BETTY THE FEATHERWEIGHT

I am posting pics today of my cleaned and freshly oiled Featherweight "Betty".  I wish I had taken before pics, but I didn't.  This machine is the one that will eventually reside in the newly refinished case that I have posted pics of.  For those who are concerned about a good Kerosene soaking, you can see my decals have been unaffected and the yellowing that the black paint had originally when I got Betty is gone.(I think it was old nicotine yuck)

Everything is clean and well oiled.   All I have to do is grease the gears once I find out the proper grease to use.   If you really want to compare,  look at how clean all the screw heads are.  The wiring is still the old wiring but Betty runs beautifully so all is good.

Almost Done!

My case is almost done and I am very happy with the results.  A final sanding an one more coat of semi glass minwax and she will be good to go.  I am sorry I did not include the tray in this process.  It still has the (phew) smell no matter what I have tried.  Maybe if I beg and plead hard enough I can get it done too.....  Hubby has been traveling and then we had the Holiday so it took longer then expected.    However I am not taking it anywhere so who cares!  Here are the pics.  Please leave me comments!  I am keeping the original handle as it is still in pretty good condition.  When hubby is all done I will clean off all the metal parts and polish up.

THE CASE IS STAINED

Yesterday hubby stained the case.  I choose Minwax in the color Espresso.  Now the next step after it totally dries is to put on a matte finish.  I choose matte because I did not want it to look real shiny.  He will probably work on that tonight after he gets home from work.  BTW, the smell (phew) is all gone!  Yeah!!!

DAY THREE REFURBISHING PROJECT

DEAR HUSBAND,

Thank you for spending your entire weekend working on this case.  I know you love it when I give you "special projects" to do LOL.....

Back to my post.  The whole case has been sanded and glued and filled and the only thing left is hubby is going to go over the case one more time with 400 Grit sandpaper.   Remember it looked like this:

Here is the inside of the box.  I think it looks pretty darn good.

and this is a sample of the stain color I want .  It is by Minwax and is called Espresso.  I wanted to keep the box dark, similar to the way it looked originally.  So that is where it is to this point on Sunday evening.  I think I will cook hubby a nice T-bone steak dinner, don't you think he deserves it?

DAY 2 OF THE REFURBISHING PROJECT

Today my husband started sanding on the case.

It took several hours with an electric sander to get the surface sanded down.  It was probably a good thing I went this route.  Once it was all sanded he found the bottom of the box was cracked all around.  I would have been so crushed if my little machine had fallen through the bottom of the box while I was carrying it.  

The only thing holding it intact was the fabric covering and that was rotted out too, and a small portion that had not come unglued,.  There was also a crack in the case on the front about half way up from the bottom.  So he glued and clamped and bonded the case back together.  This is what he got done on day two.  Tomorrow he will tackle the inside.  It is still the same as it was from the day one photos.  

Can you see the beautiful tongue and groove corners?  They don't make things like that today!

REFURBISHING OF SINGER FEATHERWEIGHT 1949

I just recently purchased my second Singer Featherweight manufactured approx Oct, 1949.  The machine was very nice and it sews beautifully but it and the case smelled so badly that since it arrive three weeks ago it has not been in the house.

I tried everything to get the order out of the machine and the case.  After much cleaning of the machine by soaking in a Kerosene bath for two days and spraying WD 40 in every crevice I could find,  I finally got the machine odor free but the case...that was a different matter.

I washed the case down with a solution of colorox and dried it throughly,  I let it bake in the sun, the hot Arizona sun, for two weeks,  I filled it full of Kitty Litter and let it bake in the sun...nothing took away the foul odor

Finally after some research I found it was probably the glue that they used back then to attach the cover and the linings.  It could have been a glue made from animals, it got damp and then molded.

So after searching the web I found that a woman actually too all her covering off (the same reason it smelled so badly), and she found a beautiful hardwood tongue and groove box.  

So I started two days ago ripping off the cover, ugh, a nasty jog.  Make sure if you decide to attempt this, you do it outside.  You do not want possible mold spores in your home.  I did not find any but who knows what we can not see.  Here is how the box looked once I ripped everything off.

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Northern California Vacation July 2013

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MAGNOLIA BIRTHDAY CARD

I signed up for the Maganolia Birthday card group and then forgot about it.  Yesterday I received the most beautiful birthday card I have ever gotten.  Thank you Kathy Gerace, you are very talented and it shows in the easel card you made for me.

EASTER MAGNOLIA

This is a new Magnolia stamp  from the 2013 Easter Collection.  I think it is so pretty.  The Egg was colored with Copics.  I did not remember to take a pic of the markers I used.  The card stock is Bazzill (of course) and the dp's from my stash and is daisyd's Maybe Baby Collection.  I used copics and my air compressor to spray the green flowers  all the other embellies are from my stash.

