Well gentle readers, my new Bernina 880 Plus sewed a few hours the first day, and the second day it was increasingly problematic (last Friday), and then I got the gears of death…removed the threads in the bobbin, and got them again, looked and found a little more thread, and got them again.  Finally, it would not sew at all.  ?

So today I took it in to my wonderful Bernina tech at the dealership.  He spent some time looking at it and said he would try to get Bernina to send me a new machine, but they definately will make it right.  It wouldn’t sew for him either and it even had some odd sensor notices.  He said the timing is already off, it has a little clink when the bobbin opens and closes.  So let us all hope Bernina sends me a new one. I believe they will. They are an honorable company.  But I know they will make it right.

So I am back to waiting for my new machine.  I will still call the new one Odette, since I only used this one a few hours.

Don’t worry, I have plenty to do.  Between my computer work, my Bernina 350, and my Bernina Q20, there is much on my plate that I can move forward on while I wait.

1. I’m writing two books right now…one is skill-building projects for fabric embellishments, and the other is a more general book on making pictorial art quilts.
2. I’m also working on a fall workshop on embellishment.  So it would be very good to finish my book in time for that class..time to be determined.
3. I have completed the design for my Mom’s memorial quilt centering around her crocheted pieces, and much of that is free motion quilting, with a little bit of piecing.  The little B 350 is great for piecing, actually maybe better than the bigger machines.  And so I can move forward with making samples and testing a few ideas I have for completing the design.  I also have some in-the-hoop items I hope to complete for it, but they can be added late in the process.
4. And I have a train quilt, a rock strata with dinasaur fossils quilt, a polyester satin and dupioni quilt, and a tree quilt all swimming around in my head that I have only touched a little of the design work for those.  So if I have a long wait, I can get these things designed, cut out, and even some techniques tested for them.

Sew when I finally do end up with a workable big 8 series machine, I will have a stack of projects ready to go…lots of sewing then.

Am I a little dismayed over this?  Of course I am, but I realize that even the best companies sometimes have problems with a product every now and then.  It’s how they respond to it that makes the difference.

Sew happy everyone!  Tell me what you are working on.  I love comments.