing. For $19.99 which included the table, I took the chance and brought her home.

I was a bit nervous she would require some obsolete bobbin and needle size, but she likes the Singer 66, which is sold everywhere, and of which I have a few dozen. Needle size looks standard too. Best of all, I forgot I had an old non working machine in the attic which had the correct size belt. Sometimes I amaze myself. So far, everything works great, except the bobbin winder. The handwheel won't disengage and the bobbin winder doesn't turn. More research is required to figure this out, but in the meantime I can wind bobbins on the "new" Singer. New, as in bought in 1999 but not used until last year. It took me that long to figure out how to thread the bobbin, and it sews like a drunken tailor so it's only used as a last resort back-up to the back up.