A Pretty Picture for Sunday - A Quiet Day at St. Peter's

I always thought Rome was heaving with crowds.  Looks nice and peaceful in this picture, doesn't it?

A Doll Quilt from Betty in Virginia

This is such a charming little quilt, to which Betty gave the title of Tree Top Manor.  Betty managed to choose the perfect colours for our kitchen, and also made it the ideal size for a gap on the wall. She plainly had our kitchen in mind, because she sent a couple of pot holders too.

I have often thought about making a doll quilt based on my nan's needlecase, which I posted a picture of a little while ago.  When I received this quilt I had the distinct feeling that Betty had beaten me to it.  It has the 1930s look about it.

Thank you Betty for such a sweet quilt!

Welcome to Granny Darley - Thank you for following!

Doll Quilt - Irish Chain

With this quilt I chose a straightforward traditional pattern, the Irish chain, so I could make the most of just two colours.  I really enjoyed using the bright lipstick pink batik.  I kept the top simple because my main aim was to practise machine quilting.  The quilting in the centre was fairly trouble-free.  The problems came doing the border.  There was a bit too much skidding and rumpling going on for my liking.  I really should try and take pictures of my quilts in more flattering lighting conditions.

This time I was doing a swap on a different forum, Quilting Haven.  They have a different system for the swaps - you send a quilt to one person, and receive a quilt from another.  This quilt took a flight to Oklahoma, and I had to wait and see what I would receive.  The idea is that you get a surprise - only the swap co-ordinator knows who is sending quilts where.  So I had to sit back and wait for my mystery package..

Welcome to Maria, the latest follower (not to be confused with Maria, the proud owner of the Jones machine).  Thank you for joining!

Needles for the Jones Family CS

The problem with Jones machines is that they do not take a standard needle.  Singer set the standard early on by giving the shank of the needle a flat side and a compatible slot in the needlebar for it to fit into.  This meant that the needle was easy to insert and that it would be correctly set. Most manufacturers adopted this system, and the same standard needle is used on modern machines, so that it is easy to replace needles on most vintage machines.

Jones continued to make machines which took a round shanked needle.  There were four old needles with Maria's machine, a couple with tiny spots of rust, and all of them blunt.  We tested the stitch with the least blunt of the four.  The stitch was perfect, as perfect as you can get with a blunt needle that snags on the fabric every few inches.

Maria is going to contact Helen Howes, who has a wonderful website, to get some replacement needles, then we will give the machine a proper run.

Look - No Tension Spring!

Here are the tension discs on Maria's Jones Family CS machine.  They look very similar to the tension discs on the Singer 28K that I showed in my post about thumb tabs, but there is one important difference.  The Jones has no tension spring, the little wire hook sticking out to the left of the discs on the Singer.

On many old machines the tension spring has been snapped off.  At first sight this seems to have happened here.  However, this machine had no tension spring in the first place.

So, if you are considering buying an old machine with this type of tension discs, always check the tension spring.  If it is a Singer and there is none, then it is missing.  If it is not a Singer, find out by trawling through google images whether it was likely to have had one in the first place.  Most other makes did have tension springs, but this Jones machine didn't.

Tuesday's Top Tip - The Pin Tin

For years I would have a messy pile of pins in a tin and risk getting the sharp end of one pranging me under a fingernail every time I went to pick one up.

Then one Christmas a watch came in a posh tin with sponge fitting snugly inside. Never mind the watch (not mine anyway), it was the tin I was interested in.   Absolutely ideal.  Now I can keep my eyes on my work and pick up or put back pins without even looking.  The pins sticking up above the top of the tin are all rammed down into place when I put the lid back on.

Shuttle for the Jones Family CS

This is the shuttle for Maria's machine.  It was totally rust free and only needed a wipe to get a bit of greasy oil off.

This photograph shows the tension spring.  I did not touch the screw - screws on shuttles should be left well alone when cleaning a machine.  Testing the tension comes later.

This photograph shows the capital F stamped on the shuttle.  F for Family, so the right shuttle for the machine, not a rogue replacement.  Shuttles from other models are not necessarily compatible.