Long story, but fun and very ON topic

Yesterday morning a friend called to ask if I could bring my SM over and help her finish a project she was working on for a fundraiser auction to be held Saturday (tonight actually -- as I'm writing this). I packed up the car, drove over and found a gorgeous piece of elegant, silky decorator fabric, several yards of russet colored taffeta and long strips of suede fabric in the same color as the taffeta. My friend was very sick with asthma and couldn't use her arms. Yikes, it was going to be a long day.

Long story short, never, ever try to bind a quilt with suede cloth. It ravels in long strings off the sides that catch on the needle and wrap around the bobbin, jamming your machine, breaking the needle without warning and making you swear like a sailor every few minutes. Wow. A long, long day and by 7 p.m. last night I finally had everything done but the mitered corners and a label on the back. I brought it home, sat down and promptly fell asleep for the night. I was soooooo tired still this morning, but in the cold light of morning I found a lot of problems that I couldn't see in the dim light of my friend's dining room where we worked.

I ripped out an entire side of the binding and did it over.

Here I want to sing the praises of my Janome 6600. I've had some grumbling over it lately. Nothing big, mostly just that it's not as fast as I want, or as smooth. Never mind. My poor little Pfaff just couldn't handle the binding. I broke 7 needles Friday. It was horrid and she's headed straight into the shop for a checkup next week. Poor baby. But the Janome handled the same situation without a hitch. Just plowed straight down the line, sometimes sewing over six layers of suede and four of regular fabric as well as the batting, all without a whimper. Not only that, the tension was great, no birds nests or snarls, no skipped stitches, no broken needles. Just a good job. And I didn't even use the big foot.

In the middle of finishing the work, which took several hours (on a normal Saturday with lots of other things to do), I had this brilliant idea to also donate a little wallhanging I'd done months ago of the Columbia Gorge. It just needed a back put on, facing style, and a label. Just.....

I finished everything at 5:40, the drive to the restaurant where the auction was to be takes 15 minutes and the auction was to start at 6. I didn't have time to take photos of either one of the quilts.

When I took them in and explained what they were, the chairwoman asked how much value to put on them. I suggested $100 for the comforter and $25 for the wall hanging (not a great effort really, I wasn't happy with it at all). Her eyes sort of widened and she took both from me and said "you've got to be kidding. I'll put prices on these if you don't mind."

Tomorrow I'll find out if either sold and how much they sold for. I've donated lots of quilts, but this was the most fun. And the cause is really good and one I can relate to. The economy has hit our area hard. The clinic that provides therapy for babies born early or with other developmental problems is about to close leaving no therapy at all for the babies in our town who need it. A friend's grandbabies have both been through the therapy program, still are being helped. I believe the older one would have been retarded and certainly would have had major physical disabilities without that therapy. He couldn't turn his head to the left for months after his premature birth. His entire little body was curved to the right, his head was misshapen and he just didn't respond to people. Now, he's a healthy, happy 18 month old who runs and talks and just would bring a smile to any face. My own son received similar therapy following his birth 22 years ago. Without that help I'm almost certain he would have had mild CP. It was rigorous and sometimes made him scream and cry,but worth it all. He's normal and healthy. None of the doctors believed that would be the result for him. Boy we fooled them!

So, there's the story. I didn't get photos. I just forgot. I don't know if either will sell but I hope so. And it was just a lot of fun but pretty hair raising those last couple hours when people kept coming in to ask whether to put the pears in the frig or on the counter and what was supper going to be........LOL

I'll tell you the end of the story when I know. Hope they sell. Hope they sell for a million dollars and the clinic can stay open!

Sunny sore, exhausted, sprouting a fever as I write, expecting to pay for this whole escapade -- but it's worth it

Reply to
Sunny
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Reply to
Taria

Reply to
Roberta

Very well done Sunny and so nicely described. I could imagine being there!

Reply to
Estelle Gallagher

Oh no, Taria, the problems were with the Pfaff. The 6600 was a dream. It just rolled on over the stuff that was giving the Pfaff fits. My big complaint with the 6600 is that it doesn't go as fast as I like a machine to go when I FM. I wanted it to FM like the 1600 Pro does..... like I was told it would. But, of course, it doesn't because expecting one machine to do what the other does is just the sort of silly thing that gets me in trouble.

Sunny

Reply to
onetexsun

My 6600 sews great but the speed and lame controller a huge issue with it. It isn't as fast as others but should be smooth. The Janome page claims only 1000 spm straight and 700 zz spm so it is not at best ever going to be fast. Does yours sew on its own? Mine does (or used to before DH fixed it) I guess it was kind of like a Rhoomba for sewing? LOL Taria

Reply to
Taria

You deserve a week of massages and bubble baths!

--Heidi

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Reply to
heidi (was rabbit2b)

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