BLESS ME QUILTERS
for I have sinned. As the owner of three sewing machines I should be satisfied, right? Of course there is the little Janome Jem for taking to classes, retreats etc. Great machine. My beloved Featherweight seems to have migrated to Los Angeles with one of my daughters. She should realize she and her sister would have bone to school naked were it not for that old pal of mine. It made my maternity clothes too. Then, the incident which motivated me to let go of said machine, I purchased a Viking 980 sometime around ’81. It was the first of the computerized home machines on the market. Well, there were some problems with it mostly because I bought it at a bargain place, Cloth World, and when I realized it needed a lot of adjusting they weren’t carrying them and so weren’t servicing them. That was a learning experience, or should have been. I wasn’t using it a whole lot, just some clothing for myself and working off work stress or rather, replacing one stress for another. After a decade a legitimate quilt shop opened not too far away and I took my first patch work lesson (that was the day after I retired!), got the machine adjusted and had to pay for what should have been the free class for new owners. It was then I found out I didn’t even have it threaded properly. When I tried to machine quilt with it I just couldn’t handle the quilt through the small work service so about 5.5 years ago when Juki came out with it’s first domestic machine with a wider bed made just for quilting with a high speed straight stitch. At the word of a member of my guild who was in love with hers, I ordered one on line as there were no dealers closer than Atlanta. Please refer to the aforementioned shoulda been learning experience The automatic threader has never worked and when I talked to the new dealer in Asheville recently he says none of them work. Recently I made Christmas stockings for the new step grands and pieced and quilted two sides of each but decided the seams joining them needed to be overcast so had to set up the Jem or Viking in another room and spent a fair amount of time running between two rooms. It was then I got to thinking about the fact that had I waited about 6 months I could have had a machine that does it all that has a wider bed. I’ve been on something of a spending mood lately which is rare for me. Well, you guessed it. I just dropped into one the quilt shops in Franklin and came out having ordered a Janome 6600. I played with the demo after I watched the guy who waited on me (he and wife are guild members) and it is wonderful. The dealer is 34 miles away and she’s in it for the long term and offers a year’s free membership in the Janome club and on site authorized maintenance. The whole seduction took about an hour. Now I can’t wait for the machine to arrive and, with a discount as a member of the guild and state sales tax I am very close to $2000 poorer. I’ll be 73 in March and by golly I want what I want NOW!
Anybody want to buy a Viking 980 or a Juki almost new? Even more important, anybody willing to support me when the money runs out?
Better get out and have my hike with my hairy roommate (a Springer spaniel which is about as old but slightly less decrepit than I) before the predicted rain.
Jane
Warming trend
Oh, it was actually warm today. High of about 65. Tomorrow and through the weekend are supposed to be warm, but with rain. Seeing that we are so dry some rain would be nice.
Only not Sat. morning when I'm out there run/walking.
DH has come down with a head cold. His poor sinuses are cloged, and I'm feeding him Airborn and making him use the netti pot. He has his own and I have mine. Don't want to share those germs.
Has anyone used thread from Connecting Threads? Have you ordered fabric from them? If so is the quality good?
The interview/workup with the proton beam nurses and Dr. went well yesterday. They weighed him, did all the usuall things and went over his medical history. He was told not to lose or gain any weight during the course of his treatment, as this would throw off the "markers" for the beam. We are going forward with this plan. The next thing to do is schedule the appt. for the 3D picture of the hip area.
It is amazing what can be done. This is a part of the Univ. of Fla. medical center. The Dr. actually lives in Gainsville and come here 2 days a week. The rest of the week he practices in Gainsville. Everyone was polite, friendly, and we generally got a good feeling for the place.
OK, time to do dishes.
Sara in no so cold Fla.
Spectacular picture, Lavinia
What a wonderful action picture of Bean. Thanks for sharing this, Lavinia.
Seems that you folks don't know what cold is...and our temperatures are nothing compared to Heather's in Thunder Bay, of that I'm certain. We were 10F last night if not colder but today is bright and sunny, windy and cold.
In addition to two B&B guests, both of whom are musicians from Nova Scotia, here to do a recording in a sound studio in the country, I had a flock of wild turkeys for breakfast. Early yet to see them as they usually make the rounds of the bird feeding stations closer to springtime. I'm wondering if their source of food is limited at the moment.
Jane, any update on your brother's condition?
Rosey
Here's Bean
Here's Bean. A rat terrier, commonly known in these parts as a mountain feist or feist dog, Appalachian squirrel dog. In this region they are trained to hunt squirrels. We adopted her 7 years ago from the shelter in Kingsport. She loves to play with her basketball, as you can see.
Spring where art thou?
Sounds good anyhow, haha. Our area's annual snowfall is 16 inch average--it appears we have gotten that level. The first snow that missed Jane and came here was 3 inches, the next one was 9 at our house (2,026 ft. elev.) and the last few days was a few more along with the Arctic wind. Our daily temps have ranged from 9-10 with a zero wind chill to a high of 19. It was 2 degrees warmer in Anchorage the other day so needless to say DH had to nag me because I wouldn't move to Alaska. The second severe storm here knocked out 40,000 homes electric in the region and a substation. We didn't lose ours, thank God.
Sara, it snowed in Fort Pierce in 1977. A couple years ago when we were down there it was supposed to snow in Port St. Lucie. So much for a warm vacation that began in Phoenix, which was 32, San Antonio not much warmer.)
Jane re the throat clearing, that sometimes comes with thyroid problems, too, just a thought but sounds like he has all the problems he can handle.
In a moment of temporary insanity I bought the Judy Niemeyer Christmas Celebration tree skirt pattern costing $25..there was a beautiful sample at the store, of course..thinking the Christmas fabric would shortly be on sale. It is, and do you think I can find where I put the pattern? I just hope it didn't get chucked with the current spring housecleaning going on while we're stuck inside. Aargh....also still have five projects in boxes for the last number of years that need to be tackled.
Stay warm everyone and have a healthy and happy New Year.
