What Preps are you doing this week? Part 7.

How are you preparing
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Le Mouse
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Re: What Preps are you doing this week? Part 7.

Post by Le Mouse »

jennyjj01 wrote: Wed Aug 26, 2020 2:31 pm You can Laugh, but today I harvested my first ever Onion crop.

Grown from sets in two trugs with no care or attention: 15 Onions weighing in at about 1400g.

I also have ONE tomato almost ready to harvest.
Fabulous! I'm very impressed at your green thumb. Sadly mine are black and I kill plants.

I'm trying to work out what I've done to my sewing machine. This evening I sat down to make masks, and I got so far and out of nowhere the thing started making chugging noises and the bobbin thread is going weird and loopy. I've clearly jiggled something and upset it, but I have to work out what it is I have upset. Until then, mask production has ceased :(
GillyBee
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Re: What Preps are you doing this week? Part 7.

Post by GillyBee »

Usually tangled threads on the bottom are easy to fix. Check the following before you try twiddling any knobs.

1) Remove the top thread bobbin and rethread everything from scratch - it may have jumped out of a guide
2) take the bottom bobbin out and clear out any trapped thread or fluff from underneath before rethreading
3) Change the needle and make sure it is the right way round. A worn or damaged needle wil do this
4) Try another bobbin -even slight damage on a bottom bobbin will cause chaos.
5) Try a different thread. It may just not like it.

I use a 1939 buit treadle Singer machine - this happens to me all the time but only takes a minute to fix once you know what to check.
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Le Mouse
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Re: What Preps are you doing this week? Part 7.

Post by Le Mouse »

GillyBee wrote: Wed Aug 26, 2020 7:12 pm Usually tangled threads on the bottom are easy to fix. Check the following before you try twiddling any knobs.

1) Remove the top thread bobbin and rethread everything from scratch - it may have jumped out of a guide
2) take the bottom bobbin out and clear out any trapped thread or fluff from underneath before rethreading
3) Change the needle and make sure it is the right way round. A worn or damaged needle wil do this
4) Try another bobbin -even slight damage on a bottom bobbin will cause chaos.
5) Try a different thread. It may just not like it.

I use a 1939 buit treadle Singer machine - this happens to me all the time but only takes a minute to fix once you know what to check.
Thank you, I will do that! That's all a much easier breakdown than the stuff I've found online so far. I'm hoping its not the thread, I bought nice Gutermann thread!
Arzosah
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Re: What Preps are you doing this week? Part 7.

Post by Arzosah »

ForgeCorvus wrote: Wed Aug 26, 2020 4:52 pm
There's also a timber merchant about 20 minutes walk away, and I'll research their goods and prices as well.
You've got a timber merchant you can walk to.... Wheres the "Insanely Jealous " emoticon when I need one?
Sorry FC! They do deliveries too, which I'd need. I'm going to price the timbers from Wickes and the merchant properly this time, calculate it all out, I was finishing off the measurements tonight and I can certainly fit three beds in, maybe four if I make the fourth a bit smaller.
I've taken the measurements of the garden, and putting it onto an Excel sheet - with the way the world is turning, I really need this garden to be properly efficient.
So you can build what you want, rather then what a contractor decides to give you
Exactly! I can be very specific with trades, and then they just give me what they think I should have. I usually catch them, with being on site, but not always.


Jenny: Those onions look lovely, and the pic is great!

Mouse/GillyBee: That makes me think of The Repair Shop on TV - so often, cleaning a very old piece is almost all that's needed. Best of luck - I'll be going this route over winter.
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Le Mouse
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Re: What Preps are you doing this week? Part 7.

Post by Le Mouse »

Arzosah wrote: Wed Aug 26, 2020 8:25 pm Mouse/GillyBee: That makes me think of The Repair Shop on TV - so often, cleaning a very old piece is almost all that's needed. Best of luck - I'll be going this route over winter.
Worked perfectly - the sewing machine equivalent of switching it off and on again! :lol: I now have 4 masks almost finished. Mine isn't a hand crank / treadle machine, it's a basic electric Janome. Does the job though! I do have an old machine which has been in the family forever, but it's got bits missing and it's not a well known brand like Singer, so I'm not confident that it could be fixed which is a shame.
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Le Mouse
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Re: What Preps are you doing this week? Part 7.

Post by Le Mouse »

Le Mouse wrote: Wed Aug 26, 2020 9:01 pm it's not a well known brand like Singer, so I'm not confident that it could be fixed which is a shame.
I tell a lie. I just did some googling and it's a Bradbury which is one of the earliest British sewing machine companies! :shock:
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diamond lil
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Re: What Preps are you doing this week? Part 7.

Post by diamond lil »

Somebody on a forum suggested a book, called something like Gardening for the Apocalypse. I went on amaz to look at it - and the book under it was The Day of the Triffids. I got that instead. It's bound to come in handy :lol: :lol:
GillyBee
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Re: What Preps are you doing this week? Part 7.

Post by GillyBee »

Le Mouse: I am glad the advice worked for you.

I have a bit of a "thing" for old sewing machines. I am now banned from getting any more. :roll:

If they are complete they can usually be made to sew with a lot of oil and cleaning and maybe a little carefully applied brute force to get the movement restarted. The problem is the parts. For example needles for the oldest machines are no longer available and before Singer made a standard needle ubiquitous every model used something different.

Models that take a "normal" needle and a round bobbin are still in demand by charities like "Tools for Self Reliance" who use them to equip people in the Third World with the ability to make a living by sewing.

I am also in face mask production mode. It is useful to use up some of the fabric scraps stash but I am too lazy/busy to make many at a time.
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diamond lil
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Re: What Preps are you doing this week? Part 7.

Post by diamond lil »

Reading the new covid infection figures in England, got worried and just blew 3 weeks money on a Sainsbugs delivery for Saturday. :shock:
Stonecarver
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Re: What Preps are you doing this week? Part 7.

Post by Stonecarver »

diamond lil wrote: Thu Aug 27, 2020 9:33 pm Reading the new covid infection figures in England, got worried and just blew 3 weeks money on a Sainsbugs delivery for Saturday. :shock:
Was that 3 weeks income(which would be REALLY big shop)or 3 weeks shopping money?
Not worried about powering the whole house,just eating hot food,getting a brew,seeing through the dark,and staying warm.
Jansman