Quilt Binding and Sewing Machine Woes

My Janome 3000 is at the shop, waiting for a new foot pedal. They had to order it, and told me it would be 2-3 weeks. :( I wanted to get the binding on my newphew's quilt this week, so I got out my Singer Featherweight.

This was my mother's machine, that I believe she got in 1957 (the date on the manual is 1955). I learned how to sew on this, and used it to make my first dress. It's a great little machine, and it stitched up the binding strips nicely. I have a huge SA in this picture because I was matching the plaid. I noticed the belt is starting to crack too, so I need to take some time and give some TLC to this little workhorse. Any suggestions, guidance, or recommendations are greatly appreciated, as I'm not really confident with working on my machines.

Unfortunately, the Featherweight did NOT like stitching the binding to the quilt. It kept skipping stitches. I don't know if it was too thick or what, and I don't really have the time this week to mess with it, so I borrowed my mom's Viking 150. (I actually have a third sewing machine, but I've never used it -- someone just gave it to me last year -- and I didn't want to take the time to mess with it) She laughed when I called her about it, since it had been all of 2 days since my machine was gone. "I knew you wouldn't last long", she said. It only has metric measurements on the throat plate, so I used a small stack of Post-It notes to mark 1/2" for the binding seam allowance.

Won't this look nice when it's done? I think the bias cut plaid really gives a nice finish. We're going on a short holiday this weekend, so I will bring this with me, and should easily finish it. Then I'll just need to give it a wash and dry and make a label. I'm really happy with how this one has turned out, and I might make another one to keep. :)