When Mona Finds Winnie! ((And a Special Giveaway!))

This Give-Away is CLOSED!  Congrats to our Lucky Winner, Robyn in Texas!

This is going to be a long post.  So just grab a cuppa, settle in, put your feet up and hang out for a while..because it’s worth it!

When Mona and I ran around Winston Salem, antique mall hopping while her hubby was sitting in some VA office somewhere filling out piles of paperwork, I told her to be on the look out for a featherweight box.  They show up in the most unusual places and you will almost miss them if you don’t know what you are looking for.

She had my featherweight and the case she knew what a black box featherweight case looks like…we just never thought we’d find TWO!

Yes.  TWO!

We rounded a corner, I pointed my finger excitedly and exclaimed “Black Box!  Black Box!”  It was all I could get out of my mouth.

We checked it, a featherweight indeed ---only when we plugged it in, it proved to be a dud.  The light turned on, the foot pedal didn’t work.  She ran out to the car to get the foot pedal from mine so we could try it to eliminate whether it was a foot pedal issue or worse.

It ran –intermittently.  And it struggled.  A lot.  It’s not a foot pedal issue, it could be electrical – it could be the motor.  At any rate THAT one was not worth the taking because on top of the asking price, we’d have to pay to have it fixed, and it had issues of unkown origin.

So we left.  And went to the next mall….and wouldn't you believe it we almost didn’t see this one in the glass case below our knees?  We’d walked past it twice!

Now this little sweetie has had a hard life.  Or a good life of lots of sewing, depending on how you look at it.

Chrome hand wheel, scroll face plate– early model!

Her decals are about worn off.  Her clear coat is nearly gone in spots.

She PURRS.  She HUMS.  She is full of verve and vigor and just begging to be adopted.

And she came home for Mona!

Yeah, it was love at first sight!

SO excited.  Because of the condition the seller came down to $225.00 which was very reasonable.  The case is loaded.  There is an attachment box with EVERYTHING including the manual.  There are several bobbins.  The bobbin case was there ---she just hadn't been cleaned up in a LONG LONG TIME.

It was decided that WINNIE  ((So named because we found her in Winston Salem!)) would come home with me so I could give her the once over.

Ready for a clean up job on my table.

Serial number date her to 1937!

Check out the remains of that rubber foot --- that grey mess!  I have 4 new rubber feet to go on her, but I’m going to let Rick chisel the old concrete rubber away and get the screw out – that’s quite a job, the old ones really did solidify like cement!

Bobbin area…GUNKY!!!

Behind the face plate…oh boy!

Around the feed dogs under the needle plate…ewwww!

I use a soft bristled paint brush to get all of the lint and gunk out.  Where a brush won’t reach I’ll use a cotton swab.  It takes time to get all the goobers out – at this point I’m wondering when she was last sewn on!

The manual will tell you every place you need to oil.  I oiled liberally.  I also used a special concoction for her gears and motor:

Nova Montgomery’s Motor Lubricant!

Nova had sent me a tube to try, and this was the perfect time to do it!  I followed Nova’s instructions in her video:

It really was easy!

You can find more info on Nova’s website HERE.  She also carries lots of goodies for featherweight machines, so bookmark her as a resource.

Giving Winnie a test run!

New needle, cleaned and oiled and lubed and threaded and ready to roll. 

Great tension!

I am so happy for Mona.  Winnie will be going up to the Mountain to her cabin this weekend while I’m gone.  She’s found a new forever home with a new quilter who will love her greatly.

While working on Winnie…THIS showed up at my door:

Winnie is wearing a Feather-mate Table by Sewingmates.com!

The feather-mate tables are made by the Greer family right here in the USA.  I bought one a couple of years ago, and last week I ordered this second one because I kept forgetting to either take it to the cabin from home, or forgot to bring it back home and left it at the cabin and I decided I really needed two.

The best thing about the Feather-mate table as well as all of the other models of sewingmates tables?  They fit MORE THAN ONE MACHINE!  I can use this table with ANY of my vintage machines because of these:

Hand lathed adjustable aluminum legs!

These legs are turned on a vintage lathe by the Greer’s son.  It’s a family business, and everyone is involved.  These legs will give you double the options that you see here, because you can turn them upside down for a  greater range of height increments.

If it doesn’t say GREER it’s not a Sewing Mate!

The screws are counter sunk and the table top is smooth smooth smooth!  Unlike inexpensive black tubular legs that other makes have, these will not pop off half way to retreat leaving you to prop your lopsided table on a phone book to get it level.  Yes, I’ve had that happen in the past.  This is sturdy hardware!

It works with my featherweight, it works with my 301, it works with ANY vintage machine I have!

The unique L shape is PERFECT for traveling.  A flat bed machine doesn’t need a full surround like a free arm machine would.  And did you see the easy carry handle?

If you have a Featherweight, you are going to WANT a Feather-Mate!

So guess what we are going to do?  GIVE AWAY A FEATHER-MATE!

The Greers have offered up a prize for one lucky winner residing within the USA! ((Please understand, this is a heavy item, and it already has an $89.00 value so we can’t ship overseas for this giveaway.))

Simply leave me a comment in the comments section below to be entered to win.  One entry per person.  Please leave your  name and email address if you are signing in as anonymous.  If you are logged in with a blogger or google+ account, please check that your email address is visible in your profile.  We MUST be able to reach you by email if you are drawn.  If we can’t reach you by email, we will have to draw again.

When in doubt, just leave your email!

No, you can’t email your comment in, you can’t comment in the guest book, you can’t comment on Facebook or instagram…it has to be HERE. On this post.  So I can use the random number generator to choose our lucky winner.  It’s only fair that way!

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Same goes for Blog-lovin.  Get OUT of blog-lovin and view our page directly.  You can’t always comment while reading in a blog reader service.  Make sure our address starts with http://quiltville.blogspot.com  No bloglovin in the address!

Good Luck Everyone!

I return home Feb 19th.  The drawing will be that evening!


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