Dog Collars:
I had mentioned earlier this month I wanted to make my dogs new dog collars. Of course, I put it off for a variety of reasons, but decided I had to have them made for Thanksgiving. The night before I started the project, but I was too worn out to complete it. Surprisingly, I woke up on the morning of ready to complete them. I am not a morning person ever unless my PoTS/MCS is in check. So it was definitely something to be thankful for.
Unfortunately, my sewing machine died just as I was finishing Ollie's colar. As I was sewing the colars, I could tell my machine was not really up to the task. I have a Babylock Quilters Choice and it is supposed to be capable of it. It got stuck on a particularly thick area and acted like the needle broke. It didn't, but when I went to start sewing it make a motor spinning sound, but nothing else moved/made noise. Not good. Really hoping the safety device isn't resetting because it's broken or there's a giant thread tangle I can't get to or something easily fixable. If not, then I guess I'm getting a new machine.
Here are the collars:
My husband used his company's laser engraver to engrave the dog's name and our numbers onto the metal buckles. The buckles turned out well (I blurred out our phone numbers and part of the last name for privacy - that's not really how they look). I need to re-make Oliver's collar because it's a little too small. Once I get his collar fixed then I'll put them on both dogs and see how well it all holds up.
New Sewing Machine?
I've never been thrilled with my Babylock. It was a class room model so I got it used. I really liked it when I first got it. But then after a bit of sewing it didn't sew very well. Then I got busy and put it up for a while. When I finally got back to it nearly a year later, it had massive tension issues. I couldn't get the upper tension right at all so it when in for service. The service tech found the upper tension inside very loose and fixed that. It can back better, but I always felt like something was off. Now it's pretty broken. So I dropped it off at the dealer and then headed to the local Bernina dealer.
The first time I looked at Bernina I was supper excited about the entry level model. Then I ended up getting a Singer from a big box store. I took a class at the Babylock dealer and really appreciated the quality of the Quilter's Choice. So when the dealer had the class room sale, I splurged and got one. I had looked at the Bernina's as well, but they were so much more expensive and didn't come with all the fun toys the Babylocks come with. Plus the Bernina dealer doesn't have late hours so about the only time I can go there is on Saturday, which rarely works for me. But with my sewing machine at the shop, I figured I should stop by the Bernina dealer and see their machines.
Because of the expense, I was looking at the basic machines. I was thinking about getting a back up machine, hopefully used, to use when the Babylock is out of commission. But then I saw the 7 series with dual feed and how easily it sews over pretty much any weird combination of fabric I threw at it. Now I want it. I think I've got the husband convinced to let me get it after the house is re-financed. I spent a lot of time on the internet reading reviews about machines with dual feed and decided it's between Babylock or Bernina, but the Crescendo looks weird as does the accessories.
