Design wall Monday
Monday, July 26, 2010 at 6:41AM ;)
I don’t have much yet this week, so it’s actually on the wall again and not the floor. My plan was to stitch out all the monkey embroideries for this quilt first, and play around with the layout. I’ve done a mock layout in EQ, but I’m having a difficult time working with it that way for this quilt.
The only things I know for certain are the colors I’ve chosen, and that I want all the blocks and embroideries based on a 2x2 grid, so I can mix and match 2 inch blocks, 8 inch blocks, etc.
Unfortunately, I got the first two small embroideries stitched out, and most of the one that you see in my jumbo hoop, when my machine, just returned from being serviced yesterday, quit embroidering! I’ve had my Bernina 830 for about a year and a half now and it’s been pure joy to work with. It was stiching out this design just beautifully, and when it finished the purple hat and went to sew the yellow hat band, (it automatically cuts the thread between colors) the thread cutter made a horrible grinding noise, and the bobbin assembly swung out. Now, that’s all it will do, even with the cutter disabled. No embroidery whatsoever!
I guess it’s time to go introduce myself to the French Seam over in Stuttgart, which is about two and a half hours away, but has an excellent reputation… and more importantly for me, all straight interstate driving. I seem to be getting more and more prone to motion sickness as I get older, and I just can’t make that drive anymore back up Hwy 7 to my old dealer.
There are two more Bernina dealers slightly closer to me, one is in Hot Springs, but that’s more twisty roads, down the same Hwy 7, just south instead of north, and one over in Benton, outside of Little Rock, but I visited there and it didn’t feel like a good fit for me.
Anyway, I can continue to sew blocks and do the smaller embroideries on my 630, so all is not lost, I’ll just have to wait to do the three large blocks until my 830 is repaired. That fair deadline is slipping away…
Head over to Judy’s and see what everyone else is up to this Monday!
Reader Comments (16)
Oh, so sorry about your machine. Hopefully you will get things done before the fair. I';ll be keeping my fingers crossed for you!
glen in louisiana (or just g this morning)
Give your 830 a hug, pack it up in your Tutto luggage and tell it to listen when it's worked on.
I'll be curious to hear what has happened.
Oh, man, that's awful--just when you get going good. I hope nothing major is wrong and you can get it back in working order quickly.
Good thing you have the 630 for the smaller designs.
Karen in GA
and how come your blog imports to FaceBook in 2-3 hours and mine takes 2-3 DAYS?!!
Sorry about your 830 giving you problems. Hopefully you will get it taken care of...and soon. CJ...I'm looking for an older post. It's the day you talked about your food dehydrator. I believe it was in July, but I can't find it anywhere. Can you help? Thanks.
that is not great that you just got the machine back and it quit working! Good luck on the place you mentioned in Stuttgart. We do have a lot of winding roads in Arkansas don't we.
Karen
http://karensquilting.com/blog/
Oh no!! I hope it all works out.
Sooo cute! I hate the drive to the nearest sewing center too it is an hour and 20 min on winding terrible roads. I get motion sickness too and I don't do much country driving anymore. I hope your other machine does well and you can get your next blocks done.
Too bad about your machine. It is always nice to have a backup. I hope you are able to get everything finished up in time for the fair. It is going to be such a cute quilt.
I think we all feel your pain of having a machine out of commission-especially when you just got it back. So good to have a backup machine!
Oh noooo, so sorry to hear about your 830 problems -- how frustrating. I think you will L-O-V-E the French Seam...I do. Even though it's in a rural area, it is an absolutely wonderful shop with tons of sewing and quilting samples. I need to make a trip to get some older machines serviced for selling and to get my 730's annual service done. I do wish it was closer -- it's about a hour and twenty minutes door-to-door from my house a few miles south of Searcy. They have a nice website at www.frenchseam.com.
By the way, did you ever decide on a new iron?
We used to make our pilgrimage to Stuttgart to go to the quilt shop. It was such a treat and well worth the drive from Ramstein :) I think I still have some of those fabrics in my stash LOL
I hope your 830 gets well soon and stays that way! I went ahead and ordered the monkey cd because your five little monkey quilts are so darned cute. However, I am pretty new to actually attempting machine embroidery on the 730. I hope you won't mind if I ask questions when I get started. (Like what stabilzer do you use? I've been using a tear away I'm not happy with.) Marsha M. formerly of New York and now North Carolina.
I used to work for the local Bernina dealer, but I'm retired permanently now. If I was still in the shop I would ask about your problem. Have you called the dealer that just worked on it. Maybe they would have some suggestions. It's a more complicated machine down in the bobbin case area than most Bernies, but have you taken the needle plate off and can you see any indication of where the thread cutter and blade operate. Maybe a thread or some lint is lodged over a sensor.
Have you tried Ginger capsules (health food store/dept) to help with motion sickness. There is also a patch you can get from your doctor for motion sickness. Gosh, I hope you get your machine going again as this must so frustrating. I love the new machines---but, they are so computerized now ---and like computers if things are not functioning perfectly to their way of "thinking", they just won't budge!
In a word, BUMMER!
Well, in the meantime you got your sewing table - good luck with getting your machine fixed!
CJ try Bonine for your motion sickness if the ginger doesn't work. Just take one tablet. It doesn't make you so tired like other meds do. If it works, you won't be so limited as to where you go. I must agree the straighter the road the better. Good luck with the machine repair.