Best laid plans....

After almost 3 years of collecting fabric for beach cottage quilts and procrastinating about starting, well actually putting it behind everything else on the to-do list, I finally got started sewing blocks yesterday.  Today my Bernina is not working - argh. I sew a line of stitching, fingerpress it open, go back to the machine and the detail screen is empty. Or if I leave the machine for a minute or so I come back to find the screen empty. I've tried unplugging it for a bit to reboot the computer in it but nothing happens. I've never had any glitches with my Bernina in the 6  1/2 years I've owned it, I love my Bernina. The worst part is that my Bernina store, Top Stitch, is closed this week thru next Wednesday.

I can't believe I'm finally in the mood to do this quilt top and the machine is not cooperating.  So, I pulled out the book for my cheapie Brother embroidery machine, which is also a regular sewing machine, to figure out how to use it. I've never used it for just plain sewing.  I found out how to switch it from embroidery to sewing, finally figured out how to shorten the stitch length and then I could not for the life of me get a nice 1/4" seam so I searched the manual page by page to find out how to move the needle so I can at least line up along the presser foot. Got it all set up and did get 4 blocks sewn but it's slower sewing and more paying attention than sewing on my Bernina. Since exact 1/4" seams are not an issue for making these simple strip blocks (but straight seams are important)  I'll keep at it - but once I get to sewing the blocks all together I will wait to use the Bernina.......after it's repaired.

Did I say I love my Bernina???  Well, I do and the difference in price of a few thousand dollars between machines is a huge difference in sewing quality.....well worth the money. And I love my Bernina shop, Top Stitch in Medford, Jonathan & Karen are so knowledgeable.