Days 22 & 23

It got too dark last night for me to take pictures, so here are two combined days.

In short, except for the curtains and the cushions (she says as though that is no big deal), Trixie is ready enough to hit the road.  Here is a little walk around the premises.

Kitchen and hole in the wall where the icebox used to live. I don't know yet what will live in there, but for now, it is the tool box, Trixie manual and laundry rack.  Makes sense, right?

Non-functional bathroom and not-so-much drawers.

Dinette with table in place.  The table seems way too loose to me.  I used exactly the same holes as the original, but, of course, it may have been too loose before.  Who knows.  I'll see what kind of trouble it gives me, then maybe make an adjustment before the October trip.

Oh poop!  I see in the mirror that I still don't have the fan escutcheon up yet. Drat!!!

Both of the dinette seats need to be reinforced.  They are just too thin.  But that is going to have to wait.

Better shot of the dinette with back seat.  The photos from the other day didn't show the top of the rear seat yet.

The bunk is now stowed in the upright and locked position.  LOTS of mistakes on the stuff that I rebuilt.  Oh well.  I'll know better the next time. I'll mention one in the next photo.

I removed/replaced the rear and starboard windows.  When I put them back in, I installed foam insulation around them.  Good idea, right?  WRONG.  Insulation means that the window frame molding won't go back into place correctly.  Arg.  I had to install the curtain rod where the upper molding should go.  Hopefully it won't be noticeable once I get the curtains in.  Curtains?  What curtains, you ask?  Why the curtains that I have yet to make, of course.  All of the windows are an odd size, so there is no purchasing of curtains.  No.  Don't be silly.  I'll just whip up 7 sets of curtains.  Oh, the cushions?  Yeah, right.  Those.  Oh, did I mention my meltdown on Thursday?  No?  Ah, well, let's wait on that one. Moving on....

Yes, and we are back in the kitchen again.  The stove it assembled again.  It isn't functional, but it is all in one piece.  Also, the sink is not functional, but that's OK.  I won't need it next week.

So, Thursday night I stopped at the fabric store and got a whole new set of bobbins.  I got home, loaded all 4 new bobbins - two each with the two colors I need, so that I'd be all ready to go.  Lots of long seams, and running out of bobbin thread in the middle is maddening.  All went very well until I started stitching together the cording fabric.  Knots, knots and more knots!  What do you do when that happens?  Adjust tension.  Rethread the machine.  Check for something caught in the bobbin casing.  Change the needle.

I did.

I did, that too.

Yup, did that.

Did that next.

Did that again.

I did that already!!

Don't you think I tried that?!

I give up.

After TWO HOURS of butchering the fabric, I called it quits.  I was a woman on the edge.  Knowing that the sew/vacuum store opens at 9, I took off at 8:45a Friday morning and got there just in time for them to open. What?  No?  Not open at 9?  NO, OF COURSE NOT!!  Sign on the door.  "Not opening until 10 today.  Sorry for the inconvenience." Are you kidding me?  I'm out here burning daylight and you are opening an hour late?  Are you mad?!!  

OK.  I needed #8 and #6 screws, I so I spent the time getting supplies.  No sweat.

After an hour at the sew/vac, we figured out the problem.  Wrong bobbins.  No. Really.  Wrong bobbins. They were just "this much" different than the bobbins I had been using and they were getting hung up.  Jiminy H. Crickets!  So that is a good problem to have, because it can be fixed in seconds.  Phew!  I lost a bunch of hours, meanwhile, but at least I didn't need to get a new sewing machine.  Poor guy at the sew/vac.  I think I scared him a little.  He seemed awfully happy for me to leave.