Monday, October 8, 2012

Tidbits

This past week hasn't been the easiest. Hopefully this week will be much better. Here are just a few of the highlights.

***Last Saturday a friend and I attended a local guild's quilt show. It wasn't huge but there were some great quilts to see. Plus there is always a teeny bit of shopping required. I was pretty restrained and just picked up a few FQ to add to my stash, some Christmas prints of my choosing because I have nothing at all for that holiday and because I have yet to find a Christmas line that I really like and also a couple of Halloween prints that I didn't have yet. You know it is really hard for me to resist these when I see them.

 
 
***I also grabbed a bunch of these, all for a whopping $5.50. Might you be wondering what I'm going to do with them?
***Then on Sunday I actually volunteered with the same guild at the show as a White Glove Lady which means I spent 4 more luxurious hours with the quilts, seeing them up close and personal as much as I wanted and talking with some really great people. It was a lot of fun. I am strongly considering joining said guild to see if I like it.

***Ever since I've been battling a sinus headache of major proportions EVERY SINGLE DAY. I don't know if the abundance of older ladies with way too much perfume on made it worse or if it is just because of my typical fall too-much-wet-weather-and-too-high-barometric-pressure are to blame, but it hasn't been fun either way.

***I finally felt up to getting a bit of sewing in mid week but Lucy decided to not cooperate again. Same problem as before. Me not happy. A brand new machine and I can't use it. Major URG!

***Friday morning I put in one more attempt to fix Lucy to no avail so I hiked it to the repair shop for help.

***Left the repair shop angry and without machine (not the shop where I bought Lucy...remember that shop no longer sells nor can service Brother machines). After carefully explaining to the owner multiple times what the problem is and all the various steps I had taken over and over to correct the issue, she continued to argue with me that she thought it was something else, something not remotely related to the actual problem.

***No matter what the repair turns out to be, she shouldn't have argued with me. Period. She could have said what she wanted to say to me in a much different way which would have not pissed me off so much. Thankfully her hubby the actual repair guy is much nicer.

***The biggest argument? She feels that Lucy isn't under warranty at all. What??? I only bought her 4 months ago! She says that the manufacturer determines warranty by the serial number and when it was actually made and it doesn't matter if a machine sat on a shelf for a long time before it was ever sold and then registered. This makes absolutely no sense at all, to me or any one else that I've told this to over the weekend. A warranty to the purchaser is a warranty to the purchaser. Plain and simple. Part of me thinks this shop owner is just a snob to any machine not bought in her store...and for your knowledge her shop is where I bought my first Brother "Sissy".

***Needless to say that once Lucy is fixed, I won't be taking any more of my machines there for service.

***So now I was left with no machine and deadlines. Not good. Now I understand why many quilters have a back up machine. But guess what, I too have a back up machine, my mother's old Singer however it isn't actually set up yet. So on Saturday morning, I dropped it off at another shop for a tune up. If this other shop does a great job, they will get my business in the future plus they are an authorized Brother dealer/service center so nasty shop owner problem solved.

***Two machines in for work and still none for me to use. What's a girl to do? Well I got the bright idea to ask to borrow back temporarily Sissy from my friend who is using her to take a beginning quilting class at a LQS. Said friend was done with her homework for this week and doesn't need her back until Wednesday night. Yippee! Some sewing can be accomplished and we can just swap Sissy back and forth for a week or two until my 2 other gals come home.

***Last night I started and finished my addition to the most recent Modern Mini Mystery Round Robin quilt that I have to work on and it will be out in the mail to the last contributor first thing tomorrow. Here is what I added.
Oh yeah, I can't show it all to you. It is a secret but make sure you mark your calendars and come back on November 19th for all the big reveals. And don't miss the Halloween See Saw Swap reveals on October 22nd.

***Lastly for this post at least, don't forget to sign up for my next mini adventure, the Quilt U be Mini Mystery Round Robin. There is a great list of quilters signed up so far but there is still plenty of room for more. Sign ups close at Midnight one week from today, on October 15th. This is one event you don't want to miss.
As for today the headache isn't too bad this morning, the kidlets are home from school, I'm going to finish a little cleaning and get the laundry put away, we are going to make cookies this afternoon and more sewing will definitely be on the agenda. I hope that you have a terrific day!


10 of you added your own colorful comments:

Linda said...

I have two newer expensive machines and a little Featherweight. In the last two weeks, I had several projects with deadlines and BOTH of my newer machines started giving me problems. Since I can't quilt on my Featherweight, I had to borrow a machine! It is frustrating when we rely on our machines so much! My little Featherweight just hums away and never gives me a moments trouble!

Michele said...

Unfortunately Newer and Fancy doesn't always mean better.

Needled Mom said...

How frustrating! I hope the machine gets fixed and that you feel better soon.

Diane-crewe said...

oh dear xx hope all resolves soon x

Julianne said...

Oh good lord, I KNOW what you mean! Its so frustrating! Finding a good sewing machine maintenance/repair person is like finding a good renter! You hang on to them! You treat them right...that woman sounds like she was horrible to you and I would have been pissed off too! So wheres my stuff lady?? (Kidding)

edyB said...

Dang! Whatever happened to "service" ....
Maybe it's time for a letter to the head office ....

Michele said...

Ha. I wish! I was dealing with the owner unfortunately so there isn’t any higher head office that I can complain to.

Michele said...

Thanks so much. Luckily the sinuses are better today. No phone call yet about the machine though.

Michele said...

Me too. Thanks.

Michele said...

What blows my mind is what many people consider "taking care of the customer" these days. I learned good customer service when I was very young and know the difference. Unfortunately too many people now just don't care how they treat people.