I am going to enter this card in the following challenges:

Hoppin' To Easter

Allsorts - Week 197 "Springtime"

Stamp and Create - Spring and Pastel Colors

Stamping with Dragon - Anything Goes

GOTTA HAVE GREEN

I got this cute digi image from Bug a Boo and I knew I had ust the perfect design paper to go with it.  The paper is from my "stash" and is Reminisce Lucky Me line.  I colored the image with Copics.

I am going to enter this card into the following Challenges:

Outlawz Monday Challenge - Gotta Have Green

Card Making Mamas - Green

Stamping with Dragon - Anything Goes

EWE

I made this card using this weeks freebie divi from Bugaboo.  Isn't this lamb just adorable.  I colored the image with Copic Markers and stickles.  The dp I used was from last year and is by American Crafts, "I Heart You".  I used Bazzill in Pomogranate for the cardstock.  The heart border I cut out using my Klic N Kut.

I am entering this in the following challenges:

Outlawz Monday Challenge using "hearts" and the color Red. Greetings Challenge January 28th

ABC Challenge "L is for Love"

AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER

My image today is a Saturated Canary digi called Canary Love.  The challenge on Saturated Canary is Movie Inspiration:  "An Affair To Remember" is my Movie.  I used an embossing plate for the background.  The image is colored with Copics.  I also used were stickles, and Prima flowers.  The ribbon was from my "stash"  We all have one don't we?  I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Saturated Canary Challenge #35 MOVIE INSPIRATION
http://saturatedcanarychallenge.blogspot.com/2013/01/challenge-35.html

Outllawz Paper a la Mode Saturday Challenge : Bright Colors
http://outlawzchallenges.ning.com/group/saturdayscarpbookingchallenge/forum/topics/paper-a-la-mode-challenge-19-january-2013-bright-colors

Stampin for the Weekend : Something Girlie
http://stampinfortheweekend.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/something-girlie.html

BORN TO RIDE

I made this card for the Outlawz Challenge, "My Favorite Things" My Favorite things would be  my 2007 250cc Vespa, Magnolia Tilda Stamps and Spellbinder die cuts, and to the Maganoliacious Color Challenge.   I was hoping to make the ribbon look like the highway and the flame dp is a Harley Davidson paper.  For the silver embellishment I die cut a piece of aluminum tape that hubby had in his workshop then crumpled it up.  I took the saying from the Steppanwolf song "Born To Be Wild".

I colored the Tilda image with Copics.

I am also entering this in the Magnalicious Color Challenge
http://www.magnolia-liciouschallengeblog.blogspot.com

I COULD HAVE DANCED ALL NIGHT

I made this card for the Outlawz challenge Paper Ala Mode.  The image was one I received from Anne Fenton as part of another challenge.  I was really torn as to what challenge to enter this into but decided to go with the Paper ala Mode Silver, Gold or Sparkly theme.  Full credit to Anne for this perfect image!

I colored the dancer with Copic markers.  I used dp from Reminisce: Wedding Stripes, glitter card stock from Best Creation color #GCS014 Black and the card stock is Waussau Royal Metallics paper pack in the color:  Excalibur Steel on Black Knight.

The embossing plate is a Cuttlebug.  I put little tiny pearls on her earrings and necklace but....once I ran it though the Grand Caliber to die cut it out...it smashed them flat,  I really like the way they turned out (not at all planned), so I left them as they are.  The velvet ribbon is from my "stash" (lucky me!)

For some reason I really love this card.  She just looks so ready to party for New Year's Eve.....Probably one of my all time personal favorites!

I am also entering this card in the following challenges:

CMC Copic Challenge Group
http://scrapbitzcopics.ning.com/group/cmccopicchallengegroup

 Make it Monday #121
 http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.ca/2012/12/mim-121-with-digi-my-world.html

Card Crafters Circle # 55
 http://cardcrafterscircle.blogspot.ca/2012/12/challenge-55-anything-goes_28.html

Pause and Dream Challenge #52
http://pausedreamenjoychallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/ch-52-anything-goes.html

Challenges for Everybody #10
http://challenges4everybody.blogspot.ca/2012/12/offer-4-stamps-of-winners-choice-sassy.html

Here is a video on making a box and decorating with Saturated Canary image:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc849vt4CSE&feature=youtu.be

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND A NEW CHALLENGE CARD FOR OUTLAWZ

Happy New Year to all my friends!

Today it is quiet around here so I made a card for the Outlawz Creative Freebie Challenge using the freebie they provided, the Cupcake.  The dp's I used are from Quick Quotes and from Junkitz.  Both I have had in my "stash" for awhile.  The cardstocks are Bazzill.  I am in love with the Dotted Swiss papers.  I used Copics to color the cupcake image.  The greeting is a CTMH stamp.