Luv2sparkle and those of you who sew...

[MyDiamondSparkles]

I'm so sorry to hear about your child's accident, Luv2sparkle. I think there is nothing worse than worrying about our kids and having to deal with the stress of one of them being hurt. I hope the rehab is going smoothly and I hope he/ she makes a full recovery.

I also hope you are able to get back into sewing for pleasure soon. I find sewing and being creative really helps my mind set and well being. I think it's the same for anyone who really enjoys their hobby. I'll be interested in seeing which machine you purchase and, of course photos of your finished projects.

I tried to upload a few photos here, but the web site keeps giving me an error message. Drats!

 

[Enerchi]

Luv2sparkle - that's a "to die for" sewing set up you have!!! OMG!!! Jealous!

I have made over 100 quilts in a 4 - 6 year periord, but once my Bernina 1630 died (yep - just *stopped* one day... never to even 'light up' again... ) I stopped sewing. Life took over and haven't bothered to even pull it out again. This summer, took it in for a repair / assessment and it has 3 motherboards, all of which are in the $600 range each and you need to replace all 3, can't just do 1 at a time. so... my return to sewing has taken another dead end.

I'm going to explore the Yahoo Bernina thread and maybe I'll find some 1630 advice thru a series of links...

 

[luv2sparkle]

It was quite a few years ago, Mydiamond. It was just a bit of a game changer. I have sewn since then just not with the same committment that I had before all that happened. That is the only reason I brought it up. All is well. I only brought it up to say, it was a bump in the road for me and deterred me from the intense love I had for quilting and is the reason I didn't jump into the 830 as soon as it came out!

I am looking forward to seeing your pictures! You may have to re-size them. That is usually the problem I have. Make them a little smaller by cropping them and change the file name to something odd and see if that works. Sometimes a photo will have a jpeg number that has been used before and it won't let you post the picture.

 

[luv2sparkle]

Oh WOW, Enerchi! That is awesome, boy would I love to see some of your quilts! I have probably made 20-30. Most of them I have given
away. I am working on one right now, that I embroidered a looonngg verse-not a poem really but just something I read that I liked-and it has literally taken me 10 years! I would pick it up and put it down over and over again! I am really going to get it finished. I think I have 5 UFO's and my daughter is waiting for a wedding quilt. She got married and divorced and she is still waiting!!!! It was going to be
hearts with signature blocks-now it will have to be hearts with something else!

I have heard about so many people that had a 1630 that just loved loved loved that machine! Have you looked on ebay? I think I have seen a couple for sale there!

I tried to get on the Bernina board and the moderator has to okay you. Still waiting for that. I want to read about it too. Sometimes it is hard to get a true picture about a machine reading on the internet. You can't know what the percentage of people that are having problems with an item truly is.

Funny thing about my sewing room, I spent all this money getting it where I want it to be, and I have spent such a small amount of time there! I sewed more when I had much less sewing real estate! I need to get back to where I was full force before I spend that amount of cash on a new machine. After all, I can't wear it on my finger and look at it all day, like I can a diamond!!!

Sometimes when my DH and I talk about sewing machines, he will look at me funny and get this smile on his face and say, " but it doesnt even sparkle!' Now when they make one that has crystals all over it, I am there in a heart beat. Heck I fell in love with my T3 hair dryer cuz it had sparkles up the back! (plus it works great too!)

 

[Enerchi]

Luv2Sparkle - you made me laugh about the real estate issue!! I had a "sitting room" off our bedroom (sounds fancy - pfft - just a jut off of our bedroom in our old house) and I would be up late at night, sewing away, newborn sleeping in a basket behind me, 2 young boys asleep, husband asleep... and I made tons of quilts in that 10'x 15' space that included book shelves/dresser/table all piled with fabrics (and that sleeping newborn!) yet now, I have a large office, lots of desk space and zero motivation to create. It's sad... I was such a prolific sewer. Maybe the bug will come back, but I made quilts for all my family members near and far, all my kids have about 5 each, I have a ton for our bedroom, sold and did commission work for so many others... I just don't have that spark now.

Every now and then I get a tingle of an urge.. but I sit down and eat and it goes away! ROFL!!

DH has googled Bernina info on the web and the motherboard on my 1630 is a common problem. He's also emailed Bernina directly but no reply yet. I guess it's just an expensive doorstop at the moment! lol!

I don't even know where to find photos now of my quilts. I won an award for one of them... where is that stuff....???

 

[luv2sparkle]

I so know what you mean about the 'tingle'! I think it does come back but you kind of have to 'force' it. I have a friend, Dianne/Desiree
Habicht. She has had her work displayed in a couple books and won a few awards. She is an amazing art quilt artist. Anyway, we met
at rehab for our kids who were both in car accidents. She had the same issues. For a few years she had no desire to get back to it, the
spark was just gone. Literally, she just forced herself to work and little by little it came back. Now she is back to exhibiting and teaching
again. I have heard that it is a quite common phenomenon that something interferes with that creative spark and you have to work to get it back. The hard part is, when you are in it, you just really don't care all that much if it comes back. Therein lies the rub!

You know what kind of gets it back for me? When I think of what I want to leave as a legacy. The work I have done with my hands is part of that. I would be sad if I never accomplished all the projects I have in my head. My kids are mostly grown now, and I can see that they
treasure a lot of the things I have made. I want them to have more of them, really pieces that mean a lot to me, will mean a lot to them when I am gone. Okay, that is a little morbid but true.

A few years ago I took a class with a teacher named Debbie Gordon. It was this amazing nativity applique and pieced background quilt. I actually started three because I wanted to make a couple extra for my kids. Don't ask me why I picked that number, because I have 5 kids!
It is part of my UFO collection with just a bit of applique needed and a put together and a bit of beading. I am going to finish that this year! She used construction paper templates but I just bought a truckload (by mistake) of Wash away applique sheets, so I am going to switch to that. It should make it go faster.

Okay, now I am sooo very interested in your work! Must post photos!!!!

 

[Jennifer W]

Grrrr! For some reason I can't seem to get my photos uploaded so I will try again later.

Jennifer, the Singer Featherweights are really popular in the USA for quilting. Do you have those machines where you are? For some reason I am thinking your are not in the USA, correct?

Yes, they are really popular and much sought-after here (Scotland) too. I don't have one at the moment, since my best friend fell in love with my 221k and took it home. I'm not in a hurry to replace it. They are nice machines, but they aren't my favourite and there's a limit to the number of straight-stitch machines I can accommodate (DH and I disagree profoundly on what that limit is). I think they are so popular because you can lug them to quilting classes. Featherweight is a bit of an exaggeration though, they are still, um, substantial!

 

[TooPatient]

We have a Brother SE-2700 sewing & embroidery machine that we bought a few years ago. I used it for the one project that prompted the purchase, but it got all jambed up as I tried to do my next project and just didn't have the time to take it in for help. (we were in the middle of purchasing a house and moving)

Well... it has been over three years now and I got volunteered to make shirts for some people. I finally have a table set up in the office so that I've got a place to embroider or sew stuff so I figured it was time to sort out the mess. We took it in to the sewing shop we purchased it from and the ladies there were great. It was really tied up and took some doing to get all of the thread & fabric out. The needle was bent and the plate was all chewed up where the needle was hitting. The bobbin holder was too loose and cracked so she replaced that too but when she tried the machine out, it made a mess similar to what we brought in for them to look at.


Here's my question:

It will cost $199 + shipping + parts to repair the machine (if they can repair it). I don't know what parts usually cost and the repair people can't say until they look at it. Is it worth paying to have the machine fixed or would we be better off trying to find a refurbished machine somewhere? (we paid about $2,000 to get this machine and the Pfaff 4D Extra embroidery software so I think the machine was about $1600 when we bought it)
If we did refurbished, I'd be trying to keep it to <$600 (less is better)