I just got my iBook back from service, as the logic board died last week for the third time in less than a year. :( Of course, it would have to happen right after I posted a few questions here, and I apologize that I didn't get back to those who answered my posts in the "Sergers on ebay" and "Upholstery fabric" threads. But the repairs were covered under warranty (hooray!), and if it wasn't for this computer and its impeccable timing, I probably wouldn't have made a trip to NH (to drop iBook off at Apple store). Normally, I'd just take it to the Apple store in Cambridge, MA, but the thought of the Cambridgeside Galleria (and parking there, ugh) on a weekend just gives me the heebie-jeebies. DH suggested the Apple store in Salem, NH and I jumped at the idea! Wasn't one of the sewing machine stores I wanted to visit in Salem? It was!
So off we go... I dropped off the computer and refrained from flipping out about the fact that I was bringing it in *yet* *again* (after all, the sales guys aren't building them, so why should I make their day miserable?) and then we head off to find the SM store. Nearly two hours later (!!!) we find it (after a combination of bad directions from an online map service, poor street signage, and just plain stupidity on our part). Yippee, this place looks huge! I'm a bit annoyed that we've only got a half hour before the store closes, but at least we're here!
We wander in, a saleslady and I start talking about machines in general, she tells DH to please *not* touch the sooperexpensive embroidery machine and laptop set up with it (in his defense, he's a computer guru, and not your average goober who can't find the capslock key, though she wouldn't have known that) and she shows me a few new machines. I ask if they've got any used machines for sale, and she says not at the moment, but they've got a few sergers. Oh, really?
So now, I own a serger! It's a Singer Ultralock, and so far I love it. We brought it home strapped into the baby's carseat, and I've been playing with it for the past week. I'm halfway finished with serging together the upholstery fabric samples for the ottoman slipcover, and would probably be finished if it wasn't for the baby messing up all of the tension dials. Haha, I thought adjusting one tension knob was a PITA? Four had me on the edge of sanity! But I learned that it's very important to thread a serger in a certain order, and I can do it pretty quickly now.
Of course, now I've got a ton of other sewing projects I want to do with the serger, on top of the long list of "regular" sewing ideas. And I'm pretty sure my serger is a "he" and his name is Buster. Or maybe Kermit, since he squats on the table like a frog. =)
Cina