August 30 - my first tomato

Ignore the green, I got tired of waiting 

He's gone to ground

He started getting hard looking & has buried himself in the dirt. That brown thing is his little cousin ;)

Sunday brunch

And my finger in the courtyard @ Wildflour Bakery in Saluda

If u can't grow tomatoes try horn worms

I've been nursing 4 uninspired tomato plants for a few months now & am finally seeing the fruit of my labors, hehe. I may get a tomato or two about September.

About a week ago I noticed something was chewing the leaves of one of them & this is what I found

Plus about seven of his brothers but I threw them in the trash can.

So I'm thinking it'll be fun to keep one 'til he mutates; 4 plants should feed one caterpillar easily enough, right?

Well, look at this joker now!

 And he's still going! At this point he's keeping me busy picking leaves, he wants about 4-6 a day, I may need to do a little research & figure out how much longer before he stops eating & starts spinning...4 tomato plants might not do the trick.   

But he has a 5 day reprieve, I'm taking him with me to my cousin's house for a visit, she's got lotsa garden.

By special request, here are a couple of videos of my new-to-me Singers

 

Here you go, proof that I DID get them both back together and running, haha.

 



 

Singer Model 99-13

1923

Made in Clydebank, Scotland, UK

 

 

Singer Model 66 Treadle

1924

made in New Jersey, USA

 

 

Please ignore my outfit, that's my hot weather uniform :D

Singer Treadle

I've been really itchin' to try sewing with the new (to me) treadle machine even tho I haven't started cleaning it yet. 

I did oil the big wheel under the cabinet (no more squeaking!!) and I've been practicing pumping the foot thingy a bit trying to get the hang of it

So tonight I finally got the new belt on (after hammering 4 holes thru the rolling round leather strip, grrrr)

And I've learned a few things.  First, it's hard to keep the wheel rolling in the right direction! 

Second, if u let the wheel turn backwards it screws up your thread. 

Third, if u use your hand on the balance wheel in an attempt to keep it rolling the proper direction, make sure you don't poke your finger thru the spokes and get it caught between a spoke and the bobbin winder. 

And finally, it's probably not realistic to expect a perfect stitch from a machine this age before u show it a little love with the wd40 & some machine oil

Tension assembly adjustment

The tension assembly's job is to apply an adjustable amount of tension to the top thread. After sewing a few patches I realized it wasn't releasing the tension when I raised the presser foot.  

 

So I took it apart & here are all the pieces.  The technical names for them (from left to right) are thumb screw, spring, little cone, tension plate 1&2, screw rod thingy, Thread guide spring dealy-bob, and pin.  (If that pin looks a little like a straight pin with the pointy bit cut off, you have a sharp eye)

The thread passes between the two plates (beside my thumb) which are pressed together by the spring below them

 When the presser foot is raised it activates a pin (seen above at my fingertip) which pushes the tab on this little cone 

And pushes the spring off the plate & releasing the tension on the thread

I guess the old pin was worn or cut too short so I replaced it with a slightly longer straight pin with the pointy tip cut off. Perfect!