Muchechops

Say no more, here they all are! (I post about them more on my sewing & art blog @vincentbriggs, though I'm afraid I haven't got proper tags for each individual machine.)

c. 1885 White VS2, made in the U.S. Basic straight stitch treadle in good working order. It came to me very dirty and needed a lot of cleaning and a new drive belt & bobbin winder tire.

Singer 15-91, made in Canada sometime between 1936-48. This was my first one, which I bought refurbished when I moved out of my parents house, since it's pretty similar to the one I grew up using. It came with a knee lever but after a few years the speed control box failed and I replaced it with a foot pedal.

1945 Bernina KL 105, made in Switzerland. This is my most recent acquisition and I haven't started on the cleaning & refurbishing yet, but I'm excited to use it! It's a treadle that has backstitch and drop feed.

Gimbels department store branded Singer 15 clone, made in Japan. No idea what the date is, but the style of the logo makes me think maybe 50's? All cleaned and stitching again, though I still need to put the motor back on. The case was too rotten to save, so I've got to learn how to make a new one. Being a 15 clone, it's extremely similar to my Singer 15, but there are quite a lot of differences in the smaller external parts and it has a much better drop feed system.

1958 Singer 99k, made in Scotland. All cleaned and adjusted, and my father helped rewire it, but I still need to finish fixing up the wooden case. It wasn't so bad as the previous one, but it's in no condition to stain so I'm going to paint it. This one's something of a foster kitten, as I've promised it to a friend.

1964 Singer 185J, made in Canada. I've cleaned it up and replaced the missing bobbin plate, but I need to make a new wooden case for this one too because the plastic case it came in was all cracked and warped. It's the same basic machine as the 99k, just in a more space age style shape. The bobbin winder is more stripped down, but other than that the workings are identical.

1970 Pfaff 360, made in Germany. This was the second machine I got, and it was meant to be a backup because this was when my 15-91 speed control was acting up. The pebbled greige paint job is horrendously fugly, but it's a splendid piece of engineering. I still need to get around to taking apart and unsticking one particular area, but if I'm successful in that it'll be able to do zig zag, plus a variety of other fancy stitches controlled by that nice stack of cams on the left.

The 2 treadles were given to me, the 15-91 was bought refurbished as mentioned, and the other 4 electric machines were thrifted.

Moon Joy June artists!  This is the second week of Moon Joy June, and the prompt is “Moon.” If you’re an artist looking for some inspiration, we have a treat for you: four new and previously unseen images from our Artemis II mission!

All four of these images were captured on April 6, 2026, during flight day 6 of the mission, when the four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft conducted the lunar flyby of their ten-day journey. During the lunar flyby, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen captured photographs and collected scientific observations of the Moon in meticulous detail.

"PARIS, June 12 (Reuters) - Israeli firm BlackCore, ​suspected of interfering in France's local elections in March, is also suspected of meddling in elections in New York City and Scotland, and ‌operating in Angola and Togo, France's disinformation detection service, Viginum, said on Thursday. Last month, Reuters reported that French authorities suspected BlackCore was behind an online smear campaign targeting three mayoral candidates from the hard-left, pro-Palestine France Unbowed party (LFI) in the local elections.

At a press conference on Thursday alongside French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, Viginum chief Marc-Antoine Brillant said technical work had led the service to BlackCore. Viginum ​subsequently presented a detailed report on BlackCore's alleged actions around the world. "This modus operandi was not limited to municipal elections in France," Brillant said. "It also appears ​to have been used to carry out foreign digital interference operations in other countries or regions, such as Angola, Togo, the ⁠elections in Scotland, and the 2025 municipal election in New York." However, he added it was still unclear who had commissioned BlackCore to meddle in France. ..."

...

"... Brillant did not explicitly mention who was targeted in last year's New York City ‌election, which ⁠was won by Zohran Mamdani. His victory thrilled many younger Jewish progressives but spooked more traditional pro-Israel New Yorkers with his outspoken support for the Palestinian cause. Mamdani's team did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither did New York City and New York state officials. The New York Police Department and the U.S. cyber defense agency CISA did not immediately return emails seeking comment. The FBI declined comment. In a subsequent report, Viginum said it had detected BlackCore-linked accounts targeting John Swinney, the first minister of Scotland. Swinney ​has described the situation in Gaza as ​a "man-made humanitarian catastrophe", saying a genocide ⁠may be unfolding, citing civilian casualties, widespread destruction and statements by Israeli officials. "These reports of bad actors attempting to interfere in the Scottish Parliament elections are deeply concerning," Swinney, of the Scottish National Party (SNP), said in an email.

Read the full article at: https://www.reuters.com/world/israeli-firm-blackcore-also-suspected-meddling-nyc-scotland-votes-french-2026-06-11/

There's a France 24 video report on this:

Some of the comments underneath the video:

"Whaaat??..really? Who would have thought the greatest democracy and most moral army on earth would do such a thing! Ayo?? We need to send another 100 billion dollars, weapons and a very angy email to mr yahu now!!"

"They were promised these elections 3000 years ago"

"Let me guess, Israel’s response was to call the report antisemitism and terrorist support

No, they'd promise a "thorough investigation" that will lead nowhere and will be forgotten about."

"Well first they’re going to deny it then they’ll say those elections were hamas, then they’ll say well if we did it it wasn’t bad but we’re looking into it, then silence."

"Offended by everything, ashamed by nothing." (zio's kill infants for sport so they're pretty much immune to such concepts)

"BlackCore made the pro palestinian Slovenian governement loose the general elections earlier this year."

" Plain Parakeet " // © Amer Cavalcant