Observations of the Day – July 11, 2019

Should I tell you or not????

Observations for the Day:

Who am I kidding – I’m going to sing like a bird:

I recently went to a free class at my local quilt shop, the Stitchery, where I sewed on a Baby Lock Crescendo. I was fascinated by the display and the fact that I didn’t have to use a presser foot. It was love at first stitch and I had to have one. So, I told hubby. I also for some reason thought that the machine was $3,000 more than actually was. He started to twitch, and I thought his head was going to explode, leaving behind a mess that I’d have to clean up. I explained to him all the wonderful features that it had, but to no avail – he said no I could not spend that much money on a “hobby”. So, I did what any intelligent quilting woman would have done, I turned to Facebook.

On the NQC Quilt Block Challenge page I created a poll asking how much money people spent for their sewing machine. I discovered that people spent tens of thousands of dollars on sewing machines. I discovered that people spent just a few hundred dollars on sewing machines. People inherited machines. The most amazing thing I found was that people had many sewing machines. Hubby was in his office and as I was watching the results come in, I would fire off a text to him saying “this many people spend this amount on their machines yada yada yada” to which he replied, “wackadoodle” (harrumph). Last night I sat him down calmly and told him I did not just want this machine, I needed this machine! Just think – no more sewing on air because your bobbin runs out – this machine will tell you. No more marking tedious chalk lines on the back of squares to sew hsts – this thing has a laser line. I’m quite sure that the Baby Lock Crescendo would go to the bathroom for me should I ask it to, it is so advanced. He looked a little more convinced but still did not say yes. So today after bowling, and getting my nails done, I went over to my LQS and inquired about buying one for my very own. I thought I could work up a presentation with the numbers to try and convince him.

I spoke with the very knowledgeable Stephanie about all the things this machine could do to make my sewing life better. I found out that, alas, they had already sold their floor model. I asked her about financing – 6 months same as cash. Then I took a deep breath and I asked her the most important question – how much was it? She told me and I was speechless (“gobsmacked” hubby called it later when I was telling him the story). She told me that it was $300 off because of the sale and I just sat there shaking my head. I’m sure she thought that she was going to lose the sale because I was thinking that total was way too much money to spend for a sewing machine when in fact, I actually thought the total was going to be double the price she quoted me. When I could speak, we looked into the upgrade which was a fancy-schmancy presser foot (I’m trying to get away from presser feet all together – Baby Chaos has claimed the spot under my feet) and a bunch of extra stitches which I don’t need because I have an embroidery machine. I told her I would get back to her as soon as possible.

I might have mentioned that we’re flipping another house and hubby was working over there by himself. I took a chance and called him anyway hoping that he wasn’t in the middle of something yucky. I told him about the price and the most wonderful words emerged from his mouth – he said, “Did you order it?”. Luckily, I was parked because I certainly would have wrecked had I been driving. I called Stephanie back and she let me give her all of my information over the phone. Financing was approved, she ordered it and I am hoping hoping hoping that it gets here on Saturday because they’re not open on Mondays. To say I’m excited is an understatement. I’ve been putting off binding Amy’s quilt because it’s just so hard on my Singer Patchwork, but the new machine has a larger throat and stadium lighting (doesn’t that sound so cool – stadium lighting!) And did I mention the walking foot? It has some sort of out of this world walking foot and I can’t wait to try it. Stay tuned for more on my adventures with Baby Lock.

I just wasn’t feeling Sonshine’s quilt, so I moved on. The “Dancing Diamonds” block is lovely but not but not suitable to be split up as I had intended. I will return to it as a standalone quilt one day (and correct the 2 errors). In the meantime, I have moved on to “City Cycles” . I love the way this quilt is turning out. The pattern is incorrect in places but luckily most mistakes are cutting too long and not too short. It could be that I’m not reading it correctly, but I am cutting as I go to minimize errors. It’s coming together quite quickly and I hope to be finished with it in time to show it at our modern quilt guild meeting in the fall and still get it to him before it gets cold in New Jersey.