i can't do anything straight

Fast forward to six weeks ago—I receive an email from her husband, explaining he broke the mug (lol) and asking if I’d be willing to take on a commission to replace it. He reiterates how she has arthritis but also shares she used to make pottery, herself, but can only really paint, now. I say of course! Come to find out, he wants a WHOLE SET of mugs to replace the broken one. Even better! I end up making the whole set twice (I wasn’t satisfied with the first attempt), but finally get them packed up and sent off across the country.

I just received the kindest message from the husband, saying “It is not often in today's world that someone does 100% of what they have promised,” thanking me profusely, and sharing that his wife is already happily using the new mugs.

For the second time in 2 years I've been given a gunky old treadle. This one's a Bernina KL 105, which I hadn't heard of, and it's very interesting! It's a rotary machine with backstitch and drop feed, which is much more modern than any treadle I'd ever encountered before.

The model was first introduced in 1932, but this particular one was sold in 1945 to someone named Karl Seebacher, as can be seen in the manual which it still has! It was made in Switzerland and evidently sold there, as all the writing is in German and the markings are Metric. I'm very happy about the Metric markings! Someone must have moved to Canada with it somewhere along the line. I've read that these machines are more common in Europe than they are over here.

There are several different feet, and It came with a fantastic little hoop for darning socks, which I'm quite excited to try.

The machine itself is quite gunky, and has some rust spots, so I'll disassemble and clean as much as I reasonably can. I think it'll be alright. The wheel was turning very stiffly and jerkily when it arrived, and oiling everything didn't help much, but after it sat there for a couple weeks the new oil seems to have soaked in and softened things up and it's spinning quite smoothly now.

It came with two new drive belts that someone appears to have bought fairly recently, and as far as I can tell the only thing that's missing is the pair of set screws that hold the machine head to the hinges. Very odd, I can't imagine them ever falling out by themselves. Hopefully I can find replacements, but for now it's sitting in place well enough without them.

The cabinet needs a lot of work, but once the machine head is cleaned up it should be useable even before doing anything to the cabinet.