Peace

Everyone finds a feeling of peace differently.  For me it's photography, being alone and considering the image, wondering how I can get a different effect, a shadow, a bright patch, translucency, mystery, sadness, loneliness, joy, freedom etc.  I don't get much time to just wander with a camera these days but here are some images from a week ago when I could do just that.

When one finds that peace, that comfort, one can analyse each thought rationally and carefully.  It reminds me of one of my favourite Dusty Springfield songs, although a lot of other people covered it too, 'Windmills of Your Mind'.
Windmills of Your Mind - Dusty Springfield

Janome Overlocker My Lock 234

I finally got to clean the Janome overlocker yesterday.  It was rather fluffy as overlockers tend to be.  I ended up taking the base off to get it clean and reach all the oiling points.

To get the base off, remove screws circled in red.

As can be seen from the above photograph there was a bit of cleaning to be done!  Once I had dealt with the bottom and oiled everything I took the top and side off.  I didn't do screw diagrams for these but it is simple, there is one screw holding the lhs on and two holding the top on, the top screws are under the handle.  There is an oiling point on the top of most overlockers and it feeds into a clever wick system.  I had an overlocker seize on me once and that was the problem, the wick was dry.  When you take the top off you can see the felt and wick system.

The tension is interesting on this at the moment and in the 10 minutes I had left to play with it I didn't get very far, with any luck I will manage better next time.  It does have a sharp blade though which is good.  From the front below:

I have some nice photos of water droplets from the most recent rain which will hopefully comprise the next post.

Roses

We have a vase of roses in the kitchen.  It had been raining all day and an hour before sunset the sun came out.  I was inspired to do a little photography of this vase of roses in the sunshine.  Very unusually for me I then spent some time manipulating the images in paint.net.  I present the finished results below.

I really love this one, it looks soft, almost like feathers.

This was the first one I took, sadly the roses are a little dark

This one is just plain odd!

Green roses anyone?

I know they are far from perfect but I do like playing with all the tools in paint!  With any luck I should be posting the promised pictures of the overlocker tomorrow evening.

Some Photographs

Four to be precise.  I was sick on the weekend and didn't get to work early enough to work on machines.  I was rather annoyed actually as I had a new overlocker to work on.  With any luck I will get to that on Wednesday.  I'm rather busy with studies at the moment which doesn't help!  Anyhow, below are four photos, two I took a couple of months back and two I took last night, if you look very closely you can see the moon peeking out from behind the branches in number four.

Husqvarna 250 continued

I finally got to sew with the Husqvarna 250 yesterday morning.  I have to say I wouldn't go out of my way to own one but I have certainly sewed with worse machines.  It certainly has a range of stitches, both functional and decorative.  My stitch sample can be seen below.

The tension isn't perfect, I know but after sitting in the shop for a few days so many children will have 'adjusted' the tension that there is no point in me perfecting it.

Much to my surprise this machine came complete with most of the original accessories.  All of the original feet, the brush and throat plate remover (in one), the light bulb holder, spare spool pin, spool holders, clearance plate and one bobbin were remaining.  And the instruction manual of course (if anyone would like a copy, let me know).

It also came with the hard cover and the flat-bed was still with the machine.  Flat-bed attachments have a frustrating tendency to go walkabout.

Janome and Husqvarna 250

I've had a long absence due to occurrences beyond my control.  However, last Saturday I had these two machines to work on.  I haven't sewn with either yet, depending on what happens I should be able to get to it on Saturday.

The Husqvarna is an Electronic model 250.  I can't easily take it apart but there was a big knot of thread in the bobbin area.

This machine is white and very reflective so it took very bad photos, I might try it outside on Saturday.

The other machine (and apparently they did come from the same owner) is a Janome.  It doesn't seem to have a model number but looks like it's somewhere between lovely old Janome and modern less than lovely Janome.  This one has some plastic cams.

Under the faceplate is pretty standard.

Interestingly this has one of the throat plates that automatically adjust for straight stitch or zigzag.

The bobbin area was slightly fluffy and it's a full-rotary machine as well.

From the front and showing stitch selection.

Hopefully I'll be able to get both these machines out for sale this week end!

The Best Laid Plans......

I got to try the Janome from the last post this afternoon.  It didn't work out quite as planned.  I threaded the machine up and put some material under the foot before turning it on (side note, if you haven't tried a machine before, always put material under it before turning it on, if you have a pedal problem and it sews instantly you won't end up with a thread-lock made in hell).  I put my foot down and the machine started sewing, it was then I noticed the light wasn't on so I took my foot off and reached for the light switch.  The light went on no problems, so unfortunately did the machine, the only thing was my foot wasn't on the pedal.  I learnt the hard way, always plug your machines in so you have easy access to the connection, if using an extension cord make sure you can get to the end your machine is plugged into easily.  In this case I could just turn around and turn the socket off - I didn't even miss a word in the conversation I was having at the time!  If you've seen it enough times you'll know if you get to the power quick enough you don't usually get smoke and the most disgusting smell.  The first time it happened to me I stared at the machine sewing by itself and was brought back to Earth by the plume of smoke wending its way from the pedal.  Not my most intelligent moment!

Anyhow, here are some pictures.

The copper contacts control the amount of electricity going through the carbon pile which is filled with graphite discs.  The copper contacts are positioned by prongs that are moved by putting pressure on the pedal.  When the pedal is fully depressed all the contacts are touching thus full capacity of electricity can flow through.  The blue arrows mark the approximate path of the electricity.

In order to get the capacitor out, you need to remove the two screws outlined in red.  As can be seen above the capacitor doesn't look too healthy.

Once out you will have this:

As you can see above the plastic casing is ruptured and discoloured.  I am hoping to get a new capacitor for this machine as it looked very promising before this!

After leaving work this evening we saw the most incredible cloud and I took some photos, one of which is shown below.