Woe is me.

Nice! Guesses for the little Saxonia are late 188's/early 1890's for manufacture, but they are only guesses at the moment. I'd love to be able to date it properly. I'll put pix up on my web site when Alan gets a free moment!

Rest your hand on the top, and pull it gently towards you... When you want to stop at a precise point, especially with the needle down, grind to a halt early and wind it round the last stitch or so by hand. :)

It takes an hour or so to become used to treadling.

All last wekk I was groping for the foot pedal on the hand crank! ;)

I bought one of those for my mum. For the price and weight, it's a neat and impressive machine. Nice stitch quality. Not what you want for continuous heavy use, but a great one for classes.

I usually use one of the Elnas as a porting machine, but also the FW. I'd love to get the Cub 8 back on line for that too. :)

I know what you mean about the guesses! The Minnesota could be as early as

1894 or as late as 1897. I'll probably never narrow it down more than that, so I just go with the later date.

Kate's right - it's easy to get used to :-) I taught both my nephews how to sew on my treadle in the same afternoon - however the oldest nephews is happier on the e- machine and my youngest prefers treadling. my oldest DS prefers handcranking.

I have a Pfaff 30 treadle, a Vesta treadle, a Naumann handcrank, a Singer cobblers treadle, a singer 128 treadle that needs the cabinet fixing before I can use it but it's otherwise in great condition, and last but not least I have a Janome 419S (lowtech sewing machine) they *all* work and I do all my own maintenance on all but the Janome.

If we are recounting our machines..... I currently have:

Viking #1, purchased several years ago, before Viking had the combo embroidery machines. Viking Rose, back-up machine, currently my "travel" machine, bought to have embroidery capability Singer 66, in table. DH picked up at Goodwill for $20. Had to spend about $200 for missing parts, cleaning, and replacing electrical cords (Yes I still have the original parts....) but it should be a nice little machine when I get it into a place where I can use it.

Also have a Husylock 560EDT serger and a White Speedylock serger. One of these days I may get my Grandma's treadle, and am also due to receive my Aunt's old machine, may be a Singer or a Merit.... not sure yet because I haven't seen the pics or anything. (Currently that one is in Canyon, Texas. Grandma's is at another Aunt's in Tucson.) And there are the 2 machines that went walkabout..... an old early '50s Commander that my Mom bought but almost never used. She gave it to me, borrowed it back and loaned to someone and never got it back. And my favorite mechanical, the Viking 6460 that I loaned to a friend who disappeared with it. sigh.

I do love my machines.

Pati, > I currently have multiple machines, including one that I sort